A POETIC PILGRIM
SINGING THE SONG OF LOVE AND PEACE
Dr. Stephen Gill
speaks to Dr. Sudhir K. Arora
*Appeared in The Poetic Corpus of Stephen Gill : An Evaluation by
Dr.
Sudhir K. Arora,
Wearing
a jacket of peace
let me swim to the shores
where freedoms flow. (Songs
before Shrine 10)
The excerpt that embraces Dr. Stephen Gill’s
vision clearly reveals what he is. Stephen Gill, the bard of peace with Dove,
is on his mission of filling the world with the songs of peace and freedoms. He
is a poet who knows how and where to use his pen for the betterment of the
humanity. He begins, struggles, experiences pain and suffering, sometimes feels
disappointed but never leaves his battle against the destructive forces. The
storm of circumstances makes him more determined and stronger enough to
declare: “I shall pursue my odyssey / through the barren regions of the moor”.
His struggle in life right from his childhood till date shows his stature and
proves him to be larger than life.
Stephen Gill, the Poet Laureate of Ansted
University, was born on the terra firma of
Q. Is poetry a kind of spiritual
liberation? Do you think that poetry is an exploration of self? How far does
poetry provide a cathartic effect on you?
A. Poetry is a process of exploration. At the
same time, poetry is suffering as is the suffering of a mother when she
gives birth to a child, or a candle that burns itself to spread light around. I
enjoy writing poetry and enjoy also sharing it with others.
Q. What “spontaneous overflow of
powerful feelings” is to Wordsworth; “robins” are to Dr. Gill. Poetry is
“perspiration”. It is almost “cooking”. How are “Robins”, “Perspiration” and
“Cooking” associated with the poetic process? Would you please illuminate these
steps in the poetic process?
A. The result of cooking is the outcome of
perspiration that is evident when it comes to sharing the dish. I compare my
poems with robins which I nourish till they are able to fly. It is a thoughtful
process of caring as is the process of a cook who plans to produce an ideal
dish to share.
Q. It is said that poetry does
not make anything happen. What do you think about such statement? Do you think
that fiction has dominated the scene and poetry has been marginalized?
A. Fiction has dominated a wider proportion
of readership. Poetry on the other hand is for a selected few. Poetry does
force the reader to pause and think. This is the first step to cause a genuine
change.
Q. In the Preface to Shrine, you
have written “The experience of violence, the multicultural aspect of
A. These organizations and personalities have
their ideologies to make the world a better place to live. They have and even
now offer their
ideologies to cause change.
I admire them and use their ideologies in my own way in my poetry and
prose.
Q. You have written criticism, edited
books, composed poems and sung songs of peace in different languages. How far
do you adjust with all these roles? Which role out of the various roles—critic,
reviewer, poet, novelist and prose writer—attracts you most?
A. What attracts me the most is my role as a
creative writer, particularly the role of a poet.
Q. Recently you have written
The Flame, the longest poem on terrorism caused by the maniac messiah. It is
your dream poem through which you wish to give the message to the masses to
make them aware of the so-called messiahs. This long poem has some traces of Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali. Was Tagore’s Gitanjali in your mind while writing The Flame? I have gone
through The Flame which I found really inspiring. Tagore’s
Gitanjali talks of soul and its liberation while your
poem The Flame talks of individual soul in relation to the soul of the people
who wish to be free from the clutches of the power hungry messiahs. Would you like to illumine these points?
A. I admire Tagor’s
Gitanjali, Khalil Gibran’s the Prophet,
as well as my poem the Flame. It is for researcher to find out similarities and
dissimilarities in these three creations.
I admit
that I had also Gitanjli
and the Prophet in my mind
when I wrote the Flame, and often analyzed them from different angles.
Surprisingly, so
far critics from
Q. Terrorism is on increase. Do
you have any concrete action plan for fighting against it? How far is your
poetry helpful in this regard?
A. I write poetry for sharing and to make the
reader also aware of the growing danger from terrorism. I have written long articles
to present concrete actions to combat the menace of terrorism and I plan to
write more. These articles logically discuss the message
that I convey in my poetry.
Q. You write poems with a
mission. Your poems are about peace and social concerns. In Shrine, you have
raised many crucial questions related to violence, war, AIDS, drugs, heroin,
cocaine, pollution, insecurity, a pregnant unmarried
baby, sexual harassment by father, racial discrimination, loneliness and
alienation. You have narrated the pain and suffering of the people who suffer
at the hands of the society. Your narration, which is quite engaging, makes the
reader think. Please let us know about your mission of social awareness among
the masses and also your dream for equalitarian society where peace will shower
its bliss.
A. I attempt to share my pains and anguishes with
my readers in a creative way to make them think about social evils.
Q. Your poem ‘Amputee’ is
penetrating as it arouses compassion in the heart of the readers. You have
raised many issues in the poem. The talks of compassion for the amputee will
not be helpful in regaining her identity. Kindly clarify your stand for the
amputee. Do you have any plan to turn this poem into a long one that will raise
the feministic issues?
A. My poem “Amputee” has touched many souls, particularly the
souls of males. I do have plans to
attempt the subject of
“Amputee” in a long poem, along the lines of the Flame. I need time and encouragement in the form of good wishes
from my readers.
Q. Your poetic collection Flashes
contains 252 haiku. You have called haiku trillium. You have made your stand
clear in a paper on Haiku which is available on your website and other
interviews. You have touched multiple themes in them. You have started your
haiku as an escapist but while going further, the reader experiences realism as
he finds growth in the poet. Would you please let us know about the themes in
Flashes?
A. Themes in my haiku are the same that are
in my other poems. My haiku are about love and also about war, peace and other
social concerns.
Q. Prefaces of your poetic
volumes are themselves critical pieces of high quality. They provide a peep
into your poetry. They also remind me of Wordsworth’s Preface to Lyrical
Ballads. Do you think that writing long ‘Prefaces’ was necessary for you to
interact with the readers in a better way?
A. I am not in favor of long prefaces. In my
case, they were necessary, because I wanted readers to
know the artist behind my creations.
George Bernard Shaw also wrote long prefaces for his plays.
Q. A study of your poems
reveals that you have used the vocabulary of nature. Is it the expression of
your love for nature or do you wish to make the masses nature-conscious or do
you have an inclination for the eco-feminism?
A. Any question of nature leads to the
question of survival of our children and children’s children on earth.
Indiscriminate destruction of nature, including animals and birds, is the
destruction of the future of man. Nature provides not only beauty but also
ecological balance.
Q. Your phraseology always
offers newness and never lets the reader feel dull. You attempt to use “every
word carefully as a brick to build the edifice.” You do not like to use
clichés. What I have found in your poems is the use of synthesis which makes
your lines flow and provide a kind of rhythm. Would you please bring your
poetic idiom to light for the benefit of the readers?
A. I have discussed this aspect in my prefaces
and also in some interviews. To produce
a palatable dish, the cook has to work diligently to know the kind and right
amount of spices to use. The goal of an artist is a
journey that never ends or a destination that can never be achieved.
Q. You are engrossed with the
dove—her dreams, her songs, her flights and her messages to the extent that it
seems that you have turned yourself into a dove. Now as a dove, what songs do
you intend to sing and how far will you make people love for songs so that they
may follow what you intend to convey through them?
A. There are no limits as far the horizon of
the dove is concerned-- there are no borders to cross. It is up to the dove to
fly as high as it can, depending on its feathers and aspirations. I want the
bird to sing the beauty that is within the depths of the horizon. That beauty
is in the liberation from all the borders.
Q. “Without hope, life is a
A. Man has found ways to combat the evils of wars
in the form of the United Nations and sicknesses in the form of drugs. I am positive that sufferings will open doors
to overcome maniac
messiahs, though it would involve modern century in further sufferings for a
while.
Q. You are strongly in favour of ‘United Religious Organization’ on the line of
‘United Nations Organization’. How far is your advocacy for ‘United Religious
Organization’ practicable? Do you think it will solve all the problems arising
out of religious discords?
A. I am sure that there will be shortly a United
Religious Organization in one shape or the other. Time is moving towards that
direction. It is an
evolutionary process.
Q. Sir, I gave you my
manuscript, titled The Poetic Corpus of Stephen Gill: An Evaluation at Haridwar where you came to attend the ‘All
A. You have completed a manuscript breathing
in the
Q. Would you please give some
tips to teachers and other admirers of literature so that they may follow them
for the sake of better living?
A. Publish or perish, a familiar precept
around academic circles in
Like cooking and any other art, writing needs constant work to chisel
skills. Universities and governments at all levels in
Thank you very much for the interview. I am
sure it will inspire all the lovers of literature. Thanks once again.