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Ravinder Gargesh Dept. of Linguistics Univ. of Delhi, Delhi 1.0 Background: The use of English for poetic purposes is not a recent phenomenon. In fact in the 1 9th and early 20th centuries it was the dominant form, though it had echoes of the British Romantic and ictorian traditions. traditions. It is only after the 19!0"s, i.e., after independence that it #egan to ac$uire a distinct Indian %oice through greater inno%ations and creati%ity. The inno%ations it must #e ac&nowledged ha%e #een present in fiction from the 19'0"s. The choice of English, an (associate official language", or at #est a second language, as a medium for creati%e purposes has distur#ed many. B. Ra)an *1992+ 9- feels that English is a language imposed upon India rather than nourished #y its soil/ while there are at least 1! ma)or nati%e Indian languages nourished #y the soil. In fact, Buddhade%a Bose was the first to emphatically state that in postindependence India there is no place for creati%e writing in English. hat distur#s Bose the most is that while Indian poets composing in English in 19th century tried to #ecome English poets in e%ery sense of the term/, the contemporary oets insist that they are Indians writing in English/ *193'+ 4-. 5e finds this preposterous for English is not an Indian #ut a foreign language which is unsuita#le for poetic e6pression. 7a%id 8cutchion too holds a similar %iew and percei%es the use of English as a #arrier against real insights into the Indian mind and circumstances/ *19'+ 1!-. :nother accusation is that Indian writers in English write to suit a foreign audience. :n ideological twist is also gi%en #y some who are apprehensi%e of the position of power of the English language, or some who consider it solely as a language for intellectual discourse. :nyhow, in order to refute Buddhade# Bose, . ;al had sent a $uestionnaire to hundreds of practising poets in India writing in English. The large num#er of responses recei%ed has #een pu#lished #y ;al in his 8odern Indian oetry in English+ :n :nthology :nthology and a redo. The responses pro%ed at least that su#stantial creati%e wor& was going on in English in India. 5owe%er, most creati%e writers in English emphasi
- wrote ?one has to con%ey in a language not one"s own the spirit that is one"s own @ English is not really an alien language to us. It is the language of our intellectual ma&e up @ li&e Aans&rit and ersian were #efore, #ut not of our emotional ma&e up. e cannot write li&e the English, we should not. e can write only as Indians./ The parallel with ersian is apt. e Indians ha%e #een $uite good at adapting the language of our intellectual ma&e up for e6pressi%e purposes as well, #ut in the process the language gets nati%i'+'- %iews Indiani-, in his Indian oetry in English Today declares that English is a language of our own, yes, an Indian language, in which we can feel deeply, create create and con%ey e6periences and responses typically Indian./ : poet poet li&e =amla =amla 7as in her (Introduction" (Introduction" to The Cld layhouse layhouse and other oems oems *19'- is conscious conscious of Indian #ilingualism, for she says+
I spea& three languages, write in Two, dream in one. Ahe answers another o#)ection+
7on"t write in English, they said English is not your mother tongue, The language I spea& Becomes mine, its distortions, its $ueerness :ll mine, mine alone, it is halfEnglish, halfIndian, funny perhaps, #ut it is honest. It is human as I am human It %oices my )oys, my longing my hopes. *=amala 7as+ (Introduction"-
In fact the situation is $uite parado6ical, that IE poetry did not seriously #egin to e6ist till after the withdrawal of the British from India. It is only after independence that Indians #egan to ta&e greater freedom with the language and # egan shaping it into an effecti%e instrument to gi%e e6pression to their nati%e e6perience. :lso, another fact that needs to #e &ept in mind is that #efore independence the IE was not considered as part of the mainstream languages, #ut in the postindependence period its e6istence for creati%e purposes has #egun to #e recogni3+ 6iii- not on ly percei%es A:E as an additional linguistic arm/ in the culture of creati%ity, #ut also that the Aouth :sian creati%e writers showed a need for nati%i3+ 1-. 5e #elie%es that ati%i3+ 21-. The resultant %ariety of English is considered as an interference/ %ariety, since, in the second language %ariety used, there is a clear linguistic and cultural interference/ from the first language and culture of the users *i#id.+ 19-. The conte6tual inno%ations can #e identified at #oth descripti%e and pragmatic le%els. hile at the le%el of descripti%e analysis phonetic, phonological, le6ical, collocational and grammatical features can #e identified, at the pragmatic le%el occur historical and functional styles. Aince the user of the nonnati%e %ariety is a # ilingual, creati%ity is manifested in different &inds of (mi6ing", (switching", (alteration" and (transcreation" of codes. The nati%i3+ 131-. This is similar to Thum#oo"s *193+ i6- assertion that language is remade, where necessary, #y ad)usting the interior landscape of words in order to e6plore and mediate the permutations of another culture and en%ironment./
".0 ativi!ation in #$ %oetr&: It is #elie%ed that Indian poets composing in English in ostindependence India ha%e tried to esta#lish
the Indianness of English through their attempts to portray Indian realities. This in%ol%es a demonstration of their control and de6terity in using the language and in the process foregrounding English. The foregrounded language re%eals the inno%ation and creati%ity of the poets. The remaining part of this paper attempts to focus on the creati%e elements in Indian English poetry of the post independence period. It needs to #e pointed out in the #eginning that languages are part and parcel of the cultural semiotic whose signification pro%ide a distinct identity to a speech community. Their use of the language is intimately tied up with their sociocultural #eliefs and aspirations. R. arthasarthy, li&e all other Indian English poets is also acutely conscious of this and aptly states in his poetic idiom +
That language is a tree loses its color under another s&y *R. arthasarthy + (E6ile"-
In the process of nati%i9. )ollected 'oems *+,-*+.. .7elhi + C6ford Kni%ersity ress. anguly, 7r. :.B. ed. 19>4. %ndian 'oetry in "nglish # n uthology 7elhi + :tama Ram L Aons. upta, R.and =.=apoor eds. 1991. "nglish in %ndia # %ssues and 'roblems. 7elhi + :cademic Goundation. =achru, B. B. 19>. ;e6ical inno%ations in Aouth :sian English. In R. 8ohan ed. 19> + >0100. =achru, B.B. 19>'. The %ndiani/ation of "nglish # the "nglish language in %ndia. ew 7elhi + C6ford Kni%ersity ress. =achru, B.B. 19>3. =achru, B.B. 1990 =achru, B.B. 199. =achru, B.B. 2001. =achru, H. 199. =achru, H. =iong, T..etal =ulshrestha, .*ed.-19>0 +
The alchemy of "nglish # the spread$ functions$ and models (f non-native "nglishes. C6ford + ergamon ress. orld Englishes and applied linguistics. 0orld "nglishes 9.1+'20. orld Englishes 2000 + Resources for research and Teaching. In ;.E. Amith and 8.;. Gorman eds 199+ 2092!1. Cn ati%i11,2001. *ms-. ulture and argmentation. In ;.E. Amith and 8.;.Gorman Eds. 199+4> 3. ommunicati%e styles in orld Englishes. In T.E. =iong et al eds 23 2>4. riels # 1epartures 2 3eturns4 "ssays for "dwin Thumboo. C6ford Kni%ersity ress )ontemporary %ndian "nglish Verse # n "valuation 7elhi + :tlantic
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