About Us: Ashvamegh Vol.II Issue.XXII November 2016 Ashvamegh Biharsharif, India [email protected], +91 7004831594 Editorial Board on Ashvamegh: Alok Mishra (Editor-in-Chief) Murray Alfredson (Sr. Editor) Dr. Shrikant Singh (Sr. Editor) Nidhi Sharma (Sr. Editor) Vihang Naik (Sr. Editor) Pooja Chakraborty (Editor) Anway Mukhopadhyay (Editor) Munia Khan (Editor) Dr. Sarada Thallam (Sr. Editor) D. Anjan Kumar (Sr. Editor) Ravi Teja (Editor) Advisory Panel on Ashvamegh: Dr. Swarna Prabhat Ken W Simpson N. K. Dar Alan Britt Ashvamegh is an online international journal of literary and creative writing. Publishing monthly, Ashvamegh has successfully launched its 22nd issue in November 2016 (this issue). Submission is open every day of the year. Please visit http://ashvamegh.net for more details. Find Ashvamegh on Facebook Twitter Website Table of Contents: Ashvamegh Vol.II Issue.XXII November 2016 Cover About Us Authors whose papers have been selected • Dr. Tarit Agrawal • Dr. Prakash Narain • Dr. Tukaram S Sawant • Pallavi Mishra • Neeti Agarwal • Neha Purohit • Karthiga KB & Dr. Isaac Jebastine • Ujawal Rathore • Ananth • MK Shamsudheen • Dr. Lalita Gupta & Dr. Lucky Gupta • Sayanti Mondal • Dipanvita Sehgal • MC Thenmozhi & Dr. Srinivasan • Mohini Kaushik Essays: • Hisham M Nazer • Neera Kashyap • Preeti Singh (note: you can download research articles and essays in a different non-fiction edition of the issue from the website) Find Ashvamegh on Facebook Twitter Website Ashvamegh: Vol–II: Issue XXII: November 2016 Alok Mishra: Editorial ISSN: 2454-4574 I don’t know if someone else in the past had said it or not, I think that literature is a fluid thing. If you think that literature is a phenomenon, then I will say that it keeps happening every single moment. If you that literature is a window, then I will say that the room you are talking about has only 4 large sized windows instead of the walls. What I want to say is that literature is just ‘that important’! We have lost one gem from our literature just some days ago – the legendary Leonard Cohen! Leonard Cohen was one my favourite poets alive. Not only a poet, he was also very famous for his songs and especially the way he used to sing them. The literary fraternity will surely miss the figure who just left us alive ‘a thousand kisses deep’. This weekend, the Ashvamegh Literature group on WhatsApp was discussing the topic ‘Global Literature’. Of course, the discussion was initiated by me and I wanted the academicians to think in a certain way which goes against the classic notion that world literature and global literature are somewhat same. How much I could succeed and how valid my arguments were can be traced here: “Discussion on Global Literature in Ashvamegh WhatsApp Group” I have also another great news to convey. Some days ago, Ashvamegh has organized a poetry competition on our WhatsApp platform. The winners and all other entries can be seen here: Ashvamegh poetry Competition on WhatsApp. The theme of the competition was sympathy, and worth mentioning that we had a great deal of discussion the poems submitted. That was good to see. I wish best to all the poets, authors and scholars to be published in this issue. We can surely make things happen! Keep on writing and reading! Best wishes for the coming days, Alok Mishra Ashvamegh: Vol–II: Issue XXII: November 2016 Agrawal: Modern sensibility: meaning & concept ISSN: 2454-4574 Modern Sensibility: Meaning and Concept With Special Reference to the Poetry of Today By – Dr. Tarit Agrawal Introduction to the Author: At present, working as assistant professor in English in Govt. Degree College, Pulwara, Bar, Jhansi, U.P., Dr. Tarit Agrawal has written many articles in international peer reviewed journals, presented papers in National seminars. A social activist, pedantic scholar and poet at heart, he is a good human being who always pines for broadening the horizon of knowledge through new researches and novel thoughts. Abstract Modern Poetry is the real mirror of twentieth century life. It analyses our politics, our ideology and economic system and so on and so forth. The poetry of today is not the poetry of sun-set, or of twilight, or of clouds; it is a bitter and faithful expression of day-to-day actions and experiences of man living in a society which seems to have absolutely no integration of values, no immediate relief from pains one continually suffers from and no hiding place from the chaos, frustration and confusion of everyday life; it is the poetry of man’s struggles, his labour, is misfortunes. It would not be wrong to comment that Modern Poetry is no longer a Utopian contemplation of the region of dream and idealism. It has a distinct program for the regeneration of dwindled humanity. It seldom takes into consideration the glamour of old romance though in very rare cases, we do come across the streaks of moon-light and shadowy figures of knights. Dream of Romance is shattered by the grim realities of life. The modern poet is a rebel and he revolts against the present artificial social structure of the world, against the unequal and unjust economic system that makes a few chosen persons enjoy and roll in wealth, while under it, hundreds of millions of workers and labourers live semi-naked, half-fed and unsheltered. As a matter of fact, modern sensibility does not allow to go into the realm of the past or to peep into future. It inevitably presents the present with a true representation of what actually happens and what it actually means. Briefly speaking, the meaning of sensibility has been understood differently during different volumes of time, but modern sensibility, with reference to modern poetry, is what helps us the most to understand the true picture of the twentieth century world we live in. Key-Words: Modern Poetry, Modern Sensibility, Ideology, Dwindled Humanity, Utopian. 1 Ashvamegh: Vol–II: Issue XXII: November 2016 Agrawal: Modern sensibility: meaning & concept ISSN: 2454-4574 Sensibility may be described as a juxtaposition of a man’s experience and the nature of his responsiveness towards it or in other words, man’s sensibility may be described as the outcome of his positive or negative attitude towards whatever experiences he has in his practical or theoretical life. Man is a social creature meaning that he is bound to live in this social atmosphere, no matter to what extent he likes it and to what measure he dislikes it. He has many experiences from such a society and through the reasoning faculty of his mind, he makes a show of his response towards those experiences and the result that comes out of it may be described as his sensibility. Thus, sensibility is something which is definitely related to his practical life but at the same time, apart from his practical life, he has a number of imaginative experiences or the experiences which are related to his own inner self and if a man uses his scruples to know whether he is permitted by his reason to justify such experiences or not, and through this, if he comes to any conclusion, the same can be described as his sensibility and surely such a sensibility is something which is related to his theoretical or speculative life. It would not be appropriate to relate sensibility to the capacity for having the feelings and experiences only for oneself but the term refers to a capacity of identifying with and responding to the feeling and experiences of others too, and to respond to the beautiful. In this sense, the meaning of the term sensibility seems to be paradoxical to the theory propounded by Hobbes(A) – a famous exponent of the seventeenth century stoicism that man is self-centered and always activated by his own self-interests. The sermons and philosophical writings of the early eighteenth century give the confirmation for the inappropriateness of Hobbes’ theory by claiming that man is a replica of philanthropy and thereby, always wishes the success and good luck of others. In this respect, we can obviously mention that the term sensibility refers to a tendency of feeling the miseries and catastrophes of others with inward pain. During the eighteenth century literary atmosphere, sensibility declined into sentimentality. It became “a pejorative term applied, in a general sense, to an excess of emotion to an occasion, or in a more limited sense, to overindulgence in the ‘tender’ emotions of pathos and sympathy”.1 In other words, the term sensibility seems to exhibit a propensity for the luxury of grief. In this respect, the following lines deserve to be quoted: “The term (sensibility) became popular in the eighteenth century when it acquired the meaning of ‘susceptibility of tender feelings’; thus, a capacity not for feeling sorry for oneself so much as being able to identify with and respond to the sorrows of others – and to respond to the beautiful. This quality of empathy was probably a reaction against seventeenth century stoicism and Hobbes’ theory that a man is innately selfish and motivated by self-interest and the power drive. In sermons, essays, fiction and philosophical writings (in the early eighteenth C.), it was averred on the contrary that man was innately benevolent and thus wished others well. The Earl of Shaftsbury”s Characteristics (1711) proclaimed this view. In the periodical The Prompter (1735), a writer defended the human attitude that is not content merely with good natured action but feel the misery of others with inward pain’. This was deservedly termed ‘sensibility. By mid-century, such feelings were an accepted part of social ethics and public morality. It was a sign of good breeding and good manners 1 A Glossary of Literary Terms, M.H.