Poet Shamsur Rahman’s seventh anniversary of death was observed on Saturday morning with placing wreaths at the grave of the poet at
the Banani graveyard.
Representatives of the Jatio Kabita Parishad including Habibullah Siraji, Dr Mohammad Samad, Aslam Swani, Tarique Sujat, among others were present at the programme. Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote also showed honour to the late poet who is considered as one of the most prominent poets
of the contemporary Bangladesh.
A milad mahfil was held at the poet’s Shyamoli residence in the afternoon.
But, no cultural programme was organised marking the day as cultural organisations celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Shamsur Rahman (October 23, 1929 – August 17, 2006).
Poet Shamsur Rahman who emerged in the latter half of the 20th century, authored more than 60 collections of poems including Prothom gaan ditio mrityur agey, Roudro korotitey,
Biddhosto nilima, Je ondho shundori kade and Deshodrohi hote ichchey
korey.
He was noted as a poet, columnist and journalist.
Major themes in his poetry and writings include liberal humanism, human relations, romanticism, democracy, religious fundamentalism and more. Besides poetry, he also contributed to the realms of essays, stories, novels, translations and columns.
Shamsur Rahman was born on October 23, 1929 at his grandfather’s residence in the Old Dhaka.
He started his professional career as a co-editor in the English daily the Morning News in 1957. After the war of independence, Shamsur Rahman joined a national daily Dainik Bangla and a popular weekly Bichitra as the editor.
In his long and eventful poetic career, Shamsur Rahman has brought a change in the poetic arena of Bangladesh.
His poem Shadhinota Tumi, which is considered as the most acclaimed poem by the poet, was composed in 1971 during the war of independence of Bangladesh. In this poem, Rahman perceived the existence of freedom in tiny incidents of daily errands of Bengali people that we generally overlook. The poem finds freedom through the smile of a farmer, in sweating muscles of a young labour, in turbulence of a violent northwester, in a garden hut, in cuckoo’s song.
Shamsur Rahman’s poem Abhishap dichchi unfurls the rebellious trait of his character that is unlikely to imagine given the soft and humble image of this poet. In this poem, he cursed the Pakistani invaders and their collaborators for the rampage they unleashed in this country.
Shamsur Rahman’s career was graced with innumerous awards at both national and international level including Adamjee Award, Bangla Academy Award, Ekushey Padak , Swadhinata Dibosh Award, Mitshubishi Award of Japan, Ananda Puroshker from India and TLM South Asian Literature Award for the Masters.
Rabindra Bharati University and Jadavpur University of India conferred honorary DLit degrees upon him.
He died on August 17, 2006 after suffering from old age complications.
-With New Age input
