Introduction and Poets

INTRODUCTION TO COMMONWEALTH POETRY

In the nineteenth century , Britain built an empire right round the globe. The language of administration in the colonies was English. The British taught English to the natives to work in the administration. As a result a group of English educated emerged in the British colonies. Some of them mastered the language in such a way as to be able to become creative writers in it.

After the colonies won their freedom in the twentieth century, they formed an association called The Commonwealth with Britain as as the head of it for their security. The creative writers in English from these countries came to be known as Commonwealth writers and those who wrote, poetry were known as Commonwealth Poets.

The newly independent former colonies of Britain had their own problems. One of the biggest the Commonwealth writers encountered was their cultural schizophrenia or the split within themselves. Britain had tried to impose its own western culture along with the language on the natives. The natives had their own culture instilled into not only their conscious self but even in their unconscious depth. As a result there was a cultural rift in these men. They found themselves torn between the two cultures or aliens in their own culture. The Commonwealth Writers  mostly focused on this psychological problem in their writings.

POETRY OF DEREK WALCOTT

He is a Caribbean islander. He was born in the Caribbean island of St. Lucas in 1930. St. Lucas was a British colony. Walcott's  grandfathers were white  and the grandmothers were black. His father died when he was young but mother was keen to give him a good education. As a result Derek  was able to enter the university of the  West Indies in Jamaica.

In 1953, Derek moved to Trinidad, another of Caribbean islands. He published his first anthology of poetry when he was eighteen. In the year 1992 , Derek Walcott was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. Being of mixed blood, Derek Walcott was a cultural hybrid. This is a problem that other common wealth poets like Gabriel Okara and Wole Soyinka, both Nigerian poets, had to suffer from.

In the poem '' A Far Cry From Africa'', Walcott combines two problems: they are the problems of colonial violence and stance of a cultural hybrid like him in relation to that violence.

POETRY OF NISSIM EZEKIEL

He was born in India, to Jewish parents and was educated in England. As a result he too is a writer who suffers from cultural rootlessness in India. By birth he is Jewish. Jews are very strict about their own ways of life and behavior. They stick to their  race. English education further alienates Ezekiel from Indian culture. Naturally therefore Ezekiel is like fish out of water in India.

His poetry of course reflects Indian life: its beliefs, its superstitions and mores. But we find Ezekiel is not at home with these practices in India. His poem '' Night Of The Scorpion'' is a good example.

POETRY OF SITAKANT MAHAPATRA

He is an Indian poet. He was educated at the University of Cambridge and is a scholar in Anthropology. His work in Anthropology brought him in contact with primitive cultures and tribes of India. He has collected, edited and published eight anthologies of oral poetry from these tribes.

Mahapatra was the winner of several literary awards. Some  of them are; Janadhipathi Award; Sahitya Academy Award, Orisa Academy Award and Soviet Land Nehru Award. They were all Indian Awards. He is also  a fellow of the International  Academy of poets at Cambridge.