Search for Identity in the Poetry of Modern Indo-English Women Poets

Paper:

Indian women poets like their counterparts in the world literature show their concern for the freedom of woman on a par with the freedom of man in the social, political and spiritual contexts. In their poetry, sometimes, it appears that they are a little too bold as poets. The boldness of women poets is natural when they look at inequality they have to suffer at the hands of men. Therefore, they constantly search for their identity as independent women.

Feminism in literature is an interpretative tool which tries to read literature from the woman’s point of view. What is her point of view of looking at objects; how she tries to interpret the external objects in terms which are suitable to her ego in a language and manner which may be different from the objective expression of men folk. In certain cases, it may be an objective medium of expression interpreting life as it appears to her. The aesthetics of feminism, therefore involves a woman’s effort to transform her experience in a literary form. She evolves certain strategies regarding usage of language, her struggle with it, how she represents herself in poetic experience, what is her motivation to write poetry; what is her experience in expressing her concept of beauty, truth, reality, imagination; and here emerges the role of today’s woman in expressing herself through the medium of poetry wherein she wants her identity to be established. The question of identity is a very important factor in the poetry of modern Indo-English women poets. Time and again, woman can be heard in Indo-English Poetry, trying to break her identity-crisis. The poems of Imtiaz Dharker, Mamta Kalia and Charmyne D’souza are a fair good example. These women represent Muslim, Hindu and Christian cla...

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...ure show their concern for the freedom of woman on a par with the freedom of man in the social, political and spiritual contexts. In their poetry, sometimes, it appears that they are a little too bold as poets; but the boldness of woman poets is natural when they look at the inequality they have to suffer at the hands of men. Therefore, they have constantly to search for their self and identity.

Works Cited

Imtiaz Dharker Purdah II, London: Oxford University Press, 1989, p.7.Subsequent quotations from this book are cited as Dharker with relevant page nos.

2. See: Dharker,p.7

3. See:Dharker,p.9

4. See:Dharker,p.9

5. See:Dharker,p.5

6. Imtiaz Dharker Signals,p.11

7. Mamta Kalia Tribute to Papa and other poems,p.20

8. See: Mamta Kalia,p.21

9. Charmyne D’souza Next,p.8

10. Charmyne D’souza Not an Empty Stop(By an English Teacher),p.7