075. The Life And Works Of Sarojini Naidu. Reintroduced By P S Remesh Chandran

075

The Life And Works Of Sarojini Naidu

P. S. Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum
 

Article title image by Stefan Keller. Graphics: Adobe SP.
 

It is impossible to tell whether Sarojini Naidu was a poet or a politician. She left her footprints in both fields and her achievements in poetry and politics make it impossible for us to select either one as her favourite field. From studying in England as a teenager to dying while at work in the UP Governor’s office in India as Governor, her life was one of the most vibrant tales of Indian women, stretching through nations and touching peoples in Asia, Europe, Africa and America.

Sarojini Naidu’s father was a scientist, and mother a multi language poet.

01. Sarojini Naidu the student in 1912.

Sarojini Naidu’s father Dr. Aghoranath Chattopadhyaya was a scientist, philosopher, educator and politician who founded the Nizam College in Hyderabad and was the first member of the Indian National Congress in Hyderabad. He was a Doctor of Science from Edinburgh University. A progressive-minded Bengali Brahmin, he had close connections with the Nizam of Hyderabad, and was respected by the Nizam too. These connections but did not prevent his removal from the college for participating in the Indian Independence Movement against the British. This Nawab of Hyderabad, whom we know as the Nizam, was the famous miser and one of the richest men in India who imported Rolls Royces in dozens for idling in his garage and used billion-dollar diamonds as paperweights in his castle. Sarojini Naidu's mother Barada Sundari Devi was a well known poetess in Bengali who wrote in many other languages also. Sarojini Devi was the eldest of their eight children.

Her house in Hyderabad was a zoo where all kinds of human beings visited, lived, flocked to.

Their house in Hyderabad was, as her brother once described, a zoo where all kinds of human beings from scholars to illiterates, from scientists to religious street speakers, from kings to beggars, visited, lived or flocked to. The parents talked to each other in Bengali, to children in English, to servants in Telugu, to visitors in English or Urdu-dominated Hindustani. The father Aghoranath spoke English, French, German, Hebrew, Russian and Sanskrit fluently. He spent a lot of time in his life to extract gold from base metals which was a fashionable and standard pursuit among scientists and alchemists then which made him a scholar in chemistry anyway. We can guess what the children living in this house would grow up into later.

Article title image by Mark Murphy. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Sarojini Naidu’s brothers and sisters were poets, revolutionaries and diplomats.

02. Life And Works Of Sarojini Naidu Article.

One of Sarojini Devi’s brothers, Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, was a poet, playwright, and actor. Another brother, Birendranath Chattopadhyaya, was a revolutionary who turned communist and went to Moscow to seek Russian support for Indian independence. He was one of the brains behind the Berlin Committee and was killed by Joseph Stalin’s Russian troops in 1937. Even though the communists and the congress party men in India had parted ways and remained great enemies after the Quilaffat Movement in India, Sarojini Naidu remained a sympathizer and supporter of communists till the end of her days. Sarojini Devi’s one sister, Sunalini Devi, was a dancer and actress. Another sister Suhasini Chattopadhyaya was a communist leader and a freedom fighter. The other sister Mrinalini Chattopadhyaya was a famous national activist in Calcutta. Chattopadhyaya is a clan name among Bengali Brahmins. Earlier they were called Chatterjis. (See Special Note on ‘Communist Betrayal After The Khilaffat Movement).

To King’s College, London with a King’s scholarship from Telengana.

03. Sarojini Naidu in youth.

Her father wanted her to be a scientist like him but she wanted to be a poet. She learned well and mastered Bengali, Telugu, Urdu, English and Persian- a combination of languages unheard of among children then. When she was eleven years old, while wrestling with a difficult algebraic problem, she decided to wrestle with creating a long English poem instead. The result was a wonderful 1300 lines-long poem in the likeness of Walter Scott’s The Lady Of the Lake. She never wrote a poem like this again. She topped in the Matriculation Examination of Madras University and rose to national fame at the age of twelve. The next literary creation was the play Maher Muneer in Persian. Nizam and her father were impressed. The Nizam College gave her a scholarship to study at the King’s College, London and then at Girton College, Cambridge in England which was an achievement for a sixteen year-old girl- an act uncommon among the orthodox Hindus of those times.

Birth of an English poetess with themes of Indian life and events.

04. Sarojini Naidu in 1946.

Tennyson, Shelley and Elizabeth Browning were the inspirations for Sarojini Naidu’s poetry, and naturally, she acquired the traits of a Victorian poet in writing. Fine imagery, rich lyrical and musical content and use of varying rhymes and meters were the characteristics of her poetry then. Though her themes were follow-ups of those of her inspirations initially, she later changed and switched to Indian themes. A born reader and writer noted for poetry during college years, the littérateurs she met in England prompted her to adopt Indian themes which they thought would be mountains and rivers and temples for her naturally, but Sarojini Devi startled them all by wisely adopting contemporary Indian life and events as her themes.

Given the sobriquet the Nightingale of India.
 05. Sarojini Naidu’s residence the Golden Threshold in Hyderabad.

Intoxicated by new political connections and imbibed with new literary ideas, she returned to India in 1898 without waiting for graduation. While in England she had met an Indian doctor, Dr. Govindarajulu Naidu of Hyderabad, and after returning to India after studies she was married to him at the age of 19. He was a non-Brahmin and inter-caste marriages were considered a taboo in India then. Her father and family stood with her and thus Sarojini Devi became Sarojini Naidu, adopting her husband’s surname. As we know, her parents and family had already moved from Calcutta and settled in Hyderabad far earlier and as it was, there was no cultural difference felt between then. By the time she became 25, her collections The Golden Threshold 1905, The Bird Of Time 1912 and The Broken Wing 1912 had come out and attracted large audience in England and India, and she had become famous as an English poetess. The liquidity of her diction and the rich musical content and lyrical beauty of her poems gained her the sobriquet The Nightingale of India, or Bharat Kokila in Hindi.
 
Books written by Sarojini Naidu and her rapport with Muslims.

06. With Charlie Chaplin, Gandhi and his wife in London in 1931.

The first collection of her poems The Golden Threshold published in England in 1905 thrilled the English-speaking world and it soon had several reprints and editions. Then came The Bird of Time in 1912, again published from London which also was held by the world in high esteem. The Broken Wing arrived in 1917. Born as a Hindu in the Muslim Nizam-ruled Hyderabad, Sarojini Naidu knew well the ways of life of Muslims and had acquired fine rapport with the Muslim community there. In Indian National Congress, she functioned as one of the bridges between the Hindu and Muslim factions. In 1916 she authored and published a biography of Muhammad Ali Jinnah subtitled The Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity, as a tribute to this leading figure in the independence struggle of India who later favoured India’s partition and became the father of the Pakistan nation, like Gandhi became India’s. The Feast of Youth came out in 1918. The Wizard Mask and A Treasury of Poems were collections of poems and The Magic Tree and The Gift of India were selected works which followed. The Sceptred Flute was published in 1943 posthumously and The Feather of Dawn edited by her daughter Padmaja Naidu in 1961. The Golden Threshold, The Bird Of Time and The Broken Wing are the original collections of Sarojini Naidu’s poems. The Sceptred Flute and The Feather Of Dawn are collections of the same poems from the original three.
 
English poetry pages for the first time filled with eastern magic.

Arthur Symons described Sarojini Naidu’s poetry as Un-English and Oriental for their eastern magic, created through creating an atmosphere of sitar, tabala, flute, anklet bells, bangles, girls’ laughter, nightingales’ cooing and bazaar voices, which were all appearing for the first time in English poetry pages and becoming a new language unto itself within the English language. We can say that her love of poetry shattered her attempts for higher education, and her love of politics shattered her love of poetry. The three phases of Sarojini Naidu’s poetry are first, the themes of the home, its surroundings and nature, second, fellow human beings and fellow-creations and third, the entirety and vision of the world. The volume of the poetry she wrote was not much, like John Keats’ or Thomas Gray’s, but their beauty gained her equal fame as Keats’ or Gray’s. Perhaps the scantiness of her poetry makes her poems more endeared.

Article title image by Quang Praha. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Gandhi and India’s Independence Struggle consumed poets and writers in hundreds.

At one time, Sarojini Naidu walked the life of a joyous child, bathed in romantic thoughts and creating fine lyrical poems to the fullness of her heart but Gandhi arrested and stopped her and showed to her how the people of India suffered under the British rule. Not one poem flowed from her golden quill since then. For thirty years after publishing her third book The Broken Wing in 1917, she wrote nothing but immersed herself deep in speeches, meetings, marches, travels, and jails. Had she not walked the path of politics, she would have become one of the greatest poets in the English language. But she happily became the Traveling Music for the Indian Independence Movement and Gandhi and India’s Independence Struggle thus cost the English-speaking world one fine poet more. Rabindranath Tagore was another, who luckily escaped from getting involved in most of Gandhi’s political tantrums like Boycott of Foreign Clothes. One will wonder how many fine poets and authors Indian Independence Struggle and Gandhi consumed. Rajaram Mohan Roy, Kashi Prasad Ghosh, Aravinda Ghosh, Manomohan Ghosh, Michael Madhusoodan Dutt, Toru Dutt and Ramesh Chandra Dutt were fine writers whose literary careers ended when they came in contact with Gandhi in this massive freedom movement.

The political life of Sarojini Naidu as leader of the Indian Independence Movement.

07. Sarojini Naidu with Gandhi in Salt March 1930.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale urged Sarojini Naidu to use her literary and oratory skills to free the people of her country. Gandhi directed her to travel throughout India and influence people through speeches. Pundit Madan Mohan Malavya led her to spit-fire politics and active freedom fight. The division of her beloved Bengal into two by the British in 1905 made her jump into the forefront of people’s resistance. 1915-18 saw her traveling through cities and villages in India, delivering captivating and beautiful speeches. She was one of the founders of the Women's India Association, working alongside Annie Besant. In 1919 she was standing at the forefront of Champaran Indigo Workers’ Revolt against suppression and oppression. With the introduction of the infamous Rowlatt Act of 1919, Gandhi found his best follower in her for his Non-Cooperation Movement. She was delegated as the Home Rule League's Ambassador to England in 1919 and as the Ambassador to the East African Indian Congress in 1924. She also became the symbol of support for the freedom of people fighting in South Africa. (See Special Notes on Champaran Revolt and Rowlatt Satyagraha).

A one-woman force unstoppable in world capitals.

 
08. Sarojini Naidu with Gandhi and other women in 1940.

In 1925 Sarojini Naidu became the President of the Indian National Congress- the first Indian woman to hold this position. The same year she chaired the Kanpur Congress Summit. In 1928 the American people saw her delivering non-violence messages from Gandhi, in 1930 she was seen taking the leadership of non-violence movement following the arrest of Gandhi, and in 1932 participating in the Round Table Conference in London. Her brilliant speeches refuting the allegations against India raised by Katharine Mayo in her book Mother India captivated the American people. Gandhi sent her as his envoy to South Africa to help the Indians there against the oppressive rule of the South African government. This respectable one-woman force was becoming unstoppable in world capitals.

Imprisoned five times in British jails during India’s Freedom Struggle.

09. With K S Krishnan and Nehru at Indian Science Congress 1949.

In 1942 the world saw her in jail with Gandhi for nearly two years for leading the Quit India Movement which turned all Indians and almost the whole world against the British and limited British rule in India to just five years more. After her release from jail in 1944, she presided over the Steering Committee at the Asian Relations Conference. She was imprisoned five times during India’s freedom struggle. Her husband Dr. Govindarajulu Naidu must have been a great soul indeed to have endured all these sufferings along with her.

A star among a sky of luminaries.
 10. People of Champaran in 1906.

A rich man’s daughter, a rich man’s wife, and rich through writing, Sarojini Naidu did not but find it difficult to mingle with people from all strata of life. She made friends everywhere and was quick-witted and bold in her opinions. She did not fear to call names if needed. She even called Gandhi a Micki Mouse and Subhas Chandra Bose, a Glaxo Baby. In turn, some called her not by the name the Nightingale of India but the Naughty Girl of India. But she had no enemies. She was a very witty creature also. ‘The Indians spend millions to keep Gandhi poor’ was one of her famous jokes. 

Among the most eloquent speakers in India then were Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan and Jawaharlal Nehru, all in the Congress Party, and among these luminaries the speeches of Sarojini Naidu were specially noted. (Dr. Rajendra Prasad became the first President of India, Dr. Radhakrishnan the next President and Jawaharlal Nehru the first Prime Minister of India. Dr. Rajendra Prasad authored Satyagraha at Champaran, Prison Autography, Since Independence and At The Feet Of Mahatma Gandhi. Dr. Radhakrishnan authored quite a number of world famous philosophy books including Towards a New World, Our Heritage, Recovery Of Faith and Religion, Science and Culture. Jawaharlal Nehru’s famous books were The Discovery Of India, Glimpses Of World History and Letters From A Father To His Daughter). It must be noted that the Presidents and Prime Ministers of India were famous writers, once. Some of Sarojini Naidu’s speeches made their way into history. It was a time of great speakers, litterateurs, lawyers and scholars in the political scene of India. Dadabai Navaroji, Gopalakrishna Gokhale and Balagangadhara Thilakan were scholars. Desabandhu Chitharanjan Das and Aravinda Ghosh were poets. Madanmohan Malavya, Surendranath Banerji, Anandamohan Bose, Annie Besant and Sarojini Naidu were eloquent speakers. Gandhi himself was a fine writer and speaker. (The quality of leaders in the political scene of India gradually declined and by the 1990s they were mostly a bunch of egotist position-seekers- under-qualified and allegation-shadowed, none of them writers, thinkers or statesmen).

After the Dandi March, Gandhi, the Half Naked Fakir of India and Lord Irwin, Viceroy of the British Empire where the Sun never set, are meeting in 1931. Tension mounts and the turmoil of the political struggles just past are clouding their minds. Suddenly Gandhi took out a book and began reading from it. Lord Irwin’s face lightened and became deliquescent and there was soon the melting of the snow. It was a book written by Sarojini Naidu. Gandhi was testing the sensitivity and beauty of poetry against political stiffness. They began discussing the beauty of those lines and from then onwards the switch to political discussion became easy and light.

Article title image by GLady. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Passing away while in office as the Governor of Uttar Pradesh.

On attaining independence, Bengal leader Dr. B. C. Roy was proposed to be the Governor of Uttar Pradesh but he declined, and so Sarojini Naidu was compelled to take up this position. She was the first woman to be made a governor in India. She was born on 13 February 1879 in Hyderabad and died on 2 March 1949 while working in her office in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh at the age of 70. She had two sons and two daughters- Jayasurya, Padmaja, Ranadheeran and Leelamani. Jayasurya became a physician and parliament member, Padmaja the Governor of Bengal and Leelamani worked in India’s Foreign Service. Sarojini Naidu’s birthday, 13 February, is observed as the National Women’s Day in India. Don’t mistake it with the World Women’s Day or the International Women’s Day on 8 March.

SPECIAL NOTES: CHAMPARAN REVOLT, ROWLATT SATYAGRAHA AND COMMUNIST BETRAYAL.

SPECIAL NOTE I: CHAMPARAN REVOLT: 

11. Gandhi's Satyagraha Appeal In Young India.

Indigo is a natural blue-dying agent cultivated by farmers in India which once had a high demand before artificial bluing agents were introduced. Farmers in Champaran in Bihar were forced by landlords to cultivate this commercial crop in their leased lands, paying high levies and taxes. Champaran farmers revolted and Gandhi and his followers assisted by introducing non-violent Satyagraha in 1917 for which he was arrested as usual but the court forced to release him following massive farmers’ protests. The Champaran Indigo Farmers’ Revolt was a success and their problems were somewhat solved through discussion.

SPECIAL NOTE II: ROWLATT SATYAGRAHA:

12. Jallianwala Bagh Sign At Memorial Site.

During the First World war, in the guise of preventing terrorist activities, as recommended by a committee headed by the British judge Sir Sidney Rowlatt, the Imperial Legislative Council in Delhi enacted the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act of 1919 or the Rowlatt Act under the Defense of India Act of 1915, which enabled the British government to indefinitely incarcerate any Indian up to two years without trial and judicial review. Two Black Bills subsequently introduced gave police enormous powers to search and arrest any person without a warrant and imprison him indefinitely. Press and people were brought under an iron British police yoke to prevent Indian uprisings and prevent people from participating in political activities. The enactment of this undemocratic act and its merciless enforcement is a lesson in history proving how uncivilized and barbarian was the British behavior in colonies like India, Africa and America. Gandhi immediately started a Rowlatt Satyagraha against this inhumanity and soon riots started in Punjab and other states and the British army moved in. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919 in Amritsar in which 2000 unarmed people were shot dead and thrown into a deep well was the result which exposed the uncivilized and brutal tyranny of British citizens serving in foreign lands under the British Crown. Non violence becoming impossible in the face of subsequent British atrocities, Gandhi suspended his Satyagraha. The tyranny of Britain exposed and the Crown’s face blackened in world’s view, the Rowlatt Act, the subsequent Press Act and twenty two other similar legislations were repealed in 1922. It was a victory for Indian revolutionaries that this act could never be fully implemented in spite of Britain’s might.

Article title image by Crazy Designs. Graphics: Adobe SP.
 

SPECIAL NOTE III: COMMUNIST BETRAYAL AFTER KHILAFFAT MOVEMENT:

Why communists and congress nationalists parted ways after the Khilaffat Movement is still a question of debate. The communists of India still try in many ways to explain their cowardice and betrayal during the freedom struggle of India which explanations even their members do not take seriously. The world Muslims considered the Ottoman Empire which was once held together by the Khilafat or the Caliphate of Turkey as their spiritual leadership. In the First World War, Britain and allies defeated Turkey and redrew the borders of countries and the borders of Islam also thereby, at least the Indian Muslims believed so. Educated Indian Muslims united under Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad and joined forces with Indian Nationals and sought restoration of the Caliphate which the victors of the WWI declined. The Indian Muslims retaliated by fighting against Britain for the freedom of India, giving new energy to Hindu-Muslim unity. They provided additional man power for Gandhi’s Non-Cooperation Movement against the British, and Gandhi in return provided moral support for the Khilafat movement. Turkey abolished the Ottoman Sultanate in 1922 anyway and the Caliphate in 1924. The combined Khilafat- Non-Cooperation Movement of 1919-24 was thus a failure. In 1917 a new soviet state had born and the allegiance of the Indian communists naturally turned to this new state of Russia. In the beginning they had collaborated with the Muslims in the Khilafat Movement as it was considered as an anti-colonial movement against Britain, but later, to stay in step with new international developments and relations and to keep in observance of the new Communist International’s directives, turned against the Khilafat Movement and began supporting Britain. By 1942 in the middle of the World War Second, the communists of India had become openly supporting Britain and allegedly spying against Indian nationals for the British.

In the post-independence years also the Indian communists were ill-famed for standing against India and the Indian people. They always looked to Europe for guidance and never learned to adapt communism to Indian conditions. They were neither bold enough to lead armed revolutions against governments as they did in China, Russia and Cuba, nor imaginative and resourceful enough to lead people in the non-violent path against government as leaders like Gandhi did. Of the more than two dozen states in India they have roots only in the two states of West Bengal in the far West and Kerala in the far South. In West Bengal they were wiped out after a continuous thirty years’ rule; in Kerala they come to power in alternative elections for five years. Wherever there is a rich man, they are in cahoots with him, betraying the poor workers under him, but still living at the expense of the contributions from these poor workers- a shameless life indeed, unworthy of the title of communists. Unlike the communists of Russia, China and Cuba, they have never fought a war for liberating their land; they just learned to live like parasites exploiting the peasants and workers joined in their party, in the name of trade unionism, in a land already liberated by others. They once supported Hitler as ordered by Stalin, supported Stalin when Hitler attacked Russia, and supported Britain and betrayed Indian nationals as Russia wanted them to support Britain after the Second World War when the victors were dividing the world and annexing countries as it happens after any great war. Their General Secretary Mr. Joshi’s letters which later came to light revealed that they offered unconditional support to Britain against Indian freedom fighters and were receiving money from the British government. They made secret pact with Muhammadali Jinna and supported the formation of Pakistan as a separate nation. The famous peasants’ agitation called Telengana Struggle which they once led was withdrawn when Stalin ordered this armed people’s movement to be stopped. And when China attacked India in 1962, they were in full support of China! But one thing must be said about the Indian communists: had they been not there on the Indian political scene, workers in the trade union sector would have had lesser, in fact no, bargaining power. And the land reforms they brought about in Kerala ensured at least a few cents of land for the landless and the homeless.

Bloom Books Channel has a video of Indian Weavers.

13. Indian Weavers Video Title By Bloom Books Channel.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un-pWZcPmv4

Indian Weavers was written by Sarojini Naidu in the 1920s. Besides being a great poetess, she was one of the leading figures of the Indian Independence Movement. This article therefore is also a lookout into what happened to the weavers of India after independence. Indian weavers who were once favorites in king’s homes to poor man’s huts are now pushed to extinction by governments, politicians, large cloth mills and arrogant bureaucrats. Suppose Sarojini Naidu returns, and finds this?

Bloom Books Channel’s video of Coromandel Fishers.

14. Coromandel Fishers Video Title By Bloom Books Channel.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhL8txK6RGI

The sea has been an attraction for man since his first appearance on this planet. Primitive forms of life originated first in the primeval soup of ancient oceans billions of years ago, migrated to land, and became bird, beast, reptiles and man. If we close both our ear openings with our fingers, we can still hear those reverberations of ocean waves crashing. Oceans have served not only as the ancient home to man but provided him with a multitude of marine products for his sustenance also.

Links to Sarojini Naidu’s works by the author.

1. The Life And Works Of Sarojini Naidu: Article

Article: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2017/06/075-life-and-works-of-sarojini-naidu.html June 2017

2. Indian Weavers: Poem

Article: Sahyadri Books Trivandrum
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un-pWZcPmv4 May 2015

3. Coromandel Fishers: Poem

Article: Sahyadri Books Trivandrum
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhL8txK6RGI May 2015

First published on: 15th Jun 2017
 

Article title image by Lars Nissen Photoart. Graphics: Adobe SP.

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Pictures Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
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Picture Credits:

01. Sarojini Naidu the student in 1912 By Unknown.

02. Life And Works Of S N Article Ad By Sahyadri Archives.

03. Sarojini Naidu in youth By German Federal Archives.

04. Sarojini Naidu in 1946 By Karthik Nadar.

05. Sarojini Naidu’s home Golden Threshold in Hyderabad By Unknown.

06. With Charlie Chaplin, Gandhi and his wife in London 1931 By LIFE.

07. With Gandhi in Salt March 1930 By Agence de Presse Meurisse.

08. Sarojini Naidu with Gandhi and other women in 1940 By Unknown.

09. With K S Krishnan and Nehru at Indian Science Congress 1949 By Unknown.

10. People of Champaran in 1906 By Unknown.

11. Gandhi's Satyagraha Appeal in Young India 1919 By Unknown.

12. Jallianwala Bagh Sign at Memorial Site By Mike Lynch.

13. Indian Weavers Video Title By Bloom Books Channel.

14. Coromandel Fishers Video Title By Bloom Books Channel.

15. Author Profile of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives. 

Meet the author: About the author and accessing his other literary works.

15. Author Profile of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of 'Swan, The Intelligent Picture Book'. Edits and owns Bloom Books Channel. Born and brought up in Nanniyode, a little village in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Kerala. Father British Council-trained English Teacher and mother university-educated. Matriculation with High First Class, Pre Degree studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship, discontinued Diploma Studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single. 

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074. P S Remesh Chandran’s Articles Volume I.

074. 

P S Remesh Chandran’s Articles Volume I By P S Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

By  PSRemeshChandra, 5th May 2017. Short URL http://nut.bz/2ca-zvmi/ First Posted in Wikinut>Writing>Essays

Articles written by P S Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books Trivandrum, published at reputed platforms including Wikinut, Linked In and Internet Archives which are of interest to students, researchers and general readers are brought here at one place as part of a series of articles to make them accessible to all. Those available only in his sites and blogs, or only as books, and his video songs, speeches and single line drawings are all linked here.

Ten earliest essays are reintroduced here with useful links.

The ten articles reintroduced here are: 001 Solitude: Alexander Pope. 002 Sophist: P S Remesh Chandran. 003 The Forsaken Merman: Matthew Arnold. 004 The Leech Gatherer: William Wordworth. 005 The Lake Isle Of Innisfree: W B Yeats. 006 Leisure: W H Davies. 007. Song To The Men Of England: P B Shelley. 008. Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening: Robert Frost. 009. Two Famous Death Poems: Shirley And Shakespeare. 010. Leave This Chanting: Rabindranath Tagore.

Links to Articles, Free PDF Downloads and Flip Books are provided.

When these articles were first released, there were only the articles. Now there is Free PDF Downloads and Flip Books to these articles which would be of immense help to students, so their links are provided here. Students are perfectly free to download them for their studies. It is the author’s and his Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum’s wish for them to be of use to the world student community. Remember that the pictures used in these articles may have restrictions on reuse but the text of these articles is perfectly free to be downloaded for academic purposes.

001. Solitude. Alexander Pope Poem. Appreciation By P S Remesh Chandran.
  

01. Happy to breathe his native air in his own ground By Robert.

Alexander Pope was born a Catholic in Protestant England, was forbidden to live in London City and was liable to pay a double taxation. Moreover, he was suffering from a series of diseases. ‘To combat these handicaps’, he possessed more than the courage of a lion. His poems were acrimonious attacks on society, and in a few cases they were against authority. He mentioned names in his poems, leaving dashes in places, which his contemporaries happily filled in to the embarrassment of adversaries. 

First Published: 7th Mar 2011. Short URL http://nut.bz/281k669t/

Link: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2011/11/01.html

Download PDF: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7UyS8upcOFAYUotN081VDVnZGc

Flip Book: https://archive.org/details/SBTAE001SolitudeAlexanderPopePSRemeshChandran

002. Sophist. P S Remesh Chandran Poem.

02. Athens in 1832 By Martinus Rørbye.

The ancient Sophist saints in Greece were exceptionally clever with the use of their tongues. Don't play with them- they can bind us cunningly with their tongues. And don't corner them- we will never forget what hit us. Here in this poem, one sophist saint is tried in Court for crime when Judges get stung. Classical sophists were well-versed in paradoxes, understanding the meaning of which won’t be easy. So, here, the court had to let him go free. 

First Published: 2 Sep 2010. Short URL http://nut.bz/oth.p1gi/

Link: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2010/09/sophist-poem-by-psremesh-chandran.html

Download PDF: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7UyS8upcOFAWDJfNERITEdDc2M

Flip Book: https://archive.org/details/SBTAE002SophistPoemPSRemeshChandran

003. The Forsaken Merman. Matthew Arnold Poem. Appreciation By P S Remesh Chandran.

03. We will gaze at the lost town. Mermaid statue Cleveland Museum of Art Ohio By Daderot.

Matthew Arnold was a severe critic of literature. Essays In Criticism was his monumental work in which he let no great poet go unscathed. Usually such critics would be asked a question: why don't you write a great poem? The Forsaken Merman was Arnold's answer to this question in which he proved not only could he create poems with hilarious themes but incorporate multi tunes also into a single poem. After creating a few more poems, he returned to academics and criticism. 

First Published: 13th Mar 2011. Short URL http://nut.bz/1ljtosiw/

Link: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2012/01/03the-forsaken-merman-matthew-arnold.html

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004. The Leech Gatherer. William Wordworth Poem. Appreciation By P S Remesh Chandran.
 04. Marshes, beauty spots of nature By Ivan Shishkin 1890.

William Wordsworth's poetry has no style because nature and life has no style. The perfect plainness of his poems gained him popularity. He mostly wrote about nature and man and is considered the world's greatest nature poet. The world was very late in recognizing his merit. However, glory found its way to his grave. The Leech-Gatherer, alternatively titled ‘Resolution And Independence’ is the universal symbol of eternal human labour. 

First Published: 15th Mar 2011. Short URL http://nut.bz/134a-2vx/
Link: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2012/02/004-leech-gatherer-william-wordsworth.html

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005. The Lake Isle Of Innisfree. William Butler Yeats Poem. Appreciation By P S Remesh Chandran.
 05. The mid-lake abode of loneliness and quietness By Eibsee.

Poets are accused to be unrealistic day-dreamers who are given to fancy. Day-dreaming and fancying all do and take off, but only a few can safely land also. W B Yeats was a perfect poet who could do both. Not many have expressed fancy in more beautiful words than he did, and fewer still have reminded the world of its duties and responsibilities as effectively. This poem has always been a sensation among the poetry-reading public and is the international song and manifesto of solitude-seekers. 

First Published: 16th Mar 2011. Short URL http://nut.bz/19ed-hvz/

Link: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2012/01/05-lake-isle-of-innisfree-wbyeats.html

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006. Leisure. W H Davies Poem. Appreciation By P S Remesh Chandran.
 06. Guardian of the gateway in leisurely vigil: A heron By Pauline Eccles.

Man is always eager to observe and enjoy the beauties of nature. Only that he does not get enough time for rest to elate and thrill his mind by soaking up the magnificent spectacles Mother Nature has created around him. It was in the midst of and from these beauties that man was created. Therefore, his wish to always be with them is only natural. Whenever he has to leave the beauties of nature behind, he pines in his heart as if leaving his homeland. 

First Published: 16th Mar 2011. Short URL http://nut.bz/qp4j6ml6/

Link: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2012/02/06-leisure-whdavies-appreciation-by.html

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007. Song To The Men Of England. Percy Bysshe Shelley Poem. Appreciation By P S Remesh Chandran.
 07. Sow seed and reap but let not the idle heap By Bernard Gagnon.

A revolutionary is a person who causes constant changes around him wherever he is. In this sense, Shelley was a revolutionary poet. Song To The Men Of England opened up world's eyes to the torture, brutality and exploitation workers were subjected to in England during the time of her colonial prosperity and raised the question: Why can't they revolt? Karl Marx predicted workers’ revolution in England as follow up of the Industrial Revolution but it never happened. The English workers were inert. 

First Published: 18th Mar 2011. Short URL http://nut.bz/21kpi-9l/

Link: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2012/02/07-song-to-men-of-england-pbshelley.html

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008. Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening. Robert Frost Poem. Appreciation By P S Remesh Chandran.
 08. All a winter's work By Böhringer Friedrich.

Nature creates many beauties for man to observe but man, being burdened with the multitude of tasks of running a family, cannot spare his time for sharing the pleasantness nature imbues. In his rush of life he is forced to abandon the easy solaces nature offers which if accepted, would have served as a balm for his mind in flames. Robert Frost's poem ‘Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening’ shows a glimpse of what treasures man has lost. True, what man forgets first is the beauty of his mother. 

First Published: 19th Mar 2011. Short URL http://nut.bz/eslzz8m7/

Link: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2012/02/08-stopping-by-woods-robert-frost.html

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009. Two Famous Death Poems By Shirley And Shakespeare. Appreciation By P S Remesh Chandran.

09. A burial painting By Enrico Pollastrini 1851.

Death is the end of all earthly cares and the beginning of eternal things. It is believed that the moment we die, we are born in another universe. With it begins a new way of being. More number of songs and poems has been written on death than on birth. It is considered an important event in man's life. In many communities throughout the world, death is an occasion for rejoicing and celebration. Shakespeare's Fear No More and James Shirley's Death The Leveller are appreciated here. 

First Published: 21st Mar 2011. Short URL http://nut.bz/evi23ktc/

Link: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2012/02/009-two-famous-death-poems-shirley-and.html

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010. Leave This Chanting. Rabindranath Tagore Poem. Appreciation By P S Remesh Chandran.
 10. Tagore reading to others 1925 By Unknown.

God was the most beautiful creation of mankind, created in his exact image- man’s own image- playful, lovely and comely, so that he can easily identify himself with God. So why not love him ardently and affectionately, and respect him beyond everything? After creating mankind, God did not wish to leave them alone but decided to stay with them, which was a great sacrifice on His part. Leave This Chanting is one of the most read poems of Rabindranath Tagore, with the most universal message. 

First Published: 22nd Mar 2011. Short URL http://nut.bz/1zdohpx2/

Link: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2012/03/010-leave-this-chanting-rabindranath.html

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___________________________
Pictures Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
___________________________

Picture Credits:

01. Happy to breathe his native air in his own ground By Robert.
02. Athens in 1832 By Martinus Rørbye.
03. We will gaze at the lost town By Daderot.
04. Marshes, beauty spots of nature By Ivan Shishkin 1890.
05. The mid-lake abode of loneliness and quietness By Eibsee.
06. Guardian of the gateway in leisurely vigil: A heron By Pauline Eccles.
07. Sow seed and reap but let not the idle heap By Bernard Gagnon.
08. All a winter's work By Böhringer Friedrich.
09. A burial painting By Enrico Pollastrini 1851.
10. Tagore reading to others 1925 By Unknown.
11. Author Profile of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.

Meet the author: About the author and accessing his other literary works. 

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of 'Swan, The Intelligent Picture Book'. Edits and owns Bloom Books Channel. Born and brought up in Nanniyode, a little village in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Kerala. Father British Council-trained English Teacher and mother university-educated. Matriculation with High First Class, Pre Degree studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship, discontinued Diploma Studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

11. Author Profile of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.

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If you cannot access all pages of P S Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum, kindly access them via this link provided here:
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Face Book Page: https://www.facebook.com/psremeshchandra.trivandrum

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Alexander Pope, Bloom Books Trivandrum, English Articles, Free Student Notes, James Shirley, Leave This Chanting, Leisure, Matthew Arnold, P B Shelley, Poem Reviews, Poetry Appreciations, P S Remesh Chandran, Rabindranath Tagore, Robert Frost, Sahyadri Books Trivandrum, Solitude, Song To The Men Of England, Sophist, Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening, The Forsaken Merman, The Lake Isle Of Innisfree, The Leech Gatherer, Two Famous Death Poems, W B Yeats, W H Davies, William Shakespeare, William Wordworth, 

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First Published: 05 May 2017 
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Identifier: SBT-AE-074. P S Remesh Chandran’s Articles Volume I.

Articles English Downloads Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. 
Editor: P S Remesh Chandran

073. The Life And Works Of Robert Frost. Reintroduced By P S Remesh Chandran

073
 
The Life And Works Of Robert Frost 

P. S. Remesh Chandran 

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Article title image by Jerzy Gorecki. Graphics: Adobe SP.
 

The life and works of the American poet Robert Frost is of interest to students the world over. His achievements as a poet and educator have been studied and researched well and chronicled in several volumes by eminent writers. The fact is they are scattered throughout several publications and not readily available to learners to look at a glance. This brief article attempts to record them for students, to augment available text, to be used as an introduction or appendix to studies on his poems.

Robert Frost’s father travels west to become a journalist and settles in San Francisco.

01. Portrait of Robert Frost 1913.

William Prescott Frost Junior was a native of Lawrence City of Essex County in Massachusetts, in the Merrimack River valley in America. He went west to become a journalist, married Isabelle Moodie of Pennsylvania and settled in San Francisco. Both were highly educated teachers. Robert Frost was their first son, born in 1874 in San Francisco. He was named after the famous American Civil War Southern General, Robert E. Lee. Robert soon had a sister too, named Jeanie.

An independent mother returns to Lawrence after husband’s death.

When William Frost died after living 11 years in San Francisco his wife, a spiritual woman, returned to Lawrence with their two children due to poverty and loss of revenue. She taught in a local school and took care of her family with this meager income. But she also taught her children the Bible and Scottish legends. We must note that Mr. William Prescott Frost Senior did not come to their aid at this stage of their life, or Mrs. Isabelle Robert Frost did not go to him and accept his charity, as William Prescott Frost Junior had left Lawrence, gone to San Francisco and married the woman against the wishes of his father.

Life in a town of mill workers near the Merrimack River.

02. Portrait of Robert Frost 1917.  

Lawrence then was a town mainly of mill workers, as the Merrimack River unfailingly catered to the energy needs of the numerous water mills there. Robert and his sister were educated at Lawrence High School where he was one of the best students, won scholarships and began writing poems at the early age of ten. He also won the heart of his brilliant schoolmate Elinor White, whom he married later. Both loved poetry and loved teaching. So it happened that the mother, son and daughter-in-law taught at the same town school for a time.

Saying farewell to teaching, starting farming, and becoming a serious writer.

03. Portrait of Robert Frost 1941.

  

Strenuous learning schedules and the more strenuous teaching schedules made Robert Frost weak, and his doctor advised him a slower life and more fresh air. Here his grandfather, a long-time resident of this town, came to their help who purchased a farm for them at Derry in New Hampshire in 1900. This farm at Derry is now a National Historic Monument. For the next five years Frost said farewell to teaching and a led the life of a farmer in Derry. He loved farmhouses and farms which love remained with him till the end of his life. In fact, since Derry, wherever he lived, he purchased a farm to live at. The Junior Frost was not much of a farmer anytime in his life, but with the help of a hired hand loaned by his grandfather the family survived, which now had grown into a large one with many more children added, minus Frost’s mother and his first child who were now dead and gone. Derry was quite a natural setting for a poet and it was at Derry that Robert Frost wrote most of his early poems, which all were turned down by American publishers. History tells us that this brilliant American poet who was later showered with awards, honors and honorary degrees had to wait till he reached England to get his books published. The American publishers’ totally ignoring this genius before England noted his poetry still remains a shame to the American publishing industry.

Sells farm, sails to England and recognized for the first time.  

Frost and bad climate can affect farms adversely and destroy crops devastatingly and cut farmers income which happened to Robert Frost too. So he returned to teaching and the resultant further failing of health. Finally, tired of teaching, farming and neglect by American publishers, he sold the Derry farm in 1912 and sailed for England with family at the age of 38. Even though he remained in England only for three years till 1915 when the First World War broke out, he was well received by British publishers, they published his first two books and he became a poet noted both in England and America. It must be noted that his first two books A Boy’s Will and North Of Boston had both British and American Editions as were some of his following books to be.

Returns from England and leads a life of honors, awards and gold medals in America.  

Robert Frost returning to New York from England found that he had become equally famous in America. As is expected of him now, he purchased a farm in Franconia in the New Hampshire Mountains, published his third book of poetry and made extensive travels in America as a lecturer-poet. This farm in Franconia also is a National Historic Monument now. What troubled Frost most was the severe cold in Franconia which affected his apple orchards. So after five years of farming, lecturing and poetry-writing in Franconia, he sold the Franconia farm and moved to Shaftsbury in Vermont by purchasing a farm there as usual as a somewhat permanent settlement, where he lived with his now dwindling family for twenty years. Life at Shaftsbury from 1920 to 1940 was the most productive and satisfying period in his life, when viewed from a materialist’s angle. Greatest honors came his way during this period. He became one of the greatest and best university teachers in America and one of the greatest poets in the world. By this time had become more a university man than a farmer-poet. Amherst College and Boston University became the centers of his living in a way.

A Robert Frost farm in the remote and most uninhabited place in the mountains.
  

So when his dear wife died in 1938 and son in 1940, he said farewell to Vermont State also and began living in Boston for the rest of his life. Do not anyone think this farmer said farewell to farms and farmhouses also. Though he continued to live in Boston, he bought the Homer Noble Farm in Ripton in Maddison County in the Green Mountains in Vermont and made his summer residence there- the most remote and mostly uninhabited place where the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference which he invariably attended was held in every summer. When Frost died in Boston in 1963 at the age of 88, his body was brought back to the First Congregational Church in Old Bennington Town in Vermont to be laid beside his beloved wife and son. Robert Frost Cabin in his 150-acre farm in Ripton now owned by Middlebury College also is a National Historic Landmark.

Nature as a background in Robert Frost’s poems.

04. Frost’s Derry Farm Buildings.  

Most of Frost’s poems are full of imageries of landscapes and pastoral scenes from nature, with peasants and farmers toiling from morning till night to make possible their daily existence. This background of nature serves as a canvass on which to draw the psychological struggle of man. For him, nature was a diving board to launch man. In ‘Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening’, the slowly snow-filled forest serves as a background for drawing the psychological struggle of nature-loving man prompted to go away from nature’s beauties to make time for fulfilling the chores of daily family life. We might wonder whether he gives more importance to man or nature in his poems- it is man indeed. We might also wonder whether he is to be qualified as a nature poet or a philosophical poet- he is the philosophical poet indeed. He himself said: “I am not a nature poet. There is almost always a person in my poems.” Nature is only a background in his poems presented as life-sustaining or destructive, but it is not the theme. It is the experiences and feelings of the man or woman in the poems which is the theme. Frost also had concerns about the influence of science over nature in the destiny of man. The fault of science is that it cannot be unlearned. What knowledge science imparts stays and influences the future. If his lines can be taken as reflections of his true beliefs, he considered nature as a very destructive and wild force which would one day wipe out human race from the face of the earth. ‘Will man ever succeed in his battle for taming the nature? Is not nature a mightier force which will eventually destroy man? Is not nature more alien and hostile to man than helping him in accommodating along with the other creations?’ These have been great concerns Frost expressed in his poems.

A perfectionist in poetry who stood for tone and sound and tune.

05. Derry Farm Building With Sign.
 

The tone and sound in a poem were of paramount importance to Robert Frost. He said ‘what is poetry is tone’ and asked readers ‘to listen for the tune’. He loathed adhering to conservative and stiff vocabulary and wrote poems in simple words. But he was an unwavering perfectionist also where form was concerned. He called himself a Metricist. Writing poems without metrical form or writing so-called free verse was like ‘playing tennis without a net’ for him. Saying one thing and meaning something else also is a technique he frequently used in his poems- a technique which in literary terms is called metaphor. He was well-versed in using metaphors.

The keeper and breaker of rules in poetry.  

06. Derry Farm Sign.  

Frost can be said to be a keeper of rules as well as a breaker of rules in poetry. He reveled in keeping the traditional and universal standards in poetics and rebelled in breaking them occasionally. Being a skilled versifier and very accurate in using botanical and biological terms, students of poetry turn to his poems for learning the principles of versification as illustrated in them and the psychological impact of his verses on readers, learners, listeners and singers. Researchers turn to them for their use of form, meter, imagery, tone, style, figurative language and sound devices. They will find that even while using traditional meters and form, he did not hesitate to introduce conversational language in his poems. He had lifelong interest in astronomy and used star imagery in his poems. The rightful place for Robert Frost as a poet is, after Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson in the 19th century and with Carl Sandberg and T S Elliot in the 20th century.

Once a poet has stated his mind in fine language, is he to further explain it in inferior language?
  

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, The Road Not Taken, Mending Wall, Birches, After Apple-Picking and Desert Places are the most widely read poems of Robert Frost. Making choices in life is a frequently occurring dilemma in man’s life and Stopping By Woods and The Road Not Taken are about making this choice. Apple Picking and a set of poems like it deal with religious beliefs. Mending Wall and Birches handle the theme of the impact of nature’s imagery on man. Isolation of human mind is the theme of poems like Acquainted With The Night. Frost considered poetry as the best part of a language and refused to further explain his poems. ‘I have written my poem as well as I possibly could, and now you want me to restate it, using inferior language?’ he asked.

Robert Frost’s books to appear in print through years.
 07. Frost House, Brewster Street, Cambridge, Massachusettes.  

During the period from 1912 to 1962, fifteen collections of Frost’s poems were published. Most of them had English and American editions. They were A Boy's Will 1912, North Of Boston 1914, Mountain Interval 1916, Selected Poems 1923, New Hampshire 1923, West-Running Brook 1928, Collected Poems 1930, A Further Range 1936, Collected Poems 1939, A Witness Tree 1942, A Masque Of Reason 1945, Steeple Bush 1947, A Masque Of Mercy 1947, Complete Poems 1949 and In The Clearing 1962.

Schools, colleges and universities Robert Frost attended.  

Many schools, colleges and universities were associated with the name of Robert Frost where he either studied or officiated as lecturer, professor or fellow, spanning many decades. Methuen Elementary School 1893, Salem District School 1894, Isabelle Moodie Frost Private School 1895 were where he studied. He served at Pinkerton Academy 1906-1911, New Hampshire State Normal School 1911-1912, Amherst College 1917-1920, Michigan University as Poet in Residence & Fellow in Creative Arts 1921-1922, Amherst College as Professor of English 1923-1925, University of Michigan as Fellow in Letters 1925, Amherst College as Professor of English 1926-1938, Pierson College as Associate Fellow, Yale University 1933, Harvard University as Ralph Waldo Emerson Fellow in Poetry 1939-1943, Dartmouth College as George Ticknor Fellow in Humanities 1943-1949, Amherst College as Simpson Lecturer in Literature 1949, Bread Loaf School of English as Lecturer, and Writers' Conference 1938-1962.

Honors that came the way of Robert Frost.
 08. Shaftsburry Stone House, Vermont 1927.

The first of the honors that came the way of Robert Frost was the Co-Valedictorian & Hood Prize for Scholastic Excellence in High School. The Phi Beta Kappa Poet honor was given to him six times by Tufts in 1915, Harvard in 1916, Columbia in 1932, Tufts again in 1940, Harvard again in 1941 and College of William and Mary in 1941. He was made a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Philosophical Society, and Board of Overseers of Harvard College. He was also appointed as Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry, Ralph Waldo Emerson Fellow in Poetry and Associate of Adams House in Harvard, Simpson Lecturer in Literature in Amherst, Consultant in Poetry in the Library of Congress, Inaugural Poet for President John F. Kennedy and Poet Laureate of Vermont State.

Awards showered upon Robert Frost.
  09. Ripton Cabin, Vermont.   

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry- the famous annual award for letters, drama and music for American authors- was given to Robert Frost four times- in 1924, 1931, 1937 and 1943. He was the only one to receive it four times. He was also presented with Congressional Gold Medal 1960. Academy of American Poets gave him an award and Poetry Society of America honored him twice with Gold Medals. National Institute of Arts and Letters, Holland Society of New York and Limited Editions Club also gave him Gold Medals. To Robert Frost went Russell Loines Poetry Prize, Bollingen Prize in Poetry, Emerson-Thoreau Medal, Edward MacDowell Medal and Huntington Hartford Foundation Award also. Theodore Roosevelt Society, Signet Society, Harvard College and New York University also presented him with Medals of Honor.

Honorary Degrees and degrees awarded to Robert Frost.
 10. Nobel Prize Dinner 1962 With President Kennedy.  

It is recorded that forty two degrees and honorary degrees were awarded to Robert Frost by various universities in America, England and Ireland, such as M.A. (Master of Arts- Magister Artium), L.H.D. (Doctor of Humane Letters- Litterarum humanarum doctor), LL.D. (Doctor of Laws- Legum Doctor) and D.Litt. (Doctor of Letters- Doctor Litterarum), the last being beyond the Ph.D (Doctor of Philosophy- Philosophiae Doctor) and equal to D.Sc. (Doctor of Science- Scientiae Doctor). There must have been a few more at the receiving end of which was Robert Frost. These degrees and honorary degrees are listed here in chronological order. Remember that except attending Harvard University for two years from 1897 to 1899 and discontinuing due to illness, he never came anywhere near to completing or even attending a course! They all came to him as recognition of the excellence of his poetry and oration.

M.A. by Amherst and Michigan Universities. D.Litt. by Middlebury, Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Kenyon, Duke, Amherst, Colgate and Windham Colleges, and Yale, New Hampshire, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Marlboro, Durham University, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Oxford, Cambridge, National, Ireland & Ohio State, Syracuse, Tufts and Boston Universities. L.H.D. by Wesleyan, Williams, Bates and Hebrew Union Colleges and Vermont, St. Lawrence, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Miami and Detroit Universities. LL.D. by Dartmouth and Colby Colleges and California, Cincinnati, Florida, Miami and Michigan Universities.

Bloom Books Channel has a video of Stopping By Woods.
 

11. Stopping By Woods Video Title.

Bloom Books Channel has a video of this poem Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening. A primitive prototype rendering of this song was made in a crude tape recorder decades earlier, in 1984. In 2014, a home made video of this song was released. In 2015, a third version with comparatively better audio was released. The next version, it's hoped, would be fully orchestrated. It's free for reuse, and anyone interested in can develop and build on it, till it becomes a fine musical video production, to help our little learners and their teachers.

Link to this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy6nlrKRH10

Also read the article Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening. Robert Frost Poem. Reintroduced By P S Remesh Chandran.

Link: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.in/2012/02/08-stopping-by-woods-robert-frost.html

First Published on: 12 April 2017

 Article title image by Gerd Altmann. Graphics: Adobe SP.

___________________________ 
Pictures Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
___________________________

Picture Credits:

01. Robert Frost Portrait 1913 By The New York Times. 
02. Robert Frost Portrait 1917 By Unknown. 
03. Robert Frost Portrait 1941 By Fred Palumbo, for Sun. 
04. Derry Farm Buildings By Grongar. 
05. Derry Farm Building With Sign By Craig Michaud. 
06. Derry Farm Sign By Grongar. 
07. Frost House Brewster Street, Cambridge, Massachusettes By Daderot. 
08. Shaftsburry Stone House, Vermont 1927 By Rolf Müller. 09. Ripton Cabin, Vermont By Aiken1986. 
10. Nobel Prize Dinner 1962 With President Kennedy By Robert Knudsen. 
11. Stopping By Woods Video Title By Bloom Books Channel. 12. Author Profile Of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.

Meet the author: About the author and accessing his other literary works.

12. Author Profile of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.

  
Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of 'Swan, The Intelligent Picture Book'. Edits and owns Bloom Books Channel. Born and brought up in Nanniyode, a little village in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Kerala. Father British Council-trained English Teacher and mother university-educated. Matriculation with High First Class, Pre Degree studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship, discontinued Diploma Studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single. 

Dear Reader,

If you cannot access all pages of P S Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum, kindly access them via this link provided here:
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Visit author's Sahyadri Books Trivandrum in Word Press at
http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/ and his Bloom Books Channel in You Tube at https://www.youtube.com/user/bloombooks/videos

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