Page:History of Bengali Literature in the Nineteenth Century.djvu/423

 LOVE-LYRICS 399 vision of the love-sick shepherd-prince. It is not extra- mundane, volatile and vague, losing itself in the worship of a phantom-woman or rising into mystic spirituality and indefinite pantheism; nor is it sicklied over with the subtleties of decadent psychologists or with the subjective malady of modern love-poets. It is exaspera- tingly impressionist and admirably plain-speaking. It does not talk about raptures and ideals and gates of heaven but walks on the earth and speaks of the insati- able hunger of the body and the exquisite intoxication of the senses as well. For these poets realised, as every true passionate poet has realised, that passion in its essence is not idealism which looks beyond the real but idolatry which finds the ideal in the real; for passion is primarily and essentially realistic. It cannot live upon abstractions and generalisations ; it must have actualities to feed upon. It is not our purpose to consider here whether this idolatrous intoxication of passion is good or bad ; but it cannot be denied that it bore ample fruit in the astonishing realism of their love-songs and brought their poetry nearer to world and life and to the actual and abiding spirit of love. Love is conceived, therefore, in its concrete richness and variety, and not merely under its broad and ideal aspects. This essential realism of passion leads the poet to take body and soul together and Nidhn Babu’s /ap- pas not offensive or | = immoral. is therefore always strong, vivid and not accept the one for the other. He honest, very seldom dreamy, ethereal or mystic. A sort of traditionary ill-repute, however, has very unduly got itself associated with the /appas, especially with the exquisite bits of Nidhu Babu’s songs. There is a good deal of frankness and a passionate sense of the good things of earth, it is true; but even judged by very