Comparative Studies of Stephen Gill
Stephen Gill Compared with other Poets
===================================================================== DR. STEPHEN GILL: A BORN POET OF PEACE Dr. Rashid Gill ================================================================== *also on Pakistan Christian Post, March 2003
A few months ago, I had a chance to meet Dr. Stephen Gill, a poet and writer of international fame. What struck me the most was his easygoing, sociable, cordial and thoughtful personality. Different literary and educational institutions invite him as a guest poet and speaker. He has received many distinctions. Last year, 2002, the Board of Governors of a university decided to confer him with an honorary doctorate for his contribution to literature and global peace. The same year, a cassette of his songs/ poems on peace was released.
Dr. Stephen Gill is a bitter enemy of war. He is deadly against any kind of division and distinction made on the basis of colour, creed, religion, race and nationality. That's the reason perhaps that even being descendent of the south Asian subcontinent, he does not like to be known from any particular place. He genuinely considers himself a citizen of the global village but this does not mean that he is not proud of his heritage. He has a unique talent of writing poems in English, Urdu, and Punjabi. He is a versatile poet who has successfully written poems on various aspects of humanity and life. He has given new dimensions to old problems faced by humanity, which make him popular in masses. People can easily relate with his personality and poetry without any difficulty because whatever he says is representative of their thoughts and feelings.
Dr. Stephen Gill has written about twenty books on different topics. Any creative job is painful but he endures this pain in order to preach peace. Dr. Gill writes about peace out of dedication and conviction. His devotion, commitment and his passion for peace rightfully make him eligible for the title " An Ambassador of Peace of our Era". In 1999, he was awarded with "Sahir Ludhianvi Award" that was no surprise in the literary circles, because he well-deserved it. This prestigious award is given every year to notable poets for their outstanding creative work. It is always a great honour to win this award because Sahir himself was a great advocate of peace. His contribution to Urdu literature and Indian cinemas is well known. He wrote meaningful literature keeping in view all the intricacies of Urdu language. He is well known for writing against war and Capitalism. Dr. Stephen Gill received Sahir award in 1999 for promoting peace through poetry. He writes poetry in three languages and does equal justice in all three of them. The most distinctive feature of his personality is that he is totally committed to peace. He considers life as a precious gift of God. He is a pro-life. He believes that man has been created to enjoy the world, not to destroy it. The primary purpose for the creation of man was to tend the garden of God by weeding out the seeds of hatred, selfishness and self-centredness. Contrary to that, man has wasted time, energy and money in the pursuit of the objects which are neither everlasting nor desirable. God created man so that He can have harmony and fellowship with him. God is love and He has infused the same spirit in man that he should share that love with others.
Peace is fundamental in every civilized society. One must be peaceful within to pass it onto others. The tragedy of the man of today is that he considers himself civilised because he has invented weapons of mass destruction. He can reach moon but cannot reach the hearts. From a scientific point of view he has made progress but keeping in view the sufferings of mankind, it will be called retrogression. However, knowing that Dr. Stephen Gill has been awarded the "Sahir Ludhianvi Award", my mind started to think about his poetry and two famous poets of our era who have extensively written on peace. Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Sahir Ludhianvi are two names in recent years that were against, capitalism, feudalism and social injustices in south Asia. Their perception about the "peace" was that poor are deprived of their rights. Depravity and sense of helplessness create tension in our lives. They urged that man must not be respected on the basis of his faith, creed, religion or race. Wealth must not be the yardstick to measure the stature of humanity. Rather the yardstick must be talent and character.
Similarities:
There are some basic similarities in Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Sahir Ludhianvi and Dr. Stephen Gill. These three poets belong to the fertile land of Punjab. Their mother tongues are Punjabi, and inherit the same culture, traditions and values. Their poetry that is about harmony and peace has been affected greatly by the miseries of war, sickness and poverty. They believe in breaking the barriers of religion, race and creed. Any distinction that creates division among people is negative to them. To make a nice living is not a crime to them but to accumulate wealth through unfair means such as plundering, fraud and cheat is a form of evil in our society.
Faiz Ahmed Faiz wrote a special poem on the conflict of Arab and Israel: Lightening is flashing again Over the Valley of Sinai. Flaming face of the truth Glows in full glory. Seeing the truth is inviting death O' beholding eyes! Faiz was very much touched by wars and other social ills that war causes. Faiz Ahmed Faiz has written vastly in Urdu. Some people have tried to translate his remarkable poetry. Below are excerpts from his famous poem:
"Mujse pehli see mohabat merey mahboob na mang". Maney samjha tha key tou hai tou darkhshan hai Hayat Tera ghum hai tou gham-e-dharah ka ghugra kia hai. Teri sourat sey hai alam mein bharoun ko sabaat Terry ankhoun key siwa dunia mein rakh kia hai. Lout jati hei udhar ko bhi nazar kia kijeia. Ab bhi dilkash hai tera husan Mujhar jia keijeia ..
The literal translation of this beautiful poem would be: Do not ask love from me like before, my beloved. I thought my life is shining because of your presence in it. Your thought and idea keeps my mind so occupied that I don not think that any worry of this world can ever replace it. The thought of your love is so intense that I think no worry of the world can ever influence my mind anymore. No worry of the world is bigger than your love. It alone is sufficient to keep me to myself and extremely busy. But now I cannot give you love like before because I feel there are many other worries of this world, which grab my attention as well. You are still very beautiful but now I cannot love you and pay much attention because the miseries of humanity have diverted my attention.
In the poetry of Faiz, we find the intensity of emotions. He loves his beloved to the extent that no worry can get his attention. His mind is always occupied with the thought of his beloved. It is common in love. It has been repeatedly said in Urdu, English and Punjabi poetry but nobody had ever dared to say that his beloved is no more important to him because the ills of our society have grabbed his attention. Faiz attaches significance to life and her perseverance. This idea that if there is no life there is no love must have lurked in his subconscious for a while. In order to love somebody one is supposed to do his best to preserve life. What he is saying is let us not kill each other. Rather, love one another. Prosperity and peace are interlinked. Both of them are vital in life.
Remarkable Urdu poet Sahar Ludhianvi has written intensively on this subject. He always fought against capitalism. According to him rich and poor must be treated equally. They must have equal chances and opportunities in life. Rich dominates poor and makes them their slave because they have wealth. They do not seem to be caring about man's dignity and are least concerned with man's pains and pleasures. They just want to use them for their purpose. Rich people are cruel and heartless. They usually mock the poor. Sahir says in his couplet:
Ye chamanazar ye jaunaa kaa kinaaraa ye mahal Ye munaqqasah dar-o-diivaar, ye mahraab ye taaq. Ik shahanshaah ne daulat kaa sahaaraa le kar Ham Gariibo.n kii muhabbat kaa u.Daayaa hai mazaak.
In these lines one cannot help noticing satire in his tone. Sahir appreciates sincerity of the king that has constructed Taj Mahal- an expensive and elegant monument ever made. Sahir also thinks that by doing so the king has looked down upon poor who do not have the resources to build monuments though their love is also dear for their beloveds as was the love of the king for his queen. We can say that everybody, no matter what status one has in society, has similar kind of emotions and feelings. They react in similar way in love and hate. Sahir wants to make a point that if the king has the resource to make such an elegant monument in the memory of his queen, other lovers must also have equal opportunity to do so or nobody should have it. Otherwise, it would be an insult to the love of the poor.
This is a biting satire of Sahir on inequality, injustice and poverty. He said that if everyone has resources equal to the king, perhaps everyone would come up with a better monument to display feelings toward beloved. On the strength of money, the king has tried to belittle all other lovers. It is against the principle of justice and equality. Shair's poetry is based on his personal experience of love, hate, poverty and sufferings. Whatever he experienced in life can be seen in his poetry. It would be appropriate to say that whatever he felt, he depicted in his poetry. To evaluate his poetry, here is another couplet:
Duniyaa ne tarjarubaat-ohavadis ki shaqal me.n Jo kuchh mujhe diyaa hai, vo lau taa rahaa huu.N mai.N
In the above lines, Sahir has stated that whatever he experienced and saw he is mentioning in his poetry. He lived a practical life and his observations are profound and mature. He does not talk about imaginary things. His poetry is based on bitter realities of life. Dr. Gill has same traits in his poetry as Sahir and Faiz Ahmed Faiz had. Dr. Stephen Gill also talks about the harsh realities of lives. He is a poet of today. What he feels he puts on a piece of paper in a straightforward manner. He is convinced that without peace the world cannot make progress. Instead of spending money to invent weaponry to kill human beings, governments must find medicines to fight cancer, heart attacks, diabetes and other diseases. To him life is a gift from God. Life is far more precious than anything else in the world. God created man from dust so that he can look after His garden in the world. Dr. Gill thinks that everybody must enjoy equal rights because this world is a global village. Everybody is a resident of this village. Money should not be considered criteria to differentiate between rich and poor. Dr. Stephen Gill defines a poor as a person who has poor relations in society. He believes that religion should be followed to bring peace. It should not be used as a tool to divide humanity. To kill human beings in the name of religion is mockery of religion.
Dr. Stephen Gill has his own way to talk about peace. In his beautiful poem "The Dove of Peace", he uses a satirical tone:
For a long time I have been hearing The dove of peace will be freed, Shortly; And to awaken that dove Progress has been made, Today's comfort More sacrificed. Our homes now better adorned With thorns of hatred;
A few more nuclear bombs Remain to be developed And contested; Man is to breathe his last In smoke.
Auctioning his future openly, And the life-preserving earth Freer now to swallow us alive, Setting the stage To set the dove free For ever And ever.
Dr. Gill has unique ways to describe the ills of society. He is against the machines that kill humanity. It is retrogression to produce them. Governments must focus on poverty, disease and how best peace can be achieved. People must be given right to speak for themselves and peace must be achieved keeping in view their feelings. To eradicate poverty governments must find a solution based on equality. Governments must not bring peace by removing people from the earth. This is a mockery of peace. It is not the proper way to bring peace through wars and bloodshed. Peace must come through peaceful manners. In one of his poems on the topic of "Peace" Dr. Stephen Gill says in his own peculiar way:
You are an ocean In your waves breathes life; Let me clasp them. I see hopeless crops Wearing a winter dress. A dry leaf I lie Tempest tosses me around The joyless eyes Emitting senseless smiles Cannot dissolve the bitterness Plastered on the restless leaf; Its helplessness let me squeeze out.
In another poem called "LET US BUILD BRIDGES" Dr. Stephen Gill shares his desire to have peace in the world. He says that the practice of all kind of hatred must come to a stop. He strongly believes that there must be one global government in the world to represent all countries. According to him nobody in this world can afford to live aloof. Social and economical realities demand that people must live together to survive. We cannot live without each other. We must find a way to live peacefully and that is possible if we stop hating on the basis of creed, greed, religion and richness. He wants to build bridges. He asks:
Let us Guard our children: These treasures, The roots of the future. The pleasing face of peace They have yet to kiss. Let us Abandon growing crops Soaked in human blood.
Let us shake hands Bathing our lands In new beams Of a friendly dawn Many minds understand now They admire sages now. Peace cannot swim On the blood waves. For a happier future Let us build bridges now.
Dr Gill addresses the social problems in such a unique way that every poem becomes a diamond in the crown of poetry. While going over his poems, a reader feels he knew those problems intimately and he has found the appropriate words to describe them . . . Dr. Gill does this job neatly that is one of the qualities of a good poet. He brings forth the ills of the society in a way that everybody is bound to pay attention. In our society, we hardly know anybody who does not dream. Poor is the man who does not have anything to dream about. It is hidden ambition of every man to have dreams. Dreams are very dear to everyone and he likes to buy them at any cost. Dr. Stephen Gill describes the same desire in his poem "DREAMS FOR SALE":
If there were dreams for sale I would be the first to buy No matter how high the price. I shall pay any price For dreams Which lighten the burden Brighten the day with sunrise And make life A time to remember. My chase will never cease I will ask every soul If they sell these dreams No matter what the price I shall buy, I shall buy.
Dr. Gill appreciates the freedom that does not terrorize others. He likes to live as a free bird in the global village. Geographical boundaries are meaningless to him. Social and economical realities are so compelling that men cannot live aloof. After all man is a social animal. He needs social interaction with people of the world. This bond can only be strengthened if people value each other's feelings. Dr. Stephen Gill is a versatile and multi dimensional personality. It needs volumes to write on works and different aspects of his life . Considering commitments and works I can sum up that Dr. Stephen Gill is A BORN POET OF PEACE. !
====================================================================== FAIZ AHMED FAIZ AND STEPHEN GILL : A COMPARATIVE STUDY
By Hamadan Darwesh The purpose of this comparative study is not to lower or excel one poet over the other because every flower has its own uniqueness. Considering this fact and also that comparisons may not be easy and tasteful for everyone this evaluation is irected to dissect similarities and dissimilarities for a better understanding and enjoyment of Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Stephen Gill.
Faiz is a poet of beauty and love. These elements are evident not only in his diction but also in the subject matter of his poetry. He is also remembered as a poet of revolution. Dictionaries explain that a revolution refers to change in the political system through force. That is the credo of the Marxists and Faiz Ahmed Faiz was a Marxist. He was imprisoned because of his involvement in a plot to overthrow the government of Zia-ul-Haq through a military coupe. Faiz is also referred to as a poet of the masses, although the fact is that only a handful of his poems about love and beauty are understandable by the masses. These handful of poems have been sung by famous singers who can be credited for bringing him popularity among the common people.
On the other hand, Stephen Gill writes to bring peace through peaceful means. He is a poet of universal peace, love and human rights. He “urges abolition of racial, religious, political and economic prejudices and seeks equal opportunities and privileges for men and women, adoption of a world code of human rights and responsibilities, and creation of a world federal government to heal the dissensions that divide people. He knows religious fanaticism and hatred are a world-devouring fire.”1 He does all this in a poetry that is graceful and easy to understand.
Stephen Gill and Faiz Ahmed Faiz are two poetic sons of Sialkot that was a region of the Panjab of India before the partition in 1947 and became a region of the Panjab of Pakistan after the partition. The fertile land of Sialkot, known for the production of the supporting goods, is also known for producing personalities that became prominent nationally and internationally. The area has a shrine of Guru Nanak, the first guru of the Sikhs. In film industry, Sialkot has produced director Kidar Sharma, a good poet who wrote dialogue for films, and songs for the immortal singer Saigal. Among actresses, there is Nimmi and among actors, there is Rajinder Kumar who acted in the famous film Jogan. In the field of poetry there is Allama Muhamed Iqbal, who is the national poet of Pakistan.
Among the most recent contemporary poets, Stephen Gill and Faiz Ahmed Faiz are worth comparing. Both are known and respected internationally and both have produced the bulk of their works outside of Sialkot. Both share a powerful world vision and both have drawn inspirations also from the font of the West. The mother tongue of both is Panjabi. Both inherit the same culture, traditions and values. Both talk of peace, and urge to break the barriers of religion, race, colour and gender. Both are in favour of using arts to spread messages, though they drive their inspirations from different fountains. Both are nominees for the Nobel Prize.
The father of Faiz, a feudal lord and lawyer in Sialkot, loved literature. The father of Stephen Gill ran a firm to export sporting goods and edited a religious publication. His father moved to New Delhi when his firm went bankrupt. The change in the geography of the country opened a new chapter for the family. The struggle of his parents in New Delhi for peace and necessities of life is a long episode in the drama of pains, unlike that of Faiz Ahmed Faiz whose life did not uproot with the division of the country.
Faiz Ahmed Faiz held a master’s degree in English Literature from Lahore and another in Arabic. He taught for a while in Amritsar. After the second world war, Faiz turned to journalism and excelled as the editor of The Pakistan Times. He was jailed for writing against the government of the day. He went to England after his release. He also went to Beirut where he edited Lotus for Palistinian fighters.
Stephen Gill has a master’s degree in English Literature from Agra University and taught for a while in India before leaving for Ethiopia to teach. From Ethiopia, he went to England and from England he came to Canada for his doctorate in contemporary English Literature. He studied at Oxford University in England for a while. The main reason for his farewell to the land of his birth was the prevailing social and religious climate. “The suffocation caused by the thick smoke of fear and distrust shaped” the decision of Stephen Gill to get out of India.
Life in new pastures did not heal his wounds completely. “Fear as a wolf of painful emotions kept emerging again and again from the bushes of helplessness in the wasteland of time. It kept disturbing the peace of my nights,” he says, “particularly whenever I heard about the riots from my compatriots in Canada. Even when the wolf was asleep, the thorn of the scars bothered me.3
Both Faiz and Gill accepted their self-exiles because of the life-threatening situations, although for Faiz those situations were avoidable. Faiz was not in a life-threatening situation because he was from a Muslim background and his name was Muslim. Moreover, he lived in a country that is predominantly Muslim. If there were problems for him, they were self-created. There was no danger for him if he had refrained from criticizing his government.
On the other hand, life-threatening situation for Stephen Gill was real. It was the result of the religious bigotry that was out of his control. In those days “persons were being killed mercilessly on the streets, in the houses, trains and other places. People were changing their religions under force, and forced marriages to men of other faith were common. Young girls were kidnapped and were passed on from one man to another for pleasure .”4
To criticize a non-Christian in those days was not going to land Stephen Gill in a jail. It was going to land him in a graveyard. That could have been his fate even if he had done nothing. He was interrogated a couple of times for his writings by fundamentalists. The question of criticising the government as Faiz did, was not imaginable for Stephen Gill. Life was miserable even without any fault of his own. Religious bigots were making the lives of minorities more and more suffocating. To be secure, free and be able to write about those bigots needed a life-giving environment that he received in Canada. Faiz started his poetry with the traditional themes and treatment of love and beauty in Urdu literature. Soon he began to write also about social and political issues of his day. He has suggested this change in his famous lyric mujhse pehli si muhabbat mere mehboob na mang that could be translated as Do not Ask Me Now My Beloved to Love You as I Did.
Though the poet draws a line of demarcation here between his former and forthcoming poetry, he could not stick to this demarcation. There has always been a combination of both features in his poetry. Even those poems which are presented as the models of his political poems do not appear to be political. It is “often, a mingling of the political and the romantic pervades his poetry. Sometimes the two, especially in the ghazals, are entangled in such a way that there is no point in trying to separate them : the political meaning informs the romantic and the romantic, the political”5 This feature in the poetry of Faiz is noticeably different from the poetry of Stephen Gill that is obviously about peace and social concerns even to a casual reader.
One of the meeting points of both poets is the language of Urdu. Both started writing poetry early in life during their schools days and both stopped writing poetry till they finished their schools. Both have written occasionally in Panjabi language. Stephen Gill switched to English from Urdu. He writes now occasionally in Urdu and Panjabi. The main reason for his switch is his message that he wants to share with a wider audience for which English is more suitable. Most of the work of Stephen Gill is in English though once in a while he writes in Urdu and Panjabi, depending on his mood and need. He changes the version from one language to another himself as Robindranath Tagore did. There is a bulk of English poems that Stephen Gill has not put in Urdu and Panjabi versions. In the same way there are several Urdu poems that Stephen Gill has not put into English version. He does not call this practice as translation. For him it is like writing originally in that language. He has not done some of his Urdu poems in English. Those poems were written primarily for Urdu-knowing audiences, because of the references and their need for that readership. He still thinks that one day he may do them in English with footnotes and vice versa if he would find time.
Faiz like Robinderanath Tagore and Stephen Gill could produce the English version of his poems himself. He had a master’s degree in English as Stephen Gill has, and taught English as Stephen Gill did. Unlike Stephen Gill, Faiz studied English at his early age when he was a student at Scotch Mission School where English was the medium of instruction. His knowledge of English language and literature was sufficient for him to do his own translations. Yet, he used to provide rough prosaic drafts of his poems to his English translators. The result is that most of what is available in English translation has more than one version. This way, he could also have introduced himself to the West earlier.
Stephen Gill, has the same features in his English poetry that he has in his Urdu and Panjabi poetry. He writes and talks about life around. He is convinced that without peace there cannot be progress. Instead of wasting money and intelligence to manufacture the engines of destruction, governments must discover ways to cure the incurable diseases. He wants everybody to enjoy equal legal and social status in the global village. He also believes that the purpose of religion is to bring unity, not to divide humanity.
Faiz talks about peace, not so strongly and diligently as Stephen Gill does in his poem after poem. The fountain of inspiration for Faiz Ahmed Faiz, a leftist, is Marxist ideology that holds capitalism responsible for several ills in society. This system reduces workers to the status of poverty and undernourishment. Faiz was one of the founders of the Progressive Writers Movement that has a leaning toward socialist philosophy.
On the other hand, the fountain of inspiration for Stephen Gill is world federalism. He believes in forming a democratic one-world government to eliminate wars and waste. World Federalism has fertilized the thinking of Stephen Gill strongly:
In addition to a number of articles, he has incorporated it in his other works also. His book Discovery of Bangladesh is the outcome of his belief in World Federalism. Had there been a world government, the war between India and Pakistan and the most terrible carnage that ever took place on the subcontinent of India could have been prevented. Such carnage will continue to happen if a world parliament is not formed.
Gill's poetry obviously shows the influence of World Federalism. His collections revolve around world unity and survival. "The United Nations" expresses his respect for the founding principles of the United Nations and his admiration for its efforts to foster peace and harmony in the world. Poems like "To War Mongers" and "War is Fraud" condemn war openly. There are references to war and to the unity of mankind in other poems. In Life's Vagaries, a collection of short stories, there is a tale called "A Contemporary Poet,” which is based on the subject of world government. These stories were written to convey Gill's conviction that people all over the world are basically the same, and that therefore there is no need for discrimination. Gill's interest in H.G. Wells is also directly linked to his commitment to world federalism. He explores the same themes, including justice, toleration, brotherhood and compassion in Why and Immigrant. Gill therefore is a world federalist in his writing as well as in his practical life, and he considers himself a world citizen. 6
Another fountain of inspiration for Stephen Gill is democracy. He believes in democratic set ups to give equality to everyone before the law. He says:
The seed of democracy sprouts in the open air of that soil which is freely watered by the freedom of expression and where the tongue of the serpent does not throw the poison of fear to fertilize the land for the thorns of repression to grow. The plant of democracy blossoms into the fruits of abundance and its branches dance to the tune of a song that brews a wine for peace. The shade of the tree provides joys of social equality through self-governing winds.7
Stephen Gill is against fundamentalist because they destroy peace, beauty, and kill innocent persons, including women and children. He has written in all three languages to denounce these merchants of death. In his interview for Poetry in the Arts, he points out to Peggy Lynch that “violence is a disgusting aberration of beauty, and beauty is the music of creation. The systematic violations of the rights which were universally declared and adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations are the worst aberrations.”8 The insane assaults in New York and Washington on September 11 prompted Stephen Gill to beseech humanity again to come together to find ways to deal with the rapidly growing dragon of terrorism. He passionately asks:
Why terrorists profess their targets are not innocent yet they engineer sneaky devices to awaken the dogs of gloom.
Why all that runs opposite to their fabric is unholy for their mind. Why do they hold a Rosary in one hand and violence in the other.
Why hiding behind the fungus of hate they rape the sanctity of life. Why their road to bliss litters with lingering bitterness. Why they are merchants uncivilized.
Why they are trained in the school of anarchy which blooms as deadly nightshade on the fringes of fallacies. Why they talk of harmony but plan genocide.
Why they cannot see the ecstatic dance of peacocks and across a borderless horizon the dove flying. Why do they promote the twisted agenda of insanity. Why do they love the catechism of ruin. Why do they commit outrages which are futile.9
In “Religious Fanaticism,” he condemns them in the strongest possible language when he says that a fanatic is :
A mental labyrinth; bearer of deformed urchins in the ruins of assumptions. A leper caressing humanity under false pretences; volcano when it blusters.
It grows on the babel of confusion in the lap of the blinding dust of vanity by the arrogant prince of ignorance. It breeds the daughters of fire storm and wound. It leads the adders of dread, destruction, disdain and distaste.10
Stephen Gill believes that peace and progress go hand in hand, and to call the humans of today civilised is wrong because they have invented weapons of mass destruction. They can reach the moon but cannot reach the moon of the human heart. Considering the sufferings that this so-called progress has brought, it would be called retrogression. Stephen Gill has summed up these ideas in several poems. In “We Are Proud,” he wonders:
We are proud to view the moon's cold breast and to collect shallow knowledge of distant planets in our laps.
We are proud of fiddling with noxious gases and of raining virus and fire to deface our mother earth.
We are proud of our bloodthirsty robots, our youth in uniforms, gigantic factories,Sky-hitting buildings and restless machines which crush our peace.
Yet we are not proud of a single aircraft accident-free to ensure our travels carefree.Diseases still scurry. From their sinister effects medicines still not free.Families falling apart, no love, no respect for life.Yet we are proud. I wonder why?11
Stephen Gill has a cloudless vision of the future he wants to build and the paths that he wants the world to follow to achieve that vision. He is against wars. He wants democracy, respect for the rights of minorities and ultimately formation of a world government through educational means. These solutions and goals are clear in his writings. He has written a number of poems to condemn wars and bloodshed. To make his readers aware of the futility of wars, he has edited two anti war anthologies. In the first anthology that was published in 1984 he points out the perils of nuclear warfare when he says in the introduction that “one single factor that is responsible for this impending peril is the nuclear warfare, hanging over our heads like the sword of Damocles. The sword may fall any time or moment to destroy all of us.”12 In the introduction of the second anthology that was published in 1986 he says, “History has proved over and over again that violence leads to further violence and hatred to further hatred. Fear and violence may silence a few persons and nations for a while– not forever– and the problems, which are the real enemies, remain unsolved.”13 Faiz on the other hand, is critical of capitalism. Even this criticism is not clear and strong in his poetry. He has no definite goal to achieve to bring peace in the world, except that of overthrowing the capitalism to end the sufferings of the workers.
Stephen Gill and Faiz Ahmed Faiz believe in using their pens to get across their messages. For both, writing is not a pleasurable pastime. Faiz believed, as the other members of the Progressive Writers Movement do, in using the arts to spread ideology. Stephen Gill believes the same though he believes also in maintaining a balance between the form and subject. A message is important to Stephen Gill, but he does not want to carry that message in a vehicle that is not equally beautiful. He wants a perfect marriage between both.
Faiz Ahmed Faiz follows Mirza Ghalib as far as the diction of his poetry is concerned. His admiration for Ghalib is obvious when he titled his first collection of poems Naqshe-e-Faryadi that is the first line of the first ghazal of the collection of Ghalib. Faiz shows his strong commitment to lower class of people in his poetry that is loaded with classical tradition of Urdu literature. His poetry is shaped by the traditional romantic imagery of Urdu poetry though here and there he mingles it with symbols from the West. “Faiz’s language, true to its Urdu and Persian ancestry, can be filled with ambiguity, and this allows the poet to combine the passion of love with the passion of political commitment.”14 The message of Faiz Ahmed Faiz gets lost in the wilderness of his diction. Faiz was aware of it:
Since the day Faiz appeared on India's literary scene, some people had been complaining that though Faiz wrote for the common man his diction was beyond the comprehension of the people he wrote for, barring of course poems like Bol keh lub azaad hain tairay or soach. Whenever Faiz was encountered with this question, he would concede that this had been a weakness in his Urdu poetry.
In an introduction to Faiz's collection of poetry, Zindaan Naama, Major Ishaq wrote: ‘Faiz's poetry has the spirit and emotions of a man of heart. Within it beats the heart of the nation but I don't know why the warmth of the sweat and the blood of a worker is not present in it in the required proportion. He remembers the roses and the jasmines with great affection but he does not describe the plight of the one who produces them with great toil and has full right to benefit from their beauty, fragrance and colours. His poetry has yet to come out of drawing rooms, schools and colleges and to spread to the streets, roads, fields and factories.15
Although Faiz did not believe in arts for arts sake, in practice he does. He follows the tradition of Ghalib. If there is any serious message in his poetry that is not clear. “Although politics colors much of Faiz's poetry, much of it is also romantic, and some is a combination of the two, a juxtaposition not always familiar to Western readers.”16 Faiz Ahmed Faiz is seldom fully immersed in the sea of peace as Stephen Gill does in the bulk of his poetry. Stephen Gill uses the dove repeatedly as a symbol of peace. He has addressed several poems only to the dove, such as “To A Dove,” “My Dove,” and “The Dove of Peace.” Moreover, Stephen Gill does not follow any master or tradition. His diction is unique, and clear. “Gill’s gift of language, the immediacy of his wit and word-play combined with a command of imagery which not only captures his readers in a freeze-frame, but hustles them through time and space to another dimension, places him in the forefront of contemporary Indian poets writing in English.”17 Gill’s individuality that is clear in his English poetry is also clear in his Urdu and Panjabi poetry. “What is apparent in all of Stephen Gill’s work is his generous use of imagery, the substance of all poetry to allow to comprehend the shadow, form and content inseparable as always but in a contemporary, un abstruse and most relevant fashion that remain timeless and universal”18 Tracing the reasons for this individuality in Stephen Gill’s works, Dr. R.K. Singh, head of the English department of a university, a reputed poet and critic of India, says “His social norms, standards and values are neither fully Indian nor fully Western, but rather international. His concerns are human and his contexts increasingly become global.”19“ Dr. Gill’s poems in general are simple and at times plain; images and metaphors that he employs are communicative and not decorative. In them lyric is subservient to the greater thematic concern and the emphasis is on the forceful communication of his social concern to achieve a wider goal, the realization of his dream of a world free from fear, hunger, discrimination, hatred and violence.”20 For Stephen Gill, message is equally important as is the vehicle that carries the message of peace. His Urdu and Panjabi poetry is also in the same vein and with the same purpose. Nearly they all are about peace and social concerns. Some Urdu poems of Stephen Gill have been sung by a prominent musician and singer of Pakistan in a cassette called Aman that means peace in English. In these poems (songs) he condemns war and bloodshed, using beautiful images.
Faiz was honoured by organizations for his efforts to promote peace through poetry. His main honour, Lenin Peace Prize, was from Russia because of his leaning towards Marxism. This recognition was largely responsible for bringing to Faiz fame though his fame also depended on prominent singers of Pakistan who picked up a handful of his easy poems for their albums.
Stephen Gill has not been honored by Russia, because he does not use his pen to promote Marxism, though he has been also called a progressive writer. He does not write to please any regime or institution. He is concerned about human rights and equality before law for every individual. He shows ways to abolish future wars and bloodshed. He dreams that minorities should also enjoy the freedoms that are enshrined in the declarations of the United Nations Human Rights and that are enjoyed by majority. He is a devotee of democracy and believes in the formation of a democrat world government. He uses his prose also to spread his message. Stephen Gill is also a progressive writer from every angle because of his subject matter and diction.
Using Lotus, an international leftist publication that he edited from Lebanon, Faiz Ahmed Faiz fought for Palestinians. Before that he used Pakistan Times to spread his ideology. As editor, Stephen Gill used the World Federalist newspaper to spread his vision of a one-world government. He edited the South Asian Christian Diary to condemn the establishments of India and Pakistan for persecuting their minorities. He stresses it again and again in his articles that those nations cannot progress without respecting the rights of minorities. Stephen Gill fights for the rights of minorities in the subcontinent of India and Pakistan, where he was born. He believes that the country in which the rights of the weaker sections are not respected through the legislative means and by its majority, cannot witness the emergence of the sun of peace. It is in the interest of the survival of majority to honor the rights of minorities. He brings it out in his poetry, In his articles, in his fiction as well as in his talks. In his novel Immigrant, Stephen Gill portrays the prejudice against new comers in Canada in the 60's.
Stephen Gill is primarily a poet, though he is known also for writing his powerful prose. Whether it is his poetry or prose or his talk, he emerges as an embassador of harmony. Stephen Gill has workable solutions to make the world a better place to live. He is fully aware how to create peace in the war-weary world. He does not escapism in the lap of a beloved as Faiz does. For him peace is beauty and beauty is peace. Stephen Gill is not a poet of love and beauty in the sense Faiz is. Stephen Gill has tried the themes of love and beauty rarely because the snakes of religious bigotry and his struggle for his vision did not let him roam leisurely in the vale of romance. For Stephen Gill, love is the peace that is inherent in the beauty of the human rights. That is what Mr. Pritam Singh, a retired IAS officer, records in Advance:
Art is beauty and I see real beauty in peace and l strive to bring it out in my writing, whether it is poetry or prose. No sensible person will deny that we are living on the mouth of a volcano. It took millions of years to build human civilisation, which nuclear warfare can destroy in minutes. No sane reader will endorse barbarity, and condemn peace and world unity, which are basic to all the religious and human survival. Peace allures me as does any beauty. To go one step further, peace and beauty are identical terms for me. A poet expresses what produces a powerful impact on him. One of my obsessions is the danger imposed by the sophisticated engines of destruction, which have the capability to destroy the world many times over. Man seems to exist only on this earth throughout the whole universe. It will be the catastrophe-- an irreversible step-- if man annihilated himself.21
Faiz Ahmed Faiz acknowledges in a conversation with Muzaffar Iqbal that is included in Pakistan Literature that “one should not lose one’s faith and hope for without faith and hope, one cannot survive and life cannot continue”. Faiz quotes a ghazal that has a glimpse of this hope.22
However, this hope is not expressed vividly in the poetry of Faiz as it is expressed in the poetry of Stephen Gill. “Stephen Gill is a Radical Optimist always seeing the best side of every situation, always expecting the future to be better than the past but eager and willing to do all in his power to help bring this about”23 Talking of hope in Gill’s poetry, Dr. Frank Tierney, former head of the department of English Literature of the University of Ottawa, points out:
There is, in Mr. Gill's mature work, public despair but private hope. Survival and growth of the person and the nation begin with inner enlightenment, inner awareness of the principle of survival-- love.
But there is in Tennyson's poem and Mr. Gill's volume a hierarchy of values. The first and most important is, as John Henry Newman insisted, "growth within" This growth requires spiritual priority. This principle leads man to personal, national and international harmony through an understanding that comes from love.24
Stephen Gill is a poet of hope as several critics maintain. Professor Dr. Frank Tierney is one of them. Expression of hope is clearer in the following widely read and appreciated poem of Stephen Gill:
HOPE
Through the cracks in the crumbling walls of now I grab particles of the dust from the diamonds of your shoreless abode of the fathomless bliss. More than the sweet sobbing melodies the amaze of the amazing abode of your calm grace is to me. Your recollection tiptoes in the caves of my words and your sobering silence plays with the lips of my thinking
For his efforts in poetry, Dr. Stephen Gill has been honored by several national and international organizations, including Sahir Cultural Academy in India in 1999. The Sahir Cultural Academy documents that “Stephen Gill, significantly symbolises the struggle of a modern man against odds. Gifted with patience and sincerity, he is committed to world peace, better world-order and universal love. It is as poet that he has established his place. He shares with Sahir his dreams as expressed in the classic Parchhaiyan.”
The Pakistan Association of Ottawa, Canada, has honored Stephen Gill with Poet of Peace Award in 1995. Other recognitions include Pegasus International Poetry for Peace Award, (Poetry in the Arts, Inc., Austin, Texas, USA); Certificate and a Laurel Leaf, inscribed Laureate Man of Letters at the 13th world conference of United Poets Laureate International, held at The Pointe in Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Best Poet of Peace in the World for the year 1993 from Roger Cable 11, Canada; and The Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. He has received the honor of two doctorates. He has received an offer from Ansted University for the honor of his third doctorate.
Faiz Ahmed Faiz is essentially a poet of love and beauty. “Although he is sometimes described as a Marxist thinker, he was at heart a romanticist who wrote some of the best love poems of his time.”25 On the other hand, Stephen Gill is essentially a poet of peace and human rights. Both poets excel for their global mindedness and service to humanity through poetry, rising above the growth of religious pollutants that have been sickening the subcontinent of India and Pakistan. The soil of Sialkot ought to be proud of her two poetic sons. One of her sons is Faiz Ahmed Faiz; another is Stephen Gill. Faiz returned to Pakistan in 1982. Two years later he died in Lahore. Stephen Gill has adopted Canada for his permanent stay because of its multicultural nature that is recognized by its federal and provincial governments, freedom of speech and legal guarantees to minorities.!
========================================== BIBLIOGRAPHY . 1"A Search For Elysium” by Dr. Prof. R.K. Singh and Mitali De Sarkar. The Mawaheb International, June 1998 2Shrine ( poems of social concerns) by Stephen Gill, Introduction. The World University Press, 1999. 3----------------- The World University Press, 1999. 4----------------- The World University Press, 1999. 5The True Subject by Agha Shahid Ali. Winter90, vol.9, issue 2 6Stephen Gill & His Works by Dr. George Hines, pp16-17, Vesta Publications Ltd., 2003 7Shrine, “Seeds of Democracy”, The World University Press, 1999, p. 61 8 Poetry in the Arts, USA., No 23, January 2001 9Shrine, “Terrorists”, The World University Press, 1999, p.154 10Shrine, “Religious Fanaticism,” The World University Press, 1999, p. 63 11The Dove of Peace, MAF Press, New York, 1989, p.15 12Anti-War Poems ((vol.1), Vesta Publications Ltd., 1984, Introduction 13Anti-War Poems ((vol.11, Vesta Publications Ltd., 1986, Introduction 14World Literature in Review: Iran, By Hanaway Jr., William L., “World Literature Today,” winter 93, vol. 67, issue1 15The News by Dr. Afzal Mirza, 13 October 2002 16World Literature in Review: Iran, By Hanaway Jr., William L., “World Literature Today,” winter 93, vol. 67, issue1 17The Mawaheb International, “Shrine”. Patricia Prime, June 2000, p.4, and Canopy July 2000. 18The Pilot, “A Call For Peace” by Dr. Rochelle L. Holt, January 20, 1992 19The Mawaheb International, June 1998 20 Cyber Literature, “Shrine,” Dr. Chhote Lal Khatri., Dec. 1999, p.91-92 21Advance, “Stephen Gill” , June 1999 22Pakistan Academy of Letters, 1992, p. 27 23Bridge-in-Making, “Gill’s Poetry Enriches Our Life,” Maryanne Raphael, Jan-April 1998, pages 41-45 24Canada India Times, “Reflections of An Indian Poet,” by Dr. Frank Tierney. Nov. 15, 1973 25The Hindu online, Nov. 26, 2002!
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