Mohammad Ismail (26 May 1928 – 25 November 2003)"Ismail, Mohammad"
entry, p 475, in ''Who's who of Indian Writers, 1999: 1999 : In 2 Vol. Vol. 1 A-M'' edited by K. C. Dutt, published by Sahitya Akademi, 1999, , retrieved via Google Books, 19 January 2009 is an Indian

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

-language poet, critic, academic and university administrator. He was born in

Kavali Kavali is a town in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh of India. It also serves as headquarters of Kavali mandal and Kavali revenue division.It is one of the few cities from Andhra Pradesh which were selected for Atal Mission for Rejuvenation ...

Nellore Nellore is a city located on the banks of Penna River, in Nellore district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of the district, as well as Nellore mandal and Nellore revenue division. It is the fourth most popu ...

district. He completed his education in

Kakinada Kakinada ( formerly called Kakinandiwada, Coringa, and Cocanada; ) is the sixth largest city of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and serves as the district headquarters of the Kakinada District. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. J. ...

and Waltair. While he was studying at Pithapuram Raja's College at

, the poet Devulapalli Krishna Sastri was one of his teachers and a neighbor. Ismail considered Krishna Sastry and

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

his mentors. While at school, he initially became a Marxist and a student activist, but turned away from it. Later influences included Brahmo Samaj, including one of its exponents, Peddada Ramaswamy; the writings of " Tarakam"; Krishna Shastri and

Chalam Chalam may refer to: * Chalam (actor), an actor in Telugu cinema * Chalam (writer) Gudipati Venkatachalam (1894–1979), popularly known as Chalam, was an Indian Telugu-language writer and philosopher. He was considered to be one of the most inf ...

. A philosophy student, he went on to receive a master's degree from

Andhra University Andhra University ( IAST: ''Āndhra Vișvakalāpariṣhat'') is a public university located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established in 1926. History King Vikram Deo Verma, the Maharaja of Jeypore was one of the biggest ...

, then worked as a lecturer in philosophy at Kakinada,

Anantapur Anantapur, officially Anantapuramu, is a city in Anantapur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is the mandal headquarters of Anantapuru mandal and also the divisional headquarters of Anantapur revenue division. The city is loca ...

and

Vijayawada Vijayawada, formerly known as Bezawada, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is a part of the state's Capital Region. It is the administrative headquarters of the NTR district. Its metropolitan region comprises N ...

. He was also a principal in his alma mater, Pithapuram Raja Government College."Ismail"
article, p 1752, ''Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature'' Volume 2, published by Sahitya Akademi, 1988, , retrieved via Google Books on 19 January 2009 In his thirties, Ismail began writing poetry, and published his poems in the prestigious literary magazines ''Bharati'' and ''Kala keli''.

Style

Muhammad 'Ismail's style of writing was contrary to the genre of Marxist literature that was popular during his time. His works were famous for deep imagery and profundity that resulted from Zen like simplicity. He is famously called "Sada balakudu", meaning Eternal child (of poetry).

Books

Ismail wrote more than a dozen books which include poetry, criticism and translations. He wrote with the pen name "Ismail".

Poetry

* ''Chettu naa aadarsam'' (1972) * ''Mrityu vriksham'' (1976) * ''Chilakalu vaalina chettu'' (1980) * ''Ratri Vaccina Rahasyapu Vana'' (1987) * ''Baalcheelo Chandrodayam'' * ''Ismail Kavitalu'' (1989) * ''Kappala Nissabdam'' (haiku) (1997) : * ''Rendo Pratipaadana'' (Translations) : * ''Pallelo maa paatha illu'' (2006)

Essays

* ''Kavitvam lo Nissabdam'' (criticism) (1987) * ''Karuna Mukhyam'' (Essays and criticism) Of these, ''Chettu naa aadarsam'' has been translated to English by D. Kesava Rao as "Tree, My Guru". ''Rendo Pratipaadana'' is a collection of poems (from Bengali poets like Sujatha Bhat, Jibananad Das to Western poets like

Nicanor Parra Nicanor Segundo Parra Sandoval (5 September 1914 – 23 January 2018) was a Chilean poet and physicist. He was considered one of the most influential Chilean poets of the Spanish language in the 20th century, often compared with Pablo Neruda. P ...

) translated by Ismail. ''Pallelo maa paatha illu'' is a posthumous publication of Ismail's poetry and his translations of Japanese

haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, ...

and tanka poets. Ismail himself was a prominent haiku writer in Telugu. His critical essays in ''Kavitvam lo Nissabdam'' have given a new direction to the Telugu poetry.

Awards

* Free verse Front award in 1976 for ''Mrityu vriksham.'' * Telugu University literary criticism award in 1990.

Other

His work has been translated to French and Spanish besides various Indian languages and English. As an appreciation for best poetry in Telugu, ''Ismail Kavitha Puraskaram'' is being awarded every year (from 2010) in his honor.

External links

Ismail mitra mandali, a blogspot maintained by friends and fans of Ismail.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ismail, Mohammad 1928 births Telugu poets Writers from Andhra Pradesh 2003 deaths Andhra University alumni People from Kakinada Telugu writers