International Journal of Scientific Research and Reviews
International Journal of Scientific Research and Reviews
International Journal of Scientific Research and Reviews
D. Vijayaraghavan
Associate Professor of English AJK College of Arts and Science Navkkarai, Coimbatore, Tamil
Nadu, India. Email: vijayambi.thatsv@gmail.com
ABSTRACT:
The poems of Nissim Ezekiel mostly deal with the social elements that he happened to
approach at his life time. Though brought up in India as an Anglo-Indian poet, his approaches on
the Indian soil about India is very much original and mostly reflects its originality. The poems of
Nissim Ezekiel prove something different from other poets. As it has been written in the Holy
Bible,“He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the
tongue” [Proverb 28:23]
His works are appreciated and apt for the sentence above mentioned. To make the reader
enjoy and at the same time be pierced in thoughts and be provoked against the present circumstances
that lead a hypocritic society as an acceptable one among the many, it has been clearly exposed in
each of his poems. As a well wisher of the social welfare his poems stand as an indirect moral and
can be even called poems of morality.He gave anew thought and a new outlook to Indian English
Poetry and is universally recognized and appreciated as being one of the most notable and
accomplished Indian English language poets of the 20th century.The present paper analyses the
Sarcastic and strong approaches on social elementsin the poems of Nissim Ezekiel.
*Corresponding author
Dr. D. Vijayaraghavan
Associate Professor of English
AJK College of Arts and Science
Navkkarai, Coimbatore
Email: vijayambi.thatsv@gmail.com
INTRODUCTION:
Nissim Ezekiel born in Bombay in 1924 to Jewish parents, grew up in the metropolis loving
its streets and crowds, and yet, finding his solitary space for poetry. He had an excellent academic
record, winning the R.K. Lagu Prize for holding the first rank in M.A English Literature from
Bombay University in 1947. From late 1948 to 1952, he lived in England studying theatre, cinema,
psychology, philosophy and even modern Indian culture. In the meanwhile, he steadily wrote
poems, and by the time he left England, his first collection of poems, “A Time to Change”, had
come out in 1952. He pursued various professions like literary journalism, advertising, broadcasting
and teaching. For some time, he was an editorial staff of The Illustrated Weekly of India. In
1953, his second collection, Sixty Poems, came out. When Quest, the pre-eminent literary journal
was founded in 1954, he became its first editor.
In his inaugural address at the PUCL National Convention held in Bombay on October 31 and
November 1, 1992, his words on societal consideration are noteworthy:
“Activists will have to think of remedies …. Activists always have to think of remedies, but
the editor I am quoting adds without demolishing the walls lock, stock and barrel, respect for rights
and liberties will remain a distant goal”. This is followed by the last sentence of the address.
Nothing short of a philosophical revolution can bring about a change, and for that we need to have
iconoclasts, not status-quoits and constitutional experts.
In the poem Healers – in the opening line, ‘The unplanned city has a death-wish;’ he clearly points
out his feelings on the society that has never had a moral for their lives. Their effects of incantations
are revealed as, “Their incantations hang in the polluted air” where the surrounding lacks its
originality the inhabitants of the same can never be made whole or perfect. The one who likes to
come out of such evils should never be desired to settle down in the same. Also in the following
line, “Sex is prohibited or allowed Meat and drinks are prohibited or allowed” reveals the realism of
the exposed falseism. The outer man walks among the grouped society and it shows himself or
herself as the perfect nature and embodiment of the real human but the inner one likes to be mingled
with the evils and the unwanted. These pretensions of the mob are strongly condemned by the poet.
Their outward morality is sarcastically attacked in the next line: “………………. Give up everything
or nothing and be saved” Even the system of social behaviour in marriages is indirectly attacked by
the poet. “It does not matter if your marriage is arranged. It does not matter if you cannot love your
wife.”
The word ‘arranged’ and the phrase ‘cannot love your wife’ expose the systems of society
that often opposing the real will and wish of the individual and that has hurt on the soft inner man.
Even though the desires are left behind, the systems teach them to live a life pretending as a family
and make the public to approve and the government to proclaim them as the pair meant to live as
husband and wife bound by the law and the society but not by the mind or love. These strong
approaches of the poet reveal his real being and the greatest desire for the longing of good being.
Even the same point is expressed in the poem ‘Minority’. He says: “It’s not the mythology Or the
marriage customs that you need to know”
Though the poet’s view of the lines deals with the life of a saint, the words related to the
marriage is compared with the mythology and equated to that meaning that reveals that they are just
the imaginative and never bring a piece of bread to the satisfaction of man’s life.
When he talks about his own marriage ceremony in “Jewish Wedding in Bombay”, “………
mostly, we were Amazed, and so were the others, Who knows how much belief we had?” In the
lines “……….. The game delighted all then eighbour’s children, who never stopped staring at me,
the reluctant bridegroom of the day” hepolishly explains how the position of a bridegroom would be
on the day of wedding as each and everything deals plainly with rituals. But the real love lies, he
says, in “Aside”. One cannot imagine Elephants making love, But it seems they do. So also tortoises
And snails, Or even other men With women doing What it seems they do. No, one cannot imagine it,
Except as a song In which we the lovers Are sung and saved From too much separation Love is the
ultimate reparation.
In “Hang Over”, when the poet talks about the family system, his sarcastic talent is clearly
expressed through his comparison. “Five-child local family staring at one-child American family”.
His attack on Indian society extends to the highest level whenever he talks about the poverty that
rules the country even from time memorial.
Even when Ezekiel talks about select centered politics of the country, he never forgets to
point out the fate of poverty. “Long walk to Church gate between pavement sleepers” The great role
of poverty in Calcutta at where he witnessed a lot it’s role overflows in his poems. In the poem “In
India”, this can be clearly seen. “Always, in the sun’s eye, Here among the beggars, Hawkers,
pavement sleepers Hutment dwellers, slums,”
One can say that as the one witnessing the same every day; it has made a great impression in
the poet’s mind. The word ‘always’ strongly supports that point, whenever the poet starts his
thought to go around, he could travel only with these powerful figures. He says in his own sarcastic
way,
“Here among the beggars ………………….. ………………….. I ride my elephant of thoughts,
Ezekiel is not sarcastic when he talks in “Woman and Child” I stop when a child crawls on hands
and knees across our way. He’s beautiful, naked and funny. We smile at him, he’s amazed. His
mother, selling oranges seated by a wall, smiles at us. These lines express the condition of poverty
Ezekiel’s sarcasm and sound attack on poverty is clearly seen in the poem “From
Edinburgh Interlude” under the heading ‘Beauty and Poverty’: From the squalor of a narrow
lane leading to slum, she walked out – like one of the Maharaja’s air-hostesses. She stepped briskly
over pools of gutter-water and dog-shit. ……………. …………….. All I was left with was this
song about beauty and poverty. - Beauty and Poverty What lies special in the poems of Nissim
Ezekiel is the attachment on the public even himself when he happened to see them not heeding to
the cry and lamentation of the poor. It deals with the negligence of the society to uplift the down
trodden. It never lies in the words. When he talks in minority poem, he says, “It’s the language
really separates, whatever else is shared, on the other hand Everyone understands Mother Teresa; her
guests die visibly in her arms.”
It is the poets sentimental and sound attach on the person pining on poverty and needy just
through words.
In “Entertainment”, Ezekiel sympathetically expresses the idea that how the longing of the
down trodden and the forgettable of the public on their daily family running depend on others.
Nissim Ezekiel is explaining about the monkey-show done by a ‘patient girl’. Their trials and pains
are clearly depicted by the poet. The monkey-show is on: patient girl on haunches holds the strings,
a baby in her arms. Two tiny monkeys In red and purple pantaloons prepare to dance. Crown
collects, forms a circle. Naked to the waist, The Master pf Ceremonies Drums frenzy, cracks whip,
calls the tricks All those troubles continue just for their livelihood as it is explained in the line:
“to earn applause and copper coins” In the middle of the poem, the poet sarcastically mentions the
words: “……. The untouchable women Smooth their hair.” and strongly insists about the evil that
runs long in the society. The lines: “only the monkeys are sad, ………………. the baby begins to
cry Anticipating time for payment” clearly expose the conditions of the neglected. Their innermost
feelings are originally expressed in these lines: “Anticipating time for payment, the crowd dissolves.
Some in shame, part With the smallest coin they have.” pours the mournful events occurring in the
society. The final line: “The show moves on” is the one that expresses their continual life of
monotony without any spring in the life.
The society in general is very much induced by hypocratic and gloomy theories that spoil the
whole human community. The types of nature are strongly utilized by the poet by his sarcastic and
strong expressions. In ‘In India’, he talks about the religious hypocracy that runs among the public.
Though to the outer world they pretend themselves perfect and noteworthy, their inner life and their
personal thoughts stink and produces bad odour.
REFERENCES:
1. Ezekiel Nissim. Collected Poems 1952-1988). New Delhi: Oxford University Press,
1989.
2. PeeradinaSaleem. Contemporary Indian Poetry in English An Assessment and
Selection. Madras: S.G. Wasani for Macmillan India Ltd.
3. Ramamurti K.S. Twenty-five Indian Poets in English. Madras : S.G. Mukherji
for Macmillan India Ltd., 1995.
4. Dr. Sathishkumar and TayalAnupama. Selected Poems. Agra : Lakshmi Narain
Agarwal.
5. Abrams M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Madras : S.G. Wasani for
Macmillan India Ltd., 1991.