Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1916-12-03

Eut or course. poetry or prose full ana
solemn in sound, but thin in thot and
impression. The literature OF this pc
Rod Is opulent in grace and sentiment,
but without the strength OF passion
ote experience. 1t Is perfumed and
sentimental about love and the rose,
spring and the nightingale, but of too
delicate q sweetness to last. 1t mir
rors the decadence Of the race.
Then came the change. India
passed under the British crown and
unconsciously became n partner in
her garnered wealth OF wisdom and
aspiration. Mecaulay placed the
golden key to the kings treasures
in the hands of Britannia's dark eyed
sister. The intellectual excitement
in and about the universities gave
birth to a great movement for social
good New aspirations and serious
thinking stirred the towns and trav-
eled down to the villages. Man could
no longer complain that there was
no national passion in the country.
The new thought currents racing In
full blast disturbed subjective mus
ings and dissipated consolation in
the thought that the world was
mere representation of self-an ap-
pearance OF the thing in itself, un-
real in tho essense. and therefore to
be disregarded They set the heart
aflame with deep religious, social
and political questions They have
brought into play passion and fire
and deep emotion which must give
rise to great literature.
Viewing tho TathcrIand.
"It is always fascinating to stand
at the birthplace of great stream,
az 1t flows from it's source. The
new literary movement, in almost all
the provinces of India, is mostly i'm
itative. English ideals predominant.
What we write Is western and not
eastern. The events are the same
but the environment has changed.
The characters are developed in the
modern fashion, and even style and
expression are subordinated to APP
proximate western models. H. old
provinces like Bengal or Bombay,
the people have turned from rivers
Of English literature to freshly found
fountains of their own. Great poets
like Tagore have brought to life an
impassioned literature. retaining the
loveliness. simplicity and fine mel
ody of the old, but animated by a
new and positive influence. Tagores
songs are like fire-tipped arrows
dipped in honey, sweet and strong
at the same time.
land of Guru Nanak and Kabir, the
literature was essentially religious
The poets were hymn writers. who
raised their voices I'm gentle devotion
seeking communion with God, In
obedience to a set of large religious
ideas. which have emancipated the
minds of men from the tentacleS Of
pantheism. Faith in a personal God
restored the dignity and the impor-
tance of the personal soul. Biz
Singh, the first Punjabi writer of orr
times. has all the delicate feeling and
tender grace OF clustered contempla
ton. He has a gracious love of nat
ural beauty and keen joy in a quiet
and lovely world. His Imagination,
however, does not soar: he seems to
have set for himself limits which he
cannot and will not transcend. Men
and women in the villages are beyond
his reach. They have their stories
and their songs. passing from lip to
lip and drawing together all the pas
sion of the soul as contrlbutaries with
all their light and heat and variety.
Mental Invasion of the East.
"The mental invasion of the east is
more potent than the physical con-
quest. The new Ideas are dominating
every sphere OF human activity, work.
manner and form of our literature.
The spirit from within is moving in
response to new demands. A great
poet has risen in the Punjab whose
poems are consecrated to the Ideas of
new time. Iqbal has initiated new
era in Urdu poetry. He combines the
imaginative philosophy of the east
with ardent aspirations of the west.
Like Moses, he smote the rock and
fresh streams of poetry have leapt out
in response: on whose swift and trans
lucent surface we can hardly breathe.
He does not sing OF self-effacement,
but holds forth affirmation as es-
sential to preservation. The life
value OF self-affirmation he illustrates
in n poem of great dignity and grace,
"A thirsty bird might mistake n dia-
mond 70 ra drop OF water. but II cam
not make II a source of life to itself
while 1t sips the soft morning dew
from the painted petals of flowers
which lose their own brief existence
in the yielding. The coal Is essence
in the same as diamond, and yet coal
feeds the flaming furnace while the
diamond adorns the crown In n poem
OF keen, strong, rouslng power he
draws the moral that self-affirmation
Is the key to self-preservation.
Precursors of New Movement.
"Iqbal in this poem has broken
away entirely from the canons of ac-
cepted opinion. lie Is the precursor
of great events in the domain of lit
erature. He is the poet of reality,
close to the very truth of things, in
contra distinction to metaphysics and
mere sentiment. His force, anger, even
gloom and freedom from mystic reu-
conce, make him q spirit of power
His ambition is to set the heart burn
ing like q candle, to be consumed, and
yet in the very process of burning to
illuminate the path for the unseeing
eye.
He plunges into the whirlpool Of
thots, hopes and passions. Joys and
sorrows, and brings forth into life
main Ideas, silent so long. of religious,
social and political well-being. with
unshackled freedom, truth and fervor.
Iqbal, Tagore and others are pre-
cursers OF a new movement What