History of Bengali Language and Literature c10.48

c10.48

I have said that the classic taste, which made the Bengali poets of the 18th century revel in exaggerated and high flown imageries, was indicated in the work of this Mahomedan poet, to such a considerable extent, that he may be said to have heralded the new epoch. Alāol rang the bell of the new age and the sound was caught by a host of other poets amongst whom Bhārata Chandra was the most prominent. I shall here quote some passages from Alāol's Padmāvati to show how his description owns kinship with those found in the Sanskrit and Persian poems already referred to by us, as also with the high sounding flourishes of style which characterise the Bengali poems that followed the age of Alāol.