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  • Essay / Nissim Ezekiel as a poet

    Nissim Ezekiel is generally known as a poet who wrote only in one language, and his example is often cited in contrast to the careers of other Indian poets who are often accomplished bilinguals (e.g. example, Arun Kolatkar, Kamla Markandaya, Dilip Chitre and Kamla Das). In Ezekiel's case, English is his native language, the only language he can use to express his creativity. Ezekiel is an intensely personal poet; his writing is inextricably linked to his life and that poetry is guided by a search for commitment. A characteristic feature of Ezekiel's poetry, more and more dominant as his work as a poet and critic progresses, is the search for detachment or non-engagement, hence the preponderance of irony in his writing. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay. These observations can be applied to Ezekiel's Background Casually, which is rich in ambiguities and is divided into three sections. Its three sections describe his journey from childhood to maturity, exploring the essence of the poet's true vocation. Notably, the “I” of the poem speaks in a direct lyrical mode, without the use of ironic mask. The poem could be read as an autobiographical confessional poem; in fact, it could be assigned to the genre to which poems such as Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey belong. The poet reflects on both his failures and his achievements and unequivocally expresses his love for his native land. He claims in the poem that he is truly Indian and his roots lie deep in India. As Ezekiel notes, “I am not Hindu and my origins…I am Indian.” In the following lines, Ezekiel documents some of the key formative influences that shaped his subjectivity. There is a role of self-deprecation and irony that predominates in the poem: “A naughty clown poet is born.” Yet there are darker and perhaps more intense moments: the personality of a Jewish boy growing up in a predominantly non-Jewish environment and attending a Roman Catholic school is plagued by fear and anxiety, as evidenced by the following lines: "An aggressor Jew among the wolves", an expression which is perhaps a self-defense mechanism. At the same time, Ezekiel showed the first signs of alienation from his own minority religious philosophy: "At home Friday... The more I searched, the less I found..." Moving on to Ezakeil's next poem, which is once again a very Indian English, we find that the poet has not only parodied 'pidgin' or 'basic English' but has also mocked the craze for 'foreign'. or fashionable young ladies and their mental vacuity. It is a social satire in which the poet has dealt with the ironic affections and pretensions as well as the misuse of English of the Indian Sahibs and Memsahibs. The poem is presented in the form of a farewell speech. The party is organized in honor of Miss Pushpa who is "going abroad" in two or three days to improve her prospects. Speaker praises the quality of her heart saying that it is gentle both inside and out. She always smiles even when she has no reason to smile, because the speaker cannot remember the exact place where she lives: "I don't remember which place... It was a long time ago" . There is a touch of drama when someone tells the speaker that she belongs to Surat; it is equally popular among men and women. The “Jewish marriage in Bombay” is a direct expression of one of Ezekiel’s realizations about his past. The poem is also autobiographical because it is about.