INDIANNESS
IN NISSIM EZEKIEL’S POETRY
G. Soma Seshu
Nissim Ezekiel, the well-known Poet of India passed
away very recently.
He was a source of inspiration to
many Poets of Indian writing in English.
May his soul rest in peace.
Editor
Nissim
Ezekiel is one of the most popular and eminent Indian poets of the
Post-Independence Era. Unlike the
earlier poets, he is a poet of urban landscape employing irony and wit to
expose the various ugly aspects of city life with its squalid surroundings,
slums, loneliness, neurosis and frustration.
The city is “a living hell” and “Like a passion burns.” Unlike
Baudlaire’s dry self-lacerating despair, Ezekiel is sympathetic but
scrutinizing. He loves the city despite its ugliness and thus adopts a
paradoxical approach bringing together contrary attitudes and harmonizing them.
In the poem
“Island” he frankly confesses though Bombay is a pleasure island of “slums and
skyscrapers”.
“I cannot
leave the island
I was born
here and belong
Even now a
host of miracles
Hurries me
to daily business——”
As a typical
Indian Poet, he vividly portrays the sufferings and problems of the common
people. In “India” and “Entertainment” the poverty of people is movingly
picturised.
As a poet of
human relations Ezekiel raises or sublimates the common place and ordinary
lives and incidents to the level of highest poetry. In “Night of the Scorpion” he juxtaposes in an effective way the
various responses of typical Indian villagers restricted by their superstitions
and belief in destiny. In “Boss” the
mechanical life of a big official is described in terms of mechanical objects.
In “The Truth about Dhanya” a typical Indian Beggar is portrayed.
“His old
skin/is like the ground
on which
he sleeps/
So, also
his rags.”
The great
human agony, the official indifference and apathy for the victims of the flood
are highlighted with a touch of satire in “The Truth about the Floods”.
Ezekiel’s most famous volume of poems. “The Unfinished man” reveals him as a
great poet of human relations. In “A poem of Dedication”, which may be regarded
as the poet’s manifesto, he expresses his modest objectives without aspiring
for God-Like super human powers.
“I do not want the Yogi’s concentration
I do not want the perfect charity
Of saints or the tyrant’s endless power
I want a human balance humanly
Acquired fruitfully.”
The poet
expresses his aversion for hypocrisy and pretensions in every field including
religion and poetry. In “Rural Site”
the exploitation of superstitious villagers is depicted. The hypocrisy of
Indian gurus and Saints is revealed in “Guru”.
In “The Visitor” the poet ridicules the Indian Superstition about the
cawing of the crow and drives home the truth that miracles do not take place in
real word. His disgust for dull and stupid conversation of the so-called polite
society without genuine feeling is clearly brought out in poems like “Goodbye
Party for Miss Pushpa T.S.” He denounces mass civilization and regrets for the
loss of minority and folk cultures with their unique and distinct features.
Unlike other
Indian poets who exult in religious mysticism, Ezekiel prefers “a poetry of
human expression.” Though he was an atheist and rationalist from 1942 to 1967,
in April 1967 he had his first LSD trip - the voyage of discovery to the centre
of life.” In his later poetry the
religious feelings found expression without vague mysticism. Like Eliot he is a
religious humanist deeply involved with moral concerns rather than outward show
of orthodox devotion. Ezekiel thinks that spiritual growth comes only when man
has liberated himself from all falsities, shams and pretensions. In this aspect
he is one of the modern Indian poets who view religion in broader moral perspective.
The “Poster
Poems” and “Hymns in darkness” the poet’s mood is one of reverence and
submission. The poet looks to God for the resolution of all his doubts and
problems. He speaks to God informally
like a friend with an undertone of mocking and flippancy.
“From this
human way of life
Who can
rescue man
If not his
maker?
Do thy
duty, Lord.
Confiscate
my passport, Lord,
I do not
want to go abroad
Let me
find my song
Where I
belong.
Like other
modern Indian poets, Ezekiel treats the theme of love and sex in a bold and
frank manner. As Linda Hess says “He is
a poet of the body…who has explored sexual love in all its myriad forms and
varieties, but always there is an attempt to transcend the physical act of sex
and to transform it into something spiritual, something nobler and higher….”
Like Donne and other metaphysical poets he tries to depict the tension between
the opposite poles of physical and spiritual love which ultimately finds
fulfilment in lasting relationship of domestic harmony. According to Ezekiel
life is made up of compromises. In “Declaration” he shows a Donne-like concern
for the body and stresses that our natural instincts and impulses must be
gratified. He is both a Psychologist and a poet of the body.
Though
Ezekiel has been criticized as being not authentically Indian on account of his
Jewish background, and urban outlook, he could see the essential India in the
urban climate of Bombay where he was born and brought up. As he said the Indian
writers “Have to make a synthesis between ancient and modern cultures”. In his
own poems he tried to achieve a remarkable cultural synthesis between the
Jewish and the Indian, the western and the Eastern, and the urban and the
rural. In “Background Casually” he
says: “I have made my commitments now / This is one; to stay where I am.
In his own
words “My background makes me a natural outsider; circumstances and decisions
relate me to India”.
Like other
Indian poets, Ezekiel tried to achieve a cross-cultural harmonization not just
by having an intellectual perspective but by having proper sensibility to know
the basic human issues. He avoided both “the sophistication of the rootless”
and “the parochialism of the native”.
Though he has not inherited the great classical tradition of India, of
Vedas and Upanishads, he availed himself of the composite culture of India to
which he belongs.
Ezekiel is
entirely Indian not only in his sensibility but also in proper use of Indian
English to depict characteristic Indian attitudes. In the “Very Indian poem in
English” the common mistakes committed by Indians in using English and other
Indianisms are freely employed to create the typical Indian flavor with an
artistic purpose in a realistic way. In “Goodbye party for Miss Pushpa T.S.”
Ezekiel parodies the typical way of English used by the modern westernized
ladies to expose their pretensions, affected manners and lack of ideals. The
use of common Hindi words – Guru, Ashram, Burkha, Pan, Mantra—, syntactical
peculiarities, vernacular words, and imagery drawn from the common senses and
sights of India make him essentially an Indian poet in his sensibility.
Ezekiel
fashioned his own style which is terse, clear, simple and precise with
contemporary idiom and colloquial words assuming a new meaning and emotive
significance in poetic contexts. His imagery and symbolism are functional and
not merely decorative. He has a fine sense of metrical ability using effective
rhyme and subtle use of rhythm in his singing lines to achieve different
effects. In this aspect he may be compared to great poets like Eliot and Auden.
To sum up,
Ezekiel’s poetry shows all the typical features of a modern Indian poet in
thematic variety, use of symbolism, awareness of social and human problems,
depiction of common people, portrayal of colorful and varied cultures,
religions and professions, sense of alienation and search for identity along
with satirical and witty remarks on drawbacks in society with sincere
presentation of urban problems and views on human relationships and interests
with a sympathetic and harmonizing outlook.
His style and verse add more effects to his subjects. In the bulk of his poetry he affirms that he
is very much an Indian and that his roots lie deep in India.
Finally like
a typical Indian Poet with a universal vision he sincerely prays for doing
human good.
“Whatever
the enigma
The
passion of the blood
Grant me
the metaphor
To make it
human good.”
(The Unfinished Man)