The 115th anniversary of birth of poet Jibanananda Das, one of the greatest Bengali poets, will be celebrated today at his ancestral town Barisal today.
Like previous years, Jatiya Kabita Parishad Barisal unit has organised a programme at the Poet Jibanananda Memorial Hall at the parental house of the poet on Kobi Jibanananda Das Sarak in the city.
The programme will include placing flower wreath at the portrait of the poet and discussion.
Barisal Government BM College, where the poet studied and later taught, has organised a daylong Jibanananda Festival in two sessions.
The morning session will feature discussion on the poet, recitation of his poems and presentation of music and dance recitals by the students and teachers of the college.
In the evening session, singers and bands from Dhaka will perform in an open air concert. Singer Maqsood, Kafil Ahmed and others and band groups such as Sahojia and Chitkar will perform at the concert, said the organisers.
‘A festival observance committee headed by Professor Shah Sajeda has been formed to celebrate the poet’s birth anniversary,’ said principal of the college Professor Fazlul Huq, who is scheduled to inaugurate the programme as chief guest.
Born on February 17, 1899, JibananandaDas is arguably the most influential poet of the post-Tagore era.
He died following an accident on October 22, 1954 in Kolkata.
Jibanananda, best known as the poet of Ruposi Bangla, is the creator of Banalota Sen — a character embodying the serene beauty of Bangali woman and nature, evaluates professor Dr Md Muhsin, head of English department of Barisal University.
As a teacher of English in Barisal and Kolkata, he had profound knowledge of the works of Mallarme, Rimbaud, Valery, Pound, and Eliot, which had influenced Das’ career. He was unhappy with the conditions of modern living and often expresses a deeply tragic sensibility.
Weirdness came from Jibanananda Das. Grotesque images and surrealist expansion of the poetic imagination was a feature of the modernism in Bangla literature, Professor Muhsin said.
-With New Age input
