Google creates a new Doodle to celebrate Bangladeshi poet Shamsur Rahman‘s 89th birthday. Shamsur Rahman was born on 23rd October 1929. He was a Bangladeshi poet, columnist and journalist. he emerged in the latter half of the 20th century, wrote more than sixty books of poetry and is considered a key figure in Bengali literature.
He was regarded as the unofficial poet laureate of Bangladesh. Major themes in his poetry and writings include liberal humanism, human relations, the romanticized rebellion of youth, the emergence of and consequent events in Bangladesh, and opposition to religious fundamentalism.
Poet Shamsur Rahman
Shamsur Rahman’s first book of poetry, Prothom Gaan Dwityo Mrittyur Agey (First Song Before the Second Death) was published in 1960. He had to go through the political turbulence of 60’s and 70’s which also reflected in his poems clearly. He wrote his famous poem Asader Shirt which was written with respect to the mass uprising of 1969 led by Maulana Bhasani. During the Bangladesh Liberation War he wrote a number of poems based on the war. These poems were so inspiring that they were recited at the camps of freedom fighters.
Later these poems were published in Bondi Shibir Theke (From Confinement in Enemy Territory) in 1972. Later he continued writing poems in independent Bangladesh and remained as the poet whose poems reflect the history of the nation.
His health broke down towards the end of the 1990s and on two occasions he received major cardiac surgery. He died on 17 August 2006 of heart and kidney failure after having been in a coma for 12 days. He was 77.
