The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets
Book Specification
Item Code: | IDD658 |
Author: | Ed. By. Arvind Krishna Mehrotra |
Publisher: | Oxford India Paperbacks |
Language: | English |
Edition: | 2003 |
ISBN: | 0195628675 |
Pages: | 200 |
Cover: | Paperback |
Other Details | 8.5" X 5.5" |
Weight | 210 gm |
Book Description
About the Book:
In this book, Mehrotra has put together an unusually sensitive selection of fine verse in English by some of his best contemporaries. Many of the poems chosen either present new facets of recognized faces, or deliberately differ from those repeatedly on offer in the more standard, mimic anthologies. An insightful and analytical commentary includes essential biographical information, and introduces each of the poets. Although brief, these introductory pieces are so well written as to be of interest in themselves.
The poets who appear in this anthology are Nissim Ezekiel, Jayanta Mahapatra, A.K. Ramanujan, Arun Kolatkar, Keki N. Daruwalla, Dom Moraes, Dilip Chitre, Eunice de Souza, Adil Jussawalla, Agha Shahid Ali, Vikram Seth, and Manohar Shetty.
A must for those interested in poetry, this book will also be appreciated by those who would like to know more about the poetic usage of English in contemporary India.
About the Author:
Arvind Krishna Mehrotra is a well-known poet, translator and critic-historian.
Excerpts from Reviews:
' the lengthy but absorbing introduction manifests a learned mind who's done enough spadework to undertake such a venture '
-Economic Times
'[Mehrotra's] brilliant introduction and notes on individual poets convey to us the complexities of their careers and imaginations, and give us a sense of a tradition of Indian verse in English '
-Times Literary Supplement
I could not have edited this anthology without the co-operation of its poets. They sent me such books of theirs as I did not possess, and made available their scattered prose writting and interview: my files are thick with newspaper clippings offerprits, photocopies. These became the basis of the indrouctiory notes in which, as far as possible, I try and describe the work of each poet in his own words. The criticism of Indian poety in English that has come out of our universities' English Department is both voluminous and of inferior quality, and is best left alone.
The footnotes and select bibliography, however, do not indicate some other debts: to Madhusudan Parsad, for the loan of two book; to Vandana, my wife, for her patience; to my editors and printer for their editorial care; and to Sara Rai and Smita Aggarwal for offering help when I needed it most.
PREFACE | xiii | |
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | xv | |
INTRODUCTION | 1 | |
NISSIM EZEKIEL | 9 | |
A Poem of Dedication | 13 | |
My Cat | 14 | |
For Love's Record | 14 | |
Case Study | 15 | |
Poet, Lover, Birdwatcher | 16 | |
Paradise Flycatcher | 17 | |
Two Images | 18 | |
After Reading a Prediction | 18 | |
JAYANTA MAHAPATRA | 20 | |
A Rain of Rites | 23 | |
I Hear My Fingers Sadly Touching an Ivory Key | 23 | |
Hunger | 24 | |
Hands | 24 | |
The Moon Moments | 25 | |
A Kind of Happiness | 26 | |
The Door | 27 | |
The Abandoned British Cemetery at Balasore | 27 | |
The Captive Air of Chandipur-on-Sea | 29 | |
Of that Love | 29 | |
The Vase | 30 | |
Days | 31 | |
Waiting | 32 | |
A.K. RAMANUJAN | 34 | |
The Striders | 38 | |
Breaded Fish | 38 | |
Looking for a Cousin on a Swing | 39 | |
Self-Portrait | 40 | |
Anxiety | 40 | |
Case History | 40 | |
Love Poem for a Wife. | 41 | |
The Hindoo: the Only Risk | 44 | |
Snakes and Ladders | 44 | |
On the Death of a Poem | 45 | |
Highway Stripper | 45 | |
Moulting | 49 | |
Chicago Zen | 49 | |
ARUN KOLATKAR | 52 | |
Woman | 56 | |
Suicide of Rama | 56 | |
Irani Restaurant Bombay | 57 | |
Crabs | 58 | |
Biograph | 60 | |
From Jejuri | ||
The Bus | 62 | |
Heart of Ruin | 63 | |
Chaitanya | 64 | |
A Low Temple | 64 | |
The Pattern | 65 | |
The Househoe Shrine | 65 | |
Manohar | 66 | |
Chaitanya | 66 | |
The Butterfly | 66 | |
A Scratch | 67 | |
Ajamil and the Tigers | 68 | |
Chaitanya | 70 | |
Between Jejuri and the Railway Station | 71 | |
The Railway Station | 72 | |
KEKI N. DARUWALLA | 76 | |
Hawk | 80 | |
The King Speaks to the Scribe | 82 | |
The Unrest of Desire | 84 | |
Wolf | 85 | |
Fish are Speared by Night | 86 | |
Chinar | 87 | |
Night Fishing | 87 | |
DOM MORAES | 88 | |
Autobiography | 92 | |
Words to a Boy | 93 | |
Two from Israel | 93 | |
Prophet | 96 | |
Key | 96 | |
From Interludes | ||
VII. Library | 97 | |
Sinbad | 98 | |
From Steles | ||
I. | The word works. The world doesn't | 98 |
II. | What is this adrift from Chile | 99 |
III. | On my stele, mark colours | 100 |
IV. | She in her youth arose | 100 |
V. | Time and the river, aflame | 101 |
VI. | Floes creak out of the north | 101 |
Future Plans | 102 | |
DILIP CHITRE | 103 | |
The Light of Birds Breaks the Lunatic's Sleep | 106 | |
From Travelling in a Cage | ||
2 | I Came in the middle of my life to a | 106 |
3 | The door I was afraid to open | 107 |
4 | All I hear is the fraying of the wind | 108 |
5 | I woke up and looked at my empty white bed | 108 |
6 | Where can I hide now in this | 109 |
7 | O quick knives curving into the core | 109 |
In Limbo | 110 | |
Pushing a Cart | 110 | |
Of Garlic and Such | 111 | |
The Felling of the Banyan Tree | 111 | |
Father Returning Home | 112 | |
Panhala | 113 | |
EUNICE DE SOUZA | 114 | |
Feeding the Poor at Christmas | 116 | |
Sweet Sixteen | 116 | |
Miss Louise | 117 | |
Forgive Me, Mother | 118 | |
For My Father, Dead Young | 118 | |
de Souza Prabhu | 119 | |
Women in Dutch Painting | 119 | |
She and I | 120 | |
Eunice | 120 | |
Advice to Women | 121 | |
For Rita's Daughter, Just Born | 121 | |
From Five London Pieces | ||
III. Meeting Poets | 122 | |
ADIL JUSSAWALLA | 123 | |
Land's End | 128 | |
Evening on a Mountain | 129 | |
Halt X | 129 | |
Bats | 130 | |
From Missing Person | ||
I.3 | A _______'s a giggle now | 131 |
I.6 | Black vamps break out of hell | 132 |
I.7 | In a brief clearing | 132 |
I.9 | He travels the way of devotion | 133 |
I.13 | Less time for kicks | 133 |
II.1 | No Satan | 134 |
II.2 | His hands were slavish | 134 |
II.5 | Few either/ors | 135 |
Nine Poems on Arrival | 136 | |
Freedom Song | 137 | |
Connection | 138 | |
AGHA SHAHID ALI | 139 | |
Postcard from Kashmir | 141 | |
Snowmen | 141 | |
Cracked Portraits | 142 | |
The Decca Gauzes | 144 | |
The Season of the Plains | 145 | |
The Previous Occupant | 147 | |
VIKRAM SETH | 148 | |
Guest | 151 | |
The Humble Administrator's Garden | 151 | |
Evening Wheat | 152 | |
The Accountant's House | 152 | |
From an 'East is Red' Steamer | 153 | |
Ceasing Upon the Midnight | 153 | |
Unclaimed | 155 | |
From The Golden Gate | 156 | |
Soon | 160 | |
MANOHAR SHETTY | 161 | |
Fireflies | 163 | |
Foreshadows | 163 | |
Gifts | 164 | |
Wounds | 164 | |
Domestic Creatures | 166 | |
Bats | 167 | |
Departures | 168 | |
Moving Out | 169 | |
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY | 171 | |
INDEX OF TITLES | 175 | |
INDEX OF FIRST LINES | 179 |