A Brave New World: Bharathidasan Songs

Bharathidasan was a great poet of 20th century. He was endowed with remarkable creativity and fascination for poetry. He composed songs even at the age of eleven.

He was a major figure in the history of modern Tamil poetry next to Bharathiyar. He was a social revolutionary matchless in power of excellence. A great volume of his poetry contains his abundant love for Tamil. His immortality and universal outlook are revealed in the songs composed by him with messages of foresighted vision relevant for all times. His songs are unique in their content and style.

His immortality consists in songs he composed, pregnant with meaning, vision and foresight, embellished by a message relevant to all times. He echoes the voice of the downtrodden, the oppressed and the exploited. He dreams of a ‘brave new world’ in which all people co-exist with peace and prosperity.

His songs on social themes are the finest. ‘Appeal of the Labourers’, ‘Let Us Make the New World’, ‘World Is Yours’, ‘Human Power’, ‘Song of Common Man’, ‘Song of Equality’, etc. are most powerful. They also reveal the ever vigilant humanist in him who fought against blind conventions and rusted customs.

He lays emphasis on man, his independent spirit and his duties and responsibilities. He appeals to the fellowmen to establish a free and just society wherein man can develop his total personality. He praises the dignity of labour.

His nature poetry is highly impressive. In his nature songs, he portrays the beautiful parks, paddy fields, tanks full of flowers. His songs like ‘Nature’, ‘Skylark’, ‘Moon’, ‘Beauty’, ‘Dawn’, etc., are beautiful lyrics dealing with never-dying beauty of nature. They are simple in diction and rich in imagery.

Truly Keatsian in concept, Bharathidasan reminds us, ‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever.’