202 1

Amitav Ghosh’s writing deals in the epic themes of travel and diaspora, history and
memory, political struggle and communal violence, love and loss, while all the time
crossing the generic boundaries between anthropology and art work.
Both his fictional and non-fictional narratives tend to be transnational in sweep,
moving restlessly across countries, continents and oceans. Formidably learned and
meticulously researched, there is something equally epic about the scale of
scholarship that sits behind each of his books. However, Ghosh never loses sight of
the intimate human dimension of things. It is no coincidence that his writing
ritually returns to Calcutta (the author’s birth place), and, for all its global
ambition, is thickly accented by the registers and referents of Bengali and South
Asian culture.

Ghosh’s first novel is typical in this sense. At the centre of The Circle of Reason
(1986) is Alu, an eight-year-old Bengali boy with a huge head, “curiously uneven,
bulging all over with knots and bumps”. These bodily deformities, along with the
series of coincidences and connections that emerges between Alu’s personal life and
the political world around him, have led to obvious comparisons with Rushdie’s
Booker of Bookers, Midnight’s Children. However, this is in some ways unfortunate
as the novel has its own integrity and ambition, from its philosophical exploration
of reason to its peripatetic wanderings across South Asia, North Africa and the
Middle East. Ghosh’s beautifully written second novel, The Shadow Lines (1988), is
also reminiscent of Rushdie in terms of its formal experimentations with geography
and chronology. However, unlike Rushdie, it is written in an understated, condensed
prose that comes close to poetry. The novel deals with the invention of the past
and the arbitrariness of partition as it moves between India and the UK, Calcutta
and London, the Second World War and present. The title is an allusion to Joseph
Conrad’s novella, The Shadow Line, and while its precise relationship to Conrad’s
text is oblique and shadowy, both share a preoccupation with the threshold between
East and West, and with the ghostly hauntings of imperial memory. More generally,
Ghosh’s second novel draws inspiration from diverse modern European and Indian
texts from Proust to Tagore, Ford Madox Ford to Satjajit Ray.

Even this sort of promiscuous intertextuality comes to appear tame and provincial
within the context of Amitav Ghosh’s next work, In An Antique Land (1992).
Ostensibly a work of non-fiction, the book draws heavily on the author’s training
in anthropology, but ultimately defies generic pigeon holes. Combining
autobiography, fiction, travel writing and history, In An Antique Land is a
delicate, vivid and deeply moving evocation of Egypt since the twelfth century.

The strong emphasis on history, memory and the past that has by this stage become a
trademark of Ghosh’s writing is given a fresh twist in his next book, The Calcutta
Chromosome (1996), a work of science fiction set in the near future. Ghosh’s
flirtation with the popular genre of the thriller in The Calcutta Chromosome marks
a radical departure from the various sorts of archive fever and scholarly self-
consciousness that readers typically associate with the author. When Antar, an
office worker in New York, discovers a discarded ID card, it leads him on an
investigative journey to Calcutta at the close of the nineteenth century. However,
beneath this thin veneer of pulp, is a novel with as intricate a plot line as
anything in Ghosh.

After the pleasurable melodrama of The Calcutta Chromosome, The Glass Palace (2000)
strikes the reader as one of Ghosh’s most subtle and elusive works. Sprawling
across three generations of the same family and moving from Burma and Malaya to
India and the United States, if this novel has a centre it is RajKumar Raha, a
shipwrecked sailor boy whose rags to riches story is counterpointed with that of
the Burmese royal family. Built on the same sort of formidable research that made
In an Antique Land a classic, Minna Proctor’s review of the novel captures
something of the book’s vicarious pleasures:

'When you heave your final sigh and turn the last page of Amitav Ghosh's new novel,
The Glass Palace, you feel as if you've travelled for 100 years on foot, through
the most distant and lush lands on the globe. The Glass Palace is as close as a
person tucked cozily into an armchair on a rainy day can get to the rubber
plantations of Malaysia, the teak forests of Burma, and the bustling city streets
of Rangoon and Singapore, bearing witness to the demise of the Burmese monarchy and
the rise and fall of the British Empire. A stately and vibrantly detailed family
saga set in south-central Asia against the tumultuous backdrop of the 20th
century.'

202 2

Night's Children is a 1981 novel by author Salman Rushdie. It portrays India's

transition from British social rule to independence and the partition of India.
It's considered an illustration of postcolonial, postmodern, and magical realist
literature. Discuss the structure of Midnight children.The story is told by its
principal promoter, Saleem Sinai, and is set in the environment of factual literal
events. The style of conserving history with fictional accounts is tone-reflexive.

Night's Children won both the Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize
in 1981. It was awarded the"Booker of Bookers"Prize and the stylish all- time prize
winners in 1993 and 2008 to celebrate the Booker Prize 25th and 40th anniversary.
Discuss the structure of Midnight children.In 2003, the novel was listed on the
BBC's The Big Read bean of the UK's"best- loved novels". It was also added to the
list of Great Books of the 20th Century, published by Penguin Books.

Night's Children is a loose fable for events in India both ahead and, primarily,
after the independence and partition of India. The promoter and narrator of the
story is Saleem Sinai, born at the exact moment when India came an independent
country. He was born with telepathic powers, as well as an enormous and constantly
sopping nose with an extremely sensitive sense of smell. The novel is divided into
three books.

The first book begins with the story of the Sinai family, particularly with events
leading up to India's independence and partition. Saleem is born precisely at
night, 15 August 1947, thus, exactly as old as independent India. He latterly
discovers that all children born in India between 12a.m. and 1a.m. on that date are
invested with special powers. Saleem, using his telepathic powers, assembles a
Midnight Children's Conference, reflective of the issues India faced in its early
statehood concerning the artistic, verbal, religious, and political differences
faced by a extensively different nation. Discuss the structure of Midnight
children. Saleem acts as a telepathic conduit, bringing hundreds of geographically
distant children into contact while also trying to discover the meaning of their
gifts. In particular, those children born closest to the stroke of night apply more
important gifts than the others. Shiva"of the Knees", Saleem's nemesis, and
Parvati, called"Parvati-the- witch,"are two of these children with notable gifts
and places in Saleem's story.

Meanwhile, Saleem's family begin a number of migrations and endure the

multitudinous wars which persecute the key. During this period he also suffers
amnesia until he enters aquasi-mythological exile in the jungle of Sundarban, where
he'sre-endowed with his memory. In doing so, he reconnects with his nonage
musketeers. Saleem latterly becomes involved with the Indira Gandhi- placarded
Exigency and her son Sanjay's" sanctification"of the Jama Masjid slum. For a time
Discuss the structure of Midnight children. Saleem is held as a political internee;
these passages contain cutting examens of Indira Gandhi'sover-reach during the
Exigency as well as a particular lust for power skirting on divinity. The Exigency
signals the end of the energy of the Midnight Children, and there's little left for
Saleem to do but pick up the many pieces of his life he may still find and write
the chronicle that encompasses both his particular history and that of his still-
youthful nation, a chronicle written for his son, who, like his father, is both
chained and supernaturally endowed by history.

The fashion of magical literalism finds liberal expression throughout the novel
and is pivotal to constructing the parallel to the country's history. The story
moves in different corridor of Indian Key – from Kashmir to Agra and also to
Bombay, Lahore and Dhaka. Nicholas Stewart in his essay,"Magic literalism in
relation to thepost-colonial and Night's Discuss the structure of Midnight
children. Children,"argues that the" narrative frame of Midnight's Children
consists of a tale – comprising his life story – which Saleem Sinai recounts orally
to his woman-to- be Padma. This tone-referential narrative (within a single
paragraph Saleem refers to himself in the first person'And I, wishing upon myself
the curse of NadirKhan.;'and the third'"I tell you,"Saleem cried,"it is true.."')
recalls indigenous Indian culture, particularly the also orally reported Arabian
Nights. The events in the book also equal the magical nature of the narratives
reported in Arabian Nights ( consider the attempt to electrocute Saleem at the
potty (p. 353), or his trip in the' handbasket of invisibility'

.He also notes that,"the narrative comprises and compresses Indian artistic
history."'Once upon a time,'Saleem muses,'there were Radha and Krishna, and Rama
and Sita, and Laila and Majnun; also (because we aren't innocent by the West) Romeo
and Juliet, and Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn' (259)."Stewart ( citing
Hutcheon) suggests that Discuss the structure of Midnight children. Midnight's
Children chronologically entwines characters from both India and the
West,"withpost-colonial Indian history to examine both the effect of these
indigenous andnon-indigenous societies on the Indian mind and in the light of
Indian independence.

202 3

Harp here refers to the poets whose poetry and melodies were sweet and who have
lost their glory in the British Rule and thus they are “unstrung“.

Nobody listens to them now because of the development and the modernity due to the
intervention of the British. And even little hope and struggle (depicted by the
breeze) cannot make them write again.

Silence here refers to the metaphorical death (of their poetry). According to the
poet, by restricting them from writing, the British has made them like the ruined
monument in the desert which is neglected, silenced and exiled.

Part 2
In the second part, hand refers to the poets who lived before the poet and wrote
marvellous poetry. According to the poet, their immortal work has kept them alive
even today and thus they live in spite of being in the grave.

In the end, the poet says that now that they (elites) are dead, he desires to
revive that literature and thus bring the glory of Indian culture back which is
lost now.
To India - My Native Land” is a patriotic poem by Indian poet Henry Louis Vivian
Derozio, published in 1828 as part of his book The Fakeer of Jungheera: A Metrical
Tale and Other Poems. It is one of the most notable works by Derozio, written
during the period of Bengal Renaissance. The poem has been identified by historians
as containing some of the first written examples of Indian nationalism, with the
poem extolling "patriotism and a love of freedom".

In this poem, Derozio personifies India and talks to her in a monologue. Derozio
talks about the glorious past of India. He tells her that in her days of glory, she
used to be regarded highly, worshipped and was considered sacrosanct (“worshipped
as a deity”). The poet is evidently unhappy with the British rule in India and
refers to the same in the line “The eagle pinion is chained down at last”, where
eagle refers to India. However, the British rule and internal weaknesses has
brought the country slavery and demolished its pride and identity. She is
“groveling in the lowly dust”. There was an acute sense of hopelessness due to lack
of freedom and stagnation in the standards of living. Derozio says that there is
nothing more to write apart for the then current situation of the country (“no
wreath to weave for thee, Save the sad story of thy misery“).

Therefore Derozio wishes to bring back / write about the past of India (“ages that
have rolled”) by “diving into the depths of time” and bringing back its glory
(“small fragments of those wrecks sublime”). This glorious past may be forgotten
with time and people may never get to see or read about again (“Which human eyes
may never more behold“).

As a reward for his labour, Derozio prays to his country to grant his wish i.e.
return of the past glory and pride.

The poet expresses a sense of personal loss in the downfall of his country, India.
Addressing India, the poet says that in the old days, India was worshipped like a
deity. Poet wonders where that glory and splendour have disappeared and regrets the
fact that his motherland has now been reduced to the position of a slave of the
British Empire. The author also mentions that the country has been humiliated and
ashamed of herself grovelling in the dust. There was time when the country soared
like an eagle in the skies but now the wings of that great bird have been clipped
and it is chained. The poet has no wreath of flowers to offer the country but
instead, he will dig into the past and will try to sing of some parts of that great
history which is no longer available to the younger generation. The only reward
author wants for his effort is that the country should have a kind wish for the
author and the countrymen should love him. The author says that his last wish to
all the Indians is to dive deep into the past and bring back the lost glory of
India.

202 5

n Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai, Raja is the most significant character. He is
the elder brother of the Das family, supposed to be responsible, sincere, and
admirable.

Instead, he is portrayed as an individual and non-emotional being. However, he is

determined, intelligent, and intelligent enough to justify himself positively and
negatively.

Analyzing Raja’s Character From A Positive Perspective

Looking at the bright side, Raja is the most modern boy. He is capable of moving
forward in his life, as he has a passion for reading poetry and Urdu language,
which is the reason for the attachment of Hyder Ali Sahib.

Being a follower of the Hindu religion, he accepts Muslim culture that is the
evidence of marrying Benazir, Hyder Ali’s daughter. Despite knowing the political
conflict between Hindu and Muslim, he never wants the division but expects to bond
two races.

Raja is more favorable than his other siblings, like Bim and Baba. He is more
attached to Bim. Both are literary personalities like reading poetry but are not
similar in their own life.

Raja, the eldest person in the Das family, wants to move forward and realizes his
existence in this universe. He has an absolute right to think of his own. He is
seen as a strong, capable, relentless individual and does not fail to display his
true self.

In the future, Raja will be the most successful businessman and family man, a
father of three children.

Analyzing Raja’s Character From A Negative Perspective

From a negative perspective, Raja, a progressive boy, is not like his other
siblings. He is entirely different from them. Despite his strong attachment with
Bim, he has left her in the Das house alone.

Raja is supposed to extend his hand to Bim instead of moving forward to his life
and becoming a more modern man. His progressive attitude towards Bim appears to the
readers as strange and selfish.

Raja has forgotten what Bim is for him. Under the firm attachment with Hyder Ali
and his gatherings, he can not recall the blissful moments in Das house; Bim’s care
during his sickness. His progressiveness becomes a priority despite knowing the
fact.

How come an elder brother can leave his beloved ones under unavoidable
circumstances? That is a firm fact. Being an absolute man, he has every right to
think of his own, and it is the only reason for a person’s selfishness and over
ambitions. Raja is an example of it.

EndNote

Raja’s character is split into two natural aspects of a human being: positive and
negative. In other words, he is loving and progressive at the same time.

Raja is self-reliant and cares less about his close ones when it comes to thinking
about moving forward in life.

One cannot hate such a character as Raja outright, however, his characteristics
surely raise some questions about his focus and integrity in those attached closely
to him

202 6
Tara is the protagonist and narrator of Educated . She changes dramatically over
the course of the story, as she grows from a child into a woman, and becomes
someone who can understand the world around her and think critically about it. At
first, Tara is completely trusting of what her father tells her, and plans to live
a life similar to the one she sees her parents and siblings leading. However, two
main things push Tara to begin to think for herself: the harm she sees herself and
her family suffering, and the education she receives as she reads, thinks, and
studies. Over time, Tara sees that her family's lifestyle exposes them to physical
danger and unnecessary pain. She cannot reconcile the injuries and abuse she
suffers with the idea of being obedient and submissive. Her education pushes her to
reflect, question, and not just follow beliefs on blind faith. Ultimately, these
two experiences make it impossible for Tara to remain part of her family.

Tara's actions and choices are often conflicted because she is torn between
competing motivations. On one hand, she is curious and eager to learn. She is also
compassionate, so when she learns about events like the Holocaust, she realizes the
harm her family's ignorance is causing. These motivations drive her toward getting
educated, becoming a scholar, and expanding her view of the world. On the other
hand, Tara has been socialized to please her family and obey them. She gets a sense
of peace from knowing her place in the world, and following the expectations of her
religion. These motivations drive her toward being unwilling to totally sever ties
with her family. Tara's competing motivations show why much of her character
development involves a struggle to become her own person. She is eventually forced
to accept that she cannot reconcile these motivations, and chooses to be someone
who engages with the world and stands up for herself.

202 8

Drama in India has a grand old history. Tagore, the first major playwright,
invested Indian English drama with lyrical excellence, symbolism and allegorical
significance. Dramatists like Manjeri Isvaran, Nissim Ezekiel, Lakhan Dev,
Gurcharan Das, G.V. Dasani, Pratap Sharma, Asif Currimbhoy, Gieve Patel and Pritish
Nandy made significant contribution in uplifting the Indian English drama.
Contemporary Indian drama is experimental and innovative in terms of thematic and
technical qualities. A cumulative theatrical tradition evolved by Mohan Rakesh,
Badal Sircar, Vijay Tendulkar and Girish Karnad, prepared the background of
contemporary Indian English theatre.

**********
Drama in India has a grand old history. Its origin can be traced back to the Vedic
Period. Bharata's Natyasastra is the first and most significant work on Indian
poetics and drama. Here Bharata considers drama as the fifth Veda. There are
references to drama in Patanjali's Mahabhashya, Vatsyayana's Kamasutra, Kautilya's
Arthashastra and Panini's Ashtadhyayi. Bharat’s theory of dramatic art was followed
by Ashwaghosh, Bhasa, Shudraka, Kalidas, Harsha, Bhavabhuti, Vishakhadatta, Bhatta
Narayana and Murari. The supreme achievement of Indian Drama undoubtedly lies in
Kalidasa, the Shakespeare of India. In India Sanskrit drama flourished in its glory
till the fifteenth century but thereafter Indian drama activity almost came to an
end due to certain invasions on India.

The rise of the modern drama dates back to the 18th century when the British Empire
strengthened its power in India. With the impact of Western civilization on Indian
life, a new renaissance dawned on Indian arts including drama. For the first time
in the history of modern Indian theatre two comedies, Disguise and Love is the Best
Doctor were translated from English into Bengali by Lebedoff and Goloknath Das and
they were produced in Calcutta. But the real journey of Indian English Drama begins
with Michael Madhusudan Dutt's Is This Called Civilization which was written in
1871.Thereby any sustainable creative efforts were not taken place in drama for two
decades after Dutt’s play.

In fact there were many difficulties in the way of the development of the Indian
English Drama. ‘The difficulty, however, has been overcome to a considerable degree
by some talented Indian English dramatists by carefully choosing the situations and
language that transcend time and place and the characters that are plausible and
convincing.’1 By the end of the 19th century, the literary giants like Rabindranath
Tagore, Sri Aurobindo, Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, T.P. Kailasam, Lobo Prabhu,
Bharati Sarabhai and so on tried to overcome these difficulties and opened up new
vistas in the genre. This pre independence crop of dramatists did not give enough
weight -age to the acceptability and stage -worthiness of their plays. During the
colonial era, drama in English in Indian soil could not flourish as a major current
of creative expression. Although the pre–Independence Indian English drama is
notable for its poetic excellence, thematic variety, technical virtuosity, symbolic
significance and its commitment to human and moral values, it was by and large not
geared for actual stage production.

The post- Independence Indian English drama was benefited by the increasing
interest of the foreign countries in Indian English literature in general and
Indian English drama in particular. A good number of plays by Indian playwrights
were successfully staged in Europe and United States of America. Despite the growth
of poetic drama in early post independence, Indian English drama made genuine
progress. Dramatists like Manjeri Isvaran, Nissim Ezekiel, Lakhan Dev, Gurcharan
Das, G.V. Dasani, Pratap Sharma, Asif Currimbhoy, Gieve Patel and Pritish Nandy
made significant contribution in uplifting the Indian English drama. M.K. Naik
rightly says that ‘Tagore-Aurobindo-Kailasam tradition of poetic drama continued,
but with a difference in the hands of Manjeri Isvaran, G.V. Dasani, Lakhan Dev and
Pritish Nandy.’2 In the realm of Indian Drama , Nissim Ezekiel is acknowledged for
his exceptional poetic creed and rare dramatic sensibility.In spite of strong sense
of dramatic concept, Ezekiel could not transform his poetic talent into appropriate
dramatic talent. His plays can be appreciated for symmetrical construction with
abundance of irony. They unveil his sharp observation of the oddities of human life
and behaviour. It is attributed ‘In his satire of current fashion, in his exposure
of prose and presence, Ezekiel comes very close to the spirit of some English
social satirist in theatre’.3

Asif Currimbhoy is one of the most prolific playwrights of the Post-Independence

period. He is India's first authentic voice in the theatre. He is one modern Indian
playwright who has shown great interest in producing drama. His love for
Shakespearean drama has influenced his body of work. His first play Goa deals with
racial discrimination as a paradigm of post colonialism. In spite of
comprehensiveness, Currimbhoy`s dramatic art has been a subject of criticism. ‘His
symbols are often crude, conventional and mechanic but the greatest limitation of
his technique is revealed especially in his later plays in which Currimbhoy appears
to confuse dramatic technique with theatrical trickery and stage gimmicks with
dramatic experience’.4

202 9

longevity is the real prize for which writers strive, and it isn’t awarded by any
jury. For a book to stand the test of time, to pass successfully down the
generations, is uncommon enough to be worth a small celebration. For a writer in
his mid-70s, the continued health of a book published in his mid-30s is, quite
simply, a delight. This is why we do what we do: to make works of art that, if we
are very lucky, will endure.

As a reader, I have always been attracted to capacious, largehearted fictions,

books that try to gather up large armfuls of the world. When I started to think
about the work that would grow into Midnight’s Children, I looked again at the
great Russian novels of the 19th century, Crime and Punishment, Anna Karenina, Dead
Souls, books of the type that Henry James had called “loose, baggy monsters”,
large-scale realist novels – though, in the case of Dead Souls, on the very edge of
surrealism. And at the great English novels of the 18th and 19th centuries,
Tristram Shandy (wildly innovative and by no means realist), Vanity Fair (bristling
with sharp knives of satire), Little Dorrit (in which the Circumlocution Office, a
government department whose purpose is to do nothing, comes close to magic
realism), and Bleak House (in which the interminable court case Jarndyce v Jarndyce
comes even closer). And at their great French precursor, Gargantua and Pantagruel,
which is completely fabulist.

I also had in mind the modern counterparts of these masterpieces, The Tin Drum and
One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Adventures of Augie March and Catch-22, and the
rich, expansive worlds of Iris Murdoch and Doris Lessing (both too prolific to be
defined by any single title, but Murdoch’s The Black Prince and Lessing’s The
Making of the Representative from Planet 8 have stayed with me). But I was also
thinking about another kind of capaciousness, the immense epics of India, the
Mahabharata and Ramayana, and the fabulist traditions of the Panchatantra, the
Thousand and One Nights and the Kashmiri Sanskrit compendium called Katha-sarit-
sagar (Ocean of the Streams of Story). I was thinking of India’s oral narrative
traditions, too, which were a form of storytelling in which digression was almost
the basic principle; the storyteller could tell, in a sort of whirling cycle, a
fictional tale, a mythological tale, a political story and an autobiographical
story; he – because it was always a he – could intersperse his multiple narratives
with songs and keep large audiences entranced.

202 10

The history of Anglo-Indian poetry starts with Henry Louis Vivian Derozio [H.L.V.
Derozio] having influence of Romanticism. Derozio was mixed descent of Portuguese,
Indian, and English but took pride in calling himself an Indian. His name is also
synonymous with Young Bengal Movement [Bengal Renaissance], a social cultural
movement. Vivian Derozio was possibly the first national poet of modern India.

Vivian Derozio started writing poetry at a very young age and became radical
thinker. His free thoughts and ideas inspired many young boys and men, giving rise
to the social movement called “Bengal Renaissance”. As a poet, he was influenced by
the Romantics but the themes of his poetry were wholly Indian.

Henry Derozio loved the country, the people and its tradition and made them subject
matter of his poetry. Derozio, who died at an early age of 22 with renown yet to
claim. He lived a simple and a courageous life and after death, found a resting
place in India, which makes one think that he wrote the poem “The Poet’s Grave”
with himself in his mind.

Short Biography of H.L.V Derozio

Henry Louis Derozio was born on April 18, 1809 at Entally- Padmapukur in Kolkata.
His father was an Indo Portuguese, an illustrious member in his community and his
mother was an Englishwoman. He was considered an Anglo-Indian poet, being mixed of
Portuguese, Indian and English descent.

Education & Poetic Faculty

Derozio earned his education from the best school of the country (David Drummond
Dharmatala Academy). It is said that he won many awards during his schooling and
was even printed in the local newspapers of the time, like ‘Calcutta Journal’ and
‘India Gazette’.

Derozio started writing poetry at a very young age. He was inspired by the beauty
of the river Ganga, and since then he started to compose poetry. The poems of
Derozia that are prescribed in the text are “the Harp of India”, “poetry”, “Song of
the Hindustani Minstrel”, “Song and Sonnet to the Moon”, and “To India – My Native
Land”.

Social Influence
Importantly, Derozio inspired many educated young minds who were gaining education
at the local colleges. He had become a free thinker by then and openly spoke about
his ideas. He led his followers to question everything in society and think in a
free manner. His modern thoughts and ideas gave rise to the ‘Young Bengal’
movement, that was the start of the intellectual renaissance in Bengal.

Derozio’s followers soon began to be called ‘Derozians’. His followers criticized

the orthodox religious beliefs and wrong practices of the society. Simultaneously,
he became the headmaster of English literature and History at the newly established
‘Hindu College’. But in 1931, he was expelled from the college due to his
unorthodox views on society, culture and religion. Derozio passed away in the same
year due to cholera.

Literary Works That Inspire

Notable works of H.L. include some poems and poetry collections in high regard. The
Harp of India, Song of the Hindoostani Minstrel, The Fakeer of Jungheera, To India
– My Native Land and ‘To the Pupils of the Hindu College’ are notable poems.
Usually, he wrote mostly lyrics and sonnets, but “The Fakir of Jungheera” is a long
narrative poem.

His poems, possibly are the earliest examples, with the fervour of nationalism. The
historians claim that ‘To India – My Native Land’ is among first written literary
piece of Indian nationalism that radiates patriotism and love for freedom.

The Essential Features of Derozio’s Poetry

Although Derozio was of mixed descent, he was very patriotic and always considered
himself to be a Bengali and an Indian. His works very prominently reflect his state
of mind and inclinations. “The Harp of India” and To India- My Native Land presents
the picture of India.

Interestingly, you would see influence of Romantic poets in the poetry of the
Derozio. Much like the Romantic poets of English literature, he was ardently into
the passionate love for Nature, nostalgic attachment to traditions & customs, the
dream & imagination etc.

Romantic Influence in Derozio Poetry

As a poet, Derozia was greatly influenced by the Romantic poets- Byron, Scott,
Moor, Percy Shelley and Keats. His work “The Fakir of Jungheera” has a Byronic
touch. His poetry is sensuous and passionate and there is a command of metre and
ears are trained for sound that immediately bring to mind Keats’ poetry. He uses
their musical strains in his verse with complete control.

In Busrah there is many a rose

Which many a maid may seek,
But who shall find a flower which blows
Like that upon thy cheek?

The lyrical richness of Derozio is in abundance. But he observes meter very

religiously. He was particularly fond of sonnet form. He wrote a series of five
sonnets. “The Harp of India” and “Sonnet to the Moon” are also written in the same
form. Each of these poems is the poetic proof of Derozia’s lyrical abilities.

Patriotic poems
As a Poet, he was greatly influenced by the Romantics but the themes of his poetry
were wholly Indian. He loved the country, the people and its tradition and made
them subject matter of his poetry. He began publishing patriotic verse when he was
just 17. Vivian’s poems are regarded as the landmark in the history of patriotic
poetry in India.

“The Harp of India” is one such a great patriotic poem. It deals with the loss of
India’s freedom and glory under the British rule. “To India – My Native Land” and
‘The Fakeer of Jungheera’ are also the patriotic poems. The poet wants the country
to touch the heights and play the music of eternity in the whole world.

“Those hands are cold but if any notes thy notes divine
May be mortal weakened once again
Harp of my country, let me strike the strain”

Melancholic Mood

“Sonnet to the Moon” is a nature poem mixing individual melancholy with a pristine
beauty of night sky. Derozio uses the Moon as his mouthpiece and tries to define
the different faces of sadness. There is a latent patriotic in it too as he sees
humanity suffering from misfortune. He made some unusual experiment in his sonnet
which definitely enhances their beauty.