Shanlax International Journal of English

Unveiling the Power of Poetic Language: A Creative Exploration

Lok Raj Sharma — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The rudimentary aim of this article is to unveil the power of poetic language in the expressions. Employing an exploratory research design, the analysis was executed on primary data taken from the selected poetic lines of nineteen English poems which fulfilled the purpose of the study, and the secondary data were mustered from journal articles and books published between 1609 and 2024. The findings reveal that poetic language induces strong emotions, encourages diverse interpretations, and enhances sensory experiences. It stimulates critical thinking, expresses complex ideas concisely, and connects with universal themes, while amplifying emotional resonance and transforming ordinary language. It also challenges conventional thinking, explores the human condition, invokes a sense of timelessness, and reflects cultural identity. Moreover, it fosters empathy, uses sound to shape meaning, illuminates hidden realities, expresses inner turmoil, celebrates the sublime, inspires action, and preserves cultural memory. These insights have significant implications for both students and teachers of English literature as they offer new perspectives on how poetry can play a prominent role in influencing communication.

Opium Wars and Subaltern Voices in Amitav Ghosh Novels

W. M. Seenivas Leandar Bias, V. Rajendran — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Amitav Ghosh is a renowned Indian English writer known for his skillful storytelling, combining historical events and intellectual insights. He focuses on the subaltern, marginalized, downtrodden, and subjugated individuals, as well as overlooked historical events. One of his notable works is the Ibis trilogy, which explores the overlooked Opium Wars, a conflict between Western nations and the ruling Qing dynasty of China. The term ‘subaltern’ refers to individuals in lower positions, often used in postcolonial studies to denote the dominance of ruling classes over subordinate classes like workers and peasants. Amitav Ghosh’s works are based on the idea that history imparts knowledge of previous events, enabling us to comprehend the present and lay the groundwork for the future. His Ibis trilogy provides insight into the Opium Wars and serves as a foundation for his work. Existentialism is a philosophical movement that emphasizes the individual’s existence and the meaning of life. It is the most individualistic philosophy among all contemporary philosophies, with its main principle being the complete freedom of the person.

Kamala Das: A Radical Voice in Indian English Confessional Poetry

Mayur Rana, Deepika Pant — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A seminal figure in the domain of Indian English poetry, Kamala Das is recognized as one of the prominent authors emerging from the third phase of Indian English Literature. Noted for her contentious yet widely acclaimed contributions, she is particularly distinguished for her confessional approach to writing. The exploration of identity has consistently been a predominant focus within her literary oeuvre. In her personal existence, her sense of identity remained perpetually unsettled. Her profound longing for self-identity and her aspirations for love constitute the central motifs present in the majority of her literary works. This longing and these aspirations serve as emblematic not only of her individual experiences but also resonate with the broader spectrum of Indian womanhood. In her writings, she embodies the roles of the female, the wife, the mother, as well as that of a partner. The principles of feminism are intricately woven into her poetry, and in her quest for self-identity, she also galvanized other women to seek their own identities. The ensuing paper aims to examine and scrutinize Kamala Das’s selected poems from the collection, Summer in Calcutta, through a feminist lens while also interpreting the identity fluctuations that she encountered.

Nature’s Treasure in Ruskin Bond’s Dust on the Mountain

Antony Raj Y, V. Francis — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 12:46:56 +0000

A common philosophical belief suggests that a priceless treasure lies within everyone’s heart, yet people often overlook it searching elsewhere and finding nothing. This treasure, though invisible externally reveals itself when one cultivates deep admiration and appreciation expressing these sublime emotions to the world. The renowned writer Ruskin Bond celebrated for his connection to the hills and the “smell of the Himalayas” engages ecocritical readers by highlighting the innocence, purity and simplicity of nature which ultimately enriches human life. While city life may appear to offer treasures and pleasures, tempting people with promises of employment and opportunities. This paper does not underestimate urban living instead it emphasises the inherent goodness, beauty and wealth present in one’s native land. It stresses the importance of recognising the true value of one’s roots. It promotes that individuals are the rightful owners of their homeland not estranged descendants of an unknown master. By exploring this narrative, the paper seeks to inspire readers to cherish and preserve their native surroundings while finding profound fulfillment within their own environment.

The Feminine Voice in Ecocriticism: Women’s Perspectives on Nature in Prodigal Summer

J. Rojer, V. L. Jayapaul — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The interconnection between women and nature is revealed in many forms of art such as painting, sculpture, literature, architecture, cinema, and music. Literature is one of the forms of art that brings the highest amount of details and clarifications about the bond women have with nature. In literature, there is a branch called ecocriticism in which the sub-branch ecofeminism deals mainly with the relationship between women and nature. Women are closely connected to nature. Ecofeminism considers the same values as feminism does such as gender equality, non-patriarchal structure, holistic approach and organic cultivation. It also affirms the commitment and awareness women have for preserving the flora and fauna of nature. It specifically emphasizes how patriarchal society treats both nature and women. Women’s passion for the conservation of nature through organic farming, caring for the Luna moths and safeguarding the predator Coyotes from the hands of hunters and self-centred people are highlighted in the novel Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. The intersection of three stories in one single book denotes that human life cannot be independent and that life on earth should be interconnected with each species. This paper aims to highlight the coyote lover Deanna Wolfe, the entomologist Lusa Maluf Landowski and the intrinsic and evolutionary organic cultivator Nannie Rawley through the lens of ecofeminism and it focuses on the ecosystem of Zebulon forest through coyotes, moths, and chestnut trees which are also important for the revival of the environment. The main objective of this paper is to instruct the world from the perspective of women not to use pesticides or herbicides to kill insects which are also part of the environmental network and to inculcate humanity to march towards an ecologically conscious person.

Anguish of the Gays in Mahesh Dattani’s On a Muggy Night in Mumbai

V. Francis — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Mahesh Dattani is a multifaceted contemporary Indian English playwright who stormed the modern Indian theatre with his explosive subjects. Unlike the other playwrights who always dwell upon the beaten track man-woman relationship, he boldly ventures to speak for the gender minorities who are looked down upon by the common people. Dattani writes on the tabooed themes such as homosexuality, lesbianism, gay and transgender. He does not merely write to shock the public but to arouse awareness on the invisible problems faced by sexual minorities – mainly their repressed desires, innermost emotions, loneliness and harassment. Dattani’s On a Muggy Night in Mumbai is completely focused upon the lives of gays. This paper explores the emotional angst experienced by Prakash (Ed) and his gay partner Kamlesh. The entire play is muggy in nature – the characters, the place and its surrounding, the sounds, the ambience and the issue. The play inquiries into the ecstasy and agony of the same sex love confined to the gays and lesbians. Like the heterosexuals, the homosexuals too share and nourish their love and trust on their partners. This paper also examines the typical slang used by the gays in their day-today conversation and communication.

Explicating Sherman Alexie Poem The Business of Fancydancing and Collocating with Indigenous Literary Studies

K. Priyadharshini, K. Shantichitra — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The purpose of the paper is to examine the intrinsic ideas that were used in the poem The Business of Fancy Dancing by Sherman Alexie and juxtaposing them with Indigenous literary studies. Sherman Alexie, a Native American writer, has written various works that enlighten the readers upon the hardship and psychological expedition the individuals undergo on various occasions and settings. Through his writings, readers get to understand the etymology of tribes and the socio-economic system that had prevailed. Sherman Alexie’s writing emphasizes the historic background, which includes stories or narratives that are passed down from generation after generation; in precise oral tradition, symbolism through objects, Cultural background, which includes customs & tradition, intervention & invasion. Indigenous people are natives who lay a founding stone to many agendas. Prominently in the field of art, literature & culture. In the initial days, there was no language. Through the medium of art, elaborate drawings on stones and walls gave a perception to the later generation. This form evolved into narratives.

A Magic-Realist Critique: Deconstructing History in Winterson’s Sexing the Cherry

Khum Prasad Sharma — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Magical realism has been in use as a critical mode of narration since its application in art in the 1920s. In the contemporary fictional narratives, postcolonial authors and critics have used it as a narrative strategy to present realities to readers in a fascinating manner than that of the realist tradition in fiction. By challenging and subverting the notion of objective reality, it critiques effects on colonization, and it works as decolonizing device to examine the political, cultural and historical realities of the colonized. In this line of argument, I examine and explore Jeanette Winterson’s Sexing the Cherry that challenges the traditional linearity and objectivity of historical narratives through a magic-realist lens, offering a critique of history’s patriarchal and constructed nature. This study utilizes history as a narrative open to reinterpretation, where suppressed perspectives can emerge. Winterson positions her critique within deconstruction framework, aligning her narrative with a broader political project to question authority and reclaim agency for the disempowered. Ultimately, this study argues that history is not a fixed truth but an evolving story, constantly shaped by power and perspective. By deconstructing historical certainty through magical realism, Winterson invites readers to reconsider how history is told and who controls its telling.

Ancestral Occult Supernatural Conundrum in Chariandy’s Soucounyant

S Udhayakumar — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Soucouyant is David Chariandy’s poignant debut novel that deals with the nuances of the Caribbean diaspora experience. He uses memory as the prominent technique, and the supernatural realm of resistance and trauma. This mythological folk tales of ‘Soucouyant’ in the view of Adele’s dementia, the novel spans a phantom tradition of generational resentment, cultural displacement, subjugation stories. The story projects the expedition of a boy, who is unnamed here, as he tries to make sense of his mother’s fragmented stories. Through the narration the author brings out how forgetfulness becomes a curse of multifaceted part of survival. This ‘Soucouyant’ appears as a notable metaphor for cultural memory, which depicts the personal traumas and collective experiences of immigrants, a Caribbean spirit by shifting its shape. Chariandy skillfully develops the story by exploring how cultural memories persist across geographic boundaries, juxtaposing supernatural symbolism with intimate family dynamics, transforming individual suffering into a larger story of resilience and transformation. ‘Ancestral Occult’ reframes the history of migrants through a supernatural and profound emotional interpretation, expressing a thoughtful contemplation on identity, memory and the unseen blemish of immigration. A deep consideration of immigrant experience is reflected by the Caribbean-Canadian upbringing of Chariandy, where memory progresses into a supernatural landscape of cultural exchange and survival. In the depiction on Canadian diasporic literature, in the plot, the hardships to maintain their identities of the marginalized communities through fabled and supernatural narratives are taken into consideration. Meticulously, this specific research handles interdisciplinary approaches, integrating anthropological perceptions, sociological interpretations and auto ethnographic narratives. Thus ‘The Occult Ancestor’ grows as a progressive scholarly involvement, disclosing the complex ways in which diasporic residents renovate, recollect and conceptualize their cultural identities through influential narrative stratagems.