Chairil Anwar

Chairil Anwar (1922-1949) was an Indonesian poet. He is considered premier poet of Indonesian language, and was a member of the “Generation of 45”, a group responsible for vitalization of Indonesian language in literature. His works are rooted in Indonesian cultural traditions but also shows influence of Western poetic forms and sensibilities.

Wisdom & Quotes

• In art, vitality is the chaotic initial state;

beauty is the cosmic final state.

• Like my mother, and my grandmother too,

Plus seven generations before them,
I also seek admission to heaven,
which the Moslem Party and the Mohammedan Party say has rivers of milk
And thousands of hour is all over.

But there's a contemplative voice inside me,
Stubbornly mocking: Can you ever
Get dry after a soaking in the blue
After the sly temptations in every port?
Anyway, who can say for sure
That there really are hours there
With voices as rich and husky as Nina's, with eyes that flirt like Jati's?

• Darkness and a passing word rake me.

I shiver, and so does the great room where the one I want is lying
The night sinks in, the trees are as dead as columns of stone
...................
My body is quiet and alone, the tale and time
go stiffly, icily by.
- The Captured and the Freed

• Love's danger that quickly fades.

- Tuli's Ice Cream

• Here I am, a wild beast

sut off from his companions.

• I will scrape and dig into every word as far as I can get, right down to the essence of the word, to the substance of the image.

Diane Arbus