Jibanananda Das was an eminent Bengali poet of Calcutta of the 19th century. He was a Professor in English Literature who penned some of the best Bengali Literary works. His works included poems, short stories and essays.
Early Life of Jibanananda Das
He was born in an educated family on February 17, 1899. His father Satyananda Das was a teacher in a school, and also the editor of the Brahmabadi publication. His mother Kusumkumari was fond of writing poetry. In1917, Jibanananda matriculated from Barisal Brajamohan School, passed his IA from BM College in 1917. In 1919, he became an Honors degree holder in English. He completed his MA in English from the Presidency College in 1921. Besides English, he was also a student of Law for a brief period.
Jibanananda's Early Career
Jibanananda initially started teaching at the Calcutta City College between 1922 and 1928. He also taught at the Prafulla Chandra College in Bagerhat. The next one year, he worked as a teacher in Delhi’s Ramjash College. Later on, till the partition of India in 1947, Jibanananda was a teacher in BM College in Barisal.
Works of Jibanananda Das
Jibanananda had started writing poems from a very young age.His early works include Jhara Palak in
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1927,meaning Fallen Feathers. The other major works were his Banalata Sen in 1942, Satti Tarar Timir in 1948, Rupasi Bangla, in 1934, Dhusar Pandulipi in 1936, Mahaprthibi in1944 and Bela Abela Kalbela in 1961.
Jibanananda is regarded as the best Bengali poet after Rabindranath Tagore. However, the theme of his poetries was different from Tagore’s. His poetries dealt more on the urban culture of his time and had western influences. However, the traditional rural touch of Bengal was also present in his poems. This was evident in his rendering of Rupasi Bangla (Beautiful Bengal), which earned him the title of ‘Rupasi Banglar Kavi’ (the poet of Beautiful Bengal). Besides, there was a feeling of loneliness, frustration and depression in his poems as well.
His works also included some beautiful novels and short stories. His novels were mostly published after his death. Some of them are Malyaban, Jibanpranali, Sutirtha, Basmatir Upakhyan and Jalpaihati. He also wrote a number of short stories that were collectively published in 1972 as Jibanananda Dasher Galpa, meaning Stories of Jibanananda Das.
‘Banalata Sen’ was one of his most popular works, which was awarded in 1953 at All Bengal Rabindra Literature Convention. In 1954, ‘Jibanananda Dasher Shrestha Kabita’, fetched him the Sahitya Academy Award.
In the year 1954, one day on his way back from an evening walk, Jibanananda met with a tram accident. After eight days of struggle he finally breathed his last on 22nd October 1954.
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