men of genius, our sonnet in time would rival the Italian." His most famous sonnet is Kapatakkha River. Always, o river, you peep in my mind. Always I think you in this loneliness. Always I soothe my ears with the murmur Of your waters in illusion, the way Men hear songs of illusion in a dream. Many a river I have seen on earth; But which can quench my thirst the way you do? You're the flow of milk in my homeland's breasts. Will I meet you ever? As long as you Go to kinglike ocean to pay the tax Of water, I beg to you, sing my name Into the ears of people of Bengal, Sing his name, o dear, who in this far land Sings your name in all his songs for Bengal. When Dutta later stayed in Versailles, the sixth centenary of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri was being celebrated all over Europe. He composed a poem in honour of the poet, translated it into French and Italian, and sent it to the king of Italy. Victor Emmanuel II, then monarch, liked the poem and wrote to Dutt, saying, "It will be a ring which will connect the Orient with the Occident." Work in blank verse Sharmistha (spelt as Sermista in English) was Dutt's first attempt at blank verse in Bengali literature. Kaliprasanna Singha organised a felicitation ceremony to Madhusudan to mark the introduction of blank verse in Bengali poetry. His famous epic, quoted as the only epic of Bengali-kind, Meghnadbad-Kabya is also totally written in blank verse. Praising Dutt's blank verse, Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, observed: "As long as the Bengali race and Bengali literature would exist, the sweet lyre of Madhusudan would never cease playing." He added: "Ordinarily, reading of poetry causes a soporific effect, but the intoxicating vigour of Madhusudan's poems makes even a sick man sit up on his bed." In his The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian, Nirad C. Chaudhuri has remarked that during his childhood days in Kishoreganj, a common standard for testing guests' erudition in the Bengali language during family gatherings was to require them to recite the poetry of Dutt, without an accent. Barrister-at-Law Dutta went to England in 1862 to become a Barrister-at-Law, and enrolled at the Gray's Inn. On the eve of his departure to England:Forget me not, O Mother, Should I fail to return To thy hallowed