Chairil Anwar Biography

Chairil Anwar was a very talented Indonesian poet. He was among those youngsters who pioneered in changing the traditional Indonesian literature and modifying it on the lines of the newly independent nation. He was successful in initiating a transformation of the Indonesian literary scene through his poems. Chairil Anwar was considered as the greatest literary figure of Indonesia by American poet and translator, Burton Raffel. Apart from writing over 94 works, including 71 poems, he is also credited for drafting a few prose pieces, which went missing. In addition to this, he translated a number of poetry and prose compositions. This literary figure became one of the most celebrated Indonesian poets during the 1940s, through his ‘1945 Generation’ style of writing, incorporating individualism, death, and existentialism with his everyday language, inspired largely by European writers. He was rightly described as ‘the perfect poet’ by Dutch scholar of Indonesian literature, A. Teeuw, for his distinct pattern of short and long linked lines, breaking the monotonous trend of traditional four line pattern. Some of his popular poems include ‘Nisan’ (Gravestone), ‘Aku’ (Me), ‘Dimesjid’ (At the Mosque), ‘Diponegoro’, ‘Isa’ (Jesus), ‘Doa’ (Prayer), and ‘Cemara Menderai Sampai Jauh’ (Fir Trees Are Sown Off Into The Distance).