Freedom to the Slave by Henry Louis Vivian Derozio
How felt he when he first was told
A slave he ceased to be
How proudly beat his heart, when first
He knew that he was free!
To noblest feelings of the soul
To glow at once began,
He knelt no more, his thoughts were raised
He felt himself a man.
He looked above – The breath of heaven
Around him freshly blew;
He smiled exultingly to see
As the wild birds as they flew,
He looked upon the running stream
That ‘neath him rolled away;
Then thought on winds and birds,and floods,
And cried, I’m free as they !
Oh freedom ! there is something dear
E’en in thy very name,
That lights the altar of the soul
With everlasting flame.
Success attend the patriot sword,
That is unsheathed for thee !
And glory to the breast that bleeds,
Bleeds nobody to be free !
Blest be the generous hand that breaks
The chain a tyrrant gave,
And, feeling for degraded man,
Gives freedom to the slave.
~H.L.V. DEROZIO
Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (18 April 1809 – 26 December 1831) was an Indian poet and assistant headmaster of Hindu College, Kolkata, a radical thinker and one of the first Indian educators to disseminate Western learning and science among the young men of Bengal.Long after Derozio’s death (of cholera), his influence lived on among his former students, who came to be known as Young Bengal and many of whom became prominent in social reform, law, and journalism.
He quit school at the age of 14 and initially joined his father’s concern at Kolkata and later shifted to Bhagalpur. Inspired by the scenic beauty of the banks of the River Ganges, he started writing poetry.
This was the time when Hindu society in Bengal was undergoing considerable turmoil. In 1828, Raja Ram Mohan Roy established the Brahmo Samaj, which kept Hindu ideals but denied idolatry. This resulted in a backlash within orthodox Hindu society. It is in the perspective of these changes that Derozio was appointed at Hindu college, where he helped released the ideas for social change already in the air. At 17 years of age,he was considered a great scholar and a thinker. Within a short period of time, he drew around him a group of intelligent boys in college. He constantly encouraged them to think freely, to question and not to accept anything blindly. His teachings inspired the development of the spirit of liberty, equality and freedom. His activities brought about intellectual revolution in Bengal. It was called the Young Bengal Movement and his students, also known as Derozians, were fiery patriots.
HINDU COLLEGE AND SOCIAL BACKLASH
In May 1826, at the age of 17, he was appointed teacher in English literature and history at the new Hindu College, Derozio’s intense zeal for teaching and his interactions with students created a sensation at Hindu College. His students came to be known as Derozians. He organised debates where ideas and social norms were freely debated. In 1828, he motivated them to form a literary and debating club called the Academic Association.
Expulsion
Due to his unorthodox (legendarily free) views on society, culture and religion, the Hindu-dominated management committee of the college, under the chairmanship of Radhakanta Deb, expelled him as a faculty member by a 6:1 vote, for having materially injured [the student’s] morals and introduced some strange system the tendency of which is destruction to their moral character and to the peace in Society. In consequence of his misunderstanding no less than 25 Pupils of respectable families have been withdrawn from the College.
LITERARY WORKS
Derozio was generally considered an Anglo-Indian, being of mixed Portuguese descent, but he was fired by a patriotic spirit for his native Bengal, and considered himself Indian. Derozio was perhaps the first nationalist poet of Modern India . In his poem To India – My Native Land he wrote:
Derozio wrote many wonderful poems in English before his untimely death of which “The Fakir of Janghira” was one of the most important. His poems are regarded as an important landmark in the history of patriotic poetry in India.
INFLUENCE
His ideas had a profound influence on the social movement that came to be known as the Bengal Renaissance in early 19th century Bengal.
Derozio was an atheist but his ideas are generally believed to be partly responsible for the conversion of upper caste Hindus like Krishna Mohan Banerjee and Lal Behari Dey to Christianity.
Derozio was known during his lifetime as the first ‘national’ poet of modern India, and the history of Anglo-Indian poetry typically begins with Derozio. His poems are regarded as an important landmark in the history of patriotic poetry in India, especially “To India – My Native Land” and The Fakeer of Jungheera.
Critical Analysis of Freedom to Slave
The poem is actually apanegyric to freedom, here Derozio seems to be much influenced by the English romantic poets of thenineteenth century whose devotion to and praise of freedom are unequivocal as also of the high ideals ofliberty, equality and fraternity of the French Revolution (of 1789). Derozio strongly expresses that without
The poet also eulogize
.
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