We turned Rabindranath into a superhuman, losing him behind an enchanted curtain, yet thankfully we know a great deal about him. As a human being, he peeps through occasionally, which is our good fortune. Rabindra-studies is a vast field with many active scholars, so we at least know about his joys, sorrows, and loves and heartaches.

A notch below him is Nazrul, about whom we also know a lot—though there are many aspects we do not know, or choose not to know. And then there came a point when Nazrul’s life came to a standstill with Pick’s disease, a form of early-onset dementia. After that, he became a silent legend, no more.

Lately, more is being uncovered about Jibanananda Das, particularly regarding his love life and its complications. He is however rarely allowed to step outside the realm of love—the poet of romantic love and nature, the poet of ''Ruposhi Bangla,'' the ultimate poet of Bengali nostalgia.
These are our three primary poets. There may be one or two others, but broadly speaking, these three dominate.

And then there is Sukanta: the image of all our ideal political consciousness, the poet of the promise to transform society and establish the rule of the masses, the artisan-poet of the Bengali’s cherished slogan, "land for all." That is what many socialists claim and tell their followers—the people with whom the poet had a lifelong connection.