"INDIANNESS IN THE POETRY OF

NISSIM EZEKIEL"
Shri. Y.S. Kashikar
Head & Lecturer in Dept. of English
Arts & Science College, Kurha.
y.kashikar@yahoo.com

" Nationality in Literature is good because it leads to universality and its absence to triviality "

Post independence era brought a change in mindset and number of poets in the field of

Indian English Literature. New trends, new subjects, new forms are introduced and accepted.

New poets have different things to say. They have varieties-variety of approaches, fresh subjects

& aspects. But one thing is common in them i.e. their Indianness - their attachment to land,

people, culture , customs, rituals, moreover to problems and issues related with nation. Their

Indianness may take several forms and shapes and may appear in a work of art in diverse ways-

sometimes obvious, sometime subtle. Modern India is a synthesis of many cultural cross-

currents. And Indian English writers are conscious of it. Here in this paper, I have tried to focus

on "Indianness" in one of the major Indian English poets i.e. Nissim Ezekiel (1924-2004)

II

Nissim Ezekiel is one of the most important names among the Indian English poetry. He

reveals a consistent commitment to the craft, authenticity of articulation and sincerity of purpose.

He gave an urban touch to poetry. This change in poetry (a touch of urbanity) has proved so

crucial that he has come to be considered not merely a major poet but a major influence on the

practicing poets.

Being a Jew, he is natural outsider. But circumstances and his own decisions relate him to

India. He is a person who knows people of India fully well. He states his national identity

honestly.

"India is simply my environment. A man can do something for and in environment by

being fully what he is, by not withdrawing from it . I have not withdrawn from India" (Ten

Twentieth Century Indian poets ; R. Parthasarthy Oxford University Press. 1999).

His major themes are the Indian Contemporary sence, modern urban life and spiritual values,

different characters in Indian socio-cultural milieu but his poetry basically grows from his own

life and experience. He is a poet of the city Bombay, a poet of the body and explorer of the

1
lybyrinths of mind. In "The Unfinished Man", Ezekiel presents the predicament of present day

life. It is the redemption of the modern man who is caught in the clamour and marsh of the city.

In "Morning walk" he describes the problems, disease of barbaric city. He writes-

"Barbaric city sick with slums/ Deprived of seasons, blessed with rains".

He admits that he is part of India and he tries to explain his commitment through his poems. In

"Background casually," he honesty confesses.

"I have made my commitments now./ This is one: to stay where I am ,

As others choose to give themselves./ In some remote and backward place"

Even his concept of the act of poetic creation comes close to the traditional view. Just as lovers

and birdwatchers wait, the poet has to wait for apt words. Consciously or unconsciously he

surrenders himself to divine will.

Nissim Ezekiel is aware of Indian social reality. His poems are based on reality. He shows

an awareness of confused thoughts and speeches, slogans, traditional idioms in his poetry. His

awareness is a grateful contribution to Indianness . He exploits the common tongue that is widely

used unconsciously throughout India. His observation on habits and manners of Indian speaker

is equally remarkable . His poems "Very Indian Poems In Indian English", "Goodbye Party for

Miss Pushpa T.S." , "The Professor " prove the point The use of the present continuous tense for

the simple present tense, un-English collocation of lexical items and literal translation of phrases

and Idioms are the common errors of the native Indian speaker and all these errors are minutely

observed and perfected pointed out in his poems. In his poem "Good bye Party For Miss Pushpa

T.S." ,the narrator uses English in wrong manner . He says -

"Friends,

Our dear sister

Is departing for foreign

in two three days"

Even the speaker uses the verb of cognition, sensation, possessing in gerund form which is

unaccepted in standard English.

"Miss Pushpa is smiling and smiling even for no reason

But simply because she is feeling."

Again the speaker used the verb " to remember " in gerund from which is wrong. While in the

poem "The professor" the narrator says. -

"If you are coming again this side by chance / Visit please my humble residence also."

2
It is unmistakably Indian speaker's jargon who uses English in defiance of the rules of idiom &

grammar. It does not mean that only Indian speakers use such language; rather the jargon is heard

all over the sub continent where English is not mother tongue. Here in it, we find the Indianness

that Ezekiel has caught and expressed. Even he used irony to point out it. His "Hymns To

Darkness" contains the nature of ironic comments on common saying.

"The darkness has its secrets / Which light does not Know "

His "Poster Poems" contain maxims from ironic point of view in epigrammatic manner.

"Crocodile tears are / Unknown to crocodiles."

In "Latter Day Psalms" (1982), he talks to God as if one talks to friend. There is a tone of

rational irony and humour. He has used conversational technique in this poem. In another poem

" Morning Prayer" he prays God to grant him kinship with the sky air, earth , fire and sea. This

religions favour can be found only in Indian poets. It is his another trait which envinces

Indianness that we find in many of his poems.

Nissim Ezekiel is not only concern with himself but also with other people of India. He

has a genuine concern for the welfare of his native people. He has examined the people of India ,

their problems, their natures, even their approaches and solutions to problems, their superstitions

and has tried to project it with minute details in his poetry. The poem " The Night of Scorpion"

is the superb example of it . In it, he identifies himself with the simple-minded, superstitious

village youth whose mother was stung by a scorpion on a rainy night . The peasants and villagers

gathered. They came like" swarms of flies and buzzed the name of God a hundred times" They

searched for the scorpion but it was not found. They were disappointed. They thought that the

poison in the patient's body would circulate as the scorpion moves on the ground. They were

superstitious folk. So they prayed. They believed in "next-birth", "hell-heaven", "sin and good

deeds," After their prayers, a kind of satisfaction is found on their faces. It is interesting to note

that the folk believed in superstitions instead of in modern medical science. In the crowd, we find

a man of science who tried hard to save the life of the mother. He was narrator's father. He was

sceptic and rationalist. He used herbs , hybrid and poured paraffin upon the bitten toe of the

mother. The father worked for long time and saved her life. On one hand, the father represents

the intellectual world or people who are conscious of modern sciences and help the suffering

people; on the other hand, the peasants represent simple world of innocent , superstitious

people . Instead of giving proper treatment to her, the peasants began to blame her destiny . But

in the world of superstition, a beautiful humanism comes out from the mouth of mother -

3
 "Thank God the scorpion picked on me /and spared my children."

Nissim Ezekiel also reports on the present condition of India . His reports on the flood- affected

people is so perfect and minute that we get entire picture before our mental eye. In "The truth

About The Floods" he reports on the hunger and misery of the flood affected people . He writes-

"All the houses had collapsed / Many were washed away "

He heard the wailing of hungry children and found an atmosphere of despair & chaos in villages.

He has a sense of reality and has poetic sensibility to transmit reality into poetry. His approach to

reality gives one courage to face the dark side of life.

Ezekiel's greatest contribution to modern Indian English poetry lies in his attempt to

recreate Indian characters in new situation He produces his characters as they appear in their real

life. Some time it is funny, sometime ironic He uses colloquial and conventional language for

this purpose. His poems like " Healers" "The professor" " Irani Restaurant Instruction" "Good

bye Party for Miss Pushpa T.S." prove the point. In "The Patriot ", he has tried to present the

Indian characters who speak English in an un-English manner. The conversation is typically

Indian & language is suitable to create desirable effects.

III

From above discussion, we may conclude that the greatness of Ezekiel lies in his

Indianness- his deeply rooted attachment to the land, Indian people, their mind, the faulty

un-English tongue, Indian characters in real situations, their problems of "barbaric city", their

superstitions, their method of working , their mental dispositions. But it is certain that the poet

always tries to give message of humanity through his poems. I would like to conclude the paper

with his message from his poem "Enterprise".

"Our deeds were neither great nor rare

home is where , we have to gather grace " .

References: -

Iyengar K. R. Srinivasa; Indian Writing in English, Sterling Publication Pvt. Ltd. (2001)

Parthasarthy R; Ten Twentieth Century Indian Poets, Oxford University Press (1999)