The work of the modern Indian poet Nirala grew out of an early twentieth-century literary revolution as well as a tempestuous personal life. Nirala was easily the most extraordinary figure of the Chhayavad movement, which rejected the Braj traditions and the flat realism of early writing in khari boli, the new literary medium, creating a genuine renaissance in Hindi literature. A voluminous writer, whose poetry alone runs to eleven volumes, Nirala outgrew the Chhayavad phase to fashion a new poetry employing mystical symbols, an intense awareness of natural forces, and complex emotions. He was ultimately recognized as the finest Hindi poet of his time. The poems in this volume were selected to represent as fully as possible the wide range and variety of his work. David Rubin’s translation, sensitive to all dimensions of Nirala’s language, allows these poems to speak on their own terms. In the translator’s concluding note a significant reference is made to the art of conveying formal, emotional, and imagistic facets of a poem; if these qualities cannot be recreated, they must be implied. The simple, literal translation will appeal to students and scholars of Hindi poetry and literature, as well as to a general readership.
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