''Kavita'' (), also spelled ''Kobita'', is a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

poetry magazine that, from the 1930s until 1961, played a central role in introducing

modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

into

Bengali poetry Bengali poetry is a rich tradition of poetry in the Bengali language and has many different forms. Originating in Bengal, the history of Bengali poetry underwent three successive stages of development: poetry of the early age (like '' Charyapad ...

. It was edited and published by poet

Buddhadeva Bose Buddhadeva Bose (;2 September 1908 – 14 August 1974), also spelt Buddhadeb Bosu, was an Indian Bengali writer of the 20th century. Frequently referred to as a poet, he was a versatile writer who wrote novels, short stories, plays and essays ...

History

The first literary magazine published by poet Buddhadeva Bose was ''Pragati''. He was then living in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

. It was short-lived and the last issue was published in 1929. Four years after migrating from Dhaka to

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

in 1931, Buddhadeva decided to publish a literary magazine exclusively for poetry. He named it ''Kavita''. He was then living in 'Golam Mohammad Mansion' in Calcutta city. The first issue of the ''Kavita'' was published from there in the month of October 1935. For the first two years, ''Kavita'' was co-edited by Buddhadeva Bose and

Premendra Mitra Premendra Mitra (4 September 1904 – 3 May 1988)Samsad Bengali Charitabhidhan Vol.II edited Anjali Bose, Published by Sagitta Samsad, Kolkata, Edition January,2019,Page-240 was an Indian poet, writer and film director in the Bengali language. ...

while poet Samar Sen worked as the assistant editor. It is notable that ''Kavita'' was a poetry magazine-styled after the ''Poetry'' published by

Harriet Monroe Harriet Monroe (December 23, 1860 – September 26, 1936) was an American editor, scholar, literary critic, poet, and patron of the arts. She was the founding publisher and long-time editor of ''Poetry'' magazine, which she established in 1912 ...

from

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. While discussing Bengali poetry, Edward Thomson referred to the first issue of Kavita in ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' of 1 February 1936. Buddhadeva Bose lived at 202 Rasbihari Avenue, Calcutta for several decades starting in 1936. This house was named ''Kavita Bhavan'' since it was home to ''Kavita'' for a long time. ''Kavita'' continued for twenty-five years. Its last issue was published in March 1961.''Amader Kavita Bhavan'', Buddhadeva Bose, 1974, Calcutta

Contributors

Notable contributors included:

International number, 1960

The 100th issue of ''Kavita'' was published in 1960 as an international edition. It contained as many as 69 poems in translation that included Bengali poems into English and foreign language poems into Bengali. Buddhadeva informed that his intention was to present a "Meeting ground of nations".

Bilingual edition of ''Kavita'', 1963

Buddhadeva Bose published a bilingual edition of ''Kavita'' in 1953.

''Kavita'' collection

Selected poems and articles published in the ''Kavita'' have been collected in a three-volume anthology.

References