Abstract
This paper intends to analyze the celebrated poems of A. K. Ramanujan in the light of the figurative approach taken by the poet to represent the Self and the Other from a multidimensional point of view. The poems are skillful observations and perceptions of Indian milieu by him as an Indian expatriate in America. His poems bear the idea that physical separation from his motherland with its precious familial, cultural and traditional values kept him tied to his indigenous roots. The achieved sense of the Other as an expatriate and the inborn identity of the Self deeply rooted in the soil of his motherland inspire the poet to form refined expressions and a poetic vision which generate the idea how self and society can be related to each other through the networks of home and family.
The Self Rooted in Family and Culture
Ramanujan was drawn to the home, and the family it consists of, as he strongly believed in the family that helps a person to imbibe values and culture. Most of his poems published in the volumes The Striders (1966), Relations (1971) and Second Sight (1986) echo the sense of belongingness as he reminisces his experience with family as a metaphor for the varied but influential ties between past, present and future.
Hindu Consciousness and Rational Inquiry
Ramanujan’s “Hindoo Poems” are remarkable representations of how the poet deals with the themes of Hindu culture. His attitude is not to satirize Hinduism or the sacred scriptures but rather those Hindus who know the content of the scriptures but miss its spirit.
Family as Central Metaphor
The poem “Small-Scale Reflections on a Great House” in Relations encompasses two contradictory states of Hindu joint-family affairs. This poem represents an ironic yet celebratory profile of a large Hindu extended family. The ‘great house’ is a metaphor of culture too.
Conclusion
Ramanujan’s poetry shows how an Indian poet in English can derive strength from going back to his roots of home and family value system. His poems are not his attempts to portray a distancing identity of the ‘self’ but the instinctive insider that tries to put things as they are and he emotionally remains ‘a home-bound pilgrim.‘
Works Cited
- Ramanujan, A. K. The Collected Poems of A. K. Ramanujan. ed. Vinay Dharwadker. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995.
- Shinde, A. Jayprakash. “Family as a Central Metaphor in A.K. Ramanujan’s Poetry.” Millennium Perspectives on A.K. Ramanujan. ed. Surya Nath Pandey. New Delhi: Atlantic Publication and Distributors, 2001.
- King, Bruce. Three Indian Poets. New Delhi: OUP, 1991.
- King, Bruce. Modern Indian Poetry in English. New Delhi: OUP, 1992.
- Parthasarthy, R. “How it Strikes a Contemporary: The Poetry of A.K. Ramanujan.” The Literary Criterion 12.2.3 (1976): 194. Print.
- Sahu, Nandini. The Post-colonial Space: Writing the Self and the Nation. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors (P) Ltd., 2000.
- Kumar, Gajendra. Indian English Literature: A New Perspective. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons, 2001.