Page:History of Bengali Literature in the Nineteenth Century.djvu/385

 KABIWALAS 361 which Haru Thakur had been deservedly famous and which indicate, even in the fragmentary and inadequate specimens which have come down, considerable poetic power, which cannot be, as it often is, summarily damned. Leaving aside the uncritical encomiums of reactionary enthusiasts, on the one hand, and undue undervaluing by an equally enthusiastic school of ‘modern’ critics, on the other, we must admit that even the obviously inadequate and insufficient specimens of Haru Thakur’s workmanship whieh have survived indicate that he had, even His poetic quality. judged by strict standard, sufficient intelligence and poetic power, in larger or smaller, in clearer or more clouded shape, of writing songs and not mere congeries of verses. Considering the time and the circumstances, this must not be regarded as a very poor or mean praise. That there are obvious and not ineonsiderable defects is true. The subject is often trite, the thought a hackneyed or insignificant one ; the poet lacks perfect expression and sustained utterance, is defective in rhyme or metre or other technical quali- ties and has one of the superior charm and grace of the greatest Baisnab poets. But the indefinable yet unmis- takable poetic touch is always there and nothing but superficial or wilfully capricious eriticism will pooh-pooh its true poetie spirit or damn it with faint praise. It is not possible within the limits of our plan to enter into details or, with the space at our dis- posal, to give extensive quotations which alone would bring out the beauty of Haru Thikur’s — songs, But these songs are more or less justly included in the _ numerous anthologies of Bengali টি নটি শর poetry and many of them are known by heart to every one who knows Bengali poetry at all. The best songs of Haru Thakur, 46