The Unpublished
of Henry
Derozio
Poems
—1825-29
Mukesh
Williams
The poems of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (1809-1831) were collected and edited
by Dr. Sakti Sadhan Mukhopadhyay
and Sri Adhir Kumar, members
Derozio Commemoration
and published in 2000 in the Complete
Committee,
Works of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio)
divisions,
"Sweets,"
"Elegiac
of the
These poems fall under three sub-
Stanzas,"
and "Ballad
Stanzas,"
originally
identified by the author himself. These poems were never published in the form
of a book until recently, as they were presumed lost. Mukhopadhyay and Kumar
retrieved
twenty three poems of varying
length,
most of which were first
published in The India Gazette from January to October 1825 when the poet was
only sixteen
Righteous"
years old. Two poems, "Woman's
were written in 1829. Between
masterpieces
Smile" and "The Death of
1825 and 1829 Derozio wrote his
such as Poems (1827) and The Fakeer of Jungheera:
Tale (1828). Though many of the unpublished
A Metrical
poems lack ingenuity and are
imitative of the early nineteenth century English poets, they nonetheless possess
a lyrical and elegiac quality that give us a glimpse of the secular themes, flowing
rhythms and romanticism that were to emerge in Indian writing in English later
in the century.
77
His Life
Derozio
most
did not live long. He died at an early
poets
are about
descent,
that
mother,
Sophia
not dark
is his
to begin
father,
Johnson,
skinned,
their
Francis
English.
as his mother
ones that do reveal
a rounded
and a half when
careers.
He was of a Luso-Indian-British
Derozio,
was
Some
Portuguese-Indian
of his biographers
was English.
boyish
age of twenty-two
point
Few of his portraits
face, thick
black
and
his
out that he was
survive
hair and somewhat
but the
dreamy
eyes.
As a young man Derozio must have faced a crisis of identity, as he could neither
identify himself exclusively with the Europeans nor with the Indians. He dressed
himself as a European, even rode a horse, but in thought and sentiment treasured
India as his native land.
In his poetic works Derozio called himself an East
Indian writer; while in his prose writings he identified himself with the AngloIndian and Indian communities of Calcutta where he was born. He was the first
`Indian' writer in English who imagined India as his motherland
, especially in
his popular poem "To India—My Native Land" and his highly didactic prose
writings in The India Gazette.
patriotic
His insider's perspective of India and his highly
tenor, placed him within the nationalist
discourse imagined by Raja
Rammohun Roy one of the founders of Hindu College where Derozio worked.
Born
in a Protestant
received
of both
poetry
a secular
Hindu
family
education
and Islamic
both
a secular
and Muslim
imagery.
these
three
religious
and baptized
in Calcutta
cultures.'
and humanist
It is possible
traditions
at St. John's
where
The
slant
Cathedral
he was surrounded
varied
which
religious
was fused
to see a rich tapestry
that are woven
— 78 —
into a secular
in 1809, Derozio
by the vestiges
influences
gave
with Christian,
of images
humanist
drawn
his
Hindu
from
philosophy.
Perhaps this diversity of Derozio's personal and literary background prevented
literary historians from placing him squarely within the literary tradition of
India. Much of this is changing or has changed. In recent years his position as a
writer has been transformed from being a minor Eurasian poet to a major
Bengali poet and reformer. Vinay Dharwadker calls him the first literary figure
who expressed "a romantic nationalism in Indian literature."' Poets like Arvind
Krishna Mehrotra and novelists like Allan Sealy see him as an illustrious forbear
who gave them a literary aesthetics to refer to, if not to emulate.
During
poet.
his lifetime
One
Derozio
of his early
was both
biographers,
maligned
C.J.
and praised
Monteque,
for his talent
a Calcutta
as a
schoolmaster,
writing in The Oriental Magazine, narrates an apocryphal tale about the jealousy
Derozio's reputation aroused amongst the hoi polloi in Calcutta:
It was the fate of poor Derozio to be as much bespattered
with abuses,
and exposed to envy as he is said to have been courted and flattered.
In
the season of his full bloom reputation he was, one evening, walking up
the steps of a house, to which he had been invited by the lady who was for
a long while the distinguished
ornament of this society, when he heard
voices and he immediately recognized the tones of the gentleman of the
house and a poetical friend. He was announced and these words reached
his ear. `As for Derozio, I allow he possesses fancy, but my Khansuma
[cook] possesses more judgment than he.' Derozio turned back and never
did he again visit that house.4
Young
as he was Derozio
cost him dearly
took quick
offense
as seen in his dismissal
to slander
from Hindu
-
79
-
and insults
College.
which
at times
Monteque
also
opines
Shakespeare
and John
poetry
would
have been
ignore
the sweet,
sentiments.
that
Milton
flowing
in his Poems
rhythms
Harp
of Erin"
poem
with
which
or "Dear
Harp
all its "sweetness"
Though
Derozio's
poem
stronger
and flashier
Derozio
paid
more
and less to Thomas
less fanciful
In fact the strong
reflected
had
and more
begins
Moore
perceptive.'
of Derozio
influence
of the Scottish
Byron,
However
it is hard to
of My Country."
and lost national
of Moore,
Derozio
glory
even
poet
from
to William
and Lord
that beautify
with a quotation
is imitative
attention
his mundane
Thomas
Moore's
rewrites
into "The
Derozio's
his
Moore
poem
is
"The
the Scottish
Harp
patriotic
of India."
fervor
is
than his predecessor.
Schooling
Derozio was an autodidact. He never had a formal schooling.6 In 1815 he started
education
Drummond
when he was six years old at the Dharamtallah
Academy of David
(1787-1843) and began scribbling verses rather early. In the same
year Henry's mother died near Krishnagar
and his father Francis married an
English lady Anna Maria Rivers the following year. The death of his mother left
a deep impression on young Henry's mind and turned him into a serious boy.
He left school when he was fourteen and worked as an accountant at the Agency
House of Messer's J. Scott where his father also worked in a senior position.
Derozio left his job at Calcutta and moved to Bhagalpur, Bihar, to join his uncle
Arthur
Johnson
who was an indigo planter.
The pastoral
surrounding
of
Bhagalpur awakened in him his poetical talents and he began sending poems to
The India Gazette run by Dr. John Grant, a classical scholar and editor of the
Gazette, who encouraged the young poet to write. A year after the publication of
his poems in The India Gazette he came back to Calcutta in 1826 and sent his
- 80 -
collection of poems to the press. He also got The Fakeer of Jungheera
which owes a lot to his Bhagalpur
appointed
a Master
recommendation
of English
experiences.
Literature
printed,
In the same year he was
at Hindu College7
through
the
of Grant, to whom he had earlier dedicated the first volume
entitled Poems (1827) and not to his sister, Sophia, who died in the same year.'
Early
Nineteenth
In the early
its future
dress
part of the nineteenth
habit
discriminate
against
were
lot with
physique
and there
abolished.
partners
color
thought
about
in India
British
Said and his notions
an incomplete
in India,
based
often
and
unreliable
to
going
and civil
must
throw
Derozio
on race,
place
and
be accepted
by
Mutiny
influence
the
Indian
century
vehemently
measure
of 1857, the
on the way the
population
they
was undoubtedly
Though
attacked
both
of difference
a
Edward
by historians
of the complex
how the ideology
— 81 —
from
military
would
and physique.
has been
began
and commerce.
of the nineteenth
they tend to forget
based
had a strong
color
British
in
in the
The British,
up to the Indian
themselves
However
the Anglo-Indians
to survive.
felt that
the English
children
in high
business
and place
on race,
of orientalism
and
their
identity
leading
colonialism
The
the Anglo-Indians
in education,
of race,
imperialism
in order
century
imitated
changed.
felt that
community
to study.
and prevented
was no way in which
site of discrimination
being
this
in constructing
notions
with.
all
community
nineteenth
interacted
to England
Derozio
particular
as equals
most families
for Anglo-Indians
the early
changing
British
century
the Indian
the Anglo-Indian
children
the Anglo-Indians
also
were quite
During
their
Reservations
realized,
the British
sent
century
and, therefore
nineteenth
to study.
positions
their
and
of the
abroad
in India
lay with the British
and
middle
Century
history
as
of
was used
in aggrandizing the power of the Raj.
Derozio
died
forced
of cholera
to resign
iconoclastic
from
views.
condition
at an early
of Calcutta
Hindu
College
for his
A brief
mention
must
in the nineteenth
which
caused
the untimely
many
cholera
epidemics
Europe
been
and the United
described
States
had accelerated
excrement.
Cholera
excrement
into
epidemic.
Cholera
water
vomiting
blue-gray
pallor
can result
in death.
part
the growth
and
destroys
of spreading
cholera.
clothing
it spread
vectors
were also responsible
the disease
From
Iranian
there,
trade
as sailors
during
border.
The
with
over
Persian
period,
Gulf
with
area
for the spread
and merchants
1830-37
a wide
southern
came
cholera
frequent
India
entered
,
had seen
and Iran
River
to
have
the warm
waters
through
human
from
human
turning
into
patient
in
acquires
Company
a
fluids
penetrated
an unwitting
infected
ports
an
resulting
goods
of call
to Europe.
of
in the
Human
in the Middle
fast ships
East and
led to the spread
of
with the Iranian
population.
Europe
the Russo-
had important
-- 82 -
India
it became
of the disease
in contact
of cholera
loss of body
carried
from
Iran using
ports
The
Excessive
Company
the disease
Vigorous
treated.
As the East India
unhygienic
that moves
as the East India
ships
the
of the body
sub-continent
in fast
from
at times
system
century
and
introduced
disease
and comatose.
blasphemous
of the Ganges
of the bacillus
immune
he was
century
For centuries
in the Indian
and foodstuff
region
Europe.
eyes,
its trade
The banks
if not properly
of the nineteenth
agent
of the world
bacillus.
after
the outbreak
The nineteenth
of communities,
the
about
and
as a fecal-oral
food
and sunken
and globalized
recycled
of cholera
and diarrhea
India
parts
shortly
supposedly
century
of America.
is described
twenty-two,
be made
of Derozio.
in different
of the river
In the early
death
as the cradle
excessive
age of about
through
commercial
links
with
British India and they further accelerated the spread of the disease. Iran also
occupied an important place in the Islamic world as a stopping point for Haj
pilgrims to Mecca. Traveling in horse carriages through Tehran, and then by
steamer and railroad through Russia, Turkey and Egypt, many pilgrims would
then reach Mecca spreading the disease in this region. The spread was further
complicated by the weak administrative system, sanitary ignorance and poor
medical facilities in both India and Iran.9
During his brief illness and death many of Derozio's friends and well wishers
like Krishna Mohun Banerji, congregational
minister Mr. Hill, Dr. Grant, his
foster mother and sister, Amelia, were at his bedside rising above the "fear of
contagion to bolster his spirits."1° With his death in 1831 his influence increased
by leaps and bounds.
Many young Bengalis,
including
students, became adherents to his `free thinking'
`Young Bengal' or Dorozians . In due course
Renaissance
that transformed
and modernized
some of his former
philosophy and were called
they initiated
the Bengal
the parochial Hindu society of
Bengal.
Twenty-Three
Unpublished
It seems
of the Unpublished
name
most
is referred
of the woman,
seems
finds
Not much
but she certainly
does
In either
the earthly
At times
Stars,"
else.
he turns
"Ode
Poems
to as "C—."
to be someone
someone
Poems
world
who
has
work
to a brunette
whose
has been
done on the real
identity
Indian.
The C— of these
poems
not seem
been
case the male
were
untrue
addressed
and
companion
is either
wants
of love that she represents
maudlin
to the Setting
longing
for the other
Moon"
and "The
--83—
cannot
world
Poet's
dead
to forget
or belongs
to
her memory
but
be forgotten
in poems
Grave"
such
so easily.
as "The
and at others
hard-
hearted,
without
pseudonym
status
sympathy.
"JUVENIS"
Most
which
of these
means
poems
youth,
are signed
perhaps
under
a reminder
the Latin
of the youthful
of the poet.
In the first
poem
called
past away"
and now the "spell
Though
the persona
to make
a great
"To" the persona
with an interesting
SIR,
alone"
note to the editor,
appearing
oftener
poem
INDIA
original
in your Poet's
shake
off the beautiful
true.
him fast he has
past.
Later
in the
and die unattended—
in The India
Gazette
read as follows:
GAZETTE
Stanzas
corner.
of love has
if this is really
that binds
was published
which
OF THE
---The following
the chain"
and live a life of seclusion
die ." This
EDITOR
that his "dream
but we wonder
to "break
as he still cannot
poem he resolves to "pine
"Forgotten
live —unheeded
TO THE
has broken,"
has resolved
effort,
confesses
are at your
Should
service,
if worthy
they be acceptable
of
you will hear
from
Your Obdt.
Servant
JUVENIS"
Understandably Derozio was greatly encouraged by the publication of the poem
as he wrote many afterwards in the same journal.
The second
poem
and betrayal.
and the persona,
is also entitled
Here
therefore,
true love is possible
share
thy heart."
yet the persona
the poet
"To"
explains
must forget
only between
and elaborates
that
the woman
belongs
her.
The poem
underscores
two people
Though
they have
resolves
to tear
shared
her
on the same
out
and not more—"I
many
of his
— 84 —
passionate
"memory"
theme
of love
to someone
the belief
can't
moments
for
else
that
with others
in the past
she has
been
untrue—she possesses a "faithless heart."
up to his resolve, but, nevertheless,
He admits that it will be hard to live
he will "teach [his] feelings to forget." He
complains in stanza four that though he has loved her "better day by day" she has
not loved him as much. Instead she has been "untrue." Nevertheless he will pray
for her soul and happiness.
He bids her farewell, never "to meet again," not in
this life nor "beyond the tomb."
He exhorts her not to express grief upon his
grave and throw away the "tokens" of love that he has given her:
Let tokens
that thou hadst
from me
Be cast then far away from thee.—
Having
said all this he feels
spring"
in order to assuage
wring."
Interestingly
"We hope Juvenis
The
`Sweets'
In the
with
ends
with
to favor us
six poems
under
with the captivating
the glorious
death
of the righteous—the
release
a "tragic"
behind
memory
as a woman's
rapture
smile
most
the "sublime"
"sacred"
the past.
Therefore
in "Happy
them
helps
sublime.
magic
and "sweet."
By remembering
meeting
for a "draught
soothe
a note from
of lethe's
the pangs
the editor,
that in me
which
reads,
," and he does.
the section
begins
Just
while
the poem
Derozio
leaves
and craves
Section
sigh."
diem.
anguish
the pain in his heart—"To
will continue
subsequent
1925-29,
intense
Days
Even
-
published
of a woman's
"widow's
cry"
Gone
By!"
enriched
from
in these
poems
85 -
her tears
from
friends
too
this world
he
making
his
by the memory
we can seize
parting
and ends
and the "orphan's
that will live forever
is always
between
smile
our troubles,
As the poet departs
of his words
Meetings"
is "sweet."
power
us to forget
The present
"The
"Sweets"
the day,
is full
the recurring
of
carpe
of sorrow,
image
of a
Hindu widow's life becomes a metaphor for all the tragedy and pain of human
existence. Derozio's forceful representation of the world of suffering, the joys
and sorrows
of a woman's
companionship,
memory
and desire,
past and present
and the joys of friendship are unerringly captured in the section called "Sweets."
The word 'sweets' imply both delight and gratification and the poet gives his own
spin to the word by emphasizing the transience of earthly delights and the
accompanying sorrow of their departure.
In the first
poem
and the "kindest
entitled
boon"
"Woman's
to man.
Smile"
Her smile
Her smile
is bright
as May's
And sweet
beyond
expressing.
It fills the soul with sacred
It feeds with fancy
young
young
the poet
calls
is captivating
woman
a "bl essing"
like the moon:
moon,
fire,
desire,
It tells the eye a tale of pleasure—
Undoubtedly,
worry
freshness
promise,
the poet admits
and
"soothe
to bless
and brilliance
commitment
that a "woman's
thy
keenest
of a woman's
lovely
throes."
smile
smile"
can "beguile"
He compares
to "May's
young
all the
the warmth,
moon,"
as it holds
and hope.
In the second poem entitled, "Woman's Tear," the poet creates a most interesting
conceit.
To cause a woman to cry is commendable—"To
thank the hand that
gave the blow"—as her crying causes a different kind of joy revealed at the end
of stanza two:
This
is great,
supremely
great,
_S6_
Feeling
The
blissful
The
poet
"celestial
bright
with bliss elate.
experience,
goes
stars
though
on to explain
," a sacred
sad, both
that
stream,
elates
the tears
and gives
shining
and sweetness
significance
in a woman's
beyond
to life.
eyes
are like
compare:
The tear that starts from woman's eye
With stars celestial fair may view:—
Hail! sacred drop of pity's stream,
Grief's commencement, joy extreme,
Preface of each tragic tale,
Liquid balmy treasure, hail!—
To let the tear unconscious flow,
To thank the hand that gave the blow,
This is sweet—a lovely sweet—
Sweeter sweet ye seldom meet!
The tears
from a woman's
eyes are a matter
of a sublimated
tragic
kind
an incomparable
of rapture,
beauty
captivates
of great
aesthetic
the heart.
equipoise
It provides
that is reveled
beauty.
The notion
us with
a strange
in "conquest:"
This is rapture, joy complete,
Triumph pleasant, conquest sweet.
The
versatility,
the "Sweets"
songs
ingenuity
called
he creates
immortality
"The
on his
"eternal
and creativity
Poet's
Grave."
"heaven-strung
laurels
of the poet lead us to the third
bloom"
A poet
magic
becomes
lyre."
by his graveside.
— 87 —
immortal
To mark
Many
his
poem
with
fame
go to his grave
of
the
and
to
register
their regret
or show pity at his early
departure
for this world,
To mark the spot where Genius sleeps,
The child of song in weeds of wo [sic]
To that sad spot shall oft' repair,
To let a tear of pity flow.
In the telling
or poems
beckons
ample
explores
of a story
the poet
and transcends
each
page."
passerby
The
the Islamic
Encouraged
the "rudest
with
genii
creates
"an awful
shock
the written
guards
traditions
by the publication
where
of wasting
word
the spot
thrill"
time."
The
left behind—"writ
as the poet
the genii
by the "soft
usually
sleeps
guards
numbers"
poet's
tomb
in memory's
sweetly.
Derozio
the dead.
of these poems in The India Gazette, Derozio
wrote more. In poem number four of "Sweets" entitled "The Days Gone By!" the
poet writes to the editor thus: "The Editor of the India Gazette will oblige
Juvenis, by giving the following verses an early insertion
poem in question talks about the "treacherous
in his Paper."
The
smile" which promises hope but
never delivers. The "magic of memory" on the other hand "flits" upon the mind
like "relics of joy." According to the poet the memory of days gone by will never
"decay;" as such remembrance burns like "dim lights on "life's desolate way"
and often "charm the mind's eye" like some twinkling
star in the firmament.
The "happy times" of the past cannot be destroyed or taken away. They possess
a charm par excellence, beyond words, beyond fancy and beyond reason.
poet sings of the beauty of the past and argues thus,
Look
forward,
who will, to the days yet unborn,
Look
forward,
who will, to the bright
— 88 —
coming
morn!
The
I will sing of the suns that have happily
That brought
They
with them
past—and
But their mantle
neither
they dropp'd,
like the seer, on the plain;
Tho'
gone,
forever.
cannot
in my minds
be taken
the pleasure
the dove nor the fountain
And glides
the touch
our country,
to memory
to friends,
bring here the bowl—fill
to the hearts
One tribute
at Memory's
spent,
poet
of the moment
can remain
"cloth quickly
fresh
pass by" for
for long:
it high,
that are tender
shrine
as they can remain
to
fill it high.—
is due,—
and true,—
we will cast,
the significance
forever
the days gone by. Drink
and to the past:
to the days that have happily
underscores
silver beam:—
the day, but also value
to the land of our fathers
One health
The
view!—
away and remembrance
like the moon's
to seize
Then—here's
clearest
sand it stops not, like the stream,
from
One draught
restrain;
they threw,
stay in one place
It is not only important
Then
could
of rememb'rance
they are bright
On the contrary
On life's barren
forget:—
no pow'r
me `twas the robe
of memory
I cannot
their progress
O'er
The power
pleasures
set,
past!—
of the days
in "Memory's
shrine"
"happily
past"
refurbishing
or happily
the present.
The fifth poem in "Sweets" entitled "Happy Meetings" deals with the sorrow of
parting with friends and the joy of reunion. The truth of lived experience is
— 89 —
encapsulated
in the ex perience
How do friends
But I Know
part!—I
itself
as the poet confesses,
would
not tell—
it, alas! Too well:—
In the first stanza the sorrow friends feel upon parting is compared to the pangs
a woman suffers when she sleeps alone in her bed as a widow.
The second
stanza elaborates upon the joys of meeting. The poet compares this happiness to
a "meteor's ray and a desert stream concluding thus,
As welcome—yes!
The smile
The
last
virtuous
sinful
nothing
poem
And quite
of friends
is when
in the collection
life and the serenity
life are troubled
by their
as sweet
they meet.
called
such
"The
faces
Death
acquire
conscience
when
of Righteous"
upon
death.
celebrates
Those
a
who lead
they die but the righteous
have
to fear:
Where
at the silent
The lonely
Where
taper
shines
`Tis there
shades
we feel when
to breathe
See him unmindful
Look back
The poet draws
sepulchral
the glow-worm
But see the good
Longing
hour of dark midnight
and the deathwatch
conscience
sharpest
ticks,
pricks
,—
man on the bed of death,
his last, his conquering
of all cares
with comfort
a lesson
light,
from
breath—
and fears
on the fleeted
the lives
years;
of the righteous
— 90 —
and hopes
to
"go gently"
a
to his grave
and be remembered
the im provement
of the lives of widows
Be my lament,
the helpless
And all my epitaph
In fact there
are six kinds
sweetness
of a woman's
immortal
fame,
meeting
feeling
for his good
widow's
that are described
the sweetness
of a righteous
life, the individual
and his relationship
Stanzas"
woman
to in earlier
referred
redder
demeanor
sweetness
approaches
and uses them,
These
`sweets'
of
of friends
the world
of
to construct
his
give significance
to
with others.
Stanzas
In the "Elegiac
lips
tear, the sweetness
the
Derozio
six `sweets'
web of life and afterlife.
Elegiac
past,
life.
own philosophical
The
especially
in the six poems—the
of a woman's
of a delightful
these
work
cry.
of sweetness
through
social
and orphans:
sigh!
the sweetness
and sentiment
and,
the orphan's
smile,
and the sweetness
deeds
than
Derozio
"coral
was peaceful
poems
rock."
describes
the physical
as "C—"
She
of the fleeting
Her eyes were bright
spoke
and she exhibited
beauty
a "language
great
sympathy
fair
and
like stars,
her
true."
Her
for others.
Her soul was calm,
Her voice was balm
To soothe
the child
of wo—
Her hand she'd stretch
To aid the wretch
Who
Her
smile
had no where
was
like
to go
the "morning
beam,"
-
91
but
-
now
she is dead
and
gone
to
heaven—"And
shows
The
heaven
the impact
poem
its own."
of his Christian
"Love
metaphysical
reclaim'd
like Andrew
Tho'
fate thy form from
Tho'
destiny
"The
Midnight
poet exhorts
disturbs
reflecting
Than
The
the language
poem
converse
with things
all the empty
natural
moral
wisdom
"The
Tables
Turned"
One impulse
May teach
mountains"
and sends
In the bewildering
from
Of day, and all its troubles
Reasons
of the
of tone and rhythm:
sweeping
you more
of the sea.
ripples
of th
e night
against
mines."
The screech
on the surface
the lighter
of an owl
of the sea
thoughts
and concerns,
world;
with starry
skies,
that more
gloryings
of wisdom
teach
of man;
of the poem
published
seems
to imitate
in 1798 where
wood
of man
-
92 -
William
Wordsworth
a
The
silence,
of another
from a vernal
vision
to the "Golconda
in the mirror
of the night
now sever'd
And holding
of the qualities
part,
a grand
the "Chilian
the moonlight.
Is taught
some
heart
us to see the heavens
The heart,
theme
sever—
provides
sky from
the silence
Christian
true to thee for ever.
Hour"
star-sprinkled
shares
in terms
me should
our fortunes
Will throb—and
Me Not"
Marvell
Still, Lady, this devoted
overtly
upbringing.
Me and Leave
poets
The poem's
Wordsworth
writes,
Of moral evil and of good
Than all the sages can.
Derozio however does not paint a world of idyllic life but seems to be aware of
the cruel world of daily life and the "jarring deeds of man." Yet he sings of man's
"wrongs
, his woes, and his transient joys." The poet attempts to grasp the present
and the future and transcend the "low world" where the mind casts "a shade upon
the things of earth."
In "Stanzas"
the poet reminds
the "shrine"
before
meeting
they
parted.
forward
with
Song"
we come
to know
must
hope to a rapturous
have
the "vows"
hope
and
look
they made
at
forward
to
To her for whom
To death's
The poet
throbbings
strikes
." However
in "The
Bard's
Last
verse is due
I sung of yore:—
dark home
And now those
meeting
that she is dead:
And I have lov'd—A
where
They
not to forget
again:
"Look
This
his beloved
her spirit flew,
songs I sing no more
a "plaintive
strain"
on his harp
that expresses
the "saddest
of [his] heart," followed by a "sad repose."
impression
is confirmed
a poignant
ineluctable
Like roses
fragrant
blooming
in "Lines
mood
Written
of sorrow
o'er the grave
at the Request
is struck
a fair and
wreath,
That hides,
with all its loveliness
-
the wreck
93 -
of
of a Young
at the very beginning:
Lady"
life beneath;
The poet now wishes to flee to a place of "some unbroken rest" to bemoan the
loss and find "relief" in tears. But soon he realizes that his heart has become so
hard that he has lost the desire to cry:
The sacred spring of sympathy has long ago
been dried:-Though sorrow in my desert breast her habitation
make,
My
heart will heed her dwelling not—it is too
stern to break.
The poet admits that his heart has become "too stern to break" that prevents him
from grieving anymore.
The Ballad Stanzas
In "Ballad Stanzas" the first three poems are "Addressed to Her, Who Will Best
Understand Them." The poems again make reference to "C—" who has given a
"lock of brown hair" as a parting gift . But the sorrow of separation is
unmitigated by the promise of reunification.
He dreams of the brunette,
Then I turn to your lock of bonney (sic) brown hair,
And I kiss it, and fancy I press
The lips I love best;—and I turn me to rest,
And my dreams give me back your caresses:
Oh! `tis only a dream!—for the cool morning air
—94 —
Re-visits my pillow.—But thou art not there.
However when he wakes up he misses her with greater intensity.
The next poem "To Hope" is again "Addressed to the Same." The passage of
time does not bring any joy or respite:
To-morrow
No charm,
comes,
but brings
disease
or grief
And am I ever doom'd
Sweet
This
Hope,
is so because
and cruelty
Once
Them."
relieving!
to see,
thy promises
deceiving.
she has become
"false
he continues
again
to me
the next
The woman
to "cherish"
poem
and cruel,"
her "delusion"
is "Addressed
alluded
to Her,
but in spite
of her falseness
till he dies.
Who
to here is maddeningly
Will
beautiful,
Best
a rose of beauty,
with lips like rubies:
Then,
rose of beauty,
haste
and cheer
With
lips like rubies
come
and smile;
Ah! Trust
my faith,
I love too fondly
She is again
referred
The false
me,
and do not fear me,
to beguile!
to as "C—"
and cunning
who is both "cunning"
may allure
thee,
And win thee only to betray:
- 95 -
Understand
and "alluring:"
I would
not, C—, so secure
thee,
Nor win thy favor for a day
And
yet one kind
The poem
word
is signed
from
her would
make
his heart
"throb
with
pleasure."
"Heynr."
The next poem "Come Softly Love: A Duett Portuguese Air" deliberates
the transience
of pleasure
but seems childishly
romantic.
upon
In the poem the
persona, Juan, finds his inamorata, Inez, an "angel of Night." He waits for her in
his "galley" to take her over magical waters of the "swift" Tajo River, the longest
river of the Iberian Peninsula,
where they will watch the "lingering
star" and
enjoy their romantic sojourn. Juan promises to play on his "[be] witching guitar"
to bide the time as the galley floats on the river, but Inez points out that such
pleasure is transient as it "fades" like a flower in the sun. Juan agrees and asks
her to hasten before the moments fly away. Interestingly the poem is signed
"East Indian
," though it reflects upon a Portuguese myth. Derozio does not
claim his fraternal identity but the demographic identity of being Indian.
The
next poem,
authenticity.
"Rain,"
Rain
rain melody
has Derozio's
has been
or Megh
the perennial
Malhar
which
a poet has sung of the mesmeric
itself.
Bengali
the regret
this
poem,
flower
and
rain
rain
blossom,
brooks."
poets
from
clouds
comes
every
When
departs
of poets
to bring
to Rabindranath
and the desire
sad spirit
the title perhaps
of the East Indian
times
to the earth
under
preoccupation
was believed
power
earliest
evoke
rain
full name
for union
as a water
revive.
Rain
it leaves
appears."
- 96 -
song
with
that
embodied
rain when
rain clouds
Tagore
to give it
sung.
in the
Many
and the rain
have sung
about
the lover/beloved.
makes
drops
also replenish
behind
a rainbow
every
In
drooping
the "fountains
"on which
love
In the poem
wonders
entitled
"The
at the omnipotence
Oh! They
Stress"
the
poet's
of the mind.
are eloquent
of things,
Man's
nature
half divine;
Speak
the high language
communes
with
the
stars
and
He writes,
which
make
and to his soul
of another
world!
The final poem called "Ode to the Setting Moon (part)" expresses a longing for
the other world as the poet sees the "souls" of people "flitting" at the edge of the
moon playing with angels. Though the poet longs for the celestial `other' world
he cannot escape the earthly world of love. The tension within this contradiction
provides strength to the poem.
The theme of love and betrayal runs through these poems and yet there is an
abiding concern with social issues like the plight of widows and orphans.
His
social concerns
The
become quite powerful
Fakeer of Jungheera,
in subsequent
poems especially
written in English iambic tetrameter,
where he weaves a
magical tale around the life of a widow and her newfound but tragic love with a
fakeer. We can also discern Derozio's love for nature and his belief in friendship
through
these unpublished
romanticism
poems.
At times his humanism
cloys and his
strikes as somewhat dreary, but Derozio introduced
an aesthetic
discourse in literature that could at once critique the upper caste Hindu society of
the nineteenth century and the discriminatory
early poems we can see his preoccupation
immortality,
which resurface
British colonialism.
Even in these
with the twin themes of death and
more strongly in his later poems.
The love for
womankind in these poems, the loss of his mother a decade earlier, and death of
his sister during this period evoked longings for an imagined homeland, which
Derozio
homeland
understood
to be India.
helped Derozio
This strong identification
to anchor his uncertain
-
97 -
identity
with India as a
and locate the
discourse
of `nation
the nineteenth
as mother'
within
a truly
Indian
literary
and social
milieu
of
century.
NOTES
1
Dr. Abirlal Mukhopadhyay,
Sri Amar Dutta et. al., Song of the Stormy Petrel: Complete
Works of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, (Calcutta: Progressive Publishers, 2001). All future
references are made from this text.
2
Elliot Walter Madge in Henry Derozio, The Eurasian
Poet and Reformer, rpt., Complete
Works p. iv. Derozio was baptized at St. John's Cathedral (old) on August 12, 1809 by Rev.
3
James Ward, the same chaplain who later baptized William Makepeace Thackeray.
Vinay Dharwadker, "Formation of Indian English Literature," Literary Cultures in History:
Reconstructions
from South Asia, (New Delhi: OUP, 2004), p. 225.
4
C.J. Montegue, "Henry Louis Vivian Derozio," The Oriental Magazine, Volume 1, No 10,
October 1843, reprinted in Complete Works, pp. 443-7.
5
Ibid, pp. 445-6.
6
In the absence of English medium schools, much of the acquisition of English in the early
nineteenth
century
was based on individual
effort and initiative.
The spread of English
only began when the English started to set up schools in India. However as early as
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries small private English institutions began to be
established in Calcutta for the education of European children. In 1731 an English medium
institution was established in Calcutta by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
In 1759 Rev. Kiernander
was immediately
started an English School with only forty eight students which
followed by the establishment
of 174 similar schools in the same year.
However only when the Free School Society of BengaI was established in 1789 in Calcutta
that the city became the center of English medium education.
thinkers and scholars who went to English academia
and Derozio.
Deb went to the Calcutta
Dharmatollah Academy of Mr. Drummond.
7
Academy
were Radhakanta
of Mr. Cummings
At Hindu College English became the medium of instruction
classical
and modern
Indian languages.
Amongst the important
The syllabus
Deb (1783-1869)
and Derozio
to
except in the teaching
of
for English
Literature
included
Richardson's Selections, Shakespeare's plays, Francis Bacon's Essays, Milton's poetical
works, Addison's Essays, Samuel Johnson's The Rambler and Rasselas, Goldsmith's
essays, history of literature and rhetoric.
Students at the college acquired a love of English
literature and an enviable command of the English language.
hub of intellectual
8
life for the young Bengalis.
The College soon became the
This brought in Enlightenment
ideas and
rationalism that led to the intellectual renaissance of Bengal in the nineteenth century.
In 1827 his sister Sophia, who had turned seventeen passed away. The impact of her death
together wit the death of his mother was felt early in his life and finds its way in themes of
regret and loss in his poems.
- 98 -
9
10
11
E. L. Daniel ed., and H. Farmayan trans., A Shi'ite pilgrimage to Mecca 1885-1886: The
`safarnameh' of Mirza Mohammad Hosayn Farahani ." (Austin: University of Texas Press,
1990). Also see R. J. Evans, "Epidemics and revolutions: cholera in nineteenth century
Europe", Past and Present, 1988, Number 120.
Elliot Walter Madge in Henry Derozio, The Eurasian Poet and Reformer, rpt., Complete
Works, ibid., p. xi.
Complete Works, p. 273.
— 99
—