Freedom to the Slave by Henry Louis Vivian Derozio

Freedom to the Slave

BIOGRAPHY

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 an 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

In "Freedom to the Slave," Henry Derozio explores the feelings that a man experiences upon learning he is no longer enslaved, and then praises Freedom itself. The poet uses a regular rhyme scheme of ABCB, DEFE, continuing with the 2nd and 4th lines rhyming, but changing every four lines. The joyful sensations the speaker describes associate the man with the natural world, thus conveying that freedom is the natural state of humans. These “noblest feelings of the soul” include pride and exultation. Key aspects of the natural world are the “winds,” “wild birds,” and the “running stream” that “floods.” The spiritual aspect of freedom is conveyed through the “breath of heaven” (wind) that blows on this man. 73 Knowing that he is free, the man smiles, looks up to heaven and down toward the stream, and realizes his kinship with all the environment. This realization makes him cry out, “I’m free as they!”

In the second part, the poet marks a switch by using an apostrophe, addressing Freedom directly. The speaker returns to the spiritual significance, referring to the “flame” that “lights the altar of the soul.” The speaker also praises the sacrifices made by patriots who fight for freedom, with their “sword unsheathed” and their bleeding breasts. Finally, praise is extended to the “generous hand” that breaks the chains of slavery that were attached by a “tyrant.” The last lines connect back to the first four lines, link the one who gave the freedom with the freed slave by using the same words or close variants, along with alliteration.

Explanation:

"Freedom to the Slave" by Derozio.

In "Freedom to the Slave," Henry Derozio explores the feelings that a man experiences upon learning he is no longer enslaved, and then praises Freedom itself. The joyful sensations the speaker describes associate the man with the natural world, thus conveying that freedom is the natural state of humans. These “noblest feelings of the soul” include pride and exultation. Key aspects of the natural world are the “winds,” “wild birds,” and the “running stream” that “floods.” The spiritual aspect of freedom is conveyed through the “breath of heaven” (wind) that blows on this man. 73 Knowing that he is free, the man smiles, looks up to heaven and down toward the stream, and realizes his kinship with all the environment. This realization makes him cry out, “I’m free as they!”

In the second part, the poet marks a switch by using an apostrophe, addressing Freedom directly. The speaker returns to the spiritual significance, referring to the “flame” that “lights the altar of the soul.” The speaker also praises the sacrifices made by patriots who fight for freedom, with their “sword unsheathed” and their bleeding breasts. Finally, praise is extended to the “generous hand” that breaks the chains of slavery that were attached by a “tyrant.”

Derozio’s poem ‘Freedom to the Slave

has a simple and straight title, indicating freedom

to the slave. The main issue here is freedom and this is for those who are not free.

The poem is actually panegyric to freedom, here Derozio seems to be much influenced by the English romantic poets of the nineteenth century whose devotion to and praise of freedom are unequivocal as also of the high ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity of the French Revolution (of 1789). Derozio strongly expresses that without

‘freedom’, a human being has no entit

y of his own. In the initial part of the poem, the poet speaks of a slave's feeling of learning that he was no more a slave- no more in the bondage of any slavery. The slave seems happy beyond any measure. He looked much brightened and found proud and joyous to think that he was not a slave any more. After a free man, he likened himself delightfully to the blowing wind, flying birds and flowing streams. He was as free as them to move and act as he wished or freely like them. Derozio implies here, that slavery is not just a physical state of the enslavement of a person, but it is the total subjugation of thoughts, beliefs and feelings. Freedom, as a matter of fact, brings about a

psychological change, an upsurge of the mind to entertain the idea that one is free, no more a slave. Indeed, Derozio is frank to declare what freedom means to a slave. It is only when human beings are free (from slavery) that they can truly enjoy the beauty and the liberty that are around him. After all, neither by birth nor by nature, none is enslaved, rather everyone is a lot to be free and joyous. It is only mischiefs of human cunningness and tyranny that make slaves of others make most for themselves by the exploitation of others, weak and humble.

It is to be remembered in this connection that Derozio’s poem ‘Freedom to the Slave

was written at a time when India, under the British rule, was subjected to enslavement and exploitation. In this connection, the poet pays a warm tribute to freedom. In this very word, he perceives the unfailing spirit of a patriot who is ever ready to stand for its sake.

The poet also eulogize

those who fight and bleed for the cause of freedom. He sends, too, his best wishes and blessings for those who stand and fight for freedom. Bust be the generous hand that breaks The chain a tyrant gave,And, feeling or degraded man,Gives freedom to the slave.