Central News & Network–ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: Prof. Frank D’Souza’s book of short essays and articles entitled ‘Frankly Speaking’ was published in 1987. He was held in the highest regard by his peers for his scholarship and erudition. With his wife Cecilia, Prof. Frank used to write lyrics to songs which his wife would set to music.
His book Lyric Poetry takes you through a journey of understanding the strength and lyricism that can be achieved with the written word without music, along with the importance and beauty of this form of poetry. Prof. Frank starts with a discussion of the meaning of lyric poetry; he then goes into its origins and evolution through time where lyric poets pay homage or umbrage to love, death, life, God and war.
This published version of the book ‘Lyric Poetry’ by Prof. Frank D’Souza has been a labour of love from me, says his daughter Daphne D’Souza PIllai.
“My dad entrusted the publication of the book to me before he passed away in the year 1986. He was the recipient of a University Grants Commission award in the humanities in the late 1970’s and undertook research on lyric poetry and its origins, nature and characteristics.”
Says Dr. Daphne, “Prof. Frank’s manuscripts were found written in his own handwriting, which could be deciphered by very few people known to him. To add to this, a couple of chapters had verses in the Greek and Latin versions. I was able to track most of these lyric verses for authenticity using modern research methods. Some of the manuscript pages were missing, and I had to go through a suitcase full of his handwritten notes to figure out the missing links and bring continuity to his writing.”
“My father lived during a time when there was no internet freely available, he had to rely entirely on the treasure house of books on lyric poetry, some of which may no longer be available to the public. I have tried my best to retrieve the bibliography as mentioned in the manuscripts: the name of the author, title of the book and the name and year of publication. The publication year was left out whenever I was unable to find this information.”
“The putting together of this book to fulfil my obligation to my dad has taken me around six years. I worked during the pandemic specially during the night hours to read his manuscript, interpret his thinking and type them on my notepad. This exercise took me on an expedition to a beautiful lyrical world as I had to delve into the lyric origins just like my father did and relive the lyric arts from Greek times to modern times.” said Dr. Daphne. The publication of this book is my tribute to Dad.