Journal of Advances in Developmental Research
E-ISSN: 0976-4844
•
Impact Factor: 9.71
A Widely Indexed Open Access Peer Reviewed Multidisciplinary Bi-monthly Scholarly International Journal
Plagiarism is checked by the leading plagiarism checker 
Call for Paper
Volume 16 Issue 2
2025
Indexing Partners
The Lingering Shadow: The Colonial Legacy in Contemporary Indian English Poetry:
| Author(s) | Dr.Neeta Mathur |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
| Abstract | This paper examines the enduring influence of the British colonial legacy on the aesthetic, linguistic, and thematic landscapes of contemporary Indian English Poetry (IEP). Far from being a mere historical footnote, the colonial encounter inaugurated a complex linguistic and cultural inheritance that shapes modern Indian poetic expression. This analysis focuses on three primary dimensions: the linguistic dilemma of adopting the English language; the thematic preoccupation with identity, alienation, and cultural rootlessness; and the decolonizing strategies employed by contemporary poets to subvert inherited power structures. By analyzing the works of seminal figures like Nissim Ezekiel and A.K. Ramanujan, alongside newer voices who actively challenge the canonical gaze, the paper argues that the colonial legacy is not simply a burden, but a dialectical resource that enables a sophisticated articulation of the postcolonial Indian experience. Keywords:Colonial Legacy, Indian English Poetry (IEP), Postcolonialism, Orientalism, 1. Introduction: The Postcolonial Poetic Inheritance The emergence and evolution of Indian English Poetry (IEP) are inextricably tied to the history of British colonialism, a historical event that fundamentally altered India’s educational and linguistic landscape, notably through policies like Macaulay's Minute. Beginning with figures known as Indo-Anglian poets, who often employed English to imitate distant Romantic or Victorian poetic modes, the tradition underwent a decisive transformation in the post-Independence era. The contemporary period, beginning approximately in the 1950s with the rise of Nissim Ezekiel, marked a crucial shift: the conscious domestication and re-invention of the English language to express purely Indian, often urban, sensibilities, moving beyond mere imitation to ironic self-awareness and localized critique. The core premise of this research is that the colonial legacy operates not merely as historical background, but as a persistent, active structural force within IEP. This inheritance created a linguistic paradox: it provided the language necessary for a global literary platform while simultaneously burdening the poet with questions of authenticity and cultural displacement. This legacy manifests as a persistent tension between language and location, tradition and modernity, and self-perception versus external, Orientalist categorization. Understanding this dynamic is essential, as the colonial experience created the very space in which this poetry could be written. This paper is structured to explore this engagement in detail, demonstrating how contemporary IEP addresses the linguistic challenge, internalizes the thematic consequences, and ultimately employs decolonizing strategies to subvert and transcend its inherited shadow, turning the master's tongue into a unique tool for postcolonial self-expression and cultural assertion. 2. The Linguistic Dilemma: Adopting the Master's Tongue The most visible, and perhaps most debated, aspect of the colonial legacy is the choice of the English language itself. As early as the mid-20th century, writers grappled with the inherent contradiction of using a foreign language to express native experiences. 2.1. The Burden of Borrowed Vocabulary For many early post-Independence writers, the use of English was viewed with suspicion—a 'borrowed robe' incapable of carrying the weight of Indian culture. Writers felt compelled to justify their linguistic choice. However, contemporary poets moved past this defense mechanism, choosing instead to wrestle the language into an Indian shape. They achieved this by: • Indianizing Syntax: Injecting vernacular rhythms, sentence structures, and speech patterns into the English verse (e.g., using Indian inversions or direct translations of idioms). • Lexical Infiltration: Incorporating regional words (Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, etc.) into the English text, often without italics or explanation, thereby forcing the language to absorb the local culture. • The Metaphorical Use of English:Nissim Ezekiel's poetry, particularly in his famous "Very Indian Poems in Indian English," satirizes the stilted, literal, and sometimes comical use of English by Indian speakers, turning the language's imperfect adaptation into a distinct, self-aware poetic voice. The legacy here is one of appropriation: transforming the linguistic tool of the colonizer into an instrument of self-definition, thereby de-sanctifying and democratizing the language. 2.2. The Advantage of Linguistic Dislocation Paradoxically, the colonial legacy also granted the Indian English poet a unique vantage point: a position of linguistic and cultural dislocation. A.K. Ramanujan, for instance, used this sense of double-vision to great effect. Writing primarily in English, he could translate, transpose, and analyze Kannada and Tamil oral traditions, viewing Indian culture through a slightly detached, analytical lens that was both insider and outsider. The language acts as a critical distance, allowing for incisive self-critique often impossible in a mother tongue tethered to specific cultural orthodoxies. 3. Thematic Echoes: Identity, Alienation, and Rootlessness The thematic core of contemporary IEP is profoundly marked by the psychological effects of colonialism, particularly the fragmentation of identity caused by Western education and urban modernity. 3.1. Cultural Rootlessness and the City Colonial infrastructure and education systems spurred rapid urbanization, creating cities (like Bombay/Mumbai, Calcutta/Kolkata) that became crucibles of colonial influence and postcolonial anxiety. The city, in IEP, often serves as a metaphor for existential rootlessness. Ezekiel, the quintessential poet of the city, captured this feeling in his iconic "Goodbye Party for Miss Pushpa T.S.," where the triviality of modern urban life masks deeper cultural malaise. The legacy of the colonial education system resulted in a "brown sahib" class—intellectually Westernized but emotionally rooted in India—a dichotomy explored by many poets who question their place in a rapidly changing, independent nation. 3.2. Subverting Orientalism and the 'Exotic' The colonial era produced a powerful body of knowledge known as Orientalism, which stereotyped and essentialized the 'East.' Contemporary IEP constantly battles this inherited gaze. • Internal Critique: Poets consciously reject the exoticized, spiritual, or mystic image of India favored by Western perception. Instead, they focus on the mundane, the profane, the violent, and the political realities of the subcontinent. • The Re-Centering of Experience: Poems about domestic life, family, and localized mythology (such as Ramanujan’s poems on his ancestral home or mother) serve to re-center the discourse, treating the local as the universal, and resisting the colonial impulse to place the Indian subject at the periphery. The colonial legacy is thus challenged by a determined focus on indigenous, personalized narratives. 4. Decolonizing Aesthetics: Voice and Subversion The most recent wave of contemporary IEP demonstrates a move from postcolonial anxiety to active decolonizing assertion. These poets utilize the linguistic space inherited from colonialism to dismantle its residual power structures. 4.1. Assertion of Marginalized Voices Contemporary poets, including women writers, Dalit poets, and poets from India’s peripheries, utilize English to gain visibility and challenge the formerly Brahminical or metropolitan center of the canon itself. • MeenaKandasamy: Her hard-hitting, politically charged verse uses English as a weapon to expose casteism, patriarchy, and state violence. The clarity and global reach of English become a tool for transnational activism, bypassing the often conservative gatekeepers of regional language literatures. • Mamang Dai: Writing from the Northeast, Dai’s poetry asserts a regional, indigenous identity that was largely ignored or misrepresented during the colonial and early post-Independence periods. Her verse infuses English with the distinct cosmology and landscape of her home, carving out new thematic territory. 4.2. Narrative Disruption A significant decolonizing strategy involves disrupting linear, chronological, and Western-centric narrative styles. Contemporary poets embrace fragmentation, multilinguistic collage, and a non-linear sense of time that mirrors the chaotic, layered history of the postcolonial nation. This stylistic complexity reflects a refusal to conform to the simple, readable narratives demanded by the imperial gaze, asserting instead a complex, autonomous aesthetic. 5. Conclusion: A Dynamic Resource The colonial legacy in contemporary Indian English Poetry is a layered phenomenon that cannot be reduced to simple 'influence' or 'imitation.' It is, fundamentally, a condition of its being. The adoption of English, a direct consequence of colonial rule, initially posed an existential challenge to authenticity. However, the trajectory of IEP demonstrates a persistent, successful effort to domesticate, localize, and weaponize this inheritance. Contemporary poets have transmuted the colonial legacy—manifested in linguistic alienation and fragmented identity—into a dynamic resource for postcolonial critique. By Indianizing the language, subverting Orientalist expectations, and providing a platform for marginalized voices, IEP has established itself as a robust, authentic, and globally significant field. The lingering shadow of colonialism has ultimately forced the Indian poet to define self and nation in new, challenging, and universally resonant terms. References Primary Sources 1. Ezekiel, Nissim. Collected Poems: 1952–1988. Oxford University Press, 2005. 2. Kandasamy, Meena. Touch. Penguin Books India, 2006. 3. Ramanujan, A.K. The Collected Poems of A.K. Ramanujan. Oxford University Press, 1995. Secondary Sources (Critical Studies) 4. Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin. The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures. Routledge, 2002. 5. King, Bruce Alvin. Modern Indian Poetry in English. Oxford University Press, 2001. 6. Nair, K. R. M. Post-Colonial Indian English Literature. Atlantic Publishers, 2008. 7. Paranjape, Makarand. Towards a Poetics of the Indian English. Allied Publishers, 1991. 8. Said, Edward W. Orientalism. Vintage Books, 1994. 9. Tharakan, P. K. M. "Colonialism and the Indian Literary Heritage." Economic and Political Weekly, 2003. 10. Williams, H. M. Indo-Anglian Literature: A Historical and Critical Survey. Orient Longman, 1976. |
| Keywords | . |
| Field | Arts |
| Published In | Volume 5, Issue 2, July-December 2014 |
| Published On | 2014-11-13 |
| Cite This | The Lingering Shadow: The Colonial Legacy in Contemporary Indian English Poetry: - Dr.Neeta Mathur - IJAIDR Volume 5, Issue 2, July-December 2014. |
Share this
doi
CrossRef DOI is assigned to each research paper published in our journal.
IJAIDR DOI prefix is
10.71097/IJAIDR
Downloads
All research papers published on this website are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, and all rights belong to their respective authors/researchers.
