POETRY: THE NEW CHALLENGES

P.P. RAMACHANDRAN

There is no challenge specific to Malayalam poetry only. The challenges Malayalam poetry faces are only a part of what is faced by the society as a whole in common.  Malayalam is only one among the several linguistic communities whose identity and existence are being challenged in the current scenario of globalization. The uncertainties faced by all communities around the world, which are uprooted from their soil, and histories are faced by Keralites also.

 This crisis has induced a rethinking and redefinition on every walk of life. Naturally poetry also was forced into a renewal as part of the new circumstances. The new poets in Malayalam are also part of that complexity. In this they did not have the backing of ideologies or movements, which came to the help of Modernists and their predecessors. It is true that the so-called �content� doesn�t resound in the new poetry as in the poetry of renaissance or modernist periods. This period of deterioration of ideals and movements instead highlighted the �small things� rather than the �big things�.

An upcomimg young poet Mohanakrishnan in Malayalam writes:

� By the time I arrived in Wayanad

Heavy rains had already ceased

What remained were

The trees still dripping

And the drops from the roof edges�

Another poem by the young Malayalam poet P. Raman goes like this:

� I didn�t get properly

Drenched by any rain

Through the creeks

The tail drops swept in

No experiences                        

No world

Only their tails�

Many very frequently quote a critic to scoff at the lack of experience of new poets these lines. But the confession of this poet is genuine. At least it doesn�t follow the false pretences of the �existentialistic angst� of the modernists.

It�s true that the new poetry doesn�t carry the bloodstains of grand movements. By the time they arrived, the festival was over.

�It was as if the festivity was over; there was little to experiment with; almost every form of verse and prose had been tried; the past was a shade; the present offered little stimulus; the future seemed bleak. Anything they wrote was likely to be accused of echoing their immediate predecessors. Creating a space for themselves, articulating the experience of their own generation in fresh styles, was no easy task�

( K. Sachidanandan, �Malayalam Poetry: The Changing Scenario, The Book Review, Dec 2000)

The Wayanad hills that once gushed with the presence of revolutionaries have now turned into pilgrim centers.

� In Thirunelli

where Varghese shot down the rain clouds

Invisibly flows water

For souls to dip in�

( Rain in wayanad)

The poet writes about �Pakshipathalam ,� the politically resonant tribal hill of Wayanad .If this name could be taken as a symbol in New poetry ,it denotes the deviation in vision also. It is a realization that there is no liberation limited only to the tribals of Wayanad. It essentially also extends far beyond encompassing the entire environment of birds and rivers and forests and so on.

Mohan Krishnan�s poem ends like this :

� One needs just wings to enter the �Pakshipathalm�

Nothing heavy need to be taken along.�

( Rain in wayanad)

Weight (bharam) becomes an obstacle. Poets, freed from the heaviness of the past (poorvabharangal) arise. They don�t need even their bodies in full, just wings. They establish their presence with just a single feather.

�to prove that

I was here

It is enough

That I  drop a single feather�

( P.P. Ramachandran)

This shift from the macro to the micro, from the center to the margins, from the excesses (of emotions) to leanness is evident in new poetry. Gradually it got standardized, became monotonous, and sometimes even boring.

Within the last decade, there have been major changes in the worldview of Kerala society. The traditional values and beliefs have been questioned by the instabilities and uncertainties in the socio-political system. Language didn�t get renewed in line with the increasing pace and span of experiences. Like a path, which doesn�t grow to match the increasing number of vehicles, the poetic language began to appear as narrow and twisted. Poetic language, by virtue of its archaic heaviness, itself continued to be most conventional. Besides, the spread of electronic visual media also influenced the ways of communication. Like digital technology that influenced the art of painting, even the concise and connotative advertisement copies demanded poetry to probe for its basic function.

It is in this context that debates and controversies appeared in the literary journals. Also, the works of new poets began to come to light and new collections and anthologies were brought out. Even fundamentalist attitudes like expelling all that is not �poetry� from poetry gathered weight. Opinions that social or political ideas would pollute the purity of poetry were raised in many debates. Some tried to reemphasize the definition of poetry as the fundamental linguistic and personal experience .It was reminded that since language is also a vehicle of thought, history and culture, no expression could stand on its own as absolute/insular. Yet, these debates failed to go beyond the individualistic expressions of likes and dislikes. Never before has there been a time when expressions of dissatisfactions on account of poetry was so vociferous.

What differentiate new poetry from modernist poetry are mainly two things. Firstly, content-wise, it reflects day-to-day life, and is true to its experience, however insignificant it might appear to be. Secondly, in its mode of narration, it shook off exhibitionist tendencies and moved closer to the mundane, conversational language. But the very absence of authorship seemed to turn words hollow. Unable to row to a destination, they floated along helplessly. Their words proliferated as the helplessness, absolute agonies and fanciful observations of individuals.

Writing has to transform itself from its existing state as reflections of states into self-reconstruction. It is not a task which can be accomplished just by the right selection or coining of words .It has to evolve naturally from a social life which is productive and resistant. The observation  �When politics become creative, slogans turn into art�, by the critic Sri. B.Rajeevan also points in the same direction.

The challenge to change the world and the challenge to change along with the world are not the same. If the latter is a question of craft, the former demands creativity. It follows the gospel of globalization: � there is no alternative�. The language and culture of the have-nots must face the first challenge. Then, each poem becomes a declaration that �alternatives are possible�.

P P RAMACHANDRAN

Mail: ppr@harithakam.com

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