Tribute to Poet Abdul Mannan Syed
Veteran poet, essayist and literary critic Abdul Mannan Syed passed away on September 5 at his residence on Green Road, Dhaka. He was 67. His died of heart ailments.
Syed started writing poems in 1960. His first book of poetry was published in 1967. Throughout a career spanning over five decades, he had written numerous poems and published over 60 books.
His poems are conceptual and some deal with death, romance and at times the absurd. As an experimental poet, he frequently changed his style and content. He often used the imageries of the moon, sun, sky, clouds and water in his poetry.
He was recognised for his noteworthy research works on Jibanananda Das and Kazi Nazrul Islam. Syed had also done researches on Rabin-dranath Tagore, Manik Bandopadhyay, Syed Waliullah, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Ishwar Gupta and other iconic litterateurs.
“Satyer Mato Badmash”, “Janmandho Kobita Guchcho”, “Park Street-e Ek Ratti”, “Kobita Company Private Limited”, “Machh Series”, “Cholo Jai Porokhey”, “Chhondo” and “Rabindranath” are among his notable works.
In his illustrious career, the versatile writer received several honours including the prestigious Bangla Academy Award, Ekushey Padak and Alaol Literary Award for his contribution to Bengali literature.
About Syed, veteran poet Mahadev Saha said, “Syed was undoubtedly one of the multitalented personalities in Bengali literature. He wrote poems, essays, prose, short stories, novels, plays, travelogue and more. He translated and edited many books. His poems are symbolic and surrealistic. I met him in 1969 when we were regularly contributing for 'Konthoshor', one of the notable literary journals of that time. Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed edited the journal. We frequently met him at his Green Road residence. He was very close to the late poets Sikdar Aminul Haque, Abul Hasan and Abid Azad.”
Syed was born to Syed AM Badr-ud-Duja and Anwara Majid in 1943 at Bashirhat in Chobbish Pargana, British India. He studied at Nawabpur Government High School, Dhaka College and the Bengali Department of Dhaka University. He taught at the department of Bengali, Jagannath College, Dhaka. Later he served as the Director General of Nazrul Institute and was the first scholar-in-residence in Bangladesh at North South University. For a long time he was associated with Shilpataru, a monthly literary magazine published from Dhaka by the late poet Abid Azad.
Comments