Reading Allen Ginsberg’s September on Jessore Road: An Attempt to Ruminate over the Horrific Reminiscences of the Liberation War of Bangladesh

Israt Jahan Shuchi,A B M Shafiqul Islam

doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.10n.1p.41

Israt Jahan Shuchi, A B M Shafiqul Islam

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.10n.1p.41

Copy DOI

Abstract

Allen Ginsberg’s ‘September on Jessore Road’ captures the blood-stained history of the creation of Bangladesh through highlighting the unflinching struggle of the Bangladeshi people and their appalling plight that they went through during the country’s war of independence in 1971. This poem mainly reports on Ginsberg’s visit to the refugee camps located in the bordering areas of Jessore of Bangladesh and Kolkata of India in mid-September, 1971. Those camps sheltered millions of Bengalis who fled their homes fearing persecution and violence inflicted by the Pakistani occupation forces during the liberation war of Bangladesh. Ginsberg’s first-hand experience of encountering the refugees in those camps is reproduced in this poem where the poet very meticulously pens the untold sufferings that every individual experienced during that war time. The poem also criticizes the US government and all its state apparatus for not supporting the freedom loving Bengalis in that war. His original intent of composing this poem was to express solidarity with the Bengalis’ resolute craving for freedom on the one hand and to create awareness among the masses and form public opinion against Pakistani atrocities on the Bengali people on the other. This paper thus attempts to depict how Ginsberg puts all these aspects into words with a view to reminding us of the gory history behind the establishment of the modern state of Bangladesh.

Highlights

American poet Allen Ginsberg in the poem ‘September on Jessore Road’ details his first-hand experience of witnessing the sufferings of the people of Bangladesh during the country’s liberation war of 1971 in specific and hints at the disastrous havoc that war always causes to people in general
Jessore Road earned its name for being a crucial communication link between the eastern and western parts of Bangladesh. It passes through Khulna district and connects south-western Bangladesh to Kolkata, India. This road emerged with immense significance during the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971 when millions used it as a highway to flee to India in order to save their lives from atrocities and massacres of the Pakistan Army
Foreign journalists and aid workers reported on it, singers composed music and great poets wrote poetry about it. Of those fateful eight months in 1971, as the world slowly realized that a massacre was underway in the East Pakistan and sympathy and support began to trickle in from the West, the Beat poet Allen Ginsberg wrote his lyrical anthem ‘September on Jessore Road’ in support of those war victims which he later recited at a poetry recitation program in St George Church of New York. 1971: A Documentation of Social and Humanitarian Crises

Summary

Introduction

American poet Allen Ginsberg in the poem ‘September on Jessore Road’ details his first-hand experience of witnessing the sufferings of the people of Bangladesh during the country’s liberation war of 1971 in specific and hints at the disastrous havoc that war always causes to people in general This legendary 152-line poem unfolds the intense miseries of millions of Bangladeshi people who fled to India to save their lives from massacres inflicted by the Pakistani army during that wartime. While portraying the distresses of the war victims of 1971, Ginsberg depicts how every family member falls prey to utter despair and destitution He accounts the sufferings of the baby, its father, mother, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandfather and grandmother.

Objectives

Discussion

Conclusion