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New Generation Indian English Poets 

(Based on a presentation  at the  Literary Seminar, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat). 

The history of Indian Poetry in English is by now around 200 years old beginning with the  introduction of English as the medium of Indian Education, and the arrival of the British influenced Bengal Renaissance. 

Henry Vivian Louis Derozio , born in Kolkotta  of an Indo Portuguese father and  British mother is regarded as the  first Indian English Poet. He is known for his patriotic poetry, largely in the tradition of the English Romantics. Soon followed  an upsurge of  poetry in English, by poets as  Kashiprasad   Ghose, Madhusoodan Dutt,  the Dutt family, the Ghose brothers,  inspired mainly by English Romanticism and Indian myths and legends, a legacy that continues to this day. We have here,  a  treasury of names, beginning with Rabindranath Tagore. In   Swami Vivekananda   is visible the   spiritual offshoot of Indian Poetry in English.  Thereafter came poets the likes of Sarojini Naidu, Harindranath Chathopadhyay, and Joseph Furtado, where the lyrical bent,  eulogy of cultures,  and a looking into the past and for nostalgia gained importance. That was  about Indian poetry in English  until pre independence. 

Post Independence  Indian English poetry took a new turn  with the arrival of a protest streak as seen in the poetry of Nissim Ezekiel. We’ll be taking a closer look at what has been happening since then. In the hands of Nissim Ezekiel,             R Parthasarathy, A K Ramanujan, Shiv K Kumar and  Keki Daruwalla, poetry began to shed its colonial garb, and reality confronted  imagination. Poets  as  Pritish Nandy, chose a middle path of effusions, and word pathos, mostly in the realms of love. Other poets as Saleem Peeradina, and Dom Moraes  were  more matter of fact.  Dom Moraes,  wished to think himself a British poet rather than as  an Indian one. His  is a poetry of elegance and precision. 

 Prose, and modern day spoken language began to take roots in new poetry  as fundamental to their writings. Cutting edge prose, was used  in marvelous  ways by poets like AK Ramanujan in both his original poetry and in his translations.  It was also a time when critics like Balachandra Rajan still believed that Indian Poetry in English was a Cul-de-sac,  that would soon die a natural death. But however, time has proved such critics wrong.  Today, Indian Poetry in English is being read and reread not only with curiosity, it is read as integral to  contemporaneity, and seen in a definite class of its own. Indian Poetry in English  has presently  become part of International literature and is published internationally.  During this period it also surfaced as almost a poetry movement, that poetry was no longer the stuff of dreams. It was revolutionary,  it was protest. Poets like Kamala Das , Anna Sujatha Mathai, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and later, Mamta Kalia, and Eunice D’Souza used poetry  as sign posts to signal their outbursts and defiance.  They laid bare set conventions, and asked questions demanding  fulfilling answers.  In the poetry of Meena Alexander was a concentration of nostalgia and alienation from home land. Such immediate and compelling concerns became the themes for any modern poet writing Indian Poetry in English. Poets as Hoshang Merchant and  Laksmi Kannan wrote quietly, effectively, and consistently. Further a more welcome trend was the suffusion of  vernacular with English. Poetry broke free of the shackles of rhyme and dream and became, a bird set free from its literary cage, while at its core was internalization of mores, memories,  and nostalgia.

Now what were the factors of  liberation of  Indian English poetry that led to its present form? One of the visibly favorable climates was the rise and growth of Writers Workshop by Purushottam Lal. Writers Workshop silently unleashed a never before and perhaps never again revolution for Indian poetry in English, offering space for ‘ a poetry garden with all kinds of blossoms and weeds’. It was a one man hand crafted book world that changed the shape and course of publishing and Indian Poetry in English. Profusion, and effusion did not matter. If you felt that you would be a poet you could approach WW and get your poetry bound in Indian saree cloth with a WW imprint  Over decades the silent spin became a creative revolution changing the face and charm of Indian Poetry in English.

Alongside  Writers Workshop  were magazines like The Illustrated Weekly of India, Opinion, Quest, Youth Times, that offered space for a younger generation of poets writing in English. Yet another pioneer was Krishna Srinivas who edited his Poetry magazine ‘Poet’ from Chennai. While poets as Kamala Das, Shiv K Kumar, R Parthasarathy, were making a mark for themselves, they, as editors of poetry columns helped a newer generation to publish their poetry attempts. Entry to foreign magazines was not too easy though international poetry magazines such as Critical Quarterly,  Poetry Review, Ariel, London Magazine,  were looking at Indian writing in English as well. With P.Lal’s  Writers workshop becoming history, other poetry movements were on the anvil such as Clearing House, in Mumbai, that published among others,  Jayanta  Mahapatra. The cutting edge poetry of Arun Kolatkar which won the Commonwealth Prize for Poetry soon  became a trendsetter.

In Mumbai, Poetry Circle, led by none other than the poet Nissim  Ezekiel, now dominated the Indian poetry scene. He had a crop of young poets who under his guidance took on the post modernist, new generation garb. The poets included Ranjit Hoskote, Arundathi Subramaniam,  Menka Shivdasani , Jerry Pinto, and later in the line,  Prabanjan Mishra . Poets as Melanie Silgardo, Tara Patel , Eunice D’ Souza belong to the Mumbai poetry fraternity. While Ranjit Hoskote’s poetry borders on the difficult and the obscure, Arundhati’s poems, appear clear, and her concerns are voiced with  elegance, and sans subterfuge.

In the North East, nature rich poetry, voicing concerns of the minority, personal losses and triumphs were visible in the poetry of poets such as  Robin Ngangom , Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih, and  Mamang Dai. There are many more.

An equally fertile land for poetry proved to be Odisha, from where poets such as Bibhu Padhi, following in the footsteps of Jayanta Mahapatra, began to gain international acceptance and to publish  in such prestigious journals as Encounter, and Poetry Chicago among others. Mainstream voices from Odisha include Niranjan Mohanty and Prabanjan Mishra. 

In Chennai, the younger poets included Srilata Krishnan, Sivakami Velliangiri, and Sharanya Manivannan.

New Generation poets from Kerala, include Vijay Nambissan , CP Surendran, Gopi Kottoor,  MK Rukayah, MK Ajay, A J Thomas, E.V. Ramakrishnan, Ajithan Kurup,   among others.

While Poetry circle dominated the north, in Kerala, Dr Ayyappa Paniker launched a poetry movement of sorts for English poetry. The movement gained, and  culminated in the founding of Poetry Chain, which for over a decade published new, emerging and established voices in its journal, Poetry Chain.

Poets such as  Jeet Thayil wrote poetry that was remote, and more suited to a western audience, as was suited to his offshore upbringing. Diasporic Indian Poetry the likes of Sujatha Bhatt, Meena Alexander  and Aimee Nezhukumattathil  have an international audience and following.

Chandrabhaga, edited by the doyen Jayanta Mahapatra, Kavya Bharati, that is brought out by American College, Madurai, are two journals that have had stellar roles in promoting new generation Indian Poetry in English. While initially,  Kavi India, edited by Santan Rodrigues   from Mumbai published a younger generation of poets , Indian Literature from Sahitya Akademi   provided yet another publishing umbrella for younger poets writing  in English.

The efforts made by Poetry Society, India in association  with the British council , by conducting All India  Poetry Competitions, led to the discovery of many of the  New generation poets who have made their mark and are presently writing. Most of the present day new generation poets were either discovered or published by Poetry Society, India, led by the late HK Kaul,  Lakshmi Kannan, JP Das, and Keshav Malik.

Poets who were 'discovered'  through the annual  All India British Council Poetry Competitions include Vijay Nambissan, Ranjit Hoskote, Tabish Khair, Gopi Kottoor, Srilata Krishnan, Smita Agarwal,  and the late Revathy Gopal .

Vijay Nambissans poetry is remarkable for its quiet effectiveness. His poem ‘ Madras Central’ with its  closing lines’ To think we have such power to alter our states, Order comings and goings: know where we're not wanted And carry our unwantedness somewhere else has become an iconic statement . His ‘Duck Poems’ have no parallel in Indian Poetry in English. Tabish Khair writes poetry that reminds often of the poetry of Agha Shahid Ali. One of his remarkably  memorable poems is the  poem the House With The Grey Gate ,

' Ever since I moved here I have seen this little white house- 

With the old man and the old woman and an old pattern of life-

 Refusing to be weeded out from this skyscraping street; 

Where two people had grown roots, once, scattered seeds 

And now, with a hope stubborn as weeds,

 Still peer through curtained windows when the gate creaks’.

This is one  example of a poem that shows the quality levels of maturity, thought and craft that Indian Poetry in English has over the years achieved.

So too the poetry of CP Surendran is sharp, incisive and hits the nail on the head.  Talking of ‘ Available Light ‘  the collected poems of CP Surendran, Biju Parameshwaran  writes’ The poems in these volumes attest to his standing as a frontline English poet among contemporary Indian born after Independence. Vikram Seth, Jeet Thayyil, Ranjit Hoskote, Gopi Kottoor, Meena Kandasamy and the late Vijay Nambisan are some prominent stars in this galaxy. The forcefulness of the creative output of C. P. Surendran, L’Enfant terrible of Indian English writing, will knock the creeping complacency out of the reader habituated on pusillanimous prose and poetry.’

Of the New generation poets there is a  wide spectrum of accomplished writing and  among the  names that come to mind  are  Tishani Doshi, Meena Kandaswamy, Gayatri Majumdar,  Anju Makija,  Mani Rao, Sukrita Paul Kumar,  Manohar Shetty,  Shanta Acharya, Tapan Kumar Pradhan, Rukmini Bhaya Nair, Muktha Sambrani, Ruth Vanita , Sampurna Chatterjee,  Vikram Seth, to name a few.

New generation poetry is marked by fertility, amalgamation of the thought process in English and essential  home language,  imposition and exposition of ,  conflicts external and internal, a, drawing of inspiration from nature and   observed circumstance, intermix of  poetry of languages and poets all around, and has a keen penetrative enthusiasm  of both craft and art. It is a studied form, educated in the poetry of the past, and redeemed in the present for the present and the future. For most part the poetry is rooted in reality, and is born of an awareness of world culture, and the conviction  that its competition is not in isolation, but with the poetry of the world  across cultures.

An  important necessity    for any poetry to thrive, is the creation of  poetry anthologies of repute. Important anthologies of Poetry by poets like R Parthasarathy, and Arvind Krishna Mehrotra have fulfilled an earlier need show casing Indian poets that are deemed iconic such as A K Ramanujan, R Parthasarathy, Keki Daruwalla, Arun Kolatkar, Gieve Patel, Kamala Das, and the rest of the canon. 

In the New generation poetry scenario,  Spearheaders  the likes of Sudeep Sen, and Jeet Thayil   have come forward to help the cause. Anthologies such as The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poetry edited by Jeet Thayil and  poetry anthologies by Sudeep Sen such as The Harper Collins Book of Indian Poetry,  Converse, 75 years of Indian Poetry in English, and The Golden Jubilee Anthology of Indian Poetry in English by Eunice Dsouza, are notable for their representative inclusion of modern, and New generation Indian English Poetry .

Also of importance to any writer or poet is recognition in the forms of awards, publication, honors that encourage writing and inspire.  English has been included by statute as an Indian language. Sahitya Akademi gives away awards for English poetry as well, and recently Arundathi Subramaniam  and Jeet Thayil won the Sahitya  Akademi award for their  poetry.  So too Sunita Jain and Mamang Dai have been awarded the Padmashree. Jerry Pinto won the Yale University awards. Vikram Seth won international accolades for his book of poems   ‘The Golden Gate.’ Indian poetry  in English of the new generation has thus been accepted on an International scale .

With the advent of social media, the  literary festival bonanzas, and a fertile space for poetry  for the coming generation with digital and online platforms the future for Indian Poetry in English is not only just bright. They open    new and astoundingly varied, unparalleled vistas for enlightened poetry souls and lovers of creative writing in  India, in English. 

References:

Global Romanticism II: Imitation, Innovation, and Interlocution in Nineteenth-Century India Chander, Manu Samriti.

The golden treasury of Indo-Anglian poetry ( 1828-1965)  by Vinayak Krishna Gokak (ed.)

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Kindle Edition 

New Poetry in India, Three Crowns Series, Oxford University Press

Writers Workshop, P.Lal, Kolkotta.

Poetry Circle, Mumbai.

Poetry Chain, Trivandrum, Kerala

The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets ed Jeet Thayil

Converse  Seventy Five Years of Indian English Poetry Ed. Sudeep Sen

Biju Parameshwaran, Biju post Review of CP Surendrans Available Light 

House With The Grey Gate, Tabish Khair

Living Poetry, Seven Kerala Poets Writing in English Ed. Gopi Kottoor.

The Poetry Society, India,  New Delhi All India Poetry Competitions.

Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi.

…..

Krishna And Other Poems  (Amazon)

Review by Radhika  P Menon

Kavya Bharati No 35

Living Poetry

English Poetry from Kerala( Amazon, Adisakrit)

Seven  contemporary Poets Ed Gopi Kottoor 

Review in Indian Literature, Current Issue

 by A J Thomas