Question- Write the development of Indian English Poetry, since the 1980s.

Answer - 

In the history of Indian English Poetry, M.K. Naik classifies the evolution of Indian English poetry from the beginning of the 19th century to the end of the 20th century into three distinct phases: The Romantic Dawn', The Modern its Noontidi' and 'Younger Accents: Modernism - 11' (Naik, 7-8). These phases, as explained by Naik are well known to literary historians, scholors and academics such a distinctions, as evident in his study, provides a panoramic view of the development of Indian English poetry based on the attitude of the poets belonging to different periods of Indian history. The Indian poets in the first phase adopted a romantic sensibility, quite similar to their British counterparts. They were primarily influenced by the Romantic Poetry of words worth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats and Byron. These British poets provided suitable modi's for poets like Henry Derozio, Michael Modhusuden Dutt, Toru Dutt, Sarojini Naidu and Sri Aurobindo, to imitate and create poems bearing the mark of British imagination. While explaining the attitude of the early Indian English poets, who belonged to the 'Romantic Dawn' phase, Naik clearly elucidates the basic tendency of these poets : "Almost all the early Indian English poets considered so for had taken the British Romantic poets as their models; in spite of this, they had failed to produce genuine Romantic poetry, because, in a sense, they were not 'romantic' enough, i.e. they merely copied the external featured of Romantic Poetry, missing the core together". These poets as evident from the list mentioned above belonged to the pre-independence period. Among these poets, Toru Dutt and Sri Aurobindo made sincere attempts to write poems based on Indian myths and legends, which rendered a spirit of originality to their creative works, though they could not completely resist the imitative mode of writing poems. The second phase. The Modernist Noontide' indicates the point of view of the post-independince Indian English poets. The poets of this phase rejected the romantic model of writing poetry and developed a modernist outlook. Following the themes and styles of modern British poets the poets of the 1950s and the 1960s, acquired a typical modern perspective of representing reality. Naik observes this phenomenon by stating the change in the source of inspiration for the poets of the post independence era: "But it is true that poetic taste had changed. The Indian poet is no longer prone to deriving his light from Shelley and Tennyson. His masters now are T.S. Eliot and W.H. Audin" (Naik, 52). This derivative modernism influenced the creative spirit of the Indian English poets as they imbibed all the major traits of British Modernism. Aspects like, 'alienation syndrome', urbanity', 'obessive sense of failure, 'exile, pessimism intertextuality and a tendency to experiment with the form and the content of poetry, figure distinctly in the poetry of this phase (Naik,53). Nissim Ezekiel, Dom Moraes, Adil Jussawala, A.K. Ramanujan. P. Lal, Gieve Patel, A.K. Mehrotra and Pritish Nandy are the representative poets of the Modernist phase. In fact, the first significant collection of modern Indian English poetry, Modern Indo-Anglian Poetry (1959), edited by P.Lal and K.R.Rao, addresses the poets of the modernist phase as the 'new poets:' According to Lal, the poets of this phase must write poems that, works must deal in concrete terms with concrete experience", and such works must also, "be free from propaganda".

Another poet whose contribution is unique in terms of his thematic representation of homosexual love is Hoshang Merchant. He is probable the first Indian poet to celebrate homosexuality by articulating his disive for another male partner, "Merchant's verse," as Naik opines, "is unique in the frank and uninhibited celebration of homosexual love... The poet records of varying moods and vicissitudes of homosexual love, its tragedies and its triumphs."

In the introduction of Indian Poetry in English (1993) Paranjape classifies the post-1980 poets as representative of Postmodernism'. Postmodernism seems to promise a variety of new devices including parody, pastiche, collage, intertentuality and diterary cennibalism of variety degrees. New poetry on thologies published in the twenty first centuary are prominently reflective of the panoramic dimension of Indian English poetry. Sudeep Sen's edited anthology, The Harper Collins Book of English Poetry (2012) is an excellent instance of showcasing the immensity and diversity of Indian English poetry. This anthology is a comprehensive one, as it contains the illushative poems of eighty five significant poets of the late twentiesh and early twenty first centuaries. A cursary look at the names of the poet end their poem indicets the vastness and flenibility of Indian English poetry. A broad range of themes including diaspore, cosmopolitanism, urbanity, Love, sex, body homosexuality, northeast landscape and culture and dalit identity has have now permeated the conon of English poetry. This obuiously theatre and this remark altest to the fact that his plays are original pieas bearing the mark of the author's sinces engagement with the listing and politics of India. During his career as a dromatist, cumimbhoy produced twenty nine play which deal with a variety as themes, reflecting his desire to infuse the spirit of authenticity of representation in the canon of Indian English drama. Natesaon Sharada Iyer acknowledges the contribution of currimbhoy by describing his ability to represent the contemporary society through diverse persepectives. He chose to with dramas because he left that this was the art form which as usual themes from contemporary Indian Society and women them into plays of artistic encellence. Hence, currimbhoy rescued Indian English drama from the shackles of initation and poor quality productions. He breathed a new life into the canon, reforming its nature and identify. The dramatists of the 1960s and the 1970s were inspired by the efforts of currimbhoy to write plays in English a phenomenon which accelerated the growth of the canon. Pratap Sharma, Nissim Frekiel, Guru Charan Das and Girish Karnad, are the important playwrights of the 1966s and 1970s and this plays are remarkable instences of original persepectives on Indian history, myths, socio-cultural scenarios and political ambience, Girish Kannad rose To eminence in the 1970s with plays like Tughlog (1972) and Hayauadana (1975). These plays reflest karnad's experimental mindrest as he fuses myth, history, politics and human psychology to create a complex thematic structure GuruCharan Das is also a significant dramatist of this period and his play, Larins Sahib (1970) offers an encellast perspective on the colonial history of Punjab during the time when Henry Lawrence visited India.

Many playwrights of the contemporary generative are receiving the alteration of a global audience. Girish Karnad, Mahesh Dattani, Manjula Padmanabhan, Rana Bose, and Guruchran Das, have earned the appreciation of drama crities, and they have also won several awards from reputed international institutes and agencies. Indian English plays are now performed in different countries, which was previously a very save phenomenon. There aspects indicate a bright future ahead, hoping that the canon achieves a protean structure like the other two major genres. However the only big challenge that the canon is probably encountering at the present moment is the influence of cyber culture with new kindly edition of novels and poetry arriving in the market, how can drama, which is meant for both reading and performance, negotiate with this new mode of culture? As a performative art, will drama lose its power to influence people directly? there indeed are vital questions, which will decide the future of Indian English drama.

The whole book has been divided into two broad units: Contemporary Indian English poetry, and contemporary Indian English Drama. The first unit contains nine critical essays on contemporary Indian English poetry, focusing primarily on new emerging aspects in the canon. The essays in this unit are further classified into four different sections. In the first section. "Changing Canons : Some Reflections", the essay of Ajay Kumar discusses the approaches of modern Indian English poets mainly foursing on the empirical approach used by Arun Kolatkar, A.K. Ramanujan, and R. Parthasarathy, These modern poets kumar argees, have used the empirical approach to trace the roots of their culture. The second section, "Representation of the Nation and the Diaspora", presents four insightful critical pieces. Sajal Kumar Bhattacharya's essay, "My piecemeal shelters exploring the Diasporis Womans voice in selected poems of Meena Alexender", offers remarkable perspective on the poems of Meena Alexander by primarily focusing on the representation of the conditions of diasporic women. Bhattacharya believes that Alexander's poems brilliantly represent the voice of womens, attempting in the process to construct a womens aesthetics.

The second unit of this book, contemporary Indian English drama (1980-2012). Contains six essays, which have been further classified into three different sections based on the thematic aspects. The first section of this unit, "Changing canons : Some Reflections", Presents three insightful essays, Anita Singh's essay, "Re-drawing Boundaries of the canon: Indian English women Dramatists", provides a comprehensive survey of Indian English women Dramatists, who according to singh, have made attempts of redefine the canon of Indian English drama. Analyzing the contribution of the women dramatists of India, Singh identifies the important links between these dramatists, to examine the method of their dramatic composition.

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