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Good morning and welcome to NPTEL online
course on

Indian poetry in English.

Standing before you is Vinod Mishra and
you have been listening to the lecture

on Indian poetry in English.

My dear friends, you might remember that
in the previous lecture or in the first

lecture, we talked about poetry in
general.

and how Indians also tried their level
best to write in English,

despite certain differences, despite
many people

having different views about English
being imposed upon them.

But towards the end of the lecture, we
could also realize that Indians

could write in English.

And they had a conscious urge to write
in English and they started

writing in English. Now, in this
lecture, which is the second part of the

introductory talk, we shall discuss how
Indian English

poetry began.

Earlier, we talked about how Indian
English literature came to be.

And now we'll talk about.

How Indian English poetry began?

My dear friend, we know well that Indian
English

poetry was started or came to India
through some of the British poets.

And some of them were women. Fine? So

they started writing in English, but
what they wrote,

was not about India, because in their
psyche, they had England.

And imitating them, some of the Indian
poets

started writing in English, especially
as you find

that the middle class, who later on came
to be the Babus

during East India Company's regime,

They thought that they should be Western
professionals and they should actually

try to learn English. And for that, many
of them not only sent their sons and

daughters to England, but when they came
back to India, they had very radiant

views.

They actually brought with them the
English style and people raised in...

These families, especially these elite
families, where most of the people spoke

in English, they conversed in English.

There were some progressive sons and
daughters. We shall discuss them one by

in the lectures that follow.

But in India also, many of the poets who
actually followed

their traditional languages, though they
were writing in their mother tongues

and all, so many of them, Jews,
Christians,

they actually felt alienated by their
English language and also

felt that those who came with their
qualification from England,

they actually differed from them and
these people actually felt

themselves different. They felt
themselves alienated.

Now, in this regard,

I will make a mention of one of the
anglicized Indian poets,

Madhusudan Dutta, because Madhusudan
Dutta had an opportunity to

have English education and he was a
great follower of that.

And he started first writing in English,
though he was an epoch -making Bengali

poet, which he later on became.

But initially he tried writing in
English. We shall talk about him also.

So he said, he once said, besides,
remember, I am writing for that

portion of my countrymen who think as I
think, whose minds

have been more or less imbued with
Western ideas and modes of thinking.

But my dear friend, to tell you the
truth.

Madhusudan Dutta could not prosper as a
celebrated writer in

English or a celebrated writer in India.

Actually, he had to take to writing in
his mother tongue, that is Bengali.

But then the contribution made by
Madhusudan Dutta is really so that we

can still remember.

But what he did?

He actually brought the English style in
many of his works.

Now, it is quite natural that when we
grow and when we grow in size,

because when in 19th century many people
had started writing in English

and you will know that as more and more
people started writing in English,

there were different groups of poets.

especially and they got themselves
divided into Bombay group of poets

group of poets and then there were some
publishing houses which also came into

being and popularized many of the poets
who till this time were not in

the news there were some journals also
that came and the journals also could

propagate many of the issues which then
were the talk of the nation And

especially, not only, and these people
were not confined only to one language.

Some of them also wrote in Marathi.

There were also some bilingual poets who
wrote in their mother tongue as well as

in English. Some of them also translated
their own work into English. And then,

of course, Hindi also was there. So
there was actually a sort of renaissance

knowledge and renaissance of writing in
India.

But then as the situation became better,
there is

actually one thing that we should also
be reminded of. And why and how?

Actually, after the two world wars, and
of course, before that even

Indian freedom struggle, many of the
English poets had by that time got

a sort of reputation and they were also
influenced by the second

world war after the colonialism and then
they started writing back and many

people sometimes very jokingly started
saying that now we are writing they sent

writing back to those people who gave us
english indian poetry

in english for several reasons could not
get could not get an upper hand

as compared to the novels because even
before independence you might realize

though there were some poets but these
poets many of the readers and critics

feel that they simply started imitating
their english masters it was for the

first time that the indian novelists
could make their own presence felt

And the three foreigners you already are
familiar with, Balraj Anand, Raja Rao,

Anita Desai, and many more. Not only
male writers, but even female writers.

not only in one part of the country, but
even in Bengal, Bhavani Vatacharya, and

then in some other parts of India also.
These people actually popularized Indian

English literature by their writing. But
majority of them started writing

through the mode of novels.

There were at times conflict of interest
with nationalists, intellectuals,

cultural conservatives and of course
regionalists.

Poetry of pre -independence period
actually was discontinuous.

Why discontinuous? There are regions
galore which actually requires a sort of

detailed discussion.

Even you know C .R. Mundy who was an
Irishman.

and the editor of illustrated weekly
through his illustrated weekly he

transformed the journal to one more
appropriate to the newly independent

as mentioned by bruce king in his book
my different now it

is also a fact to remember that between
1868

and 1905 more than

Two lakh books were printed in the
country.

So press actually gave a new lease of
life to these new brand of writers.

And many of those who were writing in
their own language.

So in a very subtle way, because, you
know, during that time, they perhaps

not openly discuss or openly criticize
the Britishers. So even

Bankim Chan Chatterjee.

When he wrote his own novel, you know,
he went towards the past.

And with this new dawn of life, as he
himself mentions, came into the country

one of the mightiest instruments of
civilization, the printing press.

But since we are talking about Indian
poetry in English, we will also see how

Indian English poetry came to be
recognized.

It was not only because of the press,
but then in India, there were

publishing houses, no doubt, but many
publishing houses did not publish in

English. So it was the writer's
workshop, which actually did a yeoman

Indian poets and especially Indian
novelists. So the founder of the

workshop was Purushottam Lal, who in
1958,

who started this writer's workshop and
even today it is functional.

So it actually gave a new opportunity to
many poets who were writing in English.

Many of us should remember that P. Lal
once said that since nobody published my

poems, I started my own press.

And you know, in 1960,

Sahitya Academy also accepted English as
a national language.

Now we could hold our head high because
English got a sort of acceptance even by

Sahitya Academy.

There were many appellations that we
have already talked about.

But then what new thing happened when we
had...

Sahitya Academy and when we had writers
who had started writing and composing

their own poems in English actually this
gave them an opportunity to Indianize

English now it was for the first time
that we are not Englishizing rather we

actually Indianizing English And that is
how when Indian writing in English

started, you will actually witness if
you read many of the novels of those

that many words of many languages got
included in these words.

And this is how Indian writing in
English and even and this was done not

through novels, but also through poems.
Many reasonable words also came to be

included.

English became the link language for
inter -regional communication.

So with Sahitya Kadmi accepting English
as a national language, we got

more opportunities.

Then, as I said, of course there were
certain groups, but then Indian English

poets can be divided into certain
periods. There were

certain periods.

First, as I said, many many British
poets they brought they

started writing poems in English but
then their themes were not Indian they

in their psyche this England the early
poets we will mention how the early

They started writing and what was their
modus operandi and how they were

influenced or at times they also tried
to show that they had their nation at

core of their mind.

And then there were poets who after post
-independence, there was actually a

deluge of poets. Many of these poets
have already been prescribed in certain

universities. And since then, there has
been no end. There is no stop. Poetry

writing, especially in English in India,
is especially on a great, you know,

flow. And then there are also another...

period of poetry where many of the
Indian English poets they were not only

influenced because there were many
English poets also who sometimes they

most of their years in some alien
countries and then they came back and

when they came back they also started
practicing their hand in even even they

had been writing while they were in some
other countries but then The themes of

their poetry ranged not only from a
sense of diaspora, but also

towards a beckoning or towards a retreat
to their own nation. So we shall be

discussing them through in our lectures
in great detail.

Now, one question that actually is very
important and we need to

focus much on it.

was whether or should our Indian English
poet be influenced by Western

ideas. Yes, my dear friend, even though
there were several impositions, I

remember that in one of the books by
Aravind Mehrotra, he

makes a mention of one of the editors.

one of the editors of a famous Indian
journal who mentions that how one

Englishman very jeeringly talked about
Indians writing in English as

Matthew Arnold in a sari.

Matthew Arnold in a sari. This was
actually an attack.

And to this attack, one professor
corrected Sakuntala in skirt.

Now, by this time, people had become,
and poets had become very conscious, and

they thought that English was not only
the language of the Britishers, but

English was our own language. Here, I
would like to remind you what I had been

saying in my previous lecture, how
Kamalada says, the language in which I

becomes mine.

Fine. The language in which I write
becomes mine.

So what the early Indian English poets
and scholars opined, they decided

that they would write in English. And
while writing in English, they would be

talking about the problems of their own
country. Of course, not keeping their

nationalistic fervor on the margin.

So India then became a province of
European learning and here

as I said many of the early poets had
their stay in England. I had mentioned

Michael Madhusudan Dutta who was born in
India but

since he had a different sort of
background he actually started following

the great poets of England.

And you know Michael Madhusudan Dutt, it
is often said that he was the person

who for the first time in his writings
started introducing Miltonic verses. We

shall talk about that.

And many regional poets who had been
writing in English or in their

own mother tongue. So one famous name
that comes to my mind is a Gujarati poet

named Narmada who said, In one of his
essays.

Entitled.

Poet and poetry. Where he says.

That rasa.

He talks about rasa.

Rasa actually.

Is the.

That is inner delight.

So the poetry.

And you know. So being an Indian. He
said that.

There should be an inclusion of rasa in
poetry because that alone can provide a

sort of inner delight to the world of
poetry, my dear friend.

Now, what did these Indian English poets
do? Let us be reminded

of these three words which we talk in
post -colonial criticism.

Many of these poets also, because they
thought that they should not

completely forget their own tradition
which they have inherited from their

forefathers. So they had inherited their
tradition and they wanted that their

tradition should get disseminated in
their work.

And next to that, they started
experimenting or adapting.

We find that many writers started
adapting.

And the last page, is the adept phase
where they feel that there could be no

oppression or they felt rather free from
oppressive and overwhelming style

of the past. That is why still we at
times rue the loss that the

poets, Indian English poets of today,
they actually are ignoring their own

cultures. And that is why a great
debate, an ongoing debate is going on

the literary critics and the world of
poetry where they say that Indian

poetry or for that matter Indian English
literature should propagate a sort of

Indian -ness.

a sort of indian sensibility which is
possible only when we talk of our indian

culture when we recover our indian
culture because many of the poets you

find later in some of the lectures that
they started completely following the

western tradition Of course, there were
many who felt that it was a sort of

imposition as in the case of Tagore. I
have already mentioned that how when he

was even translating his own work, Song
Offering or Gitanjali, he actually was

not comfortable and he did not feel that
he could write.

But then he wrote and he brought a Nobel
Prize in literature to the Indians. And

that actually made our Indian English
poetry proud and have its head hold

Now, what are these pages and who are
these poets? Starting with the early

say, for example, Henry de Roggio.

a name which might appear quite a sort
of alien, my dear friend. But then this

Henry de Roggio, he was actually born of
a Portuguese father.

Fine, we'll talk about that. But before
that, let us also try to show some light

on the characteristics of Indian English
poetry.

Now there are at times people raising
questions that has Indian English poetry

adopted the tunes and the tones of
modern. Indian English poetry

has a modern perspective now.

Then it was traditional in the olden
days.

Fine. In the olden days you could find
that most of the poets even though they

were imitating many of them had started
writing devotional poems, devotional

verses. But over the years And over
these two centuries now, you can find

they have actually transcended and they
have also adapted to different sorts of

writing from the phase of adopt, adapt.

Now they have actually become adept at
writing. So you can find the practice of

the newer forms of writing which are
there in some other literature,

in Britain. And even, you know, you
should not wonder that now many of the

Indian English poets are writing haikus,
my different, a tradition or a form

which actually originated in Japan.

And that was not our own. So we have
actually come a long way, my different.

actually encompasses.

Indian English poetry encompasses
different kinds of sensibilities and

expressive styles you will find in the
lectures to follow that how Indian

English poets have experimented not only
with the form but also with the themes

also with the style also with the meter
they are no more now confined to the

sort of musicality and rhythm

Now, many of these Indian English poets
have been recognized elsewhere. I mean,

outside the country as well in modern
Indian culture. And they have formulated

part of the process of modernization.
But still there are many poets who are

still reminded of the fact that Indian
English poetry should.

not get away from its tradition, from
its mythology, from the spiritual values

that we have been lending to the outside
world, my dear friends.

Now, many of the works, as I said, many
of these poems got

popularized, not only through journals,
As one of the journals I had mentioned

by Kailash Chandra Dutta, how even 100
years before he wrote about 1945,

48 hours in 1945, yes.

And so now see that they are not simply
confined to writing about their

mythologies, but they also had actually
free access to their imagination.

And many book publications which...

As I said, the writer's workshop which
was founded by Purushottam Lal, P. Lal,

Nandi and then Nisim Ejikshil and
others.

So many Indian English poets have been
popularized and not only have they

brought innovation in terms of their
technique and theme, but they have also

seen to it that their themes are
influenced even by the major 20th

century poet T .S. Eliot, Azra Pound,
French experimental poetry from the 19th

century, Rimbaud, Alotrimon, Dadaist and
surrealist political poetry also. And

also I mentioned the new form that is
haiku. So there has of course been a

decrease in distance between moral
reflection and actuality. If you

the works of some poets from others they
will find that the canvas has become

very broad my dear friend the canvas has
become very broad they have not only

experimented with the new forms but they
have also brought in now there are some

newer themes also which as Indians we
many of us may not be comfortable with

they have brought it even in their
poetry now when we talk about traditions

And the question that many of us come
across, should we really leave our

traditions behind?

And how is Indian tradition better or
what is Indian tradition's stake?

So here, it is quite pertinent to
mention the words of Ramidhanath Tagore,

who, even though initially he started
writing as a traditional Indian

English poet, but then what he says,
About the traditions in India.

Is really an eye opener.

It seems to me.

If the world of the day is European
music.

A huge forceful tangle of harmony.

And the world of the night is our Indian
music.

So he says.

The world of our Indian night. Indian
night is our Indian music. A pure.

Look at the word. A pure.

Tender, serious, unmixed Ragini.

We Indians live in that kingdom of
night.

We are entranced by that which is
timeless and whole.

Ours is the song of personal solitude.

Europe's is that of a social
accompaniment.

A sort of seclusion that we can find in
Indian devotional poems. And my dear

friends, You will find that when Togol
talks about that kingdom of night, what

he actually means is it is timeless and
it is whole.

Ours is the song of personal solitude.

Europe's is that of social
accompaniment. We cannot leave our

We need to talk about and that is why
when Arabinze write Savitri, one can

the layers of meaning that is embedded.

And the layer of values that it has got
in our poetry.

So when we talk about the tradition.

We ought to be reminded of what Tegur
says.

And what Arab Hindu has also followed.

Now when we talk about the early writing
in English by an Indian.

As I had been mentioning that why.

Even when Kavila Venkat Ramaswami, who
actually rendered Beshaguna

Darsana of Abhasanipala Venkatadhwarin,
it was actually an

early 17th century Sanskrit poem, but it
could not be accepted as Indian writing

in English only because it was a piece
of translation.

But my dear friend, even before that, as
I might have mentioned in my previous

lecture, there was one Dean Muhammad.

Fine, Dean Muhammad in 18th century was
born in Patna.

And this Dean Muhammad was actually
employed by East India Company along

with his father.

And he wrote his first ever book in
English. And that is The Travels of Dean

Muhammad. But as luck would have it,
this person later on switched

over to England where he got settled and
he started his own business there.

And that is why we are not able to
consider him as an Indian English

Now, who is then the first Indian
English poet?

Of course.

The name that most of us are familiar
with is Henry Louis Vivian de

Rosio. Fine?

This person, you know, at a very early
age, he started writing poems.

And, you know, even though he was of a
Portuguese descent and had an

Anglo -Indian mother,

He was actually surcharged with a sort
of nationalism and the fervor of a young

man.

And, you know, initially when he had his
education, he

had his education, he was actually
influenced very much by romantic poets,

namely Byron, Scott, Sully and Keith.

And the imprint of these influences can
be found in many of his works.

So, Henry Louis Vivian de Roggio, who
actually,

he had also a knowledge of Greek and
Indian mythology, and he started writing

English. His life was full of ups and
downs.

He actually became a lecturer in the
famous Hindu college.

But because of his modern outlook and
rebellious views, he could not survive

there for a long time.

Because he had become quite a favorite
of many of the students.

And he had been writing poems. There are
many of the poems which are even

dedicated to his young students.

Where he calls to the new petals that
you are of.

And then what he wrote and what made him
popular was his famous

work. The Fakir of Jangira which was
published in 1828.

Henry de Regio, the lecturer in Hindu
college, he became

famous, but then since he was influenced
by Western views, it was actually said

that many of his students, while they
had to chant mantras,

they were actually reciting Iliad and
Odyssey.

And it is said, many, many people often
say, That Derogeo was polluting

the minds of the young Indians. And that
is why he had to leave the job

of lecturer in that Hindu college.

But then there are some works that made
him very famous. And one such was the

Fakir of Jangira.

Now this Fakir of Jangira is actually a
poem about a Brahmin

widow named Nalini.

And you see how Deregio during that time
was trying to delineate the

predicaments of a widow.

So this Nalini was going to make her
sacrifice when her husband was dead.

She was going to be on the funeral pyre.
In those days Sati was

quite famous or infamous whatever you
say.

But it was only at that time.

That one of the fakir. The fakir. The
fakir from Jangira. Jangira is actually.

Jangira was actually a place. In
Vagalpur. Where Derejo had spent some

There was actually a rock. Where many of
the fakirs used to stay.

And that is.

What he has delineated. In this book
also.

So one of the fakir.

Came. And this fakir is supposedly.

The.

first lover of this Nalini so the fakir
rescued but then the fakir wanted

to take Nalini with him but then he had
to fight and in the fight

once again the fakir lost his life and
Nalini was once again sacrificed to the

flames so Henry de Regio even though
being of a portuguese

descent he actually allowed in his work
this predicament of women

so how can we say that de regio was
simply a traditional poet but de regio

was actually trying to open the minds of
the masses that how are this system of

sati even though it had traditional
element mixed in it was not welcome

to the outside world and then afterwards
he wrote some

other poems also even even when as a
child you know he he at times questioned

himself why why we are not able to write
and he was writing

under the pen name named juvenis and in
one of one

In one of the writings he had said,
which actually is provided somewhere in

book, why is it that literature does not
flourish in this country?

Is the soil or the climate uncongenial
to the culture of so delicate a flower?

See, he talks about his country, India,
as a flower. Or is there a paucity of

those talents which are necessary to
accelerate its growth?

In spite of every effort and every care.

What it is.

I have never yet satisfactorily
ascertained. So even when as a child he

write. And he said that why this flower
is not flourishing.

And then from his own scrapbook. He
snatched some of the pages.

And sent it to the publishers. And
thought that he will be published.

My dear friend, many people might talk
about Henry de Regio as one who

was simply trying to glorify, who was
simply trying to bring the romantic

elements even in the sacrifice of a
widow. But what we can

find, we can find a sort of
nationalistic flavor in one of his

calls, and you see, That even though he
was of a Portuguese descent, but he had

the elements of the place where he was
living.

And he writes in the poem entitled, To
the Rajoni Gondha. Rajoni

Gondha. I mean, this is a flower. And in
that sonnet he says, The fragrance

comes upon my heart. As it were, Allah
breathed sigh from bath full maiden

So sweet, so soft.

My inmost raptured sense, the bounteous
nature, feels, though omnipotent, thou

art like goodness.

By the cold world's eye, unseen, unfelt,
while bridges pass thee

by, receiving a rich boon from thy sweet
breast, an odor like the breath of

angels blessed, thus like petitioners
they wake the sigh of incense pure from

gentle charity.

That from her home in shades unseen,
unknown, bestows her bounties, blessed

those alone who feel their influence.
The world never knows where and for whom

that flower of sweetness blows.

So in a way, he is talking about his own
country, that is India.

And he had already raised the question
as to why literature cannot flourish in

this country. And in a very subtle
manner.

he talks about and he sings of the glory
of the country called India, where he

says, where and for whom that flower of
sweetness blows.

So, even though one can say that he
simply imitated Byron and

Sully and other romantic poets, but
there is a universal element of his own

nation in many of his poems.

Actually, many, many critics,

who actually viewed Derogeo and his
people were accused of cutting their

way through ham and beef and waiting to
liberation through tumblers of beer.

So this actually became a sort of
impediment for the poet.

But then there were many who praised him
also. There were many who were the

admirers of Derogeo and one of them
Named E .F. Oten. Very

enthusiastically called him. The
national bird of modern India.

There are other works of.

Derogeo also. Those who are interested
can go through.

Poems published in 87.

Then the Fakir of Jangira. And then the
harp of India. My native land. The

eclipse. A walk by moonlight.

Song of the Hindustani.

But then when he was actually. Expelled
from the college.

At that time, there was another person
named Kasi Prasad Ghosh, who can be

supposedly called as the first Indian
English poet who actually had the

pure Indian blood in his writings, as
the critic says.

And two of his works, which became very
popular, were the Sire or the Minstrel

and other poems, and then the boatman's
song to Ganga. My dear friend.

We have made a mention of Michael
Madhusudan Dutta, even though he could

flourish too much in the world of
English, but then what he wrote were in

way or the other influenced by Indian
mythologies and Indian stories, but then

he actually tried to bring a sort of
difference. For example, in the work

entitled Captive Lady, where he talks
about Prithviraja and his love for

the Kannauj king's daughter and there he
actually makes a sort of difference. It

is said that the king and the queen were
killed but what he shows in it

was that they get themselves killed only
because of the opposition of

the society against their marriage.

Now Michael Madhusudan Dutta had started
his hand in English but then because of

the advice of one of his friends who
told him that you could do better if you

confine yourself to writing in your own
mother tongue.

So he had embraced Christianity.

He left Hindu college and then he
embraced Christianity.

But then what is significant of him is
That he was so much influenced by

that he introduced free Miltonic words
in his poems. And then he wrote two

dramas in English named Rajia, Empress
of Indy and Sarmista.

we can find that later on Michael
Madhusudan Dutta became very famous in

and he is remembered no less than any
other great poet because of one of his

works in Bengali that is Meghnad Badha
where he also distances himself from the

tradition of adoring Rama rather instead
of adoring Rama he

actually talks about Meghnad and finds
the Ravan's son and he finds A lot of

courage. And he actually.

Thinks of Meghnada. And Meghnadbad has
become. One of his most.

Immortal pieces.

We can find that. As we have mentioned
that. Where these Indian English poets.

Even for that matter. The famous.

Ugly poets.

Where they also influenced by. Yes.

In one of his.

Interviews or writings. He has himself
mentioned.

I acknowledge to you and I need not
blush to do so that I love the

language of the Anglo -Saxon.

Yes, I love the language, the glorious
language of the Anglo -Saxon.

My imagination visions forth before me
the language of the Anglo -Saxon in

all its radiant beauty and I feel
silenced and abased.

Michael Madhusudan Dutt's contribution
in early Indian English poetry may be

less, but he made himself a celebrated
writer and a celebrated

poet in Bengali and he made himself very
famous

for his writings. Of course, not without
being influenced by many of

his English masters.

My dear friends, there are other path
breakers also.

whom we can call as one of the
significant voices of Indian English

which we shall be discussing in the
lectures to follow. And the

these people, here you can find some of
them, Torudatta, then Arabindo, then

Tagore, and then Sarojini Naidu, who in
the early period of Indian English

poetry made a remarkable presence felt.
What they did?

They not only infused Indian
sensibility, because Indian English

stand for Indian sensibility, Indian
strain, Indian ethos, in one

word to say, Indian -ness to the core.

They actually disowned the conventional
Western models and they discovered their

own style.

About Sarojini Naidu, it is said that no
one had a better, pleasant ear than

Sarojini Naidu.

And Rabindranath Tagore, we all are
familiar with his contribution, not only

a writer of Bengali poetry, but also as
a writer who actually infused a

new sense of Indian -ness by writing his
famous Gitanjali or the

song offering.

Now, my dear friend, there can be
continuous debate about

Indian poetry in English as to how the
theme, how the form,

how the experiment, how the tone of
Indian English poetry should be. But

to conclude, we can quote what Buddha
Dev Bose, though he was at

times criticized and admired for his
remarks, what he said, there is no such

thing. as Indian food. The term can only
be defined as an amalgam of

several food styles just as Indian
literature is the sum total of

written in a dozen or more languages.

So what Buddha Dev Bose says has
actually become true today.

We find that now Indian English
literature or Indian English poetry

is the sum total of all literatures. It
is an amalgam of several food

styles. It is an amalgam of several
styles, several forms, several themes.

And proudly now we can say that Indian
English, Indian poetry in English has

come to stay and is making its journey,
making its sojourn pleasant day

by day. We will see That even though
many of the poets are prescribed in most

the universities.

But then there are many poets who are
still contributing their might. Yet

they have passed unnoticed. And through
this course we shall take some

of the voices. Because it is very
difficult to include the vast corpus

of Indian English poets.

If time permits, we shall try our level
best to touch upon the major,

significant, magnificent voices because
Indian English poetry is giving

voice not only to the people living in
the urban areas, but also to the

people who are living in rural areas,
people who are voiceless.

And one of the efforts of any
literature, or for that matter, Indian

poetry should be to voice the voiceless,
to record not only the lived but the

unlived experiences, to record not only
the imagination but the dire

reality that is changing our life and
giving us a new lease of life.

So before we start a new lecture, let me
say a goodbye to you. Thank you

very much. I wish you all the best.

And I think you will be enjoying
cherishing and releasing these lectures

Thank you. Have a nice day.