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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:31,280 A very good morning and welcome to all the listeners, lovers and learners to 2 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:35,920 NPTEL course entitled Indian Poetry in English. 3 00:00:36,700 --> 00:00:39,960 You will be listening to the lecture by Vinod Mishra. 4 00:00:40,700 --> 00:00:47,660 But before I start the first lecture, let me share with you some facts as to 5 00:00:47,660 --> 00:00:50,040 why should we read or learn poetry. 6 00:00:51,220 --> 00:00:55,850 Most of you might be thinking, as to why this course on poetry. 7 00:00:56,590 --> 00:01:01,570 Dear friends, as human beings, most of us 8 00:01:01,570 --> 00:01:08,530 actually crave for delight and then also 9 00:01:08,530 --> 00:01:09,530 for happiness. 10 00:01:11,170 --> 00:01:17,310 Happiness, which has always been, if we have to quote Thomas Hardy, 11 00:01:17,510 --> 00:01:24,490 the famous English novelist, who says, happiness, was but an 12 00:01:24,490 --> 00:01:28,590 occasional episode in the general drama of pain. 13 00:01:29,390 --> 00:01:35,710 But my dear friends, yet all of us try to extract pleasure, 14 00:01:36,030 --> 00:01:39,590 joy, delight in different ways. 15 00:01:40,430 --> 00:01:47,310 And most of you will agree with me that the changing situations and 16 00:01:47,310 --> 00:01:52,250 circumstances in life have actually prepared us to such a situation. 17 00:01:52,830 --> 00:01:59,230 way to think of delight is of course at times a puzzle. 18 00:01:59,550 --> 00:02:06,310 And then you can come out of this puzzle by opening a world 19 00:02:06,310 --> 00:02:09,930 of delight through the pages of poetry, my dear friends. 20 00:02:10,350 --> 00:02:17,050 It is in order to neutralize the complexities of human life that poetry 21 00:02:17,050 --> 00:02:18,150 to stay, my dear friends. 22 00:02:19,070 --> 00:02:25,480 Since poetry comprises not only Joy. It also comprises pain. 23 00:02:25,900 --> 00:02:29,540 It comprises rest, unrest. 24 00:02:29,900 --> 00:02:35,680 It actually records all our lived and unlived experiences of life. 25 00:02:36,180 --> 00:02:42,380 That is why the quote entitled Indian Poetry in English 26 00:02:42,380 --> 00:02:48,340 will become very relevant. And of course, in a corporate world of today, 27 00:02:48,540 --> 00:02:52,830 when as human beings, We get tired. 28 00:02:53,210 --> 00:02:55,170 We find there are no ways out. 29 00:02:55,750 --> 00:03:01,890 We find that we are in an age of anxiety, in an age of trouble, in an age 30 00:03:01,890 --> 00:03:03,010 we do not see the light. 31 00:03:03,830 --> 00:03:10,070 Of course, we need to explore this delight in the form of light 32 00:03:10,070 --> 00:03:12,450 through the world of poetry. 33 00:03:13,310 --> 00:03:14,650 And why Indian poetry? 34 00:03:15,470 --> 00:03:20,870 Because all of us, being Indian, we actually feel the need. 35 00:03:21,210 --> 00:03:26,970 to understand and explore the joys through our Indian culture, through our 36 00:03:26,970 --> 00:03:31,310 Indian writings, through the sayings of our sages, through our mythological 37 00:03:31,310 --> 00:03:37,550 heroes, through the legacies that we have. And we have really been proud to 38 00:03:37,550 --> 00:03:42,310 all these, not only in our own country, but in the world. 39 00:03:42,710 --> 00:03:49,570 So, my dear friends, that is actually why the need to have a course entitled 40 00:03:50,460 --> 00:03:52,500 Indian poetry in English. 41 00:03:52,780 --> 00:03:59,520 Now most of you might be thinking especially those who are new 42 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:04,620 to the world of poetry might be thinking what actually is poetry? 43 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:07,640 Can poetry be defined? 44 00:04:08,500 --> 00:04:14,520 What can be the nature and scope of poetry? So first we shall try our level 45 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:20,040 to understand poetry and then we shall slowly come to Indian poetry. 46 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:27,760 There can be any number of definitions about poetry but one that actually 47 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:34,340 I like very much is by a famous theologian and a philosopher named 48 00:04:34,340 --> 00:04:40,440 Saint Augustine who says, if not asked I know, 49 00:04:40,580 --> 00:04:43,360 if you ask me I know not. 50 00:04:43,660 --> 00:04:49,940 My dear friend, poetry is such a phenomena that it is very difficult to 51 00:04:50,460 --> 00:04:57,040 Though most of the poets and many critics as well, they have defined 52 00:04:57,540 --> 00:05:04,080 Many of you might be familiar with Wordsworth calling poetry as a 53 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:08,580 overflow of powerful feelings recollected in tranquility. 54 00:05:09,420 --> 00:05:14,700 If we go by what Coleridge says, Coleridge has a different view. 55 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:21,570 And Coleridge would say, that poetry is the best word in the best order. 56 00:05:21,970 --> 00:05:26,870 Later on Coleridge would also say, poetry is the antithesis of science. 57 00:05:27,890 --> 00:05:34,870 Since we are doing with and dealing with Indian poetry, I thought it cannot 58 00:05:34,870 --> 00:05:41,310 be anything better if we quote what an Indian critique and what an exponent of 59 00:05:41,310 --> 00:05:45,270 Indian writing in English writes about poetry. 60 00:05:46,220 --> 00:05:48,740 What he says is quite relevant. 61 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:54,360 The true poetic word thus strives to catch the inward eye. 62 00:05:54,660 --> 00:05:57,120 Look at the word, inward eye. 63 00:05:57,420 --> 00:06:03,600 To reach the inward ear from the inward eye that you see 64 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:10,460 and to reach the inward ear because the moment we talk of poetry, sometimes 65 00:06:10,460 --> 00:06:15,200 or the other you start having a feeling of some pleasantry in your ears. 66 00:06:15,930 --> 00:06:22,450 and to sink into the deeper profundities of the awakening or awakened soul. 67 00:06:23,430 --> 00:06:29,850 The real aim of the art, architecture, sculpture, painting, music, 68 00:06:30,030 --> 00:06:36,830 poetry is to speak the spirit of man through meaningful images and only the 69 00:06:36,830 --> 00:06:43,390 media vary in their different arts, the poet being the word that is charged with 70 00:06:43,390 --> 00:06:44,650 power and purpose. 71 00:06:45,310 --> 00:06:50,130 Most people are content to live in the outer mind and senses. 72 00:06:50,650 --> 00:06:56,470 I think here lies the difference which many people would feel when they talk 73 00:06:56,470 --> 00:07:02,470 about distinguishing poetry from other forms of art and even also from science. 74 00:07:02,630 --> 00:07:09,010 But the aim of art and especially poetry is to help us live in the soul. 75 00:07:09,650 --> 00:07:16,230 I mean when we talk about poetry naturally majority of us Start thinking 76 00:07:16,230 --> 00:07:17,550 should have something special. 77 00:07:17,970 --> 00:07:22,090 Not only something that can appeal to the eye and the ear. 78 00:07:22,290 --> 00:07:27,770 But something that can generate feelings in our heart. That is why when you look 79 00:07:27,770 --> 00:07:29,290 at a beautiful flower. 80 00:07:29,670 --> 00:07:31,670 When you look at a beautiful sight. 81 00:07:32,010 --> 00:07:35,730 When you look at a beautiful object. When you look at a beautiful scenery. 82 00:07:36,350 --> 00:07:37,350 Think of it. 83 00:07:37,470 --> 00:07:41,590 What sort of reaction is there in your heart? 84 00:07:42,300 --> 00:07:48,820 How thoroughly you feel yourself transported to a different world, the 85 00:07:48,820 --> 00:07:51,400 of reality but maybe the world of imagination. 86 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:57,560 To enable us to see into the utter truth of things and the poet has to find the 87 00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:01,100 words and the rhythm that would achieve this aim. 88 00:08:01,380 --> 00:08:06,800 So this in a way tells us that poetry will somehow be different. 89 00:08:07,420 --> 00:08:10,400 And the poet will be the magician of words. 90 00:08:10,700 --> 00:08:17,580 He will throw some words and those words will enlighten you and transport you 91 00:08:17,580 --> 00:08:19,700 to a world of delight, my dear friend. 92 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:25,360 Most of you would like to know, how did this word poetry come into being? 93 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:33,059 Our ancient Greek philosophers say, or what they talk about the origin of 94 00:08:33,059 --> 00:08:39,020 as, the ancient Greek word poie, that actually means to create. 95 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:45,900 And the Latin poem, that is to compose something in words, meaning thereby 96 00:08:45,900 --> 00:08:51,440 something which could have a melody, something which could have a sort of 97 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:56,980 Because when we talk about poetry, naturally something that comes to our 98 00:08:57,020 --> 00:09:02,380 since we have been talking about imagination being an important 99 00:09:02,380 --> 00:09:07,310 poetry. Why the other day when you looked at the rainbow, suddenly you were 100 00:09:07,310 --> 00:09:09,390 transported into a different realm? 101 00:09:10,130 --> 00:09:16,130 Why you like others, those people who really feel that it is only a scientific 102 00:09:16,130 --> 00:09:23,030 process, why did you simply look at it and say it is a rainbow? Because it had 103 00:09:23,030 --> 00:09:26,530 different sort of echoes that you felt within. 104 00:09:26,970 --> 00:09:30,970 So when we talk about or when we try to differentiate poetry, 105 00:09:32,319 --> 00:09:38,340 adverts to science, we find that both poetry and science may deal with the 106 00:09:38,340 --> 00:09:41,300 phenomena, but may have different approaches. 107 00:09:41,940 --> 00:09:45,440 Science will deal with the application of knowledge. 108 00:09:46,300 --> 00:09:50,880 Science will deal with a sort of system, whereas poetry will somehow be 109 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:54,220 different. Science will look at the objectivity of things. 110 00:09:54,820 --> 00:10:00,620 Science will look at a sort of detachment, whereas poetry will be 111 00:10:00,860 --> 00:10:06,400 It will suggest, isn't it? Most of the poems that you might have read, you will 112 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:08,960 find that there is a sort of subjectivity in it. 113 00:10:09,180 --> 00:10:14,630 Fine. It is not technical for the sake of are saying technicalities maybe when 114 00:10:14,630 --> 00:10:18,330 we talk about the form when you talk about the style when you talk about the 115 00:10:18,330 --> 00:10:22,990 metrical compositions and all we can say that these are the technicalities but 116 00:10:22,990 --> 00:10:27,950 these technicalities finally lead us to a world of delight where we feel a sort 117 00:10:27,950 --> 00:10:34,670 of musicality and this music actually enthralls poetry will actually 118 00:10:34,670 --> 00:10:40,810 touch upon because it is a world which recreates your emotion the emotion 119 00:10:40,810 --> 00:10:46,710 suddenly that is created generated and a poet will recreate those emotion into a 120 00:10:46,710 --> 00:10:51,810 different sort of feeling into a different sort of experience and then 121 00:10:51,810 --> 00:10:56,650 emotive language that is why i mean there can be n number of lectures on the 122 00:10:56,650 --> 00:11:03,350 language of poetry itself but to say it briefly it will touch upon the sensation 123 00:11:04,250 --> 00:11:09,450 isn't it and in a way it is related to a human soul the feelings that are 124 00:11:09,450 --> 00:11:14,050 generated the language at times may be scientific but at times the language may 125 00:11:14,050 --> 00:11:21,050 be unscientific when you create something which you call beautiful maybe 126 00:11:21,050 --> 00:11:26,430 reactions to it will be different say for example here you find the picture of 127 00:11:26,430 --> 00:11:31,910 flower fine when a poet will look at it the poet will say it is the lady of the 128 00:11:31,910 --> 00:11:38,600 garden It is a flower of delight, of light, isn't it? But when a 129 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:44,040 scientist will say, and the scientist will have a different sort of nomination 130 00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:50,840 for it, they can go for exploring its botanical name, which can 131 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:54,080 be Hexendria monogemia. 132 00:11:55,680 --> 00:11:59,180 Hexendria monogemia. Fine. 133 00:11:59,380 --> 00:12:01,980 But now, when you talk about... 134 00:12:02,220 --> 00:12:08,960 this flower and you want to deal with it in a poetic way, 135 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:15,140 you will find that you actually want to see it in a sort of comprehensive 136 00:12:15,140 --> 00:12:18,020 reality, beauty in totality. 137 00:12:18,300 --> 00:12:24,240 I mean, what sort of sense does it evoke? What sort of feeling? Suddenly 138 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:29,440 look at a flower and you are actually transported to a different world, to 139 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:31,080 other beautiful object. 140 00:12:31,500 --> 00:12:37,120 Maybe many poets have always, you know, compared the faces of their beloveds to 141 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:40,800 roses. No, my love is like a red, red rose. 142 00:12:41,020 --> 00:12:46,480 No, sometimes they will. And, you know, with the help of their symbols, with the 143 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:51,040 help of metaphors, with the help of several literary devices, they can. 144 00:12:51,380 --> 00:12:55,520 They are talking of something else, but they're referring to something else. 145 00:12:55,560 --> 00:12:58,020 That is how poetry differs. 146 00:12:58,560 --> 00:13:03,480 From science, my dear friend, because poetic truth will completely be 147 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:05,140 from scientific truth. 148 00:13:05,820 --> 00:13:12,380 And it is in this regard that we can say poetry begins where matter of 149 00:13:12,380 --> 00:13:16,960 fact or of science ceases to be merely such. 150 00:13:17,420 --> 00:13:23,500 Lee Hunt, a famous English poet and critic, who says that poetry begins 151 00:13:23,500 --> 00:13:27,680 matter of fact or of science ceases to be merely such. 152 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:33,620 And to exhibit a further truth, the connection it has with the world of 153 00:13:33,620 --> 00:13:37,060 and its power to produce imaginative pleasure. 154 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:44,060 That is why on a morning or an evening when you are passing 155 00:13:44,060 --> 00:13:50,380 by, when you are crossing by the seaside and you look at the waves 156 00:13:50,380 --> 00:13:55,000 and suddenly there are different emotions that are evoked. 157 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:59,790 Fine? Maybe The scientist will say, it is quite, no? 158 00:14:00,350 --> 00:14:02,970 Yes, since it is sea, there can be waves. 159 00:14:03,250 --> 00:14:08,610 But a poet will say, these are the waves, like the waves in my soul. 160 00:14:08,890 --> 00:14:14,970 Here I can see my anxieties. Here I can see the ups and downs. Here I can see 161 00:14:14,970 --> 00:14:16,850 the sensations of life. 162 00:14:17,690 --> 00:14:24,590 My dear friends, a poet will always and of necessity deal 163 00:14:24,590 --> 00:14:31,470 largely with such aspects of things as which will appeal directly 164 00:14:31,470 --> 00:14:38,430 to the senses and the feelings. That is why those many of you who read 165 00:14:38,430 --> 00:14:43,830 poetry and enjoy poetry will find that whenever you are reading a piece of 166 00:14:43,830 --> 00:14:48,050 poetry, you are not confined only to one meaning. 167 00:14:48,270 --> 00:14:50,790 You are not confined only to one reaction. 168 00:14:51,110 --> 00:14:55,530 There can be several interpretations of one poem. 169 00:14:56,060 --> 00:15:00,900 which you cannot find in something that is scientific. 170 00:15:01,260 --> 00:15:06,940 There is nothing to prevent him, no one can prevent a poet from penetrating 171 00:15:06,940 --> 00:15:13,420 beneath their surface or from taking as his subject matter those more 172 00:15:13,420 --> 00:15:20,340 recondite truths rather, hidden truths. Can you really think when 173 00:15:20,340 --> 00:15:22,540 you look at a rose and its petals? 174 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:27,860 And when the petals are being broken, my dear friend, not like the scientists 175 00:15:27,860 --> 00:15:32,220 you want to see from where the fragrance comes, but you actually want to see the 176 00:15:32,220 --> 00:15:38,180 beauty of the rose in its totality. But still you want to find some hidden 177 00:15:38,180 --> 00:15:43,240 truth, truths of nature which are revealed by science. There are a number 178 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:50,080 points which are actually inspired by nature. And you know, the truth that 179 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:52,100 have found those truths. 180 00:15:52,430 --> 00:15:56,510 are going to be permanent, those truths are going to be relevant in all those 181 00:15:56,510 --> 00:16:03,290 times. Fine? That is why most of the time you might be reminded of what 182 00:16:03,290 --> 00:16:06,770 in one of the poems entitled Rainbow. 183 00:16:07,130 --> 00:16:12,810 The veteran romantic poet says, my heart lifts up when I behold a rainbow in the 184 00:16:12,810 --> 00:16:15,870 sky. So was it when my life began. 185 00:16:16,450 --> 00:16:18,670 So is it now I am a man. 186 00:16:19,090 --> 00:16:21,690 So be it when I shall grow old. 187 00:16:22,190 --> 00:16:23,190 Or let me die. 188 00:16:23,450 --> 00:16:25,750 The child is the father of the man. 189 00:16:26,170 --> 00:16:32,050 And I could waste my days to be bound each to each by natural piety. 190 00:16:32,370 --> 00:16:37,690 My dear friends, and then he actually relates it to human life. That how, no? 191 00:16:37,910 --> 00:16:43,270 So was it when I was a child. So it shall be when I shall grow old. And so 192 00:16:43,270 --> 00:16:44,910 shall be when I shall die. 193 00:16:45,450 --> 00:16:47,510 The child is the father of the man. 194 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:54,060 Fine. So actually he talks about human nature and also talks about the nature 195 00:16:54,060 --> 00:17:00,160 that is real, the nature that is, I mean, the nature in which, around which 196 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:05,900 live. And, you know, poets taking the background of nature and other natural 197 00:17:05,900 --> 00:17:11,980 objects have actually talked about so many things which perhaps scientists 198 00:17:11,980 --> 00:17:16,420 cannot think of because science believes in truth. 199 00:17:16,970 --> 00:17:20,609 It believes in the practicality of knowledge. It believes in wisdom. 200 00:17:22,050 --> 00:17:24,550 Now, what is actually the function of poetry? 201 00:17:25,130 --> 00:17:26,670 Do we really need poetry? 202 00:17:27,030 --> 00:17:28,550 Do we really need art? 203 00:17:28,810 --> 00:17:35,350 There can be n number of questions as to if poetry is art like other forms of 204 00:17:35,350 --> 00:17:41,030 art, should there be art for art's sake or art for life's sake? 205 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:44,280 I mean, this is actually a debatable question. 206 00:17:44,500 --> 00:17:46,340 It can be a debatable essay. 207 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:52,520 But my dear friend, when you look at an object with an artistic bent of mind, 208 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:59,280 and if you simply get yourself involved it in being simply an art, perhaps you 209 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:03,740 will be ignoring the other realities. As I said in the beginning, that the 210 00:18:03,740 --> 00:18:06,120 realities of life are changing. 211 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:13,190 Human lives are changing. And so we also, and of course, as we read and as 212 00:18:13,190 --> 00:18:20,150 we explore poetry in all edges, be it from any nation, you will find the 213 00:18:20,150 --> 00:18:25,310 is changing. Not only in terms of its content, not only in terms of its form, 214 00:18:25,430 --> 00:18:29,910 not only in terms of its interpretation, but here it is quite important to 215 00:18:29,910 --> 00:18:36,790 mention what Wallace Stevens said about poetry. What he says was, poetry was 216 00:18:36,790 --> 00:18:38,870 one of the enlargements of life. 217 00:18:39,660 --> 00:18:44,840 Oscar Wilde, marvelous critic and dramatist, who himself was a weak poet, 218 00:18:45,060 --> 00:18:51,600 remarked that all art was perfectly useless and irony we need not 219 00:18:51,780 --> 00:18:57,300 When you talk of poetry in general conversations and all, many people may 220 00:18:57,440 --> 00:19:02,560 fine, because those people who believe that poetry is simply a pastime affair 221 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:08,100 it is only a wastage of time. But then Wilde knew better than almost all of us. 222 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:13,540 that Shakespeare, Michelangelo, and Bajart are superbly useful. 223 00:19:13,860 --> 00:19:19,260 Had it not been so, my dear friend, despite the progress and the development 224 00:19:19,260 --> 00:19:22,960 that we have so far made, poetry still continues. 225 00:19:23,260 --> 00:19:26,760 Poetry writing is still in a continuing process. 226 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:28,520 It has not come to an end. 227 00:19:28,900 --> 00:19:34,820 They give the more difficult pleasures that can persuade us to abandon 228 00:19:34,820 --> 00:19:36,260 that are too easy. 229 00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:42,980 The pleasure that we derive, the satisfaction that we derive out of 230 00:19:43,300 --> 00:19:46,480 fine, is not instant, my dear friends. 231 00:19:46,700 --> 00:19:53,060 It actually, these pleasures are not easily available as other pleasures are 232 00:19:53,060 --> 00:19:56,320 adopt Sully's formulation of the sublime mode. 233 00:19:56,560 --> 00:19:59,020 This has been quoted from Harold Bloom. 234 00:20:00,100 --> 00:20:05,460 Now, do we really or should we really consider the poet as a powerful being? 235 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:08,280 What is actually the use of a poet? 236 00:20:08,540 --> 00:20:13,180 I mean, you might be aware that there have been people who have criticized 237 00:20:13,180 --> 00:20:18,320 poetry. There have been critics who have actually stopped poets. 238 00:20:18,540 --> 00:20:20,700 Fine, you might know well. 239 00:20:20,900 --> 00:20:24,000 But then, does the poet have some power? 240 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:25,280 Yes, of course. 241 00:20:25,940 --> 00:20:32,740 If we go by what Sri Aurobindo says in Future of Poetry, vision 242 00:20:32,740 --> 00:20:34,420 is the characteristic of the poet. 243 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:42,000 I mean, a poet can have a reason, and I'll give you certain examples 244 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:48,140 as to how, when one of the Indian poets, you know, one of the Indian poets, 245 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:55,160 more than 100 years before, wrote actually a book, a 246 00:20:55,160 --> 00:21:02,140 journal, it was actually by Kailash Chandra Dutta, who wrote a journal of 247 00:21:02,140 --> 00:21:03,920 48 hours. 248 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:05,600 in 1945. 249 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:11,500 And my dear friends, here he actually, here the poet made use of his emotions 250 00:21:11,500 --> 00:21:14,120 and his imagination rather. 251 00:21:14,340 --> 00:21:20,960 And you will find in 1947, India got independence. 252 00:21:21,460 --> 00:21:27,700 You will be surprised to know that how could this poet might have a vision of 253 00:21:27,700 --> 00:21:33,240 1945 and that also 100 years before. 254 00:21:33,850 --> 00:21:39,110 So that is actually the power of a poet. So vision I was talking about. Vision 255 00:21:39,110 --> 00:21:44,450 is the characteristic power of the poet as is discriminated thought the 256 00:21:44,450 --> 00:21:49,710 essential gift of the philosopher and analytic observation the natural genius 257 00:21:49,710 --> 00:21:50,649 the scientist. 258 00:21:50,650 --> 00:21:54,090 The Kabhi, I mean that is the Hindi word for poet. 259 00:21:54,310 --> 00:21:59,990 The Kabhi was in the idea of the ancients, the seer and the revealer of 260 00:22:00,530 --> 00:22:07,050 Those... who are passionate lovers of poetry might have found how the poet 261 00:22:07,050 --> 00:22:13,090 actually looks more and looks rather further than what is not possible. 262 00:22:13,290 --> 00:22:18,890 That is why they have been called reasonaries. Fine? And there are certain 263 00:22:18,890 --> 00:22:24,950 you will find not only in English but also in Indian English poetry where you 264 00:22:24,950 --> 00:22:28,950 can find what the poet said some years before. 265 00:22:29,500 --> 00:22:33,800 could happen so is it not the reason therefore the greatest poets have been 266 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:38,860 always those who have had a large and powerful interpretive and intuitive 267 00:22:38,860 --> 00:22:44,540 intuitive vision don't you remember my dear friends when sally uh wrote that 268 00:22:44,540 --> 00:22:51,500 poem uh sally's sally's famous poem owed to the west wind 269 00:22:51,500 --> 00:22:58,320 fine and there when he talks about the difficulties on his own of his own 270 00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:04,600 life When he says, oh, make me a liar. What if my leaves are falling like the 271 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:10,340 forest? But many people might consider and rather think that Sally was a 272 00:23:10,340 --> 00:23:15,360 pessimist. But towards the end, you see, what sort of vision did he give when he 273 00:23:15,360 --> 00:23:22,060 says, can spring, if winter comes, can spring 274 00:23:22,060 --> 00:23:23,360 be far behind? 275 00:23:23,900 --> 00:23:25,240 See the optimistic note. 276 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:31,000 So therefore the greatest poets have been always those who have had a large 277 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:37,020 powerful interpretive and intuitive vision of nature and life and the man 278 00:23:37,020 --> 00:23:42,740 whose poetry has origin out of that in a supreme revelatory utterance of it my 279 00:23:42,740 --> 00:23:49,080 dear friend. You remember what when Wordsworth says child is the father of 280 00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:50,420 man. You see. 281 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:52,600 It is not a simple statement. 282 00:23:52,820 --> 00:23:58,620 It is not a simple utterance rather. It actually talks volumes about how the 283 00:23:58,620 --> 00:24:04,720 influences that we have in our childhood continues till long. 284 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:11,800 So, can there be anything better than a reason which Wordsworth has given 285 00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:18,520 in a very short poem? And you will find there are endless poems like 286 00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:23,390 this. And a good number of poets have been practicing their art where they 287 00:24:23,390 --> 00:24:28,750 been talking about their vision. My dear friends, since we are talking about 288 00:24:28,750 --> 00:24:34,950 Indian poetry in English, we should also rather try to discuss 289 00:24:34,950 --> 00:24:41,130 where are the ancient roots of our literature. Did Indian 290 00:24:41,130 --> 00:24:46,250 poetry in English or for that matter, even before Indian literature in 291 00:24:46,670 --> 00:24:52,770 My dear friends, as Aurobindo mentions, the Vedic poets regarded their poetry as 292 00:24:52,770 --> 00:24:58,350 mantras. Now, when you talk about the artificial, the element of artificiality 293 00:24:58,350 --> 00:25:04,170 in poetry, can you also think of Indian literature where our Vedic poets 294 00:25:04,170 --> 00:25:09,390 regarded their poetry as mantras? They were the vehicles of their own 295 00:25:09,390 --> 00:25:13,750 realization and could have become vehicles of realization for others. 296 00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:21,820 Even today we find the Vedas are one of the greatest relations that mankind 297 00:25:21,820 --> 00:25:26,500 has. And not only in India, my dear friend, but all over the world, all our 298 00:25:26,500 --> 00:25:31,960 ancient literature, say for example, the Ramayana, the Mahavarata, the Gita, and 299 00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:38,760 the lines which are there, they are still true. They are still becoming the 300 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:39,800 eye -openers. 301 00:25:40,060 --> 00:25:45,120 not only to a people of one country, but also to the people of other countries, 302 00:25:45,180 --> 00:25:46,180 my dear friends. 303 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:53,180 Now, when we talk about Indian English literature, because we have named 304 00:25:53,180 --> 00:25:59,460 this course as Indian Poetry in English, did we really have English even before? 305 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:00,560 No, my dear friends. 306 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:07,420 All our English influences came through foreign people. 307 00:26:07,900 --> 00:26:12,440 especially you know through basco de gama portuguese and dutch there were 308 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:17,800 several invasions in our country if you have be you you might have read from the 309 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:24,220 pages of the history and still in india when the east india company came this 310 00:26:24,220 --> 00:26:30,500 east india company historically you know actually they had come as merchants 311 00:26:30,500 --> 00:26:37,400 but they became rulers and later on we could find that In 312 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:43,700 order to have people who could work for them, they actually wanted the people of 313 00:26:43,700 --> 00:26:46,500 this country to have the knowledge of English. 314 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:53,660 So the English education which came to India and especially which was 315 00:26:53,660 --> 00:26:59,700 given to us by none other than these Britishers, they actually felt the need 316 00:26:59,700 --> 00:27:03,100 because they also wanted people who could work for them. 317 00:27:03,500 --> 00:27:09,800 And we will see when we come across Macaulay's minutes that they wanted a 318 00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:16,740 of people, class of people who could help them govern millions of 319 00:27:16,740 --> 00:27:22,940 people. And who should these people be? These people should actually be Indian 320 00:27:22,940 --> 00:27:27,980 in blood and color, but English in taste, in morals. 321 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:29,299 and in opinion. 322 00:27:29,300 --> 00:27:33,260 That is what Macaulay says in his minutes. 323 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:38,540 And we find that with this, because in the beginning there were several 324 00:27:38,540 --> 00:27:44,580 oppositions as to why we should have English, but it was actually the need of 325 00:27:44,580 --> 00:27:45,279 the hour. 326 00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:51,840 And that is why after the disintegration of Mughal Empire, these Britishers 327 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:56,500 These actually, since they wanted to rule over for a longer time and they 328 00:27:56,500 --> 00:28:02,480 rule only because of English. So when we find that English came to India through 329 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:09,460 East India Company, of course, many of the historians and others 330 00:28:09,460 --> 00:28:14,960 find that it was actually a shock for many people. But then this shock had its 331 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:21,300 own advantage, my dear friend. We'll see later. Now, why did we need English? 332 00:28:21,740 --> 00:28:27,260 And what did Indian English literature mean to us? How did it help? 333 00:28:27,540 --> 00:28:32,900 Because we are living under the rule of the East India Company. And the country 334 00:28:32,900 --> 00:28:34,280 was not united. 335 00:28:34,660 --> 00:28:40,840 And these people wanted to rule over our country with the help of the select 336 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:46,980 group of people who could, to quote the words of Macaulay, who could be Indians 337 00:28:46,980 --> 00:28:50,980 in blood and color, but English. 338 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:55,400 In taste, in morals and in opinion. 339 00:28:55,700 --> 00:28:57,760 So, but then how did it help? 340 00:28:57,980 --> 00:29:02,180 This actually gave the voice to the voiceless in the struggle for social 341 00:29:02,180 --> 00:29:08,820 justice. You cannot suppress a country or a people for a long time even with 342 00:29:08,820 --> 00:29:14,540 help of only language, my dear friend. Of course, language is a great weapon to 343 00:29:14,540 --> 00:29:20,180 control. But for that, you needed people who could speak your language, isn't 344 00:29:20,180 --> 00:29:25,640 it? But initially, Indians who were writing, they were writing in their own 345 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:31,140 language. But in order to survive, they wanted a language which was alien 346 00:29:31,140 --> 00:29:36,520 though, but which was friendly in order to carry out their own objectives. 347 00:29:37,500 --> 00:29:42,140 English worked as an elixir to the wounds caused by the social chaos. There 348 00:29:42,140 --> 00:29:43,440 a great division in the society. 349 00:29:43,860 --> 00:29:49,880 And these people who were considered baboos, they were considered to be an 350 00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:53,200 class. Fine, among the common people, common masses. 351 00:29:53,740 --> 00:29:58,540 But then with their knowledge of English, sometimes so the other, you 352 00:29:58,580 --> 00:30:03,380 since I said you cannot control or you cannot suppress a country for a long 353 00:30:03,380 --> 00:30:08,900 time, these people also might have realized that it is their own soil. It 354 00:30:08,900 --> 00:30:14,000 their own mati to say because it started in Bengal. 355 00:30:14,820 --> 00:30:18,620 And, you know, till that time, even Indian women. 356 00:30:19,070 --> 00:30:24,530 who did not have, because our tradition had, if some certain good qualities, 357 00:30:24,630 --> 00:30:30,650 there were some lapses also, and for that, we actually needed to have a sort 358 00:30:30,650 --> 00:30:34,570 education that was not only moderate, but that was forward -looking. 359 00:30:34,790 --> 00:30:39,770 And in this regard, English did a human service, my dear friend. It also helped 360 00:30:39,770 --> 00:30:43,070 discover a sense of identity and... 361 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:49,680 stability identity and stability my different and indians got a sense of 362 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:55,080 belonging with the health of english now they could know because majority of the 363 00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:59,980 people started learning english since the schools were also started you know 364 00:30:59,980 --> 00:31:05,640 when english schools were started and when hindu college was started in 365 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:10,260 one of the directors of the east india company had said 366 00:31:10,970 --> 00:31:16,970 We actually had created a folly and had lost America because of the 367 00:31:16,970 --> 00:31:18,870 establishment of schools there. 368 00:31:19,150 --> 00:31:23,990 And we are going to repeat the same folly. And my dear friend, it has really 369 00:31:23,990 --> 00:31:30,540 become true. They started English education and it was only a group of 370 00:31:30,540 --> 00:31:35,800 educated people most of them are Britishers who founded some of these 371 00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:40,320 and colleges and the Hindu college was the first to come into existence and 372 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:47,200 the Hindu college coming to existence now English education started and it 373 00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:54,140 started creating among Indians a sense and a sort of you know a sort 374 00:31:54,140 --> 00:32:00,000 of realization that they can have their own identity my different What were 375 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:05,240 actually the repercussions? And the repercussions was they wanted that their 376 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:08,960 country should be free from the clutches of a foreign rule. 377 00:32:09,420 --> 00:32:15,900 And for that, if you are a student of history, you might realize how 378 00:32:15,900 --> 00:32:21,740 several revolutions, because the Britishers came to colonize India, but 379 00:32:21,740 --> 00:32:26,640 colonizing India, they civilized India. They civilized India in the sense that 380 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:31,480 they gave Indians a sort of language a weapon of language through which they 381 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:38,320 became more conscious and then there was birth of nationalism there from time to 382 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:43,020 time came to be some collision between Indian religion and the colonial 383 00:32:43,020 --> 00:32:49,680 education because many people were against this colonial education there 384 00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:55,400 some poets even and there were some novelists who while writing They often, 385 00:32:55,500 --> 00:33:01,360 especially to quote Bankim Chandra who said, why is India a subject country? 386 00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:05,360 Who will praise our noble qualities if we do not praise them ourselves? 387 00:33:05,820 --> 00:33:11,560 And they wanted to praise their own country. So even when Bankim Chandra 388 00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:17,600 his own work, even though he was writing in Bengali, but a new consciousness 389 00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:20,240 was created in their mind. 390 00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:26,620 of people and you will find that many indians they started writing in english 391 00:33:26,620 --> 00:33:32,720 so in a way something that was actually a sort of imposition 392 00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:39,400 that actually become a compulsion and it stirred the minds of millions and they 393 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:45,060 thought they could write uh they could write even though with the help of 394 00:33:45,060 --> 00:33:51,420 english language they could actually bring the indian problems to the masses 395 00:33:51,420 --> 00:33:55,580 to the world my dear friend and this happened you will realize when we 396 00:33:55,580 --> 00:34:00,960 Michael Madhusudan Dutt and others how they started writing in English of 397 00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:06,100 they initially were writers who were writing in their own mother tongue and 398 00:34:06,100 --> 00:34:10,760 only Michael Madhusudan Dutt but in other parts of the country many people 399 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:16,260 writing in their own language but they realized That the need of the hour was 400 00:34:16,260 --> 00:34:22,179 propagate the Indian problem and in a language that the world could know. And 401 00:34:22,179 --> 00:34:24,900 that really worked a miracle, my dear friend. 402 00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:31,040 Now, when we talk about the history of English literature, as I said, my dear 403 00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:37,020 friend, in the beginning, there were several views about Indian English 404 00:34:37,020 --> 00:34:42,260 literature. Some of them started calling it an Indo -Anglian literature. 405 00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:47,159 Some started calling it Indian writing in English. And then some started 406 00:34:47,159 --> 00:34:48,540 Indo -English literature. 407 00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:54,679 Now, all these terms had actually some differences. But in a way, all they 408 00:34:54,679 --> 00:34:59,740 wanted, what they wanted was, they actually wanted to say that the 409 00:34:59,740 --> 00:35:05,700 written by Indians and that also in English. It was. 410 00:35:06,540 --> 00:35:13,360 Only when V .K. Gokak wrote his first book in the year 1964, it is there that 411 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:19,040 he makes explicit differences between the terms Indo -Anglian literature and 412 00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:20,140 Indo -English literature. 413 00:35:20,420 --> 00:35:27,100 While he calls Indo -Anglian literature as literature created by 414 00:35:27,100 --> 00:35:31,480 Indians, when he talks about Indo -English literature, he talks about the 415 00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:33,040 translated literature. Why different? 416 00:35:33,300 --> 00:35:39,540 And then, you know, Because by 1800, by 1850, 417 00:35:39,540 --> 00:35:46,360 these things had already subsided, my dear friends. And Indians 418 00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:52,600 now wanted to write their own stories and that also in English. 419 00:35:53,060 --> 00:35:56,000 Their own poems and that also in English. 420 00:35:56,380 --> 00:35:57,319 J .B. 421 00:35:57,320 --> 00:36:03,820 Alfonso Caracalla in his book titled Indo -English Literature in the 19th 422 00:36:03,820 --> 00:36:04,820 Century. 423 00:36:05,420 --> 00:36:11,920 suggests the term to mean literature produced by indians in english so after 424 00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:12,920 debate 425 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:19,600 as many people had started calling it by different names. Some of them felt that 426 00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:26,120 when we say Anglo -Indian, Indo -Anglican, there is actually a tinge of 427 00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:29,740 But then we wanted our own literature. 428 00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:35,460 One of the writers has gone to the extent of saying that when we say Anglo 429 00:36:35,460 --> 00:36:39,800 -Indian, what we mean, we are not talking about language, but we are 430 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:41,100 about a language and a country. 431 00:36:41,500 --> 00:36:48,500 And it was only in 1962 when Srinivas Iyengar wrote a book, 432 00:36:48,660 --> 00:36:50,340 Indian Writing in English. 433 00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:52,540 So everyone accepted. 434 00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:59,400 And later on, it was also accepted by Sahitya Academy, Indian English 435 00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:04,740 Literature as a new branch. And since then... 436 00:37:05,070 --> 00:37:11,590 Not only have we come a long way, but we have our own literature, my dear 437 00:37:11,590 --> 00:37:18,090 friends. It was, of course, the by -product of an eventful encounter, as 438 00:37:18,090 --> 00:37:20,250 M .K. Nayak in his book says. 439 00:37:20,570 --> 00:37:26,850 But then, all these terms with different appellations wanted only one thing, 440 00:37:26,930 --> 00:37:31,630 wanted the contributions of Indians in English writing. 441 00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:37,920 And as I have been mentioning that it was Bengal which was the home of Indian 442 00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:44,820 English literature where it flourished before it did in Bombay. Later on 443 00:37:44,820 --> 00:37:49,640 as you go into the details of Indian English literature and for that matter 444 00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:54,160 Indian poetry in English you will find that there came to be several groups. 445 00:37:54,620 --> 00:38:00,200 Bombay groups, Calcutta groups, and then many of the people who were writing in 446 00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:04,920 their regional languages, they also tried their hand at English. 447 00:38:05,340 --> 00:38:11,260 If we take a look at the political repercussions, we'll find that when 448 00:38:11,260 --> 00:38:17,880 Hindi was being introduced, there were several slogans against it 449 00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:22,340 because Hindi was not being accepted as a link language. 450 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:29,220 And that is why later on, English also started being used as a language for all 451 00:38:29,220 --> 00:38:35,100 purposes. And this is how the journey of Indian writing in English began. 452 00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:41,740 So people like Swami Vivekananda once said that 453 00:38:41,740 --> 00:38:47,940 the system of Sanskrit education can be best calculated to keep India in 454 00:38:47,940 --> 00:38:52,980 darkness. Now for the first time, my dear friends, People like Swami 455 00:38:52,980 --> 00:38:59,300 and others, they also felt the need that English was actually the need of the 456 00:38:59,300 --> 00:39:03,960 hour. And it was only through English that India could come a long way and 457 00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:04,960 show its own contribution. 458 00:39:05,300 --> 00:39:09,400 Of course, we have talked about Macaulay's minutes on education. 459 00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:15,840 And you will really appreciate that there were some Britishers, 460 00:39:15,920 --> 00:39:22,650 namely William Jones, Hal Hard, And Charles Wood, who actually 461 00:39:22,650 --> 00:39:28,330 said that a medium of intercourse was necessary in order to have the 462 00:39:28,330 --> 00:39:32,770 administrative facility available to all people. And that is how English 463 00:39:32,770 --> 00:39:39,530 actually in India got recognized and English education had its own dividends 464 00:39:39,530 --> 00:39:41,390 reap in the days to come, my dear friend. 465 00:39:41,610 --> 00:39:48,150 But then as we came forward, we found that even many 466 00:39:48,150 --> 00:39:53,410 novelists also, Of course, they realized that English was a sort of imposition. 467 00:39:53,410 --> 00:40:00,090 Here, I would like to make a mention of the quote that Raja Rao, one of the 468 00:40:00,090 --> 00:40:05,650 famous Indian English novelists, I mean, the four runners of Indian novel in 469 00:40:05,650 --> 00:40:10,190 English, who said, the telling has not been easy. One has to convey in a 470 00:40:10,190 --> 00:40:14,110 language that is not one's own and the spirit that is one's own. 471 00:40:14,380 --> 00:40:19,080 So they felt that when you were speaking in a different language or writing in a 472 00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:25,720 different language, you were not able to create or to show the spirit that was 473 00:40:25,720 --> 00:40:31,120 your own. One has to convey the various said and omissions of a certain thought 474 00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:34,460 movement that looks maltreated in an alien language. 475 00:40:34,780 --> 00:40:39,500 They actually thought that English language was against the spirit of 476 00:40:41,020 --> 00:40:47,320 There are many people who later will come to have a further discussion when 477 00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:53,020 have the second lecture on it. When they also realized that no, we should 478 00:40:53,020 --> 00:40:59,520 actually write in English. And before I conclude, my dear friend, let me also 479 00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:05,460 make a mention of how the famous Bengali poet. 480 00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:12,740 who got Nobel Prize in Literature, especially for his work Gitanjali, how 481 00:41:12,740 --> 00:41:17,700 also felt that English was a sort of imposition and it was a sort of 482 00:41:17,860 --> 00:41:23,120 And in one of his letters to his niece, he says, you have written to me about my 483 00:41:23,120 --> 00:41:27,340 English translations of Gitanjali, because Tagore had translated his own 484 00:41:27,340 --> 00:41:32,160 Gitanjali into English. How I wrote them and why people like them so much, I 485 00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:33,580 still cannot quite comprehend. 486 00:41:34,250 --> 00:41:40,970 That I cannot write English is such a plain fact that I never had the pride to 487 00:41:40,970 --> 00:41:46,310 ever feel ashamed of it. If nobody wrote to me in English inviting me to tea, I 488 00:41:46,310 --> 00:41:48,370 didn't have the courage to even write a reply. 489 00:41:49,090 --> 00:41:52,750 You are thinking perhaps that I have rid myself of that illusion today? 490 00:41:53,410 --> 00:41:57,810 Absolutely on the contrary, that I have written in English seems to me to be the 491 00:41:57,810 --> 00:42:02,750 illusion. So he could never think that he could write in English, but later on 492 00:42:02,750 --> 00:42:09,260 it is said, that Tagore was also highly influenced by English and one more 493 00:42:09,260 --> 00:42:15,960 Indian poet especially when Seerudh because you know gradual change in 494 00:42:15,960 --> 00:42:21,620 came and people accepted that they had to write in English if they really had 495 00:42:21,620 --> 00:42:27,560 survive and if they really had to make a mention of their own and they wanted 496 00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:34,120 that India should be known elsewhere So what she says in one of her poems, 497 00:42:34,200 --> 00:42:39,460 you can read, only I'll talk about the lines which I have emphasized. 498 00:42:39,820 --> 00:42:44,080 I speak three languages, write in two, dream in one. 499 00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:46,200 Don't write in English, they said. 500 00:42:46,420 --> 00:42:50,060 English is not your mother tongue. Why not leave me alone? 501 00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:55,700 Critics, friends, visiting cousins, every one of you, why not let me speak 502 00:42:55,700 --> 00:43:00,240 any language I like? The language I speak becomes mine. 503 00:43:00,890 --> 00:43:06,330 My dear friends, to say that English is only the language of the British, here 504 00:43:06,330 --> 00:43:11,470 Kamaladas gives a very good retort and she says the language I speak becomes 505 00:43:11,470 --> 00:43:16,790 mine, its distortions, its queerness, all mine, mine alone, it is half 506 00:43:16,890 --> 00:43:22,970 half Indian, funny perhaps, but it is honest, it is as human as I am human. My 507 00:43:22,970 --> 00:43:27,990 dear friends, language not only humanizes, language civilizes. 508 00:43:28,400 --> 00:43:35,320 But a language of one's own actually allows one to express one's own 509 00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:41,100 spirit, one's own reactions, one's own feeling. And that is how English came to 510 00:43:41,100 --> 00:43:47,480 be accepted, my dear friend. And when we talk about the first writers of 511 00:43:47,480 --> 00:43:52,740 English, we will find that even though they had started writing in English much 512 00:43:52,740 --> 00:43:54,020 before, fine. 513 00:43:54,540 --> 00:43:58,420 Much before even say Henry de Roggio who is considered to be the first English 514 00:43:58,420 --> 00:44:02,940 poet. But even before that there were many who had started writing 515 00:44:02,940 --> 00:44:08,680 autobiographies, who had started writing letters. And you know in this regard 516 00:44:08,680 --> 00:44:15,640 even in 18th century you know 1794 when one Indian named Dean Muhammad who had 517 00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:22,520 written, who had published in 1794 a book called The Travels of 518 00:44:22,520 --> 00:44:23,520 Dean Muhammad. 519 00:44:24,690 --> 00:44:29,130 Unfortunately, later on he got settled in England because he was one of the 520 00:44:29,130 --> 00:44:33,570 employees of East India Company and that is why he is not mentioned in many of 521 00:44:33,570 --> 00:44:38,950 the books, my dear friend. So, before we come to the conclusion, let us also 522 00:44:38,950 --> 00:44:43,750 make a mention that those people who had started writing in English, they had 523 00:44:43,750 --> 00:44:47,770 not been writing in English and they were not accepted because they had 524 00:44:47,770 --> 00:44:53,150 translated some of the works. in english and that is why we cannot consider them 525 00:44:53,150 --> 00:44:57,050 to either to be the first indian english writer or to be the first indian 526 00:44:57,050 --> 00:45:03,890 english poet my different so before we conclude let us say that language is 527 00:45:03,890 --> 00:45:10,470 a weapon and it is it is in our ability to learn language and we can of course 528 00:45:10,470 --> 00:45:15,930 learn a language and with the help of language we can really make our 529 00:45:15,930 --> 00:45:19,350 felt elsewhere across 530 00:45:20,160 --> 00:45:26,560 the seven seas in other nations in other countries with this i come to the end 531 00:45:26,560 --> 00:45:32,300 of lecture and in the second lecture i shall start talking how indians also 532 00:45:32,300 --> 00:45:37,840 started writing in english because and we shall come to indian poetry in 533 00:45:38,240 --> 00:45:44,480 And I think since Indian English poetry is a vast corpus like Indian English 534 00:45:44,480 --> 00:45:50,360 literature, but then a discussion on it is essential because we want to 535 00:45:50,360 --> 00:45:54,880 familiarize people with the Indian ways of life, with the Indian ethos, with the 536 00:45:54,880 --> 00:45:59,200 Indian strain, with the Indian sensibility, my dear friend. So before 537 00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:03,360 for the next talk, till then, thank you very much. Have a nice day. Bye. 52202

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