Poetry As History: a Pragmatic Study of North-East Poetry in English and in English Translation
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Poetry as History: A Pragmatic Study of North-East Poetry in English and in English Translation A Thesis Submitted To Sikkim University In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Champa Chettri Department of English School of Languages and Literature July, 2019 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT These five years have been a long and arduous journey and I must say I have not made it here on my own. The one person I owe it all to is my supervisor Dr. Irshad Gulam Ahmed, Professor, Department of English, Sikkim University whose sympathetic guidance, ungrudging gift of his time, patience, meticulous perusal of my work and his unfaltering support has made this thesis see the light of the day. I am much indebted to Dr. Rosy Chamling, Head, Department of English, Sikkim University for motivating me to complete my work on time. My special gratitude to Dr. Ram Bhawan Yadava for his suggestions, words of inspiration, and helping me with the referencing work. Dr. Parvinder Kaur and Ms Abrona Lee Pandi for their support and encouragement. I am indebted to Professor AC Chandel, Librarian Sikkim Central University and Dr Manoj Rana, Assistant Librarian, North Eastern Hill University Central Library for providing me help and showing me ways for acquiring materials needed for this research. My profoundest gratitude to the three poets, Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih, Robin S Ngangom and Temsula Ao for painstakingly answering my queries and clearing confusions in the reading of their poetry. My heartfelt gratitude to all those writers and scholars whose writings have helped and inspired me in various ways. CONTENTS Chapter I Introduction 1-35 Chapter 2 Colonisers, Missionaries and the North-East People 36-68 Chapter 3 Poetry and Ecology: Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih 69-123 Chapter 4 Voices of Resistance: Robin S Ngangom 124-174 Chapter 5 Poetry and the Representation of Cultural Decay: Temsula Ao 175-223 Chapter 6 Conclusion 224-237 Work cited 238-257 Bibliography 258-263 ABSTRACT This thesis entitled “Poetry as History: A Pragmatic Study of North-East Poetry in English and in English Translation” has attempted to probe into the diverse forms of existing contemporary issues represented by the Northeastern poets in their poetry and analyze how that poetry represents itself, eventually to become a history of Northeastern part of India. It has focused on the three selected North-Eastern poets from three states namely, Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih (Meghalaya), Robin.S.Ngongom (Manipur), and Temsula Ao (Nagaland) and their poetry and has managed to demonstrate how these poets have mastered the art of witness thereby becoming the recorders of history of their place and time. It has examined the causes and consequences of numerous socio-political issues confronting the poet. This thesis has tried to establish the notion of history as a record of objective and empirically verifiable events as witnessed by the poets. Since the inception of human civilization, poetry meant imagination with exaggerated words, written to flatter, eulogize, motivate and express one’s emotions, which is not the case in the recent times. It is something more than that. From the dawn of the 20th century poets have realized that the function of poetry should be to address the reality of the time. Thus, they started writing on the current situation they were witnessing. That is how poetry of witness was born. In the past poetry did address issues of war and violence but in a very different way. It was a jingoistic representation of an imagined situation and the warrior was rarely the poet. The first hand experience of war and violence was rarely the subject-matter of poetry. As a matter of fact poetry was filled with the glories of war, the heroic acts, and praise for the hero right from the beginning of human civilization but portrayal of stark reality and mirroring of events as they really take place is a recent phenomenon. In short, poetry of witness has an unequivocal social message. It is in this kind of poetry that authentic history lives because the poet writes about what he has personally gone through and not what he has merely imagined. This type of poetry emerged and gathered currency in the North-Eastern part of India from 1980s onward. The distinctive feature of Northeastern state is its poetry and their uniqueness lies in the representation of contemporary events and problems like ecological degradation, corruption, loss of identity and cultural values, conflict, migration and violence. Their writings are compact, lucid and present the issues as they occur. Poets like Robin S Ngangom, Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih, Temsula Ao, write what they encounter. Although they hail from different states of Northeast India, and their agendas vary, one thing they stick to is writing what they have witnessed. Most of their poems seem like prose written with absolute clarity and free from any kind of ambiguity so that the message to the reader is not lost or diluted. To the natives of the Northeast there is history behind every sphere of the natural world. Thus, a keen sense of history characterizes their collective consciousness. Although the writers from this region have produced a commendable body of literature that includes most of the literary forms in the last few decades it is poetry that has remained faithful to the contemporary changing reality and stood out as a true historical narrative. Most of them write in regional languages and these writings are being recently translated into English. Since the poets in question write about terrorism, ethnic clashes, insurgency, human rights abuses, environmental and ecological concerns, erosion of tribal values, displacement and the corruption their work has a distinct identity within Indian English language poetry. They declare in various interviews that they write to inform and their writings are inspired by the events happenings around them. Given this, there is only one conclusion that one may draw from the above discussion and that is their poetry with its documentary and evidentiary nature is history. When a poem depicts an event without exaggerating or delimiting it and with a sole aim of recording and spreading the message, it can be called history and the approach becomes pragmatic. Pragmatic here refers to taking up a study by identifying and recognizing the existing problem. The thesis has been divided into six chapters which are as follows: 1. Introduction- The first chapter casts a cursory glance at the English as well as Indian national scenario of poetry to see how it has changed over the passage of time from being subjective and fictional, to objective and pragmatic. It has talked about the Poetry of Witness and its influence on the works of Northeastern poets and has also introduced the concept of history and its significance for Northeastern poetry. 2. Colonisers, Christian Missionaries and the Northeast People- This chapter has discussed and explored the relationship between colonisers, missionaries and the Northeast people. It has attempted to delve into the manner in which the tribal people of the region were affected by the process of colonisation and proselytisation. 3. Poetry and Ecology: Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih- The third chapter of the thesis focuses on ecological concerns as represented in the poems of Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih. It seeks to examine the poet’s treatment of the relationship between man and environment/nature in Shillong. It further looks into the issue of ecological violence and injustice meted out by human beings to nature, thereby causing a serious threat to the ecology of Shillong. 4. Voices of Resistance: Robin S Ngangom- This chapter deals with the representation of violence, conflict, corruption and problems of migration in the poems of Robin S. Ngangom. The chapter further shows how the poet has raised his voice against the ongoing problems and conflicts thereby creating history through the medium of his work and how Northeast poetry as represented by Robin often emerges as a diatribe, a tirade. 5. Poetry and the Representation of Cultural Decay: Temsula Ao- This chapter attempts to show how Temsula Ao takes upon herself the task of representing cultural death, loss of identity, myth and folklore of Ao community of Nagaland in her poetry which is deeply rooted in her personal experiences. 6. Conclusion: This chapter sums up the findings, limitations, contributions, and further scope of this research. It highlights the various issues raised in the above chapters in terms of their relation to the discourse of history. It is hoped that this project has succeeded in some measure in opening up new horizons of interpretation and understanding creating scope for fresher insights into this relatively neglected domain of poetry and contribute to the appreciation of Northeastern poets and their significance in their society and in the world at large. Chettri 1 CHAPTER I Introduction Poetry is derived from the Greek word poiesis which means to make or to create. It is the predecessor of all other literary genres; hence said to be the earliest form of art. It was used as a medium to narrate heroic tales, expressed emotions, feelings, thoughts and ideas in a specific way. Poetry was one among the other important sources of learning during the ancient times, through which stories and fables were recited and passed from one generation to another. From its beginning, it was used to preserve historical events, and the oral stories of the earlier era. The origin of poetry is still debatable and based on various surmises. Therefore, dating the exact time of poetry is difficult as it was transmitted orally in its early phases and was penned down at a very late stage. Epic of Gilgamesh (2100 BC) is considered to be an ancient surviving poetical work.