শর্মিষ্ঠা

by Michael Madhusudan Dutt

Genres: Poetry

64 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1859

About the author

Michael Madhusudan Dutt, or Michael Madhusudan Dutta (Bangla: মাইকেল মধুসূদন দত্ত) was a popular 19th-century Bengali poet and dramatist. He was a pioneer of Bengali drama. Madhusudan is widely considered to be one of the greatest poets in Bengali literature and the father of the Bengali sonnet. He pioneered what came to be called amitrakshar chhanda or blank verse (Bangla:অমিত্রাক্ষর ছন্দ). His famous work, মেঘনাদবধ কাব্য, is a tragic epic. It consists of nine cantos and is exceptional in Bengali literature both in terms of style and content. With its publication, the Indian poet distinguished himself as a serious composer of an entirely new genre of heroic poetry, that was Homeric and Dantesque in technique and style, and yet so fundamentally Indian in theme.

From an early age, Dutt aspired to be an Englishman in form and manner. Born to a Hindu landed-gentry family, he converted to Christianity as a young man, to the ire of his family, and adopted the first name Michael. He dreamt of achieving great fame if he went abroad. His adolescence, coupled with the spirit of intellectual inquiry, convinced him that he was born on the wrong side of the planet, and that conservative Hindu society in early nineteenth-century Bengal (and by extension Indian society) had not yet developed the spirit of rationalistic inquiry and appreciation of greater intellectualism to appreciate him. He believed that the "free thinking" and post-Enlightenment West would be more receptive to his creative genius. He composed his early works—poetry and drama—almost entirely in English. In later life he regretted his attraction to England and the Occident. He wrote ardently of his homeland in his poems and sonnets from this period.

Reviews

[Sharmistha Sarkar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book back in 2002, gifted on my birthday by my dadu Late Shri Sudhir Chandra Majumder.It's not just because of my name or one of my favourite reads but I got enamoured to have found the exactitude with which someone has portrayed my essence and reason of my existence before I might had to experience more in life to know more about myself.

[Arif Hossain · Rating 3 out of 5]

আমি ভাবি যার ভাবে, সে তা ভাবে না।
পরে প্রাণ দিয়ে পরে, হলো কি লাঞ্ছনা।
করিয়ে সুখেরই স্বাদ, একি বিষাধ ঘটনা।
বিষম বিবাদি বিধি, প্রেমনিধি মিলিলোনা।
ভাব লাভ আশা করে, মিছে পরেরি ভাবনা।
খেদে আছি ম্রিয়মান বুঝি প্রাণ রহিল না।

নাটক আমার সব সময়ই ভালো লাগে। আর এটাও ভালো ছিলো। কিন্তু তাও প্রধান চরিত্র নিয়ে প্রশ্ন তোলা যায়। মনে হয়েছে ছোট পরিসরে চরিত্র গুলো ভালো মত ফুটিয়ে তোলা হয় নি। সমাপ্তি আরো ভালো আশা করেছিলাম।