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SONGS FOR HARMONY
Dr. D.C. Chambial
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*Appeared in Poetcrit
(India), July 1999
page 94
Stephen Gill, a
versatile poet, a winner of several literary awards for poetry, a biographee of several reference books besides being himself
a critic and editor par excellence, is widely published around the world.
The very title of
his book and dedication reveal his concern for world peace and harmony and
project him as a pacifist like Robert Southey and
Thomas Hardy in their poems "After Blenheim" and "The Man He Killed"
respectively. In "Poet's Prayer," Gill prays to God to instill in him that divine light with which he is capable
to pen impeccable and beautiful poems, the embodiment of "heavenly
hues."
The poet longs to
borrow from a nightingale, cloud, dove, butterfly, and a bird their throat,
loftiness, ears, passion, wings, and heart respectively in order to feel the
cadence of his songs: "effects of
freedom", "razors of violence", "fragrance of love",
"the frenzy of life", and "the flesh of peace" in this world. Through his poems, he aspires
to teach man of his one and only one origin. His ardent wish is "to pacify
the tiger of violence/ and to assemble flowers of all hues/ into a single
bouquet"(12). The poet through the symbol of bouquet aspires to teach man
of humanity as the only creed. It is his life's objective to strive "to
seek out that dove/ that has been sought since Adam's time"(15), and carry
on the strife" to embrace that dove/before we die"(16). Here the poet
has used a very common symbol of dove to signify ever lasting peace. He has
"a purpose in life ... to lead / an epoch of peace". He despises
"evil,/ war, greed" (18)-- vices responsible
for the fall of man.
The kind of nirvana he
contemplates comes neither from renouncing the world nor sitting before
the idols of gods and chanting their names but in establishing a harmonious social‑order
--- "soft drops of harmony".
Though the
belligerent people have their own reasons to wage wars in the name of
"winning glory... boosting pride ... settling disputes..." etc.,
nothing good comes
out of it. It is mere
"deception". Wars always render
women widows, children orphan and bring "untold terrors"-- suffering
and sorrow on humanity.
By exposing the
horrors of wars, he
seeks to condemn
them and their progenitors. Gill advocates peace.
He is apprehensive
of total decimation of life if
ever the third world war breaks out. Time is short and man must act now or it
will be never. In his poem
"These Children"
he prays to God to bless the children so that their
minds are not poisoned by the acrimony prevailing in society and
that they as "soldiers of peace" wage a war to vanquish the Satan in
human heart and hoist the flag of peace and harmony on the earth in order to
regain the lost paradise and once again it becomes a heaven to live in.
The very titles of
his poems: "I am Still a Man,"
"The United Nations", "Harmony and Peace," "Spring
is Around" etc.
insinuate the readers
of these poems and humanity in general to work for
peace and harmony, beauty
and order, so that man becomes God's true heir of this
earth. The book testifies Gill not only as a pacifist but a philosopher who has hope in the
new dawn free from
the galls of corruption, fanaticism and chauvinism.
Stephen Gill is a true humanist who wages a war against the evil designs of men
which drag them into the pit of inhumanity.
Dr. D.C. Chambial
is a respectable author of several collections of poems, a critic and editor of
a literary journal Poetcri. He teaches English literature at
Government College in Palampur in India.