History of Bengali Language and Literature c7.s3.1

c7.s3.1

Of Chandī Dās and Vidyāpati, it may be said that the one sings as impelled by nature,—his is a cry from the depths of the soul; literary embellishments are lost sight of; poetry wells up like a natural fountain, whose pure flow contains no coarse grain of earth. The other is a conscious poet, and a finished scholar, whose similes and metaphors are brilliant poetical feats; they at once captivate the ear, and the boldness of colour in the pictures, presented to the mind, dazzles the eyes. The scenes of sensuality, and lust are redeemed by others which are platonic and spiritual,—a strange combination of holy and unholy, of earthly and heavenly. His earlier poems are full of sensualism,—his later, of mystic ideas. Chandī Dās is a bird from the higher regions, where earthly beauties may be scant, but which is nearer heaven, for all that. Vidyāpati moves all day in the sunny groves and floral meadows of the earth, but in the evening rises high and overtakes his fellow poet.∗