English Literature

Introduction: Kamala Markandaya is one of the most important Indian novelists of the 20th century. She is widely read. She is a prestigious member of Indian Diaspora. It is she who is considered the pioneer of Indian Diaspora literature. Her novels have been praised for its truthfulness and insight. As a novelist she is very popular for her pragmatic presentation of life. She is appreciated for writing about the culture conflict between Indian urban and rural societies. Her novels offer a valuable glimpse into the lives of Indians living in both India and England. Life: The original name of Kamala Markandaya is kamala Purnaiya Markandaya. She was born in 1924 in an upper-middle-class Brahmin family in Mysore, India. Her father was a railway officer. She studied at Madras University. After that she settled in England in 1948 and married an English journalist. She died in London in 2004. She left a daughter, Kim Oliver, behind her. Before her death she received several awards for...

Obituary is a beautiful poem by A. K. Ramanujan, a great poet in the world of Indian English literature. It is a very popular poem by him. It is the product of the poet’s memory. Here the poet remembers his father after his death. Irony plays the pivotal role in this fantastic poem. In Obituary Ramanujan beautifully expresses the after effect of his father’s death. He tells that his father left only problems for his family behind him. The poet presents the list of those problems like dust on a table of papers, debts, daughters and a bedwetting grandson. It seems that the poet is not happy with his father’s attitude and life style. The poet continues that his ill-tempered father left a dilapidated house for his family to live in. Then the poet presents the picture of his cremation. The remains of his father’s pyre are left for sons to pick. They have to perform the Hindu rituals. Then the poet mentions the meaninglessness of his father’s life. He achieved nothing in this wor...

Obituary : A Poem by A.K. Ramanujan Father, when he passed on, left dust on a table of papers, left debts and daughters, a bedwetting grandson named by the toss of a coin after him, a house that leaned slowly through our growing years on a bent coconut tree in the yard. Being the burning type, he burned properly at the cremation as before, easily and at both ends, left his eye coins in the ashes that didn't look one bit different, several spinal discs, rough, some burned to coal, for sons to pick gingerly and throw as the priest said, facing east where three rivers met near the railway station; no longstanding headstone with his full name and two dates to hold in their parentheses everything he didn't quite manage to do himself, like his caesarian birth in a brahmin ghetto and his death by heart- failure in the fruit market. But someone told me he got two lines in an inside column of a Madras newspaper sold by the kilo ...

A.K. Ramanujan is a very popular poet of Indian English literature. He is a gifted poet in the world of Indian English poetry. He has earned great acclaim for his literary contribution. His poetry reflects the touch of humanity, Indian ethos and pertinence of life. His A River is a beautiful poem. It is taken from his magnum opus, The Striders . It consists of four stanzas. Here Ramanujan uses a variety of techniques to produce effect. Alliteration, assonance, consonance and enjambment have been used suitably. Here the poet has presented the attitudes of the old and the new poets. He has drawn the conclusion that both the groups of the poets are indifferent to human sorrows and suffering. Their poetry has nothing to do with the miseries of the human beings. The present poem deals with a river. It flows through the heart of Madurai. This Madurai is a holy city full of temples. In this poem Ramanujan presents the vivid picture of this river of the summer season and the rainy...

Text of A River by A. K. Ramanujan In Madurai, city of temples and poets, who sang of cities and temples, every summer a river dries to a trickle in the sand, baring the sand ribs, straw and women's hair clogging the Watergates at the rusty bars under the bridges with patches of repair all over them the wet stones glistening like sleepy crocodiles, the dry ones shaven water-buffaloes lounging in the sun The poets only sang of the floods. He was there for a day when they had the floods. People everywhere talked of the inches rising, of the precise number of cobbled steps run over by the water, rising on the bathing places, and the way it carried off three village houses, one pregnant woman and a couple of cows named Gopi and Brinda as usual. The new poets still quoted the old poets, but no one spoke in verse of the pregnant woman drowned, with perhaps twins in her, kicking at blank walls even before birth. He said: the river has wate...

  Arvind Ghosh is popular as Sri Aurobindo. He is a well-known Indian philosopher, sage, yogi, patriot and freedom fighter. As a poet too he has left an indelible mark on the world of literature. He is often appreciated as an excellent mystic poet.  His poetic works are imbued with a profound sense of mysticism and spiritual insight. His Savitri is his most celebrated work. It is considered an extraordinary modern epic. It is an immortal work. It transcends conventional poetic boundaries. This epic has been divided into twelve books and it consists of over 24,000 lines. In this epic Sri Aurobindo has highlighted the journey of the soul through various planes of consciousness. Here the poet has discussed the profound mystical experiences of Savitri and her quest for truth and divine realization. Here the poet has explored the triumph of divine awareness over darkness and unawareness. Savitri is regarded as an epic due to following qualities: Grand Theme : Savitr...

Arvind Ghosh is popular as Sri Aurobindo. He is a well-known Indian philosopher, sage, yogi, patriot and freedom fighter. As a poet too he has left an indelible mark on the world of literature. Arvind Ghosh is an excellent mystic poet who is often appreciated for his mystical poetry. His mystic poetry transcends conventional boundaries and the poet stands as a luminary in the world of mystical poetry. His poetic works are imbued with a profound sense of mysticism and spiritual insight. Sri Aurobindo's early poetry reflects his longing for a spiritual awakening. The works like The Rishi and The Golden Light suitably reflect this longing. The Rishi portrays the union of the individual soul with the universal spirit. Arvind’s works reflect the internal realms of consciousness, the celestial and the perpetual quest for truth. His Savitri is his most celebrated work. It is an epic mystical poem. It consists of over 24,000 lines. In this epic Sri Aurobindo has highlighted the...