“Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.” — T. S. Eliot
That is exactly what The Bloomsbury Book of Great Indian Love Poems
does. Before you understand it completely, you will begin enjoying the poem.
This book of great Indian love poems is exceptional in its selection,
presentation, style, font, print, cover and what not! The whole book is indeed
a treat to all the five senses, and it makes you use them thoroughly and
properly.
For a poetry lover, there can be no greater treat than reading this
book.
Poems from the Vedic period to the present day — what a vast expanse!
The collection leaves you spellbound in its structure, meaning, message and, no
doubt, love. Love, love-making and all kinds of love — every love, and just
love, love, love.
Abhay K. says, “The focus of this anthology is on the poems instead
of poets, and therefore, the anthology has been organised alphabetically with
the titles of the poems, instead of popularity of the poet.”
Moreover, the editor adds, “All the poems included in the anthology
have been voluntarily contributed by the poets and/or their translators.
Permission to include the poems has been granted by the individual poets,
translators and publishers.”
These too add a special focus to the book.
There are nearly 142 poems, from A to Y, translated from nearly 25
languages. That makes for a wide reading experience in just one book of poems.
Love poems range from lovers to love, seasons, biscoot, Raksha
Bandhan, rain, Krishna, the Lord, and many more — a whole bunch of fragrances
tied together with one beautiful theme: LOVE.
The poems vary in length — some are as deep as oceans, while a few are
just a dew drop that leaves the reader chilled.
Here, I remember Emily Dickinson:
“If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold
no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry.”
The Bloomsbury Book of Great Indian Love Poems brings
languages such as Kokborok, Mising,
Maithili, Braj Bhasha, Gondi, Sindhi, Persian, Khasi, Prakrit and Tibetan,
apart from the regional languages of the subcontinent.
It is a wake-up call to every Indian to look into the beauty of our own
motherland. For the rest of the world, it is a grand representation of a
country with endless colours — colours that add love to life and make life into
love.
Through translation and selection, these languages enter the lives of
readers who may otherwise never have encountered them. With these baby steps,
they will mingle with the larger literary world, and then we may no longer be
able to find a single, particular colour. It becomes a beautiful mingling of
many colours, languages and expressions of love.
Every poetry lover is sure to love this book and hold it dear.
Finally, this book is successful in doing what P. B. Shelley says:
“Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world
and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.”
The Bloomsbury Book of Great Indian Love Poems does
exactly that — it lifts the veil and allows us to see love, language and India
in many unfamiliar yet beautiful shades.
Do grab a copy of the book and start enjoying poetry!
(This blogpost is a part of Blogchatter's half marathon from a team member of Piyush plotters'. details here : https://www.theblogchatter.com/campaign-registrations/the-blogchatter-half-marathon-2026-version-2)
No comments:
Post a Comment