INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH ASSINGMENT

BACKGROUND READING AND POETRY

Q2 “…it is difficult to see how they(Indian poets writing in english) can develop
as poets in a language which they have learnt from books and seldom hear
spoken in the streets or even their own home.” Do you think Indian English
poetry captures the ‘authentic’Indian reality.Give reference of any two poems
that you have read.

Poetry is an art of communication experience. Colonialism gave a new language

that’s English. So, Indian writer those who were writing in their mother tongue
wants their creation to be translated into English as English is nationally
understood and appreciated after independence but Indian poets faced a lot of
criticism and struggle.

With the reference of bruce king he says in his essays: indian poetry in English has
been neglected by most critics, foreign readers and intellectuals for it has no
obvious direct relationship to the cultural movements which led to national
independence, by 1947 the situation had changed and with it the concern of the
new poets became their relationship to and alienation from the realities of their
society. Even they faced a challenged from older nationalist intellectuals who
demanded a renaissance of the culture of the precolonial languages of india.

The poets were more likely to be well educated , middle class and part of or
aware of the modern westerbised culture of the cities, universities and
professional classes. They often had been raised in families where English was one
of the languages spoken, attended good English langauges schools, early fallen in
love with the English language and its literatutre, and been either brought up in a
cultured environment or by their university days had friends with an interest in
the arts and idea. So, to improve their poetry they haven’t only learnt from books
and seldom hear spoken in the streets, most of the poets were well educated,
middle class and aware of the modern westernized culture of the cities and most
of the poets went abroad for study or out of dissatisfaction. They were like the
previous generation of intellectuals and the leaders of the independence
movement. Some of them returned to india and some of them settled in abroad
that’s how they experienced and learnt techniques and tricks of writing poems
and eventually they brought authenticity in their poetries slowly slowly by
referencing India’s reality.

The post-independence poets have freed themselves from the clutches of

‘Englishness’ and have started writing in a very Indian manner. They have evolved
an idiom of their own---a kind of poetic language in which the Indian mind can be
best expressed. As again Bruce King says: “English is no longer the language of
colonial rulers, it is a language of modern India in which words and expressions
have recognized national rather than imported significances, post colonial
nationalism needs to be more sophisticated, ironic, critical than the simple
sentiments felts in the days before independence.”

Nissim Ezekiel, kersey katrak, srinivas rayaprol and keshav malik were among the
early poets who returned while dom moraes stayed abroad for many years. Poets
like deb kumar das, r.bortholomew and Lawrence bantleman stayed abroad
permanently. GS bharat chnadra and AK ramanujan became American residents.
But by the later 1960s, poems of Ezekiel and others were first published in
illustrated weeky of india, quest and miscellany. P.lal was one of the early poets
and a handful of classic volumes of poetry had been published by writers
including ramanujan, kamala das, gieve patel, Ezekiel and jussawala. During this
time , some other significant writers had begun to appear including
parthasarathy, arvind Krishna mehrotra, arjun kolatkar and dilip chitre. A few
years later, keki daruwalla, shiv kumar and jayanta mabapatra appeatred. Then,
indian poetry evolved towards international standards with different styles,
aesthetics and tastes. And after 1980, other poets such as manohar shetty, santan
Rodrigues, vikram seth and Melanie silgardo appeared. Modern indian English
poetry has been the part of the process of modernization which includes
urbanization , industrialization , independence, mobility social change , mass
education and increased communication.(radio, journals and newspapers) and an
independent national culture emerged and participated in the international,
modern , usually westernized world. The portrayal of the immediate
environment, the landscape contributes invariably to the assertion of Indianness.
B.K. Das writes : “What makes Indian English poetry Indian may be evident in the
nature of the poet's response to the landscape of his country.... Indian landscape
has inspired the Indian English poets to create newer and more fascinating images
as well as distinct idiom.” This aspect of Indianness is well reflected in the poetry
of Keki N. Daruwalla, Shiv K.Kumar, kamala das and nizeakl etc.

Here’s the reference of two poems which shows the authenticity and truth of
India:

Kamala das’s poem “An Introduction” she makes use of indian English also her use
of language is ironical and comical but at the same time natural and un
subconscious according to bruce king. ‘Quest for identity’ is positively the
recurrent theme of her poetry. In the poem, the poet speaks in the violence of a
girl, rebelling against the norms and dictates of a patriarchal society which ask to
‘fit in’ and belong against her own wishes. And instruction that women should fit
into the socially accepted role of a woman as a wife and mother.This is the truth,
every time male gets plenty of opportunity even if women is doing the same and
during Post-independence women poetry also got appreciated but again after
men . In this poem she reflects the anger which is inside a women.

Meena kandaswamy poem “touch” As a writer of Dalit literature, she considered

the marginalized people those who are suffered a lot by the male dominated
country. Meena Kandasamy upholds her concentration on caste elimination and
the issue of woman’s equality with a man. She gives her utmost love to Dalit
woman who gets trouble from the upper caste men as well as the men in the
same caste. She questions in her poem “Are the women dolls to play and throw
out afterwards?” The genuine answer is “No. Not at all” but at present, women’s
state is more piteous and they cannot do anything beyond their husbands again
she reflects the current scenario of some of indian people thinking where she
says they will never get normal happiness in the life but they are satisfied by the
devotion to the masters of themselves.