Analysis of Selected Lines ( The Fakeer of Jungheera) By Henry Derozio

ANALYSIS OF SELECTED LINES (THE FAKEER OF JUNGHEERA) BY HENRY DEROZIO

 

The Fakeer of Jungheera is a work by a Eurasian. The work has remained shrouded under the cover of time for more then a hundred years. It is the scholar’s spirit of inquiry that has opened up a treasure house of literary creation. Left to us by our first Indian English poet Henry Derozio. The work serves as a social document of the time period in which it was writer. The time period of its creation is the years of slavery under the British rule, and the spirit of independence or the longing for Bharatmata’s freedom is clearly visible in the beginning of the poem.

And let the guerdon of my labour be

My fallen country! One kind wish for thee!

A single reading of his poems revels his romantic nature.  His lines breathe the spirit of revolution. His taught advocate social reforms. And it is the rare combination of the spirit of revolution and poetic expressions which renders his poems as holy as the slokas written by the ancient’s sages for

the perfect blend of reality and imagination Derozio does not shut his eyes to the present state of the society which has fallow into the pit of degradation due to superstition, the cast system and the British rule.   

Kits, Shelly, and Byron seem to have influenced Derozio to a considerable extent. He thinks like Byron. He feels like Kits and expressly like Shelly. Some critics believe that he was a blind imitator of these poets. But no other poet could have grasped and worded the true spirit of the India so realistically and poetically to as Derozio did following the foot steps of the romantic poet.

Canto First

Canto first reminds us of the love poems return during the Elizabethan age. The first five lines have the same teachers as the lines penned down by Shakespeare.

Affection are not made for merchandize.-

What will ye give in barter for the heart?

Has this world wealth enough to buy the store

Of hopes, and feelings, which are linked for ever

With woman’s soul?

These lines clearly indicate that Derozio must have come under a strong influence of the Elizabethan poets too. His style and Diction (choice of words) show how successfully Derozio imbedded a set of poetic technique from those poets.

The sun like a golden urn

Where floods of light ever burn,

And fall like blessings fast on earth,

Bringing its beauties brightly forth.

The description of the places bears a strong resemblance with the description given by Coleridge in his incomplete poem ‘kublakhan.’

                                                   Jungheera’s rocks are hoar and steep,

And Ganges’ wave is broad and deep,

………………………………………

………………………………………

Those rocks, the stream’s victorious foes,

Frown darkly proud as on it flows;

Derozio’s scence of musicality is worth nothing. The same pattern changes according to the varying moods of the poem. Some times the music is harsh (cacophony) and sometimes it is very sweet. It can be said that it is not just his choice of words but also his care in organizing these words in and ordered, which produces the same mood as is produced by the words, which make him true poet.

God of this glorious universe! – The sea

Smiles in thy glance, and gladdens in thy ray,

And lifteth up its voice in praise to thee

Giver of good, creator of the day!

* Orchestration in Derozio’s poem:-

Derozio must have had an ear for music. His poems are easy to set to music because of their rhyme and rhythm. ‘Chorus of Brahmuns’ in faker of jungheera states out because of musicality.

Scatter, scatter flowerets round,

Let the tinkling cymbal sound;

Strew the scented orient spice,

Prelude to the sacrifice;

No ear can fail to notice how the mood is created through the repetition of certain sounds. In hymn to the sun the rhyme scheme is ABAB. That means the last word of the first line rhymes with the last word of the third line and the last word of the second line with the last word of the forth line. Derozio’s skill in handling the meter is commendable.

When all is darkness, like the sad soul’s night,

                         And tempests lower like grief upon our hearts,

Affrighted nature sees thy forehead bright,

                         The black storm furls his banner, and departs.

It would not be exaggeration to say that the poem is a fine collage of the poet’s thoughts, music, expression, cultural belief, and the indelible impression the romantics have left on Derozio is specially The Legend of the Shushan remains the reader of the beautiful musical poems produced during Romantic Revival.

And of youth is the time, the joyful time

When visions of bliss are before us;

But alas! When gone, in our sober prime

We sigh for the days flown o’er us.

* Conclusion:-

                     My objective was to discuss the musicality in the poem, the impacts of the Romantics and some other unnoticed fetchers of the beautiful poem. Science, did not intended to discuss the story, I have refrained from narrating the story in prose. I believe that the magic of poetry lies in versification to some extents and paraphrasing a poem kills.