A landscape of poetic images

Poems of An October Evening
A Selection of Russian Poetry
Meghdut

Poems of An October Evening was launched recently at the Russian Science and Culture Centre in Dhaka. A recitation of poems composed by some of the leading Russian poets, translated into English and Bangla, preceded the launch. The book has been published by 'Meghdut', a cultural group engaged in promoting poetry recitation. Meghdut has been involved in such endeavours in its conviction that recitation is a distinct avenue of performing arts among the younger generation. The members of Meghdut are committed to working together to promote the Bangla language through quality recitation and at the same time acquainting themselves with poetry written in different languages.
As it happens, Poems of an October Evening is a bilingual anthology of Russian verse. The collection is an outstanding and valuable work for poetry lovers and the practitioners of poetry in Bangladesh. For a long time, our poets have waited for a publication that would help them in their research and study. The aim of this innovative project is to provide an intelligently chosen, well-translated and comprehensive anthology of Russian poetry from the 17th century to the 19th century.
The 72-page book presents three centuries of Russian poetry. Poets included are Alexander Pushkin, Nikolay Zabolotsky, Yevgeny Baratynsky, Fyodor Tiutchev, Mikhail Lermontov, Vladimir Khlebnikov, Boris Pasternak, Yaroslav Smelyakov, Gavrila Derzhavin, Andrey Voznesensky, Sergei Yesenin, Joseph Utkin, Vladimir Mayakovsky and Yevgeny Yevtushenko. The book includes, for good measure, biographical information on the poets included in the anthology. The chief goal behind the publication is to throw light on the cultural traditions of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a time that that clearly produced some of the best in terms of Russian poetry.
The collection is clearly designed for preservation and for painstaking, thorough study. It is no mere collection in the sense of being a collage of poems by a set of poets. It is rather a book fundamentally constructed on the principle of the roots of classic poetry. To any intellectually oriented individual in our country, it will be obvious that the book upholds the glory of the Russian poetic tradition. Most of the poems are romantic and nostalgic and narrate the personal feelings of the poets. These poets also project their feelings and ideas on nature, beauty, human relations, emotions, sentiments, joy, regret and other aspects of everyday human life. By reading through the book, the pattern of poetry composed by every poet emerges in all of his unique style.
All poets are individualists and carry a personal poetic sign. The profundity and beauty of Russian poetry is well known to poetic circles in Bangladesh. Russian poetry is well read and very highly placed in world literature. The poetry of such renowned figures as Pushkin, Nikolay Zabolotsky, Andrey Voznesensky and Joseph Utkin are treasured by the entire literate population, memorised, recited, and applied to the trials and tribulations of everyday life in Russia.
Takir Hossain is a journalist and reviews books.