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Jibanananda Das (Bangla: জীবনানন্দ দাশ) (17 February, 1899 - 22 October, 1954) is an acclaimed Bengal poet. He is considered one of the precursors who introduced modernist poetry to Bengali Literature, at a period when it was influenced by Tagore's Romantic poetry. Alternate spelling Jivanananda Das. The literal meaning of his name is Joy (ananda) of Life (jivan or jibon in the bengali pronunciation).

He was born in the town of Barisal in modern-day Bangladesh in 1899. His ancestors came from the Bikrampur region of Dhaka district, from a village called Gaupara on the banks of the river Padma. Both of Jibanananda's parents had literary ambitions. Satyananda Das, his father, was an educated man who had obtained an honours degree. Professionally, he was a teacher, an assistant principal at Brojomohon School (established by the humanitarian Ashwini Kumar Dutta). But he was also an essayist and the founder-editor of Brahmobadi, a journal of the Brahmo Samaj. Jibanananda's mother Kusumkumari was a poet and the writer of a famous poem called Adorsho Chhele (The Ideal Boy) whose refrain is well-known to Bengalis to this day: Amader deshey hobey shei chhele kobey / Kothae na boro hoye kajey boro hobey. (The lad who achieves not in words but in deeds, when will this land know such a one?)

Jibanananda was the eldest son of his parents, and was called by the nickname Milu. A younger brother Ashokananda was born in 1908 and a sister called Shuchorita in 1915. Milu fell violently ill in his childhood, and his parents feared for his life. Kusumkumari took her ailing child and travelled to health resorts all over India - in Lucknow, Agra and Giridih. They were accompanied on these journeys by their uncle Chandranath.

In January 1908, Milu, by now eight years old, was admitted to the fifth grade in Brojomohon School. The delay was due to his father's opposition to admitting children into school at too early an age. Milu's childhood education was therefore sustained mostly at home, under his mother's tutelage.

His school life passed by relatively uneventfully. In 1915, he successfully completed his Matriculation examination from Brojomohon, obtaining a first division in the process. He repeated the feat two years later when he passed the Intermediate exams from Brajamohan College. Evidently an accomplished student, he now left his rural Barisal to go to university in Calcutta, the teeming city at the heart of the British Raj.

Jibanananda enrolled in Presidency College, then as now one of the most prestigious seats of learning in India. He studied English Literature and graduated with a BA (Honours) degree in 1919. That same year, his first poem appeared in print in the Boishakh issue of Brahmobadi journal. Fittingly, the poem was called Borsho-abahon (Arrival of the New Year). This poem was published anonymously, with only the honorific Sri in the byline. However, the annual index in the year-end issue of the magazine revealed his full name: "Sri Jibanananda Das, BA".

In 1921, he completed the MA degree in English from Calcutta University, obtaining a second class degree. He was also studying law. At this time, he lived in the Hardinge student quarters next to the university. Just before his exams, he fell ill with bacillary dysentery and this hampered his exam preparations.

The following year, he started his teaching career. He joined the English department of Calcutta's City College as a tutor. By this time, he had left Hardinge and moved to boardings in Harrison Road. He gave up his law studies. It is thought that he also lived in a house in Bechu Chatterjee Street for some time with his brother Ashokanananda who had come up from Barisal for his MSc studies.

His literary career was starting to take off. When Deshbondhu Chittaranjan Das died in June 1925, Jibanananda wrote a poem called Deshbondhu'r Proyan'e (On the Death of the Friend of the Nation) which was published in Bongobani magazine. This poem would later take its place in the collection called Jhora Palok (1927). On reading it, the poet Kalidas Roy said that he had thought the poem the work of a mature, accomplished poet hiding behind a pseudonym. Jibanananda's earliest printed prose work was also published in 1925. This was an essay entitled Kalimohon Das'er Sraddho-bashorey, which appeared in serialized form in Brahmobadi magazine. His poetry began to be widely published in various literary journals and little magazines in Calcutta, Dhaka and elsewhere. These included Kallol, perhaps the most famous literary magazine of the era, Kalikolom (Pen and Ink), Progoti (Progress) (co-edited by Buddhadeb Bose) and others. At this time, he occasionally used the surname Dasgupta as opposed to Das.

In 1927, Jhora Palok (Fallen Feathers), his first collection of poems, came out. A few months later, Jibanananda managed to get himself fired from his job at City College. The college had been struck by student unrest surrounding a religious festival, and enrolment had suffered as a result. Still in his late 20s, Jibanananda was the youngest member of the faculty and therefore the most disposable. He also came under attack from another front. The critic Shojonikanto Das began to launch ferocious critiques of his poetry in the literary pages of Shonibarer Chithi (The Saturday Letter) magazine.

With nothing to keep him in Calcutta, Jibanananda left for the small town of Bagerhat in the far south, there to continue his teaching career at Profullo Chondro College. But he only lasted there for about three months and quickly returned to the big city. He was now in dire financial straits. In order to make ends meet, he gave private tuition to students, and kept applying for full-time positions in academia. In December 1929, he moved to Delhi to take up a teaching post at Ramjosh College. But again this lasted no more than a few months. Back in Barisal, his family had been making arrangements for his marriage. Once Jibanananda got to Barisal, he failed to go back to Delhi and therefore lost the job.

In May 1930, he married Labonno, a girl whose ancestors came from Khulna. At the subsequent reception in Dhaka's Ram Mohan Library, leading literary lights of the day such as Ajit Kumar Dutta and Buddhadeb Bose were assembled. A daughter called Monjusree was born to the couple in February of the following year.

Around this time, he wrote one of his most controversial poems. Camp'e (At the Camp) was printed in Sudhindranath Dutta's Porichoy magazine and immediately caused a firestorm in literary circles. The poem's ostensible subject is a deer hunt by moonlight. Many accused Jibanananda of promoting indecency and incest through this poem. More and more, he turned now, in secrecy, to the short story format.

In 1934, he wrote the series of poems that would form the basis of the collection called Ruposhi Bangla. These poems were not discovered during his lifetime and Ruposhi Bangla was only published in 1957, three years after his death.

In 1935, Jibanananda, by now familiar with professional disappointment and poverty, returned to his alma mater Brajamohan College. He joined as a lecturer in the English department. In Calcutta, Buddhadeb Bose, Premendra Mitra and Samar Sen were starting a brand new poetry magazine called Kobita. Jibanananda's work featured in the very first issue of the magazine, a poem called Mrittu'r Aagey (Before Death). Upon reading the magazine, Tagore wrote a lengthy letter to Bose and especially commended the Das poem: Jibanananda Das' vivid, colourful poem has given me great pleasure. It was in the second issue of Kobita (Poush 1342 issue, Dec 1934/Jan 1935) that Jibanananda published his now-legendary Banalata Sen. Today, this 18-line poem is among the most famous poems in the language.

The following year, his second volume of poetry Dhushor Pandulipi was published. Jibanananda was by now well settled in Barisal. A son Samarananda was born in November 1936. His impact in the world of Bengali literature continued to increase. In 1938, Tagore edited a poetry anthology entitled Bangla Kabbyo Porichoy (Introduction to Bengali Poetry) and included an abridged version of Mrittu'r Aagey, the same poem that had moved him three years ago. Another important anthology came out in 1939, edited by Abu Sayeed Ayub and Hirendranath Mukhopadhyay; Jibanananda was represented with four poems: Pakhira, Shokun, Banalata Sen, and Nogno Nirjon Haat.

In 1942, the same year that his father died, his third volume of poetry Banalata Sen was published under the aegis of Kobita Bhabon and Buddhadeb Bose. A ground-breaking modernist poet in his own right, Bose was a steadfast champion of Jibanananda's poetry, providing him with numerous platforms for publication. 1944 saw the publication of Moha Prithibi. The Second World War had had a profound impact on Jibanananda's poetic vision. (discuss further) The following year, Jibanananda provided his own translations of several of his poems for an English anthology to be published under the title Modern Bengali Poems. Oddly enough, the editor Debiprasad Chattopadhyay considered these translations to be sub-standard, and instead commissioned Martin Kirkman to translate four of Jibanananda's poems for the book.

The aftermath of the war saw heightened demands for Indian independence. Muslim politicians led by Jinnah wanted an independent homeland for the Muslims of the subcontinent. Bengal was uniquely vulnerable to partition: its western half was majority-Hindu, its eastern half majority-Muslim. Yet adherents of both religions spoke the same language, came from the same ethnic stock, and lived in close proximity to each other in town and village. Jibanananda had emphasized the need for communal harmony at an early stage. In his very first book Jhora Palok, he had included a poem called Hindu Musolman. In it he proclaimed:

However, events in real life belied his beliefs. In the summer of 1946, he travelled to Calcutta from Barisal on three months' paid leave. He stayed at his brother Ashokananda's place through the bloody riots that swept the city. Just before partition in August 1947, Jibanananda quit his job at Brajamohan College and said goodbye to his beloved Barisal. He and his family were among the X million refugees who took part in the largest cross-border exchange of peoples in history. For a while he worked for a magazine called Swaraj as its Sunday editor. But he left the job after a few months.

In 1948, he completed two of his novels, Mallyoban and Shutirtho, neither of which were discovered during his life. Shaat'ti Tarar Timir was published in December 1948. The same month, his mother passed away in Calcutta.

By now, he was well-established in the Calcutta literary world. He was appointed to the editorial board of yet another new literary magazine Dondo (Conflict). However, in a reprise of his early career, he was sacked from his job at Kharagpur College in February of 1951. In 1952, Signet Press published Banalata Sen. The book received widespread acclaim and won the Book of the Year award from the All-Bengal Tagore Literary Conference. Later that year, the poet found another job at Borisha College (today known as Borisha Bibekanondo College). This job too he lost within a few months. He applied afresh to Diamond Harbour Fakirchand College, but eventually declined it, owing to travel difficulties. Instead he took up a post at Howrah Girl's College (today known as Vijaykrishna College). As the head of the English department, he was entitled to a 50-taka monthly bonus on top of his salary.

By the last year of his life, Jibanananda was acclaimed as one of the best poets of the post-Tagore era. He was constantly in demand at literary conferences, poetry readings, radio recitals etc. In May 1954, he published a volume called Greatest Poems (Sreshttho Kobita}.

On October 14, 1954, he was crossing a road near Calcutta's Deshpriyo Park when he was hit by a tram. Seriously injured, he was taken to Shombhunath Pondit Hospital. Sajanikanta Das who had been one of his fiercest critics was tireless in his efforts to secure the best treatment for the poet. He even persuaded Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy (then chief minister of West Bengal) to visit him in hospital. Nonetheless, infection had set in. Jibanananda died in hospital on October 22, 1954. His body was cremated the following day at Keoratola crematorium.

He was born in Barisal in modern-day Bangladesh in 1899. His grandfather, Sarbananda, and his schoolteacher father, Satyananda, were both part-time preachers in the Brahmo Samaj. His mother, Kusumkumari Das, started writing poems when she was very young, and some were published in magazines while she was a still a school student. In fact Satyananda was attracted to Kusumkumari after reading some of her poems.

Jibanananda was educated at Barisal BM College and Kolkata's Presidency College. From the Presidency College he completed the Masters Degree [M.A.] in English. He then worked as a lecturer of English in the City College in Kolkata. This was a happy period of his youth when he first started publishing his poems.

In early 1930s, he was unemployed for several years, earning a meagre amount as a private tutor of school students. His uncles got him jobs, successively, in Assam and Punjab, but he refused to leave Bengal as the pursuit of literature was far more important to him than financial stability. He briefly held teaching posts in Bagerhat and Delhi before returning to Barisal. He was a teacher at the B.M. College in Barisal from 1934 to 1947. This was probably the most productive period of his literary life. After the partition of India in 1947, when his home district fell within the new Pakistan, he migrated to Kolkata. In Kolkata again he had to face unemployment for several years before being appointed to the post of lecturer at the Howrah Girls' College in 1953.

On October 14, 1954, Das was injured in a tram accident at Baliganj area of Kolkata. He was admitted to the Shambhunath Pundit Hospital, and there he contracted pneumonia. He died of complications at 11:35 pm on October 22. It has been alleged in some biographies that his accident was actually an attempt at suicide. ^[1]

When Jibanananda Das died American poet Allen Ginsberg said, "One poet dead, killed near his fiftieth year...did introduce what for India would be the modern spirit: bitterness, self-doubt, sex, street diction, personal confession"[1]. Jibanananda is among the most prominent modernist poets of Bengali literature. His introduction of modernism to Bengali poetry was coeval with its advent in the West. He is best known for his celebration of the natural beauty and the rural life of Bengal, although his work is shot through with an acute awareness of the evanescence of the soul, of death and the inevitability of decay. His poems have a lyrical beauty that have very few parallels in Bangla literature, and to many, his stature as a poet is second only to Tagore.

The second major theme in his poems is humanism and love. There are many poems of love, of women and of nature. Many of these poems are included in the anthology "Banalata Sen" which is now the most popular of his poetry books.

His poems in "Mahaprithivi" ["The Great World"] marks a divide in his works. He was previously writing only about issues related to Bengal and India. But from this point, a steadily increasing number of his poems frequently refer to international events, and of concerns about the future of the human civilisation. The later poems, written in the 1940s and early 1950s, have a far more complex character. The Second World War, the Bengal famine of 1943 (in which over 3 million people died), the Hindu-Muslim riots, and the partition of India, all have reflections in his later poems. His humanism, his love of nature, and his observations about the failures of the human civilisation, gradually evolved into a style that relentlessly lament about the human costs of modern civilisation. These poems have a lot of comments about political issues and current affairs. The title of the book "Sat-ti Tarar Timir" (loosely translatable as 'the darkness of seven stars') actually refers to seven flashes from bombs or artillery shells [in his own words in one of the poems, "...splinter-er ananta nakkhatre..."]. The "timir" (darkness) is the crisis of the human civilisation during the Second World War.

Jibanananda was an active observer of politics though he never joined any group. He took part in political rallies organised by the major political parties to try to understand which way the country was headed after Independence. But he was acutely aware of the dishonesty that was rampant in all political parties, and even in the early years of Independent India, he felt that corruption was destroying Indian society.

He wrote about one hundred short stories and more than a dozen novels, but all of them remained unpublished up to 1968. By 2005, most of his stories and novels had been published, and even half a century after his death, many of them have great relevance. The prose style of his fiction consciously avoid structured plots -- he felt that since life does not have a defined structure, realistic stories should also lack a planned structure. The publication of the prose writings have considerably widened the appeal of his literary contributions.

He also wrote fifty volumes of diaries, and only small parts of them have been published up to 2006. Many parts of his biography will have to be re-written when the diaries are published.

• Jhora Palok (Fallen Feathers), 1927
• Dhushor Pandulipi (Grey Manuscript), 1936
• Bonolota Sen, 1942
• Mohaprithibi (Great Universe), 1944
• Shaat-ti Tarar Timir, 1948
• Ruposhi Bangla (Beautiful Bengal), written in 1934, published posthumously in 1957
• Bela Obela Kalbela (Times, Bad Times, End Times), 1961
• Aloprithibi (The World of Light), 1984
• Manobihangam (The Bird that is My Heart)

His Best Poems won the Indian Sahitya Akademi Award in 1955.