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SHRINE
Dr. S. Samal
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*Published in Replica (India), Vol. 111,
Issue 1, January-March, 2000, pages 64-65
T. S. Eliot as a poet and critic of moral and spiritual
values and vision has rightly spelt out the crisis of modern age : `Where is
life we have lost in living...The cycles of the
Twentieth Century brings us farther from god and nearer to dust'. In the midst
of all tinsel glow and riches, life has been impoverished and imperilled and
notwithstanding the progress and amelioration‑cult of science and
technology, man is hellhound on the path of annihilation and extinction.
There is rhetorical declamation
about peace in the world. But to the contrary, we build arsenals of the newest
weapons to escalate war and destroy man. This is the greatest irony, hypocrisy
and malaise of the modern age.
Not only are art, culture and
civilization at stake, but also life and the very foundation of human kind are
at danger because of ethnic violence, social injustice and unrest, loss of
human values and awareness. This is the moot point and the major concerns of
Stephen Gill, the renowned Canadian poet, widely published author of over
twenty five books and winner of several prestigious awards. Gill is a born
crusader pitching voice against violence and terrorism and passionately
pleading for peace in various socio‑political forum and poetic platform.
The present anthology, SHRINE, contains 67 poems focusing on the gory
social events and realities of the contemporary time.
His concern for war and peace
is best expressed in the poem, "Talking of Peace" :Our
rulers talk of peace but it is futile/ when nuclear power marines/sail over the
breasts of the oceans..." He has
drawn with acute pain and solicitude, the disastrous effect of war hysteria‑-
War fever/poisons the air of surroundings/disturbs the calm of sea... kills the
appetite of the soul/weakens the liver of love. (War Fever). Gill has
focused on the
various gruesome and inhuman
activities perpetrated in the form of atomic warfare, terrorism and religious
fanaticism in a number of poems like "Arms Trade".
Gill is introspective and
reflective. As a sensitive poet, he too is afraid of his next generation and
worried about the future of his children, I shall leave abundant pills/to
relieve my children/from headache. Gill expresses his anguish as well as sympathy for "A
Heroin Addict", "Mother of Aids" and sexually abused virgin‑mother.His immigrant consciousness and sense of alienation
are at the core of many of his poems. The Canadian in me/works harder day after
day/to pay his bills/hoping one day/he would be free (The Tenant in Me). He has
retorted and reasserted his commitment to his adopted country in the poem
"Go Back"--I came here/carrying the lily of my dreams... my children
are of this earth/Do not tell me to go anywhere.
Gill's language is simple and
lucid, tenor transparent. Although most of his poems are autobiographical, they
are endowed with universal touch and texture. Stephen Gill is primarily a poet
of peace, harmony and humanism.
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