Today on our poetry news round-up we look at the controversy surrounding the demolition of Rabindranath Tagore’s house wall, the Pashto Poet honoured and the tribute to Edward Lear.

Controversy Sparked by Demolition of Rabindranath Tagore’s Home in Puri

Students and heritage activists in the Odisha temple town of Puri are very unhappy by a recent decision made by the government there. They have decided to demolish a wall that marks the boundary of the property known as Patherpuri. The property which is around a century-old was the home of Rabindranath Tagore the poet laureate and is believed to have been built on a plot of land that was originally owned by the state.

The poet lived in Puri in 1939 and then donated both the house and the land that it stands on to the state government so that they could use it to help promote education. It has more recently been a hostel for boys and is currently abandoned.

It is believed that during his time in the property Tagore wrote three poems Pravasi, Epare Opare, and Janmadin.

Government officials claim that the wall was demolished so that the road that runs alongside it could be widened and that there are absolutely no plans to pull down the now dilapidated property itself. They say they are fully aware of the historical significance of the building, but the wall was in an accident-prone area and its removal was deemed best for the safety of others.

Sceptics are not convinced, not only has the property been neglected in recent years but the plot is now home to a number of drug addicts. They believe that the authorities have no intention of preserving the history of the area.

Pashto Poet Honoured

Glowing tributes have been paid to Prof Abaseen Yousafzai the renowned Pashto poet.

During a function which took place on Sunday, a number of literary organisations gathered to honour the poet for his recent nomination for the President’s Pride of Performance Award.

Prof Abaseen is the Islamia College University chairman of the Pashto department. He is to be conferred with the award next year on PakisTan Day.

The professor is highly regarded within the Pakhtun areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan because of the huge contributions that he has made to both Pashto literature and language.

Schoolchildren Write in Honour of Edward Lear

Pupils in a Stoke school are being urged to follow in the footsteps of Edward Lear the British “laureate of nonsense”. They are being asked to write their own limericks for an anthology of poetry that is being planned to coincide with the 175^th anniversary of the publication of A Book of Nonsense.

Lear followed the success of his anthology by writing what is now considered to be one of the most treasured poems for children “The Owl and the Pussycat”, a poem that allowed him to combine his love of the animal kingdom and birds.