Gopal Lahiri Selected Poems

 Published by CLASSIX (an imprint of Hawakal)

ISBN: 978-81-988424-0-4(hardback)

         : 978-81-988424-6-6 (paperback)

Price: 650 INR

Language: English, pp. 128.

Gopal Lahiri is an eminent bilingual poet, critic, editor, writer, prolific speaker, and a translator of more than 31 books. A recipient of the 1st Jayant Mahapatra National Award for Literature in 2024, Gopal Lahiri has made a significant contribution to Indian English literature, and his poetry collections have rendered him worldwide recognition and awards.

Selected Poems of Gopal Lahiri, selected by Sanjeev Sethi, is a celebration of Gopal Lahiri’s finest creations. It is not an easy task to sum up the literary achievements of an award-winning poet, but Sanjeev Sethi has successfully endeavoured to bring out the enormous learning embedded in Lahiri’s poetry. A close reading of this collection reflects a harmonious blend of words, images, imagination, and perception of the outside world as well as of the human mind. In addition to a short Preface, the book contains The Selector’s Escritoire and a collection of 90 poems, including some of his best haiku.

The collection begins with the poem “Crossing the Shoreline”, a celebrated poem and a part of Lahiri’s previous collection. This poem is a unique blend of fiction and memories. With the imagery of sleep, the poem endeavours to draw a bridge between the physical world and the human mind. His poems are surreal and meditative and pay tribute to nature and emotions. Lahiri’s source of inspiration for his poetry often lies in the natural world. In the poem “Sparrow”, images of the sparrow, the evening sky repeating a smile, and ivy strangling a fence are beautifully used by Lahiri. The poem “Red Hibiscus” celebrates the unfolding of hibiscus leaves through the analogy of sunlight. It says:“My Red Hibiscus shines in the tropical sunlight, / but she wants to sleep in shades” (lines 8–9).

The use of pathetic fallacy gives life and a new impetus to the beauty of the hibiscus flower. Through the descriptive words of the poem entitled “Celebration”, the poet brings nature to life and immortalises the unison of natural creation. Gopal Lahiri has an inclination towards the themes of solitude and loneliness, which are expressed through the recurrent imagery of night in most of his verses. In the poem “Night Flame”, Lahiri expresses:“Somewhere in the night sky drops a few stars, so much in chaos”.

He continues this expression in the poem “The Wall of Silence” as:“The silver moon besieged melts slowly in despair, songs continue to be sung in silence”.

The poem “New World in the Waiting” opens up with a powerful line:“Each night is mundane and lonely night birds spread their wings.”

The same imagery of night is used to express his desire to love in the poem “I Still Love”. This poem is a beautiful rendition of undying love and keeping up a promise. It brings out the optimistic feel of love as it says:“Let the glass windows open up lighting up the stars and galaxies and wipe out the anguish and misery”.

Sanjeev Sethi has artistically and incisively selected the best verses from Gopal Lahiri’s oeuvre. City chronicles and travel diaries are a major source of inspiration for some of his poems. Lahiri commemorates the beauty of his native land, Kolkata, in the poem “City of Joy”. Another city that he celebrates through his artistic creation is Delhi, in the poem “Lodhi Garden”. Cities are built brick by brick, and Lahiri attempts to seize his experiences word by word, rendering a voice to these places. “Rain in the Wild” is a poem that blends memories and paints the colours of rainfall in the small village of Jhanor in Gujarat. Lahiri successfully captures the beauty of these places.

Lahiri also shows his versatility and creativity as he renders works in Japanese verse forms such as haiku (a three-line poem of five or seven syllables) to capture images from nature or childhood memories. One of his haiku presents:“Childhood hanging from the skytender night”.

Sanjeev Sethi has done an exceptional job, and within 128 pages he opens up the fascinating world of Gopal Lahiri’s perception and imagination. The book provides lucid intervals and a brief tour of Gopal Lahiri’s world of creative verses. It fills the canvas of a poetic landscape and resonates with its

readers. The book is a valuable contribution to the realm of Indian English literature and is eminently readable and enjoyable. Sanjeev Sethi has compiled a well-researched and exceptional selection of poems that can be tagged as Gopal Lahiri’s prized possession, and reading them offers readers an emotional and relatable experience.

---

About the Reviewer:

Dr. Megha Negi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Lucknow Christian Degree College. She has supervised dissertations in English Literature for postgraduate students. She completed her PhD from the University of Lucknow, and her area of research focuses on widowhood and the place of women in society. As a literary enthusiast, her papers have been published in renowned books. Her paper on Disability Studies has been published by Springer Publications, and a research paper on widowhood appears in an anthology published by Aligarh Muslim University. She contributed a paper on the relevance of Gandhi in the present time, published by the University of Lucknow. Recently, she attended an international workshop on Social Role Valorization organized by Keystone Institute India. She has a passion for literature and remains equally immersed in family, fashion, and food.