Henry Derozio’s Song of the Hindustanee Minstrel | A Critical Analysis
Henry Derozio’s Song of the Hindustanee Minstrel
Henry Derozio’s Song of the Hindustanee Minstrel | A Critical Analysis
Once there was a class of people who composed songs on varied themes to be sung with musical instruments. This class of people was called ‘minstrel’.This class of people was also in India in a large number. But nowadays with the spreading of modern education, this class of people has lost its demand and popularity. During the days of Derozio, this practice was alive and he himself had met many minstrels and heard them sing songs. He then, either translated the songs of the minstrel or wrote an independent song imitating the song of the minstrels. Such a song he composed is ‘Song of the Hindustanee Minstrel’. This is a love song. Through this song, the poet has expressed his sincere love for his beloved.
The poem is written in nine stanzas, each stanza consisting of four lines. Through the first three stanzas, the poet eulogizes the physical beauty of his beloved and says that when she uses the ‘surmah’, her eyes sparkle like the stars. Her dress is as beautiful as a rose. The poet tells hyperbolically that there are many valuable pearls in Oman’s sea but no richest pearl can rival his lover. There are many kinds of beautiful roses in Busrah (the name of a place where rose grows abundantly) but the cheeks of his beloved are more beautiful. In toto, his beloved is more beautiful that the young people who meet her once shall praise her and welcome her to be their beloved.
In the remaining stanzas, the poet expresses his desire for union with her beloved. He says that he will meet her beloved erelong and live in the city and then he will cheer up his beloved’s heart with his love. He wishes to forget all sorrows in life and wishes her to be hopeful to life because the poet will live with her amid joys and comfort like a king. In such a comfortable royal palace they will sing songs, and play on musical instruments and thus they will forget their woe. Together they will roam all over the world. His lover weeps but he admonishes her not to weep. They, like birds, will roam from place to place and sing songs with ‘sitar’. The world may change but his love to his beloved will never change. He shall be living and loving her beloved.
The above analysis shows that the poet’s love for his beloved is highly deep and passionate. He is blind to her love. His attraction towards her seems first to be physical and then his physical love develops into heartly love. The poet’s love expressed in the poem is highly romantic. The poet has forgotten the reality of human society and desires to live in a society that is full of love, joy and comfort.
This poem reminds us of the love poems of Andrew Marvel, a 17th-century English poet who also wrote some exquisite poems on the theme of love.
The style and language of the poem are very simple like his other poems, but the imagery of the poem is richer. Its imageries are not far-fetched but common. As the theme and matter of the poem are sensitive so is the description of the theme. 0 0 0
Henry Derozio’s Song of the Hindustanee Minstrel
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N. B. This article entitled ‘Henry Derozio’s ‘Song of the Hindustanee Minstrel” originally belongs to the book ‘Indian English Poetry Criticism‘ by Menonim Menonimus. Henry Derozio’s Song of the Hindustanee Minstr
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