It Is The Season Of Darkness

It is the worst of times. It is the age of foolishness. It is the epoch of hypocrisy. It is the season of Darkness. It was the winter of despair when it all started. We… More

Literary Domain Of Abdulrazak Gurnah

This year Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to Novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah. Swedish academy acknowledges his achievement of ‘uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in… More

Challenges Of Poetry In New Normal

Each day is passing as an extension of our lifetime. As if any day we can have our last breath in this world. Not that we were immortal before the pandemic. But our everyday life… More

Rootless Literature And The Imperialist Languages Of Colonial Hangover

Those of us, the Indian citizens who are writing poetry in English is actually creating a rootless literature. Not only us, those of the African poets writing in English or French and Italian, Portuguese or Dutch are also creating rootless literature. We the people with the colonial legacy like to carry forward the imperialist language, which had ruled us for centuries. Unfortunately, this has now become the Indian tradition of the educated mass. None of us can deny this truth. Yet we like to feel proud enough to write in English, the language of Shakespeare Milton Dickens. But most of the time we forget that actually we can never write anything in English as a British who lives in his or her home land. Even if we try to match them literary, we have to live in England for few generations. Only after then with complete assimilation with the British society and its climate one can create literature in English which would not be rootless. Yes, in our pursue to reach a wider and international audience we have forgotten that literature depends not only the language itself. It depends also on the land of that particular language. From where a particular language originates. Literature is all about the tradition of a particular community, its culture and customs. Its own regional climate, its history and mythologies. And the heritage of a nation and its nationality. Without all these, literature becomes rootless.

Literary Criticism And Its Importance

As a poet, any poet would like to be applauded much for his literary brilliance. Any poet would certainly like appreciation of his literary craftsmanship. Every poet likes to see his or her poems are being accepted by the readers. These are all quite natural. Actually, each poet waits patiently to see how many readers like his or her poems. With the advent of the internet era it has really become easier to find out how many readers are liking a poem or not. Yes, it has become even easier to publish our poems and to reach a wider audience. So, we eagerly wait to see how many readers are favouring our poems. We appreciate any appreciation of our poems. We take all these appreciation as a proof of our literary merits. And all these appreciations not only boost up our confidence as a poet, but also satisfy our own personal ego. This can help our self-esteems to such an extent, that we may begin to belief that we are actually good enough to be a poet.

Poetical Moments

Do we really know when does appear the unique poetical moment? Are we sure that all the poems are actually the manifestation of that peerless poetical moment? Don’t we know that most of the poems are actually the outcome of editorial compulsions? If one asks any individual poet, I believe the answers would certainly be different. One can always ask, whether this poetical moment is actually a rare phenomenon or a common one. Those who are prolific writers, do they actually live in a constant flux of poetical moment? Otherwise how can one produce volumes of poetical creations years together?  Every moment is actually the manifestation of instantaneous time span. So, I ponder whether these unique poetical moments do appear constantly in the creative mind of the great poets.

The Religion Of The Poet

What is the religion of the poet? It is the realization of the unity of his being with all existence. Where the eternity touches the infinite through the poet’s mind and vision, collaborating with the words and phrases of the present. So a poet must live with his surroundings in such a manner that he can relate himself with his time and space. He can feel both the joy and pain of his fellow beings. He can apprehend the problems of the individuals in the context of the social constructions and political constraints. Only then a poet can air the voice of his time and legacy.

SOLITUDE

Everyone is living in solitude. Nobody would like to agree on it. Everyone would try to deny it in their defense to project himself and herself as a social being living in connections with other fellow beings. Yes, that is true in all respects. We all are social beings, living in our societies. And we vibrate in connections with people like us. All these are the essential facts of our life. Our everyday life is being orchestrated accordingly. It is also essential to surviving in life. Yet, if we fathom deep into our own life, we can never deny the fact that basically, we live in solitude also. Each of us has a unique individuality where we like to remain lonely with ourselves. Where we seldom give access to penetrate others. This is the domain of our solitude. Which we like to reserve only for us. And this aspect of our life shapes our psychic spheres. So, we can say, in the innermost chamber of our heart we remain in solitude.

Restricted Friends And The Conception Of Friendship

Face book has changed the entire conception about friendship. Who is my friend? Obviously, whom I love and respect from my heart. Likewise, only he or she will consider me as his or her friend only when he or she will feel love for me and will nourish a sense of respect for me. Quite simple. This was our general conception of friendship before the invent of social media like face book. Any Facebook user can be our friend, if both of us agree. That is quite fine. We can get along with our friends on mutual likings and activities. We can differ on opinions and our viewpoints on any particular issues. We can argue with each other justifying our own reasons. We can stick to our reasons or adjust it accordingly if we consider different viewpoints with due respect. Even we can say good bye to our friends if we do not like to continue any friendship with any particular person or persons. Yes, everyone should have that fundamental human rights. We can exercise all these with humility. Without hurting anyone’s pride and prejudice. In our basic life we follow these norms usually. Any friendship should be based on mutual respect and human responsibilities. In this virtual world of face book, it seems to be entirely different story altogether. Any one can unfriend or block any one without intimating the person. Even face book will never disclose the fact. All of a sudden on can never find out a friend of his or her friend circle.

Literary Criticism And Friendship Not Mutually Inclusive

Internet has changed many things in our life and society. Especially with the advent of social sites and blogs, those who had no scope of publishing their writings, have suddenly gotten a medium of immense possibilities to publish their own writings whenever they wish. You don’t have to wait and go on counting the number of days hoping your writings will be published at last. You don’t have to depend on the editors for publishing your writings. Now social sites have provided you that power, which you can use to publish your own writings whenever you wish. Not only that, you’ll get instant feedbacks of your writings from your virtual audience. Unlike publishing in print medium, publishing in social sites gives you a golden opportunity to see how people are reacting with your writings. So, anyone who wish to be a writer or poet can flourish as a writer or poet through this new medium over the internet. Moreover, you can publish your own book of writings or poetry online, spending your own money. Nowadays this self-publishing tools have enabled many to be self-published writers or poet.

The Much-Needed Paradigm Shift Of The World Order

In this world of the pandemic, not a single person is safe. Whether he or she is rich or poor, it doesn’t matter at all. We can only hope that we are safe at home. Without any social contact, we can overcome this deadly phase of the pandemic soon. The ground realities differ from our hopes and aspirations. With millions of infected peoples around the world, social distancing will not help us much. We need effective medicines to cure the infected peoples fighting for their lives. We need a vaccine to prevent the spread of this disease. We don’t know when we’ll find these solutions. The present panic is so much only for this situation. Nobody knows how to survive if they get infected. Yes, thousands of infected peoples are getting well with medical help. Still, a good percentage of infected patients are dying every day. And the majority of the casualties are older people of society. Everywhere the older generation is the most vulnerable of all. Their immunity level is not so high to fight COVID-19.

A New Dimension Of Poetry

The celebration of life has an important side, where it connects with the universal life. One can call it spiritual also. During an interview with Charles Hobson and Sheila Smith in 1969 poet Nikki Giovanni told, “I’m spiritual. I can’t negate religion (established) I believe in God. I believe that God is everywhere. God is love…..” Yes, I think, this is true with many of the poets of different eras. Many would certainly agree with poet Nikki Giovanni. God is everywhere. We are the manifestation of that ultimate truth. Actually, this belief works behind our creativity, if we are theist. And this belief can bring us closer to each other in spite of our cultural differences, that we all are the manifestation of the same God. I hope readers in general would also agree with this argument if one is theist. Not like an atheist like the writer. But in the same interview poet Nikki Giovanni went further saying, “……I believe that God has to be black. He made people in his image and likeness. Most of the people in the world are black….”

European Poetry

We all know poetry is an art which could be applauded as the finest form of all arts. If we would like to trace the beginning of this art form, we have to dig deep into the ancient history of human civilization. We would eventually find out that, poetry was there even before the age of literacy. In ancient history of mankind, poetry was there as means of recording oral history, storytelling. Preliterate societies, lacking the means to write down important cultural information, use similar methods to preserve it. If we would like to trace the origins of myths, we may end up to these recording of oral histories in form of poetry. So, in past poetry had a linkage with ancient histories also. The greater part of world’s sacred scriptures is also made up of poetry. So, we can say; it is poetry through which human civilization had evolved around to express its’ own sentiment, feelings and stories. The use of verse to transmit cultural information continues today.

Fragrance Of Poetry

“Poetry is the blossom and the fragrance of all human knowledge, human thoughts, human passions, emotions, language.” (Coleridge).

According to Webster’s Dictionary, poetry is defined as “writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm.”

Genuine Poetry

“Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood”

—-T. S. Eliot

Poetry is one of the powerful medium to communicate with the readers.  It communicates with people and time, nature and soul. The forms may differ but the essence remains the same and powerful if the creator can express his or her talent with proper dignity and elegance. Therefore, poetry is one of the best medium for this purpose. The primary obligation of a poet is to communicate with his or her readers. To broaden the canvas of their vision as well as feelings for both the life as a conscious being and people and time in general. Poetry is born if and only if one can achieve this.