O Nobly Born

Continuing with his creative impulse to produce a new kind of poetry, O.P. Ranchan comes out with an another electrifying verse output. In this third volume of verses ‘O Nobly Born’ the poet has produced one hundred pieces and he calls them hymns. These hymns are not for being sung in worship; they are not raphasodical tributes in praise of God or any deity or divine personage. They are the poet’s ponderings and illuminations on the various facets and questions of life. The themes taken in them have been delineated in psychic-existential language with overtones, at once psychological, philosophical and spiritual in meaning and import. The poet presents the guiding wisdom of insights and perceptions in a direct and simple manner, using the rhythm and cadence of spoken language. The vision that emerges out of these hymns is deeply moral, spiritual and sacred. It covers the whole field of human existence. What makes the vision fresh is that nothing has been expressed in a traditional idiom and clich?s and stereotypically. The poems are stamped with the immediacy and vehemence of direct utterance. Though highly critical they are, on the whole, full of affirmation of life, the beauty of it, the joy of it and the possible refinement of it, through living a life of integration, freedom and self-knowledge that leads to peace, joy and happiness. No jugglery of symbols and allusions have been used. The hymns are a treasure. Mirroring life but from a deeper and wider angle, they impart a transformative understanding of life and of the mind.