Page 1 of 6

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/

ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 04 Issue 01

January 2018

Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 117

Challenges, Issues and Development of

English Poetry in India

Romy Hooda

Extension Lecturer in English

Govt. College, Meham (HR.)

ABSTRACT:

The development of English poetry since Independence has taken a new direction. Indian legends,

folklores, situations, idioms, and themes became the features of Indian English Poetry. Naturally

the variety of myths, symbols, images, emotions, sentiments became associated with Indian

tradition and culture. The poets’ attempts were consciously Indian. Even the conventional poetic

language was replaced by colloquial. The modern Indian English poets reflected perspective and

milieu after the independence. Due to the changes in the modern world, the nature, living

standard and behavior of the man was being changed. The persona in this poetry was also

changed. His inner conflict, alienation, failure, frustration, loneliness, his relations with himself

and others, his individual, family and social contexts, his love, etc. became the themes of the

poetry. At the same time the modern Indian poetry in English became complex, harsh and defiance

of tradition. This paper will help analyze and understand the challenges, issues and development

of English poetry in India over the decades beginning from the Post-Independence period till date.

Keywords: contemporary, development, challenges, poetry, literature etc.

INTRODUCTION:

The first period of Indian English literature

may be said to the end of 1850s. During this

period the British rule in India was accepted

generally most of Indians thought that it was

a great boon. The holocaust of the Revolt

ushered in different ideas. Ultimately the

combined results during the next two

generations took place. After the Revolt of

1857 India’s rediscovery of her identity

became vigorous. The thought of freedom

and nationality overwhelmed the literature.

The Indian English poetry also learnt enough

from the West through imitation and

assimilation. The post independent poetry in

Indian English established its own character

and voice. It has abundant in quantity and up

to some extent in quality also. It has made its

own place in the realm of world literature. It

has three manifestations. The modern poets

are brilliant commentators on Indian scene.

The future of Indian poetry in English is very

bright.

MAJOR THEMES IN INDIAN

ENGLISH POETRY:

Indo-Anglian poetry, an offshoot of Indian

English literature is about two hundred years

old. It is next to the British and American

poetry. Besides, it is far ahead of the poetry

of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and

South Africa. Henry Derozio, the bard of

modern India, imitated Byron, Moore and

Keats. K. Praead Ghosh imitated Walter

Scott. M. M. Dutt’s poetry was influenced by

the English romantics. Their poetry is

derivative and imitative. It does not form in

independent poetic tradition. It became

mature and non-derivative in the hands of

Toru Dutt, Sarojini Naidu, Tagore and

Aurobindo. They formed the worth poetic

tradition. They have revealed poetic insights,

Page 2 of 6

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/

ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 04 Issue 01

January 2018

Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 118

originality of themes and styles and technical

excellences. Harindranath Chattopadhyay is

noted for force and clarity, ideals and

lyricism in poetry. The 19th century Indo- Anglian poetry ends with the poetry by

Harindranath Chattopadhyay. In the first

quarter of the 20th century, many of the

Indian poets in English wrote in Romantic

and Victorian fashion. Anand Acharya was

greatly influenced by Tagore’s English

translations of his own prose poems. In the

second quarter of the twentieth century, the

poets like M. Krishnamurthi, V. N. Bhushan.

K. D. Sethana, Manjeri Ishwaran and B.

Dhingra continued to show a love of

compact expression and new techniques. The

third quarter of 20th century is the richest

poetic harvest. The modern Indian poetry in

English has formed an independent poetic

tradition of its own. Many of the modern

poets contributed to the enrichment and

growth of Indian English poetry. Today it is

of international reputation and expressing the

meeting of two vital cultures, i.e. the Indian

and the English. Many of the pre

independent Indian English poets hailed

from Bengal. The history of Indo-Anglian

poetry is mainly a development from neo- romanticism to mysticism and to neo- modernism. From Derozio to Naidu, the

trend was of romanticism. Toru Dutt was the

first neo romantic poet. She glorifies India’s

cultural heritage in her poems. The phase

Indo-Anglian romanticism ended with the

poetry by Sarojini Naidu. Sri Aurobindo’s

poetry was of mysticism. His poetry is

lyrical, narrative and philosophical. His

mystic poetry has a mantric quality and very

close to Vedanta. In his poems we find a

fusion of personal vision and spiritual

personality of India. The poets in the

beginning explored Indian themes. Toru

revealed utter Indianness of theme in her

‘Our Casuarina Tree’.

Tagore, Aurobindo and Naidu helped to build

Indian English poetry on Indian myth, legend

and history. Since then Indian poetry has

been Indian first and everything later. The

changes in national climate have been

expressed in the poetry. The poetry proved

the glorious voice of the essential humanity

and universality. Love, nature, life,

nationalism, patriotism, motherland, man,

myths, legends, fine arts and beauty are the

major themes of this poetry. They are the

poems of introspective and metaphysical

qualities. The post independence Indian

English poetry became the vital body of

Commonwealth and Third World literature.

The political freedom changed not only the

socio-economic features of India but creative

literature also. The post colonial 14 poets

protested the imitation of the British and

American poetry. The modern Indian English

poetry deals with the contemporary India. It

evokes the tradition and culture of the

country to establish its own identity. Many

poets published their works in Writers’

Workshop. The modern Indian English

poetry won recognition in the country and

abroad. These ‘new’ or modern poets deal

with themes like protest, escape, affirmation,

self expression, rootlessness, loneliness,

alienation, feminism, love, sex, religion

Marx, Freud, romance, primitivism,

sensualist, symbolism, spiritualism, etc.

Some poets scrutinized the inner and outer

world through the poetry of introspection.

The exile is also one of the dominant themes

of this period which accompanies the theme

like cultural interaction. Birth, marriage,

death, disillusion and life are also the major

themes of this poetry.

EXPERIMENTATION IN INDIAN

ENGLISH POETRY:

Prof. V. K. Gokak, in his introduction to

‘The Golden Treasury of Indo-Anglian Verse

(1970)’ and in his ‘Studies in Indo-Anglian

Page 3 of 6

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/

ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 04 Issue 01

January 2018

Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 119

Poetry (1972) traces the growth and progress

of Indian English poetry. He claims that

Tagore and Sri Aurobindo are the great

innovators of the art of versification. Prof V.

K. Gokak classifies Indian Poets as ‘neo- symbolist’ and ‘neo-modernist’. They were

the poets of mysticism and humanism

respectively. Tagore’s ‘Geetanjali’ is a

transcreation in English. Poets like Prof. P.

Lal and K. Raghavendra Rao dismissed the

old Indo-Anglian school of poetry. The

poetry became the private voice to

demonstrate their age, its mass approval and

hysteria. It was a reaction against the Indian

poetry written in English before and during

the nineteenth century.

The Independence in India brought new

movements in literature, for example the new

uses of language. The new minds required

new voices and new voices discovered the

poets’ genius to register the idiom of their

age intimately. The ‘new’ poets of the post

independent India have won recognition both

in our country and abroad. They speak in

new voice. Their idiom, style, syntax speak

of their freedom. The Indians won not only

political freedom but also cultural freedom to

creative literature. Post-colonial Indian

English poets registered a protest against the

imitative poetry influenced by the British and

American poetry. Modern Indian English

poetry depicts the contemporary India. The

tradition and culture of India is depicted in

order to establish its own identity. The

Modern Indian English poetry has acquired

the distinct features and its own voice. The

ethos of the post-independence Indian

English poetry and pre-independence Indian

English poetry are different. The modern

Indian English poets became self-conscious

about their language and form. They tried to

make a creative use of English in the most

effective manner. The themes of these poems

are very quite new regarding innovation and

creation of modern poetry. Modernity,

Indianness, Use of Indian idiom,

Bilingualism, Exile and certain motifs are the

distinctive features of Modern Indian English

poetry.

CHALLENGES AND DEVELOPMENT

IN ENGLISH POETRY:

A number of material, cultural and

theoretical developments have introduced

tremendous changes in social life and the

ways of understanding reality. These changes

have impacted the nature and study of

literary writings including poetry. The shift

informing the understanding of reality

informs destabilization of traditionally

established and accepted social norms as well

as literary canons. Consequently, the

emphasis in literary writings now marks a

shift from representation and reproduction of

reality to its construction, reception and the

influences that determine its nature. The

different art forms, including poetry, mark

the emergence of aesthetics concerned with

the wonderful, playfully shocking and

altogether new and startling forms of life that

art encompasses. The theoretical perspectives

highlighting the constructed and provisional

nature of reality tend to evolve an artistic

perspective concentrating on how to make

the world of art than to render the already

given world an artistic form. It highlights the

absence of a fixed reference against which

one has to understand the world created in a

work of art.

Coupled with these changes, the role of

electronic media and the media generated

and transmitted images have impacted the

literary theory and practice. Its mass appeal,

co-modification of cultural elements in the

form of popular images and entertainment

value mark its success as a popular form of

art also. The success of media presented

forms of art has also impacted people’s