THE BUILDERS : A POEM BY H.W. LONGFELLOW

 

THE BUILDERS : A POEM BY H.W. LONGFELLOW

‘THE BUILDERS’ is one of the best-loved poems of  the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (27.2.1807 – 24.3.1882).  By the builders, he means nation-builders and includes in his list everybody, without any condition. In another poem with a similar theme , he says it is not wealth that makes a nation great and strong but those loyal people who stand firm and suffer long for her  truth and honour.

                 The poem which means that everybody, whatever be his or her assets has some contribution to make to the task of nation-building reads  as follows:

            THE BUILDERS

All are architects of Fate,

Working in these walls of Time;

Some with massive deeds and great,

Some with ornaments of rhyme.

 

Nothing useless is, or low;

Each thing in its place its best;

And what seems but idle show

Strengthens and supports the rest.

 

Truly shape and fashion these;

Leave no yawning gaps between;

Think not, because no man sees,

Such things will remain unseen.

 

In the elder days of Art,

Builders wrought with greatest care

Each minute and unseen part;

For the Gods see everywhere.

 

Let us do our work as well,

Both the unseen and the seen;

Make the hose, where Gods may dwell,

Beautiful, entire, and clean.

 

Rise our lives are incomplete,

Standing in these walls of Tie,

Broken stairways, where the feet

Stumble as they seek to climb.

 

Build today, then, strong and sure,

With a firm and ample base;

And ascending and secure

Shall tomorrow find its place.

 

Thus alone can we attain

To those turrets, where the eye

Sees the world as one vast plain,

And one boundless reach of sky,

 

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5^th April 2023                                                                                                                 G.R.Kanwal

 

AMONG MY FAVOURITE POEMS

 AMONG MY FAVOURITE POEMS

AMONG MY FAVOURITE POEMS

The title of the poem is The glories of our blood and state. It is written by James Shirley (1596-1666), a famous dramatist and poet of his times. I first read it more than half a century ago as a class X student.  It impressed me a lot even  then with a different title Death the Leveller.

The poem which reads as follows is ‘ on the power of good deeds to survive the strangle hold of death whose ‘dismal march tramples down human pride’ and whose vividly personified picture  appears as the ultimate conqueror , having a realm  where perfect equality prevails.  

            The glories of our blood and state

            Are shadows, not substantial things;

            There is no armour against Fate;

            Death lays his icy hand on kings:

            Sceptre and crown

            Must tumble down,

            And in the dust be equal made

             With the poor crooked scythe and spade

 

            Some men with swords may reap the field,

            And plant fresh laurels where they kill ;

            But their strong nerves at last must yield ;

            They tame but one another still.

            Early or late,

            They stoop to fate,

            And must give up their murmuring breath,

            When they, pale captives, creep to death

 

The garlands wither on your brow,

Then boast no more your mighty deeds;

Upon Death’s purple altar now

See where the victor-victim bleed;

Your heads must come

To the cold tomb;

Only the actions of the just

Smell sweet and blossom in the dust.

 

According to the British critic Marjorie Boulton  (1824-2017) , though didactic in tone, and on a solemn subject, the poem is not dull and flat. It is a true lyric, for it comes from a play in which it was  sung.     

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28^th March 2023                                              G. R. Kanwal

  

 

HAPPIEST SEASON OF LIFE

 

            HAPPIEST SEASON OF LIFE

On this ‘International Day of Happiness’ (20^th March), let me share with you the following quotation which I came across a long time ago. It is attributed to an aged man who did not disclose his name and to the question , “Which is the happiest season of life”, he replied :

 

“When spring comes, and in the soft air the buds are breaking on the trees, and they are  covered with blossoms.  I think, how beautiful is spring ! And when the summer comes, and covers the trees with its heavy foliage, and singing birds are among the branches, I think, how beautiful is summer ! When autumn loads them with golden fruit, and their leaves bear the  gorgeous tint of frost, I think, how beautiful is autumn ! And when it is sere winter, and there is neither foliage nor fruit , then I look up through the leafless branches, as I never could until now, and see the stars shine.”

 

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20^th March 2023                                                                                        G.R.Kanwal

MATTHEW ARNOLD SAID

 

 

                                                MATTHEW ARNOLD SAID

English poet and critic Matthew Arnold  (1822-1888) said in his poem Dover Beach :

                             …the world which seems

                                    To lie before us like a land of dreams

                                    So various, so beautiful, so new,

                                    Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,

                                    Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain.

Some readers will dub Arnold,  on the basis of this extract, a pessimist, which he is not.  He is a realist.  A famous proverb echoes Arnold’s view : Appearances are deceptive. 

 

Several great poets have compared this world to a prison house where human beings are sent to serve their punishment for the offence which they allegedly  committed in heaven.

 

And according to Lord Buddha, the world is a place of suffering.  

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12^th March 2023                                                                G. R. Kanwal

                                                           

 

OSHO SAID THAT

 

OSHO    SAID THAT

Life is not punishment. It is so valuable that it cannot be punishment. It is a reward. Chandra Mohan Jain by actual name, Osho was a great mystic.  His innumerable addresses cover many prominent mystics, saints, philosophers and their beliefs.   All of the addresses which are also published in the form of books and as extracts in journals are packed with novel ideas.  They not only enlighten the reader but also inspire and astonish him.

             Here is what he adds to “Life is not punishment.”

    You should be thankful to existence that it has chosen you  -  to breathe through you, to love through you, to sing through you, to dance through you. 

Osho believes that if one keeps growing up in maturity and understanding, one never becomes old.  one is always young because one is always learning. Learning keeps you young because you are not burdened with repressions. You are weightless. You feel as if you were just a child –a new comer to the beautiful earth.

          OSHO was born  in Kuchwada now in Madhya Pradesh on 11^th December 1931 and passed away on January 19, 1990. Known as a great mystic,  he is studied all over the world because of his astonishing ideas.

As a mystic and a critic of unscientific ideas, he is both respected and criticised  

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6^th February 2023                                              G.R.Kanwal  

NEHRU’s VIEWS ON SECULARISM

 

NEHRU’s VIEWS ON SECULARISM

In a speech at Madurai  on 5^th October 1961, free India’s first Prime Minister, Pt Jawaharlal Nehru (14 October 1889 – 27 May 1964) said: The conception of Bharat as one great land which the people considered a holy land has come down the ages and has joined us together, even though we have had different political kingdoms and even though we may speak different languages. This silken bond still keeps us together in many ways.  

             Throughout these thousands of years, this land has been ours , ours in mind, ours in heart, and ours in spiritual heritage. I who come from the north feel at home here, because I am in a part of my country, among friends, among colleagues and among people who have the same ideas, same thoughts and same urges.  Similarly, the north does not belong exclusively to those who live there, but belongs to you also, even though you live in the sough of India. The Himalayas are yours as much as they are mine, and Kanyakumari and Madurai are mine as much as yours. This land is a common heritage of ours, where we have been born and which we seek to serve.

             Throughout the ages geography has made us one great land, history has made us one land, the common culture has made us one land, and our common aspirations, our common hopes and fears, victories and defeats, have made us one. That is the past. In the present, by our common labours, common sacrifices and common struggles, we gained the freedom of India.   

                How then can we today, when we are at last politically united and when we are a free country, allow ourselves to destroy that unity which we have inherited and disturb that freedom which we have struggled to achieve? The past and present have provided a common ground to us. So also must the future be common to us, the future that we are striving to attain, the future of millions of our people, their welfare.  In whatever region we may live, this calls for unity of purpose, unity of endeavour and sacrifice.”

                   On another occasion almost at the same time :Our constitution lays down that we are a secular state, but it must be admitted that this is not wholly reflected in our mass living and thinking. We have not only to live up to the ideals proclaimed in our constitution, but make them a part our thinking and living and thus build up a really integerated nation.

                     Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru is no longer with us, but his views about the unity of India and her secularism are .  Let us continue to embrace them.  

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14^th November 2022                                                               G.R.Kanwal

 

GURU NANAK Said GOD IS ONE

                      GURU NANAK Said

                                   GOD IS ONE

 

There is ONE God’, all powerful.  Everything happens with His will. He is al-powerful.  The world is just a shadow, a mere pretext.

 

God raises him whom He pleases. With his pleasure the sea flows over the desert and the lotus blooms in the sky.

 

Nobody can find fault with God’s doing.

 

All things in the world are transient ; God alone is eternal. Even the sun and the earth will vanish.

God is  formless and immaterial. He is Truth. He belongs to everything and everything belongs  belongs  to Him.  He is the creator and the creation.

 

He  is the true and the  eternal.

He was true in the beginning is  perpetually true since then. Hs true today and will always  remain true.   

               

           

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8^th November 2022                                                                 G.R.Kanwal