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ISSN: 0974-892X

VOL. V
ISSUE I

January, 2011

 

 

Sudhir K. Arora

Stephen Gill’s Muse: Humanitarian in Nature

He is an angel, sent by the goddess to
Preach the Deity’s gospel;
he is a brilliant lamp, unconquered by darkness
And inextinguishable by the wind. It is filled with
Oil by Ishtar of Love, and lighted by Apollon of Music.
(Khalil Gibran Reader 321)

            What Khalil Gibran penned about a poet is quite applicable to Stephen Gill. Stephen Gill, who is a Canada-based multiple award winning poet whose roots are in the centuries-old culture of the subcontinent India, is determined to spread the message of peace in the world with the intention of promoting the values of tolerance, understanding and co-existence. In his poetic volumes, namely, Songs before Shrine, Shrine, Flashes and The Flame, he creates a world where there is justice, love, harmony, peace, security and brotherhood. Like Shaw, he writes art for life’s sake but he is not a propagandist. Being a lover of peace, he will use his pen to pacify the frenzy of violence. What he writes, he writes for the betterment of the humanity. With love, this bard of peace is on the way of a mission—mission of filling the world with the songs of peace, values and freedom. From the very early childhood, he has struggled and is determined to carry on despite the storms of circumstances. “I shall pursue my odyssey / through the barren regions of the moor” (The Flame 152). 

            Love and social concerns are the thematic threads that weave the texture of Gill’s poetic corpus. His verse is the mirror that reflects the images of love—love for mother, love for country, love for the world, love for men as human beings etc. As the feeling of love is deep rooted in his heart, he allows no place for hatred. Like Tagore, he has a vision—vision of peace and prosperity in the world. He invokes the Flame for his endeavour to bring peace. It is the Flame who supports the exploited and oppressed. She is the creation, a mysterious power that can be seen only through the glasses of peace. He prays to her to give him the softness of her light “to weed out the spite / the dark / the frowning evil / the war / the misery / the hard days / and for dialogue to guide / the good to lead” (The Flame 110). Service to humanity is his orison to the Flame. His long poem, The Flame is distinctive in itself because of its peace promoting spirit in the world diseased with terrorism. It offers a comprehensive poetic study of destruction caused by the maniac messiahs, despair out of this destruction and devotion to fight against it with the united efforts under the guidance of the eternal Flame. The maniac messiahs tempt men with “knowledge, / easy money and weight” in order to become their saviour while in truth they enjoy stilling “the nightingale of freedoms / uprooting the tree where the bird sings” (The Flame 102). They are monsters in the guise of messiahs who are interested only in destruction. The poet in Stephen Gill has waged a war against these maniac messiahs by uniting the masses making them aware of the evil design. He is faithful to Canada, the land of his living. For him, Canada is the dove and for this dove, his love will never come to an end. Mark the excerpt for his declaration of his love for Canada: “A peace-adoring dove / never my love / shall cease for thee / my Canada” (Songs before Shrine 21). Love is the religion by which he lives. He has adopted the religion of love because of its cementing force that binds the people into one without considering caste, colour, creed, boundary or language. It is his firm faith that “Nations that extend love / beyond their boundaries / bloom boundlessly” (Flashes 31). Love is the panacea that can cure all the human maladies. He believes that all the human beings are the leaves of a tree the source of which is God. He is quite anti to war as it not only “pollutes the air / making life very hard” but also “produces untold terrors / and stocks tearing tension” (Songs before Shrine 54). It cheats the people as it plays a game—game of violence involving people in killing one another. It is an irony that “War / buys the blossom of a mother / to slaughter the blossom of another” (Flashes 30).

            Social concerns make Gill’s verse realistic in tone. He raises many relevant social issues like discrimination, tribal war, pollution, AIDS, cancer, slavery, drug-addiction, soaring price, unemployment etc. Through his poems, he not only voices pain and suffering resulting from social evils but also shows that how far society and its set-up are responsible directly or indirectly for creating them. In the poem ‘Amputee’, he presents a pathetic tale of a girl who is sexually abused.  This girl is without name though amputee itself reveals the mental agony which she has suffered at the hands of society. At school, she becomes a victim of the racist ruffians’ lust. Her father “being alcoholic, large, sad and lonely” harasses her sexually with the threat that “if she ever complained / she would be sent to a foster house” (Shrine 110). Being abused from the very childhood, she loses her faith in God, men and even herself. She feels herself “a burnt out candle” (Shrine 108). She wants to be free from “the clutches of grief / and guilt” (Shrine 113). The poet raises his finger against the social evils in the poems like—‘Familiar Scene’, ‘Slavery’, ‘A Heroin Addict’, ‘Baby Who Has A Baby’, ‘Mother of AIDS-ridden Son’ giving an outlet to the protagonists who feel agony, despair, frustration, alienation and insecurity.   When he narrates the story of the protagonists, he makes the readers think and imagine the consequence.

            As Gill is the bard of peace, he recommends the people to live peacefully and meaningfully contributing something to the course that will lead to security and progress. He asks the people to embrace the bird of peace—Dove, the emblem of peace. It is Dove who does not know any discrimination. She flies with “green branches in beak” and spreads “message of hope” (Flashes 33). The poet in Gill calls her “gypsy of hope” (Flashes 34) as she does not make any fuss or draws no boundaries. She is the symbol of never ending hope. Mark the excerpt for the optimistic tune that the Dove sings:
The leaf that she carries
is from the evergreen tree
of never-ending hope.
The psalm of her silence
greets the emergence
for a cheerful tomorrow. (Shrine 149)
The poet in Gill believes that “where the dove flies without fear”, there blossoms “the lilies of justice” (The Flame 146). It is the Dove that has given Gill a throat which cannot be easily silenced. “With the throat of the dove, he offers his Songs before Shrine so that Shrine may have Flashes of The Flame for the destruction of the darkness of terrorism spread by the maniac messiahs. He is a poet of peace and, hence, wishes peace for everyone, as he knows that fear caused by the followers of Satan is the furnace that burns man from inside, to the extent, that he lives a life of a dead man. It is his firm faith that his songs of peace will awake the people and inspire them to be united against the forces that intend to destroy the dove of peace” (Arora 183). 

            The poet in Gill admits: “The experience of violence, the multicultural aspect of Canada, my travels, the life of Jesus, and world federalism, in addition to George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells, must have nourished the plant of my outlook and the literature I am producing” (Preface, Shrine 26). These are the factors responsible for the nourishment of his poetic plant. He cannot remain isolated from the society as he is well aware of the responsibilities and duties that he has to perform. He is determined to use his poetic coin for the welfare of human beings. He is much conscious of the present landscape which is polluted. Mark the excerpt for his concern:
Pollution is killing us
the gases are suffocative
hearts are being traded
religious shames are accepted. (Shrine 27)

            The poet is very apprehensive when he thinks of the Third World War. He imagines that if it occurs, no one will survive because of the diseases as a consequence of the nuclear war. He feels that “living will be / worse than dying” (Shrine 48). Mark the poet’s concern for the effect if the nuclear bombs are dropped: 
If the nuclear bombs drop
Will God save anyone?
Who will cry, who’ll console?
Will not all be lost? (Shrine 49)

            He feels that the contemporary man does not have the humanitarian spirit because of his materialistic attitude. Materialism has made him immune to human feelings. What he wishes, is the pleasure of the flesh. He makes himself “Entangled in love / wealth and health” and makes schemes “to exploit and deceive” (Shrine 90). Even love and friendship are not as genuine as they used to be. Love is sold; weddings are led by gains and friendship is based on needs. The poet wishes to be human—only human neither more nor less. Mark the excerpt for the poet’s humanitarian zeal:
I am a human
I love humankind
Smile, my friend
because
we are all one. (Songs before Shrine 61)

            Democracy is the mantra that the poet chants. It establishes the rule of law and brings justice, peace and freedom in the world. He confides in the United Nations because of its humanitarian approach to all nations. It tackles the problems which remain unsolved by the nations—be it pollution or ecology or disease. Praising the United Nations Organization for its intention of human welfare, he states:
Problems of pollution
ecology and disease
unlikely to be solved
by a nation
you handle (Songs before Shrine 50)

            As Gill’s aim is to spread peace and prosperity in the world, he makes up his mind to unmask those evil forces that work to create chaos. He longs for harmony in the world as he believes: “When / harmony disintegrates / the gates of hell open wide / for lava to flow” (Songs before Harmony 18). Hence, he invokes the Flame for her light that will reveal the true face of the destructive forces. He feels the light of the Flame in him. He becomes quite optimistic when he thinks of future of mankind. He thinks of creative forces that can bind the whole world into a single whole. Mark the excerpt for his hope and positive attitude:
Flame is still a pyramid of justice. 
Hope carves niches of safety
around towers of peace
to lay eggs even today.   (The Flame 98)

            He is also optimistic in his view when he thinks that the prodigals, who walk on the path of destruction, will come back to the right path. The Flame will bring them back to the course of light and peace.
You wait
within the shoreless mansion
of your patience
for these prodigals to return. (The Flame 134)

            As Gill’s Muse is humanitarian in nature, she is simple in her poetic idiom. What Gill writes, he writes with simplicity and the reader has not to do any mental exercise to make out the meaning. Mark the excerpt for the simplicity in expression:
Do not tell me to go anywhere
my friend.
This is our land
where our father lives.
We are all in exile. (Shrine 81)

            No doubt, he is effortless in expression. But he uses fresh images and avoids clichés. For him, poetry is not a flash; it is cooking as it needs intellectual exercise with proper knowledge of tools acquired through perspiration. His verse is human to the core. He himself writes: “Poetry is an unusual experience that shakes a poet thoroughly. A poem is by a human for humans about a deep inner experience that is symbolized through a language. To describe or illustrate, poets need tools and the struggle to master the use of the tools is perspiration. Through images and the arrangement of words and other tools, poets convey their experiences to the readers. Poetry is not only to convey that experience to readers, it is also to convey it in a beautiful way and that beautiful way should also be something like a new and delicious dish. That is where perspiration gets involved” (Preface, The Flame 18). Inspiration and perspiration are the ingredients that make his poetic dish worth praising. Absence of peace, loneliness, isolation, the web of fear etc. are the factors responsible for his journey to the island of imagination. What makes his verse differ from others is his association of sensibility which weaves thought and feeling into one texture. His narrative design is matchless. Mark the narration for the jerk of surprise and suspense:
While carrying an infant
when a cop paused to breathe
he looked down.
He was standing
on a dead child. (The Flame 73)

            He employs fresh figures of speech which create a picture before the readers who cannot remain without appreciating the poet. Sample the excerpt for the use of innovative similes and metaphors: 
A smoke of uncertainty
surrounds them like fear
and the albatross of loneliness
sits upon them
like a paper weight. (Shrine 76)

He chisels his verse and attempts to be correct technically. He not only cares for the grammatical rules but also sometimes experiments with his verse in order to create a memorable effect. His vocabulary includes mostly words from nature and the common day experiences. The way in which he uses words is unusually striking. Mark the excerpt for the amalgamation of words from nature and quotidian experiences:
The plant of democracy
blossoms into
the fruits of abundance
and its branches dance
to the tune of a song
which brews a wine for peace (Shrine 65)

His poetic expression is almost flawless because of his over consciousness for the rules of grammar, fresh images, rich phraseology and tonal variations.

            Stephen Gill wishes to instill peace and love in the world with the intention of turning it into a paradise where honesty and integrity will rule. R. K. Singh and Mitali de Sarkar consider him “a poet of values—universal peace and love, oneness and wholeness of the human race, respect for human rights, and a social structure designed to produce and promote justice” (Glimpses 179). He wishes to wear “a jacket of peace” in order to “swim to the shores / where freedoms flow” (Songs before Shrine 10). He dreams of a world free from the clutches of terrorism. He has his action plan—plan of making the masses conscious of the so-called people who outwardly seem to be messiahs but inwardly conspire to spread the terror. Serving humanity is his religion. Ashoka Weerasinghe writes: “Stephen has chosen the path of being a torch-bearer for humanity through poetry. His unique poetic prism has shown a powerful array of nuances that shed light for peaceful co-existence…His poems have been a vehicle for individual liberation and the discovery of the unknown vignettes in us of the human spirit” (Discovering Stephen Gill V). As his Muse is humanitarian in nature, he will continue to sing the songs of love and peace. He dreams of a world where “love is not suffocated / and the twigs are not damaged / by the trotting swarm of savages” (The Flame 146). To conclude, the poet in Gill is, indeed a true humanist who is determined to continue his odyssey against all the destructive forces in order to bring love and peace in the world. 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Arora, Sudhir K. The Poetic Corpus of Stephen Gill: An Evaluation. New Delhi: Sarup Book Publishers, 2009.

Asoka Weerasinghe. “Foreword”, Discovering Stephen Gill: A Collection of Papers and       Articles (ed.) Nilanshu Kumar Agarwal. New Delhi: Authors Press, 2008

Gibran, Khalil. Khalil Gibran Reader. Bombay: Jaico, 1981 second combined Jaico             impression.

Gill, Stephen. Flashe. New Delhi: Imprint, 2007

…………….  Songs before Shrine. New Delhi: Authors Press, 2007

…………….. Shrine. Allahabad: Cyberwit. net, 2008

…………….. The Flame. Canada: Vesta, 2008

Singh, R. K. and Sarkar De Mitali. “A Search for Elysium”. Glimpses. Canada: Vesta.