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STEPHEN
GILL-- Shrine
Dr. D.C. Chambial
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*Appeared
in Poetcrit (India),
January,
2000, pages 103-104
Dr. Stephen Gill, a poet,
critic and novelist, is an Indian settled in Canada. He is a recipient of
several poetry awards. He has authored twenty‑five books to‑date.
His poetry and prose has been published in more than 200 publications around
the world. Peace is his major area of interest.
Shrine, the book under review, begins
with a twenty page long Author's Preface, in which the author details the
horrible experience he had during India's partition and his
childhood/adolescence, his tragic trauma and eventual longing to leave India
and settle somewhere else, embodies the anguish of a sensitive humanitarian who
longs and prays for the elimination of man's hatred for man from man's heart
and the realisation of a new heaven on Earth where human beings remain only
human and humane purged off all devilish attributes.
Gill's very
first poem Me
expresses his desire
to be his
own true self: " I want to be me . . . I want to be
shut/ within me" (pp. 30‑1 ); expresses "the inter‑dependence/
of all animals, nations and nature" (p.33) and need of same basic things.
The poet's humanist heart realises that humans were carved/ in the image of
flowers" (p.34) to embody the qualities of love and beauty, always ready
to give away happiness. For him, "
Hostage, The gulf Crisis on
TV/; Hounds of War bring out the horrors of war and the poet pleads for "the
dance of
the hounds/ be stopped"
(p.56). Through, his poems‑- The Voice of Democracy, Lotus of Freedom, Seed of Democracy, The
Ballot has Muscles, and The Will of the Masses-‑ he expresses hope in democracy
to bring about the desired peace to this world. The poems--‑ Religious
Fanaticism, Who Runs the World, A Familiar Scene-‑ voice his faith (which
is the truth) that it is the fanatics who unleash a wave of terror and death
all around the world. The poems like Somali Victim of 1992 ...Refugees, and An
Immigrant Complains manifest
human suffering perpetrated by fellow
beings. Poem after poem, page
after page unfold
before the conscious reader, the
poet's concern for the suffering humanity and world peace. Let his convictions
and beliefs‑- "justice is for all/ and God cares for everyone (p.
157) be the convicts and faith of Man on this Earth. I endorse the views that
the poet "continues his chosen path as torch bearer for humanity"
(Virginia Love Long) "in a world which is self‑destructive" (RK
Singh & Mitali de Sarkar)
and emerges as "a crusader for peace" (Pritam
Singh).
A cover to cover study
of the book shows Dr. Stephen Gill as a pacifist and
humanitarian engaged in his endeavour, of course, in his own manner, to high‑light
the human suffering on this Earth and thereby stirring the sentiments of
Mankind to banish war and hatred from human mind and heart once for all. His
sole objective is to establish world peace and harmony. Bertrand Russell
advocated for the World Government to bring about peace; Stephen Gill advocates
for "the establishment of a strong United Religions Organisation, along
the line of UNO" to do away with religious fanaticism and engender
religious harmony (for, religion which should bring peace to mankind breeds
fanaticism and leads to human suffering on large scale, as witnessed in the
terrorist activities in the world) and peace in this world, so that, none
suffers because of his/her fellow beings. May his efforts blossom to beautify
this world and contract the air with their fragrance; the fog of despair and
distress gives in to the sheen sun of hope, peace and prosperity!
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*A recipient of several awards,