Great Poets of the world - Czeslaw Milosz

 

 

Date of Issue : 30 June 2011

100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF CZESŁAW MIŁOSZ

 

Czeslaw Milosz

Czeslaw Milosz ranks among the most respected figures in twentieth-century Polish literature, as well as one of the most respected contemporary poets in the world, being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980. He was born in Lithuania, where his parents moved temporarily to escape the political upheaval in their native Poland. As an adult, he left Poland due to the oppressive Communist regime that came to power following World War II and has lived in the United States since 1960.

Milosz's poems, novels, essays, and other works are written in his native Polish and translated by the author and others into English. Having lived under the two great totalitarian systems of modern history, national socialism and communism, Milosz writes of the past in a tragic, ironic style that nonetheless affirms the value of human life.

Born in Lithuania in 1911, Milosz spent much of his childhood in Czarist Russia, where his father worked as a civil engineer. After World War I the family returned to their hometown, which had become a part of the new Polish state, and Milosz attended local Catholic schools. He published his first collection of poems, Poemat o czasie zastyglym ("Poem of the Frozen Time"), at the age of twenty-one. Milosz was associated with the catastrophist school of poets during the 1930s. Catastrophism concerns "the inevitable annihilation of the highest values, especially the values essential to a given cultural system. . . . But it proclaims . . . only the annihilation of certain values, not values in general, and the destruction of a certain historical formation, but not of all mankind," Aleksander Fiut explained in World Literature Today. The writings of this group of poets ominously foreshadowed World War II.

Besides the Nobel Prize for Literature, his other honors include an award for poetry translations from the Polish P.E.N. Center in Warsaw, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Neustadt International Prize for Literature. He has written virtually all of his poems in his native Polish, although his work was banned in Poland until after he won the Nobel Prize. He has also translated the works of other Polish writers into English, and has co-translated his own works with such poets as Robert Hass and Robert Pinsky. His translations into Polish include portions of the Bible (from Hebrew and Greek) and works by Charles Baudelaire, T. S. Eliot, John Milton, William Shakespeare, Simone Weil, and Walt Whitman. He died on August 14, 2004.

Love by Czeslaw Milosz

Love means to learn to look at yourself
The way one looks at distant things
For you are only one thing among many.
And whoever sees that way heals his heart,
Without knowing it, from various ills—
A bird and a tree say to him: Friend.
Then he wants to use himself and things
So that they stand in the glow of ripeness.
It doesn’t matter whether he knows what he serves:
Who serves best doesn’t always understand.

Forget by Czeslaw Milosz

Forget the suffering
You caused others.
Forget the suffering
Others caused you.
The waters run and run,
Springs sparkle and are done,
You walk the earth you are forgetting.
Sometimes you hear a distant refrain.
What does it mean, you ask, who is singing?
A childlike sun grows warm.
A grandson and a great-grandson are born.
You are led by the hand once again.
The names of the rivers remain with you.
How endless those rivers seem!
Your fields lie fallow,
The city towers are not as they were.
You stand at the threshold mute.

Read More

New stamp on 50th Ann. of first human space flight

Date of Issue : 12 April 2011

Azerbaijan has issued a set of stamps on 12 April 2011 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of first human's flight to space. The stamps feature the International space station, "Vostok-1" in which Yuri Gagarin made first space flight and the painting of outstanding Azerbaijani artist Tahir Salakhov "To you mankind".

Club News

Chitralekha publishes interviews of philatelists..

Chitralekha, famous Gujarati magazine on which India Post has issued a postage stamp on 20 April, has published in its recent issue, a special article on philately in continuation to the release of Stamp on Shri Vaju Kotak & Chitralekha. Articles tells about the hobby of philately and they have also published interviews of noted Indian philatelists Shri Ashok Bayanwala, Shri Vijay Navlakha (Ahmedabad), Shri Dhirubhai Mehta (Mumbai) and Mr Prashant Pandya of Vadodara.

Small part of article translated in English is given below for the Readers….

History of Stamps

Chitralekha has done it once again and this feat in question has been unparalleled in the field of Gujarati journalism. Ministry of Communications through its Posts & Telegraph released a commemorative stamp on late shri Vaju Kotak, founder of Chitralekha, to engrave in history the 60-year glorious journey of the publication. The ever-alert editorial of the magazine seizes this moment to apprise the readers of the philately and its past traditions. Ketan Trivedy & Samir Paleja give us a glimpse into the colourful history of the past and present traditions of philately.

The hobby of stamp collection has always been a rage in every generation. The cover story begins with a unique case that aptly illustrates the craze for collection. A gentleman named Arthur Hind purchased a postal stamp titled British Guyana, worth one cent, at Rs 1, 68,886 way back in 1922. One day he got a call from another collector claiming that he too had the identical stamp with him. Arthur checked the authenticity of the stamp and then bought the second stamp from the new collector. What he did thereafter was really incredible. He flipped out his lighter and ignited the newly bought stamp right in front of the seller. Reason? Arthur wanted to ensure that he was the sole owner of this exclusive stamp and therefore never wanted to let there be any other identical stamp. This is what you call height of his passion, his craze for stamp collection.

So welcome to the exclusive world of philately and philatelists where the latter that are spread across the world, collect the used/unused stamps and other related postal stationeries of various countries just for pure fun. Stamp collectors look out for quirky stamps and would not hesitate spending millions to grab stamps bearing the Queen’s picture with her head printed upside down. Admittedly, in this world of emails and smses, use of postal stamps has considerably gone down but it has not dampened the spirit of these stamp collectors. Even today there is a virtual scramble whenever a new stamp and first day cover are released.

The cover story reveals that the first ever postal stamp was released in Great Britain on 6 May 1840. Before the practice of postal stamps was introduced, the charges for delivery were taken from the addressee. Legend has it that a British mother refused to pay these charges for the letter received from her son. Her logic was that there was no reason for her to pay for receiving a blank letter from her son which was enough for her to know about his well being. Yes, that was the first ever ‘miss mail’ of the world.

And this incident prompted authorities to suggest and introduce reforms in postal services and this is how postal stamps came into being. In India first postal stamp was released on 1 October 1854 when the British were ruling the country. It was therefore no surprise that the stamp would bear the picture of the Queen. It is however learnt that a couple of years before the first stamp was brought out, the Governor of Sindh had authorized a stamp for local use though, which continued till 1854.

How then the words like philately and this craze for stamp collection came into use? It is believed that a British lady requisitioned for postal stamps through ads in paper so that she could embellish her dressing table with them. This apparently spurred people to collect stamps. And the word philately was given by a French man.
This and many such tidbits are strewn across the story which is amazing, full of details that were hitherto unknown and least written about. You need not be a philatelist to be able to enjoy the story. However chances are that you might turn into one after reading the story. Happy reading, happy collection.And yes, let us not forget in conclusion that for those associated with Gujarati journalism and the Gujarati community at large, this is a proud moment that one from among them appeared on the face of a postal stamp. A rare feat and a glorious moment for all of us indeed..!!

From Chitralekha website: http://www.chitralekha.com/chitraguj/engsummary.php

 

Special Cover on Tagore

A special Cover on Guru Rabindranath Tagore will be released at RABINDRA PARISHAD, RABINDRA BHAWAN PATNA   on 9 May 2011. The cover has been designed by Mr Souvik Roy of Kolkatta . 2000 Covers will be issued and the covers will be available from Rabindra Parishad Patna. For more details,  Mr Souvik Roy may be contacted at email : lorenzosouvik@gmail.com

 

Read More

Tributes to great authors of the world on World Book Day !!

 

 

 

 

 

Rabindranath Tagore

Philatelic Tributes to great authors of the world on World Book Day… Many of us might have read the books by these great authors sometime in our life …. It is a day to remember their contribution in the field of literature …. and pay tributes to them on this very special day..

Munshi Premchand

William Shakespeare

Charles Dickens

Great woman authors : Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, Emily Bronte,Elizabeth Gaskell

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov & Leo Tolstoy

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was one of the greatest physician and playwrights because of his works. According to a letter Chekhov wrote to his friend: “Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress. When I get fed up with one, I spend the night with the other. Though it is irregular, it is less boring this way, and besides, neither of them loses anything through my infidelity.”

Born in Ukraine, this writer of short stories has published more stories than any other writer has done, some of them include The Betrothed, Zinotchka, The Tutor, A Naughty Boy and The Bishop.

Leo Tolstoy or Count Lyev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, on the other hand is a great novelist. His masterpieces which are War and Peace and Anna Karenina are one of the most sought after novels worldwide. These books represent the life and attitude of Russia in the 19^th century.

Books…..

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers.

- Charles W. Eliot (1834 - 1926), The Happy Life, 1896

Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.

- Arnold Lobel

Read More

World Book Day !!

World Book and Copyright Day

23rd April is celebrated globally as World Book and Copyright Day. World Book Day was designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and is marked in over 100 countries around the globe.

The connection between 23 April and books was first made in 1923 by booksellers in Spain as a way to honour the author Miguel de Cervantes who died on that day. This became a part of the celebrations of the Saint George's Day (also 23 April) in Catalonia, where it has been traditional since the medieval era for men to give roses to their lovers and since 1925 for the woman to give a book in exchange. Half the yearly sales of books in Catalonia are at this time with over 400,000 sold and exchanged for over 4 million roses.

In 1995, UNESCO decided that the World Book and Copyright Day would be celebrated on this date because of the Catalonian festival and because the date is also the anniversary of the birth and death of William Shakespeare, the death of Miguel de Cervantes, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega and Josep Pla, the birth of Maurice Druon, Vladimir Nabokov, Manuel Mejía Vallejo and Halldór Laxness.

World Book Day is observed to pay a world-wide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and gain a renewed respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity. In this respect, UNESCO created both the World Book and Copyright Day and the UNESCO Prize for Children's and Young People's Literature in the Service of Tolerance.

News Clippings

Rediscover the joy of reading on World Book Day

Asha Chowdary, TNN | Apr 23, 2003, 02.13am IST

Maybe you've loved Austen or enjoyed Dickens — maybe it's Hemingway or Rowling who have held you in their spell. Whatever the book might be, you could show your love for the written word by reading a book today.
It's that time of the year when book lovers across the world unite to celebrate World Book and Copyright day, instituted by UNESCO's general conference in 1995.
They decided that April 23 of every year would be set aside to encourage reading and promote publishing and protection of intellectual property. On this day, many countries hold special ceremonies to mark the day, by way of book readings, conferences and contests.
Here are some facts about World Book and Copyright Day you might not know: The idea for this celebration began in Catalonia, Spain where, on April 23, Saint George's Day, a rose is traditionally given as a gift for each book sold.
The day is a symbolic date in world literature marking the birth or death of noted writers like Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, K. Laxness, Maurice Druon and others.
UNESCO hoped that by introducing a day like this, they would help young people discover the pleasure of reading and pay tribute to some amazing authors in history.
Some countries celebrate a special Book Day on March 6 as well.
In Bangalore, a few bookstores like Sankars are making the day special with discounts and Harry Potter promotions. Other stores like Strand Book Stall are planning felicitations of authors over the week.

Amar Ujala 23 April 2011

:Ashwani Dubey, Gorakhpur

Read More

New stamp from India..

Date of Issue : 20 April 2011

India Post issued today  a commemorative stamp on Chitralekha, famous Gujarati magazine.The stamp depicts Mr. VAJU KOTAK : founder of Chitralekha magazine.

Stamp image : Mansoor. B

Chitralekha is a Gujarati weekly magazine. Chitralekha is published by Chitralekha group from Mumbai. Chitralekha weekly's first issue was published in 1950 by Chitralekha group, under the editorship of Vaju Kotak.

It had given rise to many prominent Gujarati Columnist and writes in its long life span some of them are Kanti Bhatt, Chnadrakant Bakshi, Tarak Mehta, etc. After the sudden demise of Founder Editor Vaju Kotak in late 50's, Madhuri Kotak took the charge of the magazine along with Harkishan Mehta and brought the new highs for the Chitralekha group.

Read More

Shakespeare stamps from Royal Mail..

Date of Issue : 12th April 2011

The Royal Shakespeare Company

On 12 April Royal Mail marked the 50th Anniversary of the Royal Shakespeare Company, with Stamps and a Miniature Sheet. Working with the RSC, Royal Mail selected six RSC productions of Shakespeare’s plays from the last half century for the Stamps and created a Miniature Sheet which comprises four stamps showing the theatres where the RSC has performed in Stratford-upon-Avon through the years.

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) stamps see six productions take centre stage, including Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest, amongst others. The stamps each feature a defining scene from an RSC production alongside a famous quote from each play.

The stamp issue marks 50 years since Sir Peter Hall founded the RSC. Over the last half a century the RSC has staged Shakespeare plays across the UK, and has also taken productions on tour around the UK and worldwide.

Other plays celebrated in the stamp issue include Henry VI, King Lear and A Midsummer Night's Dream. An additional four stamps complete the stamp set and are printed in a miniature sheet depicting a collage of the RSC's theatres in Stratford-upon-Avon.

1st Class – Hamlet

The stamp shows former Dr Who, David Tennant as Hamlet from the recent 2008 production.

66p – The Tempest

Antony Sher plays Prospero in the 2009 production.

68p – Henry VI

Chuk Iwuji as Henry VI in the 2006 production.

76p – King Lear

A classic shot of Paul Schofield as Lear from 1962.

£1.00 – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Sara Kestleman as the fairy queen Titania from 1970.

£1.10p – Romeo and Juliet

Ian McKellen and Francesca Annis play the doomed lovers in this 1976 production.

1st Class – Royal Shakespeare Theatre

The First Class stamp shows the Royal Shakespeare Theatre with Janet Suzman as Ophelia from the 1965 production of Macbeth.

68p – Swan Theatre

Here the Swan Theatre is shown with Patrick Stewart in Antony and Cleopatra.

76p – The Courtyard Theatre

The 76p stamp shows Geoffrey Streatfeild in Henry V with the Courtyard Theatre.

£1.00 – The Other Place

The Other Place features Dame Judi Dench as Lady Macbeth.

Read more about design..

Read More

Stamp on Tagore from Uruguay….

 

Hi ! Here is a beautiful stamp on Tagore issued by Uruguay during Indipex 2011 and its cover shown below with the poem of Tagore "Aami Prithibir Kabi". Some might have seen the cover but they do not know the story behind it which I wish to share ………

During Indipex 2011 Ururuguay issued a stamp on Rabindranath Tagore. Prior to the issuance of this stamp I received an email from Uruguay Post that they wished to include a small poem by Tagore on the First Day Cover of the stamp and they wanted to know if any permission was required from concerned authorities for copyright publications . I forwardrd that mail to Mr Sekhar Chakrabarty of Kolkatta for an expert opinion. Mr Chakrabarty suggested them to include Tagore’s "Aami Prithibir Kabi" (I am the poet of the world) and advised them that permission is not required for 100 years old publications. It is a matter of great pleasure that this suggestion was materialized and the small poem of Tagore appears on the cover which Mr Sekhar Chakrabarty received from Uruguay (sent by Mr. Malosetti) released on the occasion of issuance of the Tagore stamp on 16 February 2011 which has the words "Aami Prithibir Kabi" and it was originally suggested by Mr Sekhar Chakrabarty.

I am extremely happy that small effort done in this regard resulted in a wonderful cover of the greatest poet of our country “ Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore”. with his beautiful lines "Aami Prithibir Kabi" I express my gratitude to Uruguay Post to honour the greatest poet of our country on commemorative stamp of Ururguay and including his poem on the cover….and many thanks to Mr Sekhar Chakrabarty for his efforts in selecting the most appropriate poem of Tagore and finally suggesting the Uruguay Post to include it on Special Stamp Cover !!

.
Stamp Exhibition on Tagore

In celebration of 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India will be organizing a month long Stamp exhibition commencing on May 9, 2011, exclusively on Rabindranath Tagore from the collection of Sekhar Chakrabarti and Moloy Sarkar, at Rabindranath Tagore Centre, Kolkata.

Read More

A poet to be remembered ….Tristan Corbiere

 

 

 

France has issued a stamp commemorating the French poet with a tragic fate Tristan Corbiere. The poet who died at the young age of 29.

Tristan Corbiere  (18 July 1845 - 1 March 1875) was one of the greatest  original poets of the 19th century, was born in Coat-Congar, Ploujean, near Morlaix in Brittany, where he lived most of his life and where he died.

He was sickly, deformed by arthritis, and many of his poems express disgust at his own ugliness. He seems to have been spiritually ‘adopted’ (1871) by Count Rodolphe de Battin and his mistress, ‘Marcelle’, whom he worshipped. Les Amours jaunes (1873) were totally ignored by the public. In December 1874, transported to hospital by his friends, he writes to his mother: ‘Je suis à Dubois, dont on fait les cercueils.’ Recognition began only later when Verlaine wrote about him in Les Poètes maudits (1884).

The rhythms of popular speech are crammed into regular verse, giving it new life. Corbière senses the power and onward flow of the traditional French alexandrine strongly (e.g. ‘Bambine’), and in his hands its energy is so intense that it becomes disrupted, rather as magnifying the energy of waves causes them to break. This is one of the secrets of his brilliant sea poetry.

A self-ironist like Laforgue, Corbière's masks are intended to reveal rather than conceal. Unlike Laforgue, what is revealed is not facetious, but tragic and tormented. Sincerity is achieved through irony, subverting the conventional categories of emotion. The registers of popular speech are introduced, along with many different voices. The latter are often those of sailors—for the ordinary man's experience of life is more immediate, hence more poetic. ‘La Fin’, one of his greatest poems, is an outburst against the landsman's romantic clichés to be found in Hugo's ‘Oceano Nox’. What does Hugo know of the sailor's duel with death? Poetry, Corbière implies, needs above all reality.

His only published verse in his lifetime appeared in "Les amours jaunes" (Yellow love), 1873. Corbiere died of tuberculosis at the age of 29.

The stamp represents the profile of Tristan Corbiere and several verses from "Les amours jaunes"

Club News

Stamp of the Day

Phiatelic tributes to the great scientist

 

Today is the birth anniversary of  the great scientist Albert Einstein. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."

- Albert Einstein

Private Special Covers on Jainism Theme

Mr Sanjiv Jain of Dehradun has prepared special covers on Jainism theme. On these special covers, cancellations of INDIPEX 2011 have been given with co - related stamps. Mr Sanjiv Jain may be contacted at email : jainsanjiv@live.com 

 

 

SIMPEX 2011,  Shimla

A district level stamp exhibition concluded in Shimla on 12th March. It was organized at  Gaiety theatre from 10 - 12 March. Local philatelists and  school children participated  in the exhibition in different categories. Dr Ritu Kalra, Dheeraj Gupta,  Vineet Singh, Jatin Jaiswal, Aditya Gangotra, & Bhumika Sharma were awarded for their exhibits.

 

VIRTUAL INTERNATIONAL PHILATELIC EXHIBITION

View 674 on line exhibits from all worlds:
http://www.japhila.cz/exponet/pictures/newsletter07032011.htm

Read More

Great Artists on new San Marino Stamp

Date of Issue - 5 October 2010

Hi ! Here are some beautiful stamps issued by San Marino Post on 5 October 2010. The stamps commemorate great personalities from the field of music, film and literature. All four stamps have wonderful designs. The stamp design of Chopin is awesome with a magnificent background.The stamp of Mark Twain is also very nice with scenes from Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn !! I am so pleased to write here about these beautiful stamps !! The sheetlets of these stamps are very special with tabs of artist’s photo & details of his work. This is all for Today…Till next Post….Have Nice Time !!

Great Artists

The series dedicated to Great Artists commemorates the composer Chopin on the 200th anniversary of his birth, the film director, screenwriter and producer, Kurosawa, on the 100th anniversary of his birth, the conductor Mahler on the 150th anniversary of his birth and the writer, Twain, on the 100th anniversary of his death.

The € 0,60 stamp depicts two hands playing a piano keyboard; the sea, an island and the moon can be seen, set against a night sky. The stamp bears the captions “FRYDERYK CHOPIN”, “1810-1849”.

The stamp in the series, with a value of € 4,95, depicts a close-up of the writer, Mark Twain, with details of his works in the background ( Tom Sawyer & Huckleberyfinn) with the captions “MARK TWAIN”, “1835-1910”. Mark Twain is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), which has been called "the Great American Novel", and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876).

The € 0,65 stamp shows details of some films either written or directed by Kurosawa: The Seven Samurai, Ran and Dersu Uzala. The stamp carries the captions “AKIRA KUROSAWA”, “1910-1998”, “SEVEN SAMURAI”, “DERSU UZALA”, “RAN” and Akira Kurosawa's name written in Japanese.

The € 0,85 stamp depicts a conductor leading an orchestra and the public with the captions “GUSTAV MAHLER”, “1860-1911”.

Club News

Special Cover prepared by Mr Ashwani Dubey, Gorakhpur with special 2 October Gandhi cancellation & a speed Post cancellation.

10.10.10 celebrated by philatelists…

Ashwani Dubey, Gorakhpur

Suraj Jaitly, Ludhiana

Jigar Desai, Mumbai

Read More