Romantic Romance of

D.C.Chambial

Arbind Kumar Choudhary

D.C. Chambial who is out and out aromantic poet on the tradition of theBritish romanticists has remained aRomantic literary star at the literaryhorizon of India and abroad . Hisardent passion for the romanticism withthe classicism, realism with vision,misery with pleasure and vice-versa hasbeen tremendously appreciated by anumber of the poets and the critics whohave been passing their scholarlycomments from time to time on his poetry

. The poetry lovers can find the mostperfect example of the blending ofKeats’ passion for poetry with Shelley’sfiery notion across his poetic worksthat has made him a towering literarypersonality of the creative communityin India . As a great romantic poetChambial deals effectively with theromantic tradition of writings--melancholy , love for nature, love,beauty , mythical and medieval elements,lyrical fervor, vision , proverbialstatement and several other poeticfeatures with great intensity ofsensation. Chambial blends both theAurobindonean and Ezekielean school ofpoetry in all his works that enrichesIndian English poetry up to global mark.His piercing poems perfume the poeticworld for the spiritual sanctity allover the world . The prime purpose ofthe this paper is to not only to peep into the poetry of this prominent poetD.C. Chambial but also to explore theromantic features of his poetry indetail .

What that captivates the heart of the poetry lovers ishis romantic trends that revives the romantic cult among the poetry lovers all around the corner. The romantic features – rural landscape, love for birds, nature and melancholic tone, beauty , imagination, dream elements, painterly painting of the spring season, love, lyricaloutburst, subjectivity and many others are his poetic weapons that overflow throughout his poetic groves for the nectar of natural sanctity amidst manya sophistry . Like B.M.Jackson Chambial is a great lover of seasons in general and the spring in particular because spring symbolizes juvenility of the natural objects. Spring isa bride that is well – decorated in this reason andthe earth seems a beauty

incarnate on this eve . The poetsmells the fragrance of the flowers, songs of the singing birds, and melodies of several other natural objects with full –throated ease. All natural objects abide by the code of divine conduct unlike thehuman beings who wish to establish their own kingdom at the cost of animals, birds and natural disorder. The sun, the moon, the star, the day, the night etc follow their natural codes ofconduct for the betterment of this universe. The risingof the sun, the lightning of the moon, the glittering of the stars, the chirping of the birds and the roaring of the clouds are the things that impress the poetry lovers passionately. Like Tagore, Toru Dutt, and Naidu D. C. Chambial is basically a

poet of nature who was born,brought up and lived on the lap of nature in H. P, a state known for natural beauty andits pigmented colours for the tourists worldwide. Shiv. K.Kumar calls him a poet of the hills, valleys, clouds and birds. Silence is more vocal than the sound it self. The silence of the heart is more harrowing than all seas and stories. The poet paints a gorgeous picture of the natural scene.

“About storm, clouds,furious wind, lightningfull of fiery shouts;about rivers, pastures,the game, the hunter;

the child-hearted and thosewell versed in vulpine ways;

the song of birds,of the honest leaves,

the words that have buzzedby the ears and passed by

before I could catch.”1.(2004:84)

Chambial takes a particular delight inenvisioning and describing wild and terrifying objects and aspects of Nature. Natural beauty and song providescomfort to his ailing heart. His mental landscape is adorned with the visual images of the valleys and hills. A man pinned down by earthly sorrows would like to take rest and soothe her killingcares at this lovely place the poet describes. The wind also creates verities of sounds which the poet hearsand feels the presence of the unknown. Like Horace Chambial seemsa spring suitor who exhales itsfragrance in this stanza of the poem‘Singing Blossoms’:

“Varied hued blossomsbloom bright

And fill the air withfragrance.”2 ( 2004:125)

Chambial established avital link between man and nature in thepoem ‘Nude They Came’ in which liferuns fastily towards nothingness likethe waves . The critics can inhaleShakespearean essence of his view onlife in this stanza of Chambial whenhe murmurs slowly :

“Higher and higher rose the waveswith dancing steps to the glistening

gravesAnd like the pied pipers rates, began to

jumpIn to the fathomless water over the humpAnd perished one by one in the watery

graves .”3( 2004: 93).

The critics can enjoy thefragrance of The Bhagwad Gita in hispoem ‘Eternal Truth’ in which he tunesthe tone for the eternal cycle of

life,birth, death and rebirth, cycle ofthe nature . The poet perfumes thepoetic passage with the poetic message .

“ Thisworld-a short sojourn To dogood, To look for Satyam,Shivam,Sundaram (the True,the Good,theBeautiful)

Without being attached tothis or thatfor , all

you , he and iIn HIM,

HE metamorphosizes in to he,He in to HE ;

an endless cycle.”4 ( 2012: 182)

His poetic paysagethat exhales his message for the wagesof the working sages is preserved in

this stanza of the poem ‘Let Us’ --ThePeople’ in which he addresses them to gohand in glove with one another againstthe dark kingdom of the oppressors whohave many faces of kings, of queens, ofTemurs, of Czars, of Hitlers, ofNapoleon and of several others . Thisstanza is striking and appealing as heversifies :

“Let’s, the people, be oneand join hands

against all the oppressions andexploitations,

against all the kings and queens,against all tumors and czars,

against all Hitlers and Napoleons,for our bread and butter.”5 ( 2012: 198)

Like Robert Frost Chambialversifies the capital idea of his lifein the poem ‘The Roads’ that exhalesFrostean fragrance of DC Chambial.

“Since the first ray of lightI have travelled

The road

Straight like an arrow.”6 ( 2012: 211)

The critics can inhaleWordsworthean incense from the poem‘Window’ in which romantic flavourflourishes in one stanza after anotherwith great poetic fervor .

“My heart leapt up andI sang in a bang:

snow and silence all roundnot a patch of ground

to be seen in this spreethat does add to my glee.”7( 2012: 221) Like a great poet Chambialcalls life a beautiful flower like alotus in a vast life and death , a boonand a state of mind that rids life ofall sorrows, sufferings and shackles .In one of his poems he paints apainterly painting of life after death .

“The world is left to bewailHis laurels with moist eyes to hail .Ah ! Gone is he, gone beyond the blare

The peers with open heart welcomewhere.”8

( 2012: 195) In the another poem Death-ii he callsDeath best of all redeemer of mundanemisery and torment .

Chambial’s poeticglittering has become a lantern for allof those deprived of theWordsworthean simplicity, Keatseanpassion for poetry and Shelleyeanphilosophy of nature that are blendedaltogether for the romantic nectar forTom, Dick and Harry and the poetrylovers alike. His romantic poeticpaysage has become a rich harvest forthe generations next to him. His poeticheart is bewailing at the cry of thesufferers in this stanza in whichnatural objects have been beautifullycompared with the human beings.

“ We work dayand night

with fullcircle of the Earth round the Sun, circle aftercircle, the harvestthey reap; the tees weplant, the fruit they eat; the fruits wepluck, the juice they drink; their cheeksredden, our cheeks wane; their princesenjoy the cake and ale , our lazaruses crave.”9 (2012:197)

Aurobindonean culturalheraldry also blooms time and again inhis poems in which Vedic doctrines,Satyam, Shivam ,Sundaram , Sita’s acidtest, Indian philosophy of life anddeath and several other Indian doctrinesflourish hand in glove with his naturalpoetic iridescence . Tagorean poetic

iridescence can rarely be ruled out fromhis poetic paysage . His romantic poeticpaysage that blooms in the fertileliterary soil of India makes him a greatRomantic Indian English poet . Like John Keats Chambial tunes the same

tone with favour in his 'Beautiful

Beyond' in which his song "A beautiful

home exists beyond/without roof and

without floor./Even without the walls

around/Not to say of window and

door."10(2012:162) reminds Keats’ 'Heard

melodies are sweet, but those unheard/

Are sweeter"11(1994:233 ) of 'Ode on a

Grecian Urn." It is said that nature is

fine, but human nature is finer. He has

the vision of the unexplored world from

where one can explore innumerable

truths. That unexplored world is more

beautiful and vocal than the explored

world. The beauty of that unexplored

heaven both of human beings and of

nature is perpetuated by being embodied

in art. The vision of the heavenly

beauty gives immense pleasure in this

living world full of stern and stark

realities of lives. Even Victorian

poet Robert Browning opines that

our unfulfilled dreams will be fulfilled

in the days to come. Otherwise there

will be no attraction for this unnoticed

world. This comes to the mind of Keats

in a pleasurable wave of recognition. It

is pleasurable because he

detects, starting out at him from

the far chiseled form, waves of

intuitive whisperings that seize his

imagination and set it all aflame; it is

pleasurable, moreover, because in the

intensity of speculation that follows,

there comes a sense of discovery of

truth; and it is not mere fact or

logical conclusion he perceives, nor

is it a moral precept, nor a religious

idea; it is rather like a

revelation of a principle of

existence, a perception of a law of

life, an insight into the universal

human heart. So, to Chambial truth

arrived at through emotionalized

imaginative perception is beauty, and

beauty is truth. His poem exhales a

breath of intense mortality and presents

a vision of life on earth and an

intuition of the larger world behind.

The period of abstraction is nothing

more or less than poetic flights into

dream-world, where the soul of the poet

is detached temporarily from the

actuality of men and things, and builds

for itself a habitation of its own. What

he seems to feel is that supreme

artistic experience could be possible

only by such a flight or an elevation

of spirit as would free the mind and eye

from the entanglements and limitations

of earthly realities.

Like

Keats Chambial frequently uses

Greek elements such as Lethe, Socrates,

Narcissus, Mammon, Sodom, Gomorch,

Hoons, Pegasus etc across his various

poems that enrich the poetic beauty. The

romantic poets have used

various birds as a symbol of art.

Chambial has also used the

name of howks, vultures, wolves,

falcons and others. Like the

Romantic poet he peeps in to the

unexplored world, a cynosure

where future lies in its totality. It

is said that spiritual life lies

in future.

Pictorial words such as sand-

dunes, post-deluge, relic, waist-deep

dance, snow-white pearls, blood-red

corals are frequently used by Chambial.

His poems also elicit his phrasal

capability that is used here and

there. They are : by and by, nails and

teeth, time and again, a bolt from the

blue, flame and flow etc. Like

Keats Chambial frequently uses

Greek elements such as Lethe,

Socrates, Narcissus, Mammon, Sodom,

Gomorch, Hoons, Pegasus etc across his

various poems that enrich the

poetic beauty. The romantic poets

have used various birds as a

symbol of art. Chambial has also

used the name of hawks, vultures,

wolves, falcons and others. Like

the Romantic poet he peeps

in to the unexplored world, a

cynosure where future lies in its

totality.

D.C. Chambial exhales verse as aflower exhales fragrance. He is a poetof ideas. His poetry is marked withprofound sweetness. There is a note ofdissatisfaction with the present stateof affairs and a strong zeal for suddenchange in all spheres of life. Hisstyle is rich, colourful and passionate.Chambial is the most acknowledgedlyricist of the Indian English milieu.Almost all his poems instruct as well asdelight the readers. The poet has aperfect unity. His command over wordscan not be easily surpassed. His poemscontain lyrical, pictorial,imaginative, Hellenic and melancholicquality of first water that can hardlybe surpassed. He has great fond ofnatural objects and its sonorous andmelodious music. I conclude my poeticobservation about his romantic poeticfervour in this stanza in short .

O Chambial ! Be alluvial. Your romantic fragrance

will shape souls of many a peeping poet with celestial wisdom for the poetic iridescence world wide .

References:

1.Chambial,D.C,Collected Poems,2004,Maranda,Poetcrit Publications,p.842.Ibid,p.1253.Ibid,p.93 4.Chambial,DC, A Collection ofPoems,2012, Jaipur , Adi Publication.5Ibid,p.1986.Ibid,p.2117.Ibid,p.2218.Ibid,p.1959.Ibid,p.197

10.Ibid,p.16211.The Works of John Keats,1994,Wordsworth Poetry Library,Hertfordshire,p.233