Post-independence poetry themes

The post-independence poetry underwent a sea change as far as the themes are concerned. The poets are faced with the crisis of identity so their poetry is one of quest, a search of their self, a search for their cultural roots. The reason for such a theme of Indian poetry is not far to seek. The Indian poets who express themselves in English have their cultural roots in their community. Many of these Indian poets have been educated abroad but since they belong to the middle - class, they find themselves alienated within their own immediate circle and even from the westernized ethos.

Some of the poets come from different racial backgrounds but are nationals of India for example, Nissim Ezekiel is a Jew, Dom Moraes is an Anglo Indian, Daruwalla and Jussawalla are Parsees, Eunice De Souza is a Goan Christian. The Indian poet writing in English therefore finds himself alienated. So the poetry of modern Indian poets naturally turns on the theme of identity crisis. Poets like Ramanujan, Parthasarthy and Arun Kolatkar are preoccupied with the problem of roots. Their examination of Hindu ethos has been in several directions. Ramanujan, for example, conjures up his early childhood memories with strong sense impressions. At the same time his mind keeps examining the strong and weak points of his cultural heritage. Parthasarthy too is obsessed with his roots in India while leading a westernized life style. His poem Rough Passages' is an attempt to deal with the theme of identity exposed to two cultures namely the Indian and the Western.

The scrutiny of society is another subject matter of modern poetry. The poets who write in English were born, say in the twenties and thirties of this century and on growing up they have been a part of independent India. They are a witness to and a part of socio economic and political changes. They cannot but be critical of all that happens around. So the socio-political and economic scene as it impinges on the poet's consciousness becomes the subject-matter of modern poetry. Arun Kolatkar's Jejuri is an example in point. A mood of disillusionment and despair, cynicism and sarcasm characterizes

modern Indian poetry.

Alienation and exile, the crisis of personal identity and of cultural identity, childhood memories, familial relations, and love, nostalgia for the past and cultural traditions therefore constitute the themes of Indian poets. In the case of some poets, the sense of alienation from the family or the community becomes so overwhelming that they turn completely inward. The result of such inwardness is a highly personal poetry, confessional in tone and obsessed with loneliness and insecurity from which the escape is sought either in the erotic fantasies or the self-probing of a tortured soul. Such is the poetry of Kamala Das, Eunice de Souza and Shiv Kumar.

The poets of the 80s seem more interested in depicting and evaluating their family background, personal and social landscapes. So do the poets Agha Shahid Ali, Dilip Chitre. Mahapatra portrays the rural Indian landscape of the state of Orissa.

The poets thus reveal their awareness of raw Indian identity. The poetic sensibilities are oriented along three distinct avenues: the modes of affirmation in terms of myth and history, quest for the self in and through love, modes of negation in terms of longing for dissolution and death. In other words, modern Indian poetry has centered itself around self in relation to society, history with family as the core unit and in relation to self, its own propelled emotions and feelings. So the themes of modern Indian poetry are secular and more introspective. contemplative.

Thus it won't be wrong to say that post independence poetry is a new genre to which even the English readers look with curiosity. There are number of Indian English poets who have played a vital role in popularizing the Post-Independence Indian English Poetry. Thought it was not easy to free themselves from the influence of Englishness but the poets like Purushottam Lal (1958), Shiv K Kumar (1921), Nissim Ezekiel (1924), Jayant Mahapatra (1928), A K Ramanujan (1929), Purushottam Lal (1929), ArunKolatkar (1932), R Parthasarathy (1934), Kamala Das (1934), KN Daruwala (1937), Dom Moraes (1938), AdilJussawalla (1940), Gieve Patel (1940), Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (1947), PritishNandy (1947) and others emerged as the strong pillars for the construction of pure Indian English Poetry.

Nissim Ezekiel's Night of the Scorpion, Jayant Mahapatra?s Relationship, A K Ramanujan?s The Striders, Kamala Das?s The Invitation, R Parthasarathy?s Rough Passage, K N Daruwalla?s Boat-Ride along the Ganga etc. are some of the well-received pieces of quality of post-independence era.

Conclusion: Thus it is the direct influence of the people of the west (Englishmen) under whose influence the English Literature paved way to what is known as Indian English Literature. The direct influence of English Literature under the colonial rule inclined a class of Indian people to learn and explore the western literature which ultimately inspired them to adopt and write in this alien language (English). Not only this western literature exposed the Indians to the new medical and scientific age which also attracted the attention of the learned Indian class.

The initial writing of Indian English writers was mer imitation of the western art form of the r phase of time an Indian English writer t' differentiated for that of the British one, the reason being 

the direct influence of the British and the readers were mostly the British or those Indians who were Indian in flesh& bloodbut British in taste. Gradually Indian English writers freed& liberated themselves from the influence of the west and wrote purely in their own essence. Indian English Poetry shifted from imitative to assimilative to experimental phase. The pre-independence and post independence phases play a vital role in the Indian English Poetry in a way of its development as a distinct genre. Indian English Poetry from the times of Henry Derozio's till present has crossed all the barriers and reached to the level where even the British look at it with curiosity. Without knowing about the author one cannot say if it's

written by the native English speaker of an Indian. Praising some wonderful pieces of works by Indian poets, Bruce King writes:

"The only answer to those who claimed that Indians could not write authentic poetry in the English in which they had been educated, was to write poetry as good as that of British, American and Irish poets but to write it about Indian lives and conditions" (King, 1987).