Relationship between man and nature in “Dejection: An Ode”

“Dejection: An Ode” is one of the best poems of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and here, we can find that the poet has talked in detail about nature. Nature was the most important aspect of the Romantic Movement in English literature. It was William Wordsworth who is credited with the starting of the movement, but what we often forget is that his close friend S.T. Coleridge had almost equal contribution at the beginning of the Romantic Movement. To Wordsworth, nature was very important, and Coleridge did not disagree with this view, but he had some differences with Wordsworth about the role of nature in human life and in poetry. In “Dejection: An Ode,” Coleridge has tried to talk in detail about the relationship between man and nature.

The first thing that catches our attention is that “Dejection: An Ode” is a sophisticated and philosophical exploration of the relationship between man and nature. No other romantic poet was perhaps so much philosophical like Coleridge. In this poem, Coleridge has explored his own crisis in life, and he has expressed his sadness and depression. Coleridge is most of the time melancholic. His inner self is expressed in the poem, and by reading it, we can find that he was very sad when he wrote the poem. However, this poem is more than his own sadness. It is a poem that explores philosophically the problems in life, and it also tries to find out the answer to the relation between man and nature.

Coleridge had a different view from Wordsworth about the role of nature in human life. But it does not mean that he thought that nature was not important. In fact, he has expressed or indicated the importance of nature, and we can find that the wind is helping him to express his imagination.

Although it was a sad poem, in “Dejection: An Ode,” we can find a very nice and powerful description of nature. For example, the beauty of the sky before the storm has been expressed in a very nice way. This beauty of the sky brings happiness and brings new feelings to the mind of the poet. He is sad and depressed, but he can see the beautiful sky. In fact, by his description, the readers also feel happy, and the readers can imagine the beauty of the sky and the beauty of nature.

Coleridge tries to state that nature cannot inspire him because he is very sad. He has lost the strength of youth both physically and emotionally, and he is depressed. He is in a melancholic condition, and he feels that nature cannot inspire him and change his mood. However, in some of his descriptions of nature and especially his descriptions of the beauty of nature, the readers can feel that Coleridge is influenced somewhat by nature. Otherwise, he would not be able to describe the beauty of nature in such a powerful way. If nature really did not have any relationship in his life, he would not be able to compose such a beautiful poem with such a good description of nature.

There is some joy and happiness and hope, and nature can give us a new earth and new heaven. Even in the depressing description of life, it seems to us that there is some hope in Coleridge about the future, and nature shows him that hope.

According to Coleridge, the relationship between nature and human life is giving and taking. He gets delight and confidence from nature, but he has lost his happiness. The stormy night reflects the stormy and tough conditions in Coleridge’s life.

In “Dejection: An Ode,” Coleridge has expressed that he lost his creativity and he lost the happiness of life, but it does not mean that nature has lost its importance totally. There is still a lot of bond between him and nature and even in total depression and frustration; he can see the beauty of nature. Any discussion about this poem would remind the readers about Wordsworth. Wordsworth wrote his immortality ode almost at the same time and critics often talk about these two poems and about the relationship between human beings and nature. To Wordsworth, the relationship between human beings and nature was direct and very strong. To Coleridge, it was not direct, but still, it was strong.

Theme of loss in “Dejection: An Ode”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a great poet in English literature, but it was his bad luck that he could not create too many poems because of his personal problems. “Dejection: An Ode” is one of the best poems written by him, and it is a poem about sadness and depression. It was written at a time when Coleridge was suffering from many problems and he lost hope in life and future. It is the poem of a desperate man in a desperate condition, but still, it has all the artistic beauty of an excellent poem. From the first to the last, the poet talks about sadness and emotional emptiness. He talks like a frustrated person- a person who has been defeated in life.

Mood of dejection is clearly visible throughout the poem. His losses are so much that he has lost everything in life and he cannot enjoy anything. He can see the beauty in nature, but he cannot enjoy it. Instead, everything in nature looks to him dull and lifeless. He cannot find any hope and happiness even in nature. To him, everything is meaningless and the mood of dejection is dominant in his mind. It is like that he has accepted his defeat and resigned from life. He is not even in a mood to try for the future and he has no emotional strength.

The poet in the poem “Dejection: An Ode” has an elderly and mature tone. He does not have the hope and vigor for life like his young days. Coleridge accepts that his youth has passed not only physically but also emotionally. He does not have the strength of the youth in his body and vigor and naturally, he cannot enjoy the things like past. But more than that he has lost the freshness of mind and he remembers in the past his life was full of hope. Youth is the most beautiful time in a person’s life. We enjoy everything in our young time. So, Coleridge is sad that his best time in life has gone and he has lost hope for the future also. More than the loss of youth, Coleridge is sad and dejected from the loss of creativity. He was a great poet who could write many beautiful poems in the past, but he has lost his creativity. He felt that he was becoming more a metaphysical person instead of a poet. This also gave him sadness. Coleridge could not think that he would be separated from poetry, but life was difficult for him. He was failing to write poems like the past.

“Dejection: An Ode” is a philosophical poem, and it talks about some philosophical ideas. Coleridge gives his own opinion and philosophy about the role of nature in human life. Wordsworth used to think that nature was inseparable from human life and nature was alive. Wordsworth also felt that nature could hill a man in terms of sadness and depression. Coleridge stated the opposite idea in this poem and said that life is full of despair and nature cannot do anything for a man. Instead, nature only increased his sadness and nature reminded him of all the sadness of the past. Coleridge was a man of philosophy, and like any philosopher, he was good at stating abstract ideas. This poem is full of such ideas and often it may become difficult for the readers to understand the inner meaning of the statements that Coleridge was making.

If we want to understand the significance of this poem, we have to take into account of the personal background of S. T. Coleridge. He was a highly talented person, but at the same time, he was a failure in love and career. He was not born in a rich family and all through his life, he struggled against poverty. He was not a rich person and fighting for money took a lot of energy from his life. He also suffered a loss in love and although he had a good relationship with William Wordsworth, during the time he wrote this poem, his relationship with good friend William Wordsworth became bad. So, Coleridge was a failure in everything and by this poem, he expressed his sadness and frustration in life.

It was bad luck for S. T. Coleridge that he was not born in our age. Today, a highly educated and talented person like Coleridge at least would not have remained poor in a country like England. I cannot say whether he would have been successful in the matter of love, but surely he would not suffer from poverty. At that time, poets had almost no field to earn money. Newspaper was not an industry. There was no cinema or television. So, creative people like Coleridge had a very limited scope of income. Secondly, England was not a fully democratic country. Since he was not from an aristocratic background, he did not have too many connections.

Coleridge lost a lot in life, and the theme of loss is the central theme in “Dejection: An Ode” poem. However, I feel that this loss, in the end, helped him to write this immortal poem.

Use of nature in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

We all know that the romantic age in English literature is mainly famous for the emphasis of all the poets on nature. There were five or six major poets in this age, and all of them wrote many poems directly or indirectly related to the theme of nature. It was William Wordsworth who put the most importance on the relationship between nature and human life, and he tried to show that nature is alive and is directly related to our life. Samuel Taylor Coleridge did not completely share the same view with his friend, but in his poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, we can find some strong relationship between nature and human life on various occasions.

According to Coleridge, nature was not so strong and deeply and directly connected to human life. However, we can perhaps find some interesting things in this respect in the poem. Coleridge wanted to portray supernatural events as very normal and natural.

A closer look at the poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” will perhaps tell us that nature is indeed related to human life. The mariner sets on a journey, and at first, he was not concerned about anything else but his own pleasure. Even when he saw the albatross, he did not like it at all and for no reason killed it. Then, we can find that nature is not dead but its own soul. The mariner just offended the soul of nature by killing the albatross.

Albatross is the symbol of innocence. It was really and purely an innocent creature of God. It was the first thing the sailors saw after a long time in the ocean. So, the sailors were very happy as they had some company at last. The albatross came regularly and brought delight and fun for the sailors.

Coleridge has perhaps also tried to show that nature and God are not separate things. God was angry with the ancient mariner when he killed the albatross. Then, God brought punishment for him, and after suffering from a long punishment, the ancient mariner was changed in his heart, and he could ask forgiveness from God. God forgave him only when he showed mercy and kindness to water snakes.

Coleridge has used symbolism in this poem that is sometimes related to nature. For example, the albatross is a symbol and many discussions have taken place among the critics about the use of symbols in this poem. I like to state that the albatross is the symbol of innocence and in a way the symbol of goodness. When we throw away innocence and goodness from our life, our life becomes painful and meaningless.

Coleridge has painted some beautiful imageries with words related to nature. While discussing the sea, albatross, water snakes and the water around the ship, Coleridge really used very beautiful examples of imagery.

I have already said that according to Coleridge, nature is not separate from human life. However, Coleridge has focused on another thing that personal experience of the person is also important. The ancient mariner had some experiences in nature and these experiences changed him and made him a totally different person. He learned some moral lessons from the events that took place on the ship. At first, he killed the albatross, and then he suffered punishment. While he was suffering from punishment, life became intolerable for him. However, he understood that showing kindness to the creatures of God and to natural objects is important indeed.

In our age, many people talk about environmental pollution and care for the environment. In a way, this poem of Coleridge is like a pioneering effort in modern literature to make people conscious about taking care of the environment. For this reason, anyone who believes in supporting the environmental causes around the world should read the poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”.

John Donne’s treatment of love

John Donne started the trend of metaphysical poetry in English literature. For this reason, he is considered to be a very important poet of English literature. For many years, his poems were not appreciated. Thanks to brilliant poets like T.S. Eliot, his work is widely appreciated by the readers. Donne started his career as a poet in the late Elizabethan period, and he came out of the influence of major poets like Shakespeare and created a new style in poetry.

The subject of love occurred naturally in Donne’s poetry because from ancient times we see that in literature, especially in poems, love is given a lot of importance. In all ages, the poets always talked about love between a man and woman though in real life the scope of love was very limited. Still, poets praised love all the time.

What is striking about John Donne is that he introduced a new idea about love. Predecessors of Donne portrayed love as something heavenly and noble. Though lovers live in the world but enjoy heaven on earth. Donne neither admitted it nor denied it. He did not deny the importance of love in human life, but he did not present love as a heavenly object all the time in his poems. Love also causes pain, emotional upset and treachery. Sometimes he brutally attacked women. He said that no beautiful girl remains faithful to his lover. On the contrary, he spoke highly of his wife. The high thought about love that dominated in the works of the poets of ancient times was also very common among Elizabethan poets. Elizabethan poets of England were highly influenced by Petrarch, the famous Italian poet. Petrarch, in his poems, spoke highly of his beloved. This trend was broken by John Donne. It helped other poets to think in a different manner.

John Donne portrayed love from a realistic point of view. He even used logic to justify love. We all know that love has a deep connection with emotion, and love, in most cases, does not follow logic. It is impossible to judge love using logic. John Donne tried that impossible feat in many of his poems.

In fact, Donne tried to portray the true picture of love. It is true that love brings great joy and happiness in the hearts of the lover and his beloved, but it also causes pain, and Donne successfully presented this idea in his poems. Most of the lovers are men and they compose poems about their wives and beloved. We see some exceptions in Donne in this regard. Women did not have any freedom at that time and they had no rights or privileges. Most of the women were illiterate. There were no separate colleges for them. Most of the women studied at home and most men did not recognize women as a separate entity. Women did not inherit anything from their fathers or husband. John Donne in his poetry talked about women’s separate entity and their freedom. Sometimes they use their freedom for evil purposes and cheat on their lovers, but they have a separate entity.

In “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” poem, John Donne’s treatment of love is sensuous. In this poem, his statement repeats the Platonic statement that physical contact is not necessary for the development of spiritual love. It refers to a temporary departure when Donne was called from home. The poet compares him and his beloved with two legs of a compass. While one leg of a compass remains fixed, the other moves around to complete the circle. The physical existence is not necessary if a true bond of the minds has occurred, thus joining a pair of lovers’ souls eternally.

However, in some of his poems, we can find the influence of Petrarch and Ovidian. Such a poem is “Twickenham Garden”. This poem tells the poet’s friendship with the Countess of Bedford, a cultured and accomplished lady of the seventeenth century. There is no authentic source to know if the lady nodded her head to the love of the poet. This poem shows how love changes joy into sorrow. The poet is so unhappy that even spring cannot bring happiness to the poet’s heart. Women, in general, are false, and as a result, they are not worthy of being trusted, but the poet’s sweetheart is an exception. The poet wishes that lovers should judge their mistresses’ love by comparing the taste of her tears with that of their tears.

“The Good-Morrow” is another poem that shows the lover’s move from discussing sensual love to spiritual love. He realizes that, with spiritual love, the couple can be liberated from fear and the need to seek adventure. The poet said that he and his beloved are one because they are similar in all respects and as such none of them will die. Their mutual love can neither decrease, nor decline nor come to an end. Their love is immortal.

In his poem “Go and Catch a Falling Star”, we can find his cynical view towards women. It is one of the most common formulas in his love poems. It is anti-woman and hostile to the fair sex. The poet shows the impossibility of finding a true and fair woman. The speaker tells his listener that if he ever finds a true and fair woman then he would go to her as if he is going on a pilgrimage to some holy place. He also said that an ugly woman may be constant, but a beautiful woman can never be so.

John Donne thought very differently about love and he was the first one to present love as a complex matter. Poets before done talked about love as it was a heavenly object and did not think about it from a realistic point of view but Donne emphasized logic along with emotion.

Independence Day of Bangladesh

March 26, 2021, was the 50^th independence day of Bangladesh. On this day in 1971, the independence of Bangladesh was declared by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of the nation. Before being arrested by the Pakistani army, he declared the independence of the country during the early hours of March 26, 1971. 

Image Source

This day has huge significance in the history of Bangladesh because from that day people in erstwhile East Pakistan started fighting for their freedom. However, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the undisputed leader of the Bengalis, in his speech given at the historic March 7 assembly at the Racecourse grounds, proclaimed the nation’s independence by uttering the lines-

“এবারের সংগ্রাম আমাদের মুক্তির সংগ্রাম (This time the struggle is for our freedom)

এবারের সংগ্রাম স্বাধীনতার সংগ্রাম।” (This time the struggle is for our independence)

On December 16, 1971, after nine months of the bloodiest war, Bangladesh got independence from Pakistan. To achieve this liberty, Bangladesh had to pay 3 million lives and honors of more than a quarter of a million Bengali women. For this reason, it is called a hard achieved freedom.

Celebration of Independence Day begins with a 31-gun salute at dawn. Then, people from all walks of life gather at the National Memorial in Savar, and by placing flowers and wreaths, they pay respect to those who sacrificed their lives for freedom. To celebrate the day, various programs are organized all over the country by government and non-government organizations.

Flower Village in Bangladesh

Flower has become an integral part of our everyday life. The use of flowers ranges from special festivals, including marriage ceremonies, Pohela Falgun, Pohela Boishakh, Valentine's Day, to special national holidays, such as Victory Day, National Martyrs' Day etc. We lay wreaths on monuments to pay tribute to departed souls. The use of flowers is also visible in shrines of all religions. It is used to decorate a home. Girls use it as an ornament. They are seen using flowers to decorate their hair. No doubt, it gives them a more beautiful look. From the above description, it is clear that we have a huge demand for flowers in our country, and most of the demand is met by the flowers collecting from Panishara village under Jhikargachha Upazila of Jessore district.

Farmers in Panishara village only grow different types of flowers. For this reason, this village is known as flower village. Gatkhali Bazar is the biggest flower bazaar in Bangladesh. Everyday flowers worth millions of taka are sold here. Farmers gather their flowers here and sell their products to local traders. Then again, the flowers are handed from one trader to another trader in the capital and ship them on trucks. When the flowers reach the capital city, especially in Shahbagh and Khamarbari, retailers buy their flowers from there according to their demand and budget. Afterwards, these flowers are taken to posh shops of Gulshan and Banani where they are made into bouquets and sold for handsome amounts. 

Bara Katra

Bara Katra, located in Dhaka, is a monument of the Mughal period. This edifice was erected on the bank of the river Buriganga in 1641 by the order of Shah Shuja, the son of Emperor Shah Jahan. It was built by Abul Qasim, who was known as Mir-E-Emarat. Though Shah Shuja was supposed to live here, it was later on used as a caravanserai. 

Image Source

Once known for its architectural beauty, Bara Katra today stands with its dilapidated entrance, a relic of its former self. The gateway of Bara Katra once had a stone plate featuring information written by Sad-ud-din Muhammad Sherazi in the Persian language. The stone plate tells about the founder of this caravanserai and the financial sources to manage the cost of its maintenance. The stone plate says:

“Sultan Shah Shuja always kept himself engrossed in charity. So, with the hope of receiving God’s grace, Abul Qasim al-Husainia-Tabtaba built this house as a symbol of good fortune. The palace adjoined 22 shops which would finance its reparation cost and the arrangement for free accommodation for the travelers. This provision would never be canceled. If it is ever canceled, the person held responsible would have God’s wrath unleashed upon him on the day of final judgment. This plate was written by Sad-ud-din Muhammad Sherazi.”