Indian English poetry is the oldest form of

Indian English literature Indian English literature (IEL), also referred to as Indian Writing in English (IWE), is the body of work by writers in India who write in the English language but whose native or co-native language could be one of the numerous languages of India. ...

. Indian poets writing in English have succeeded to nativize or indianize English in order to reveal typical Indian situations.

Henry Louis Vivian Derozio Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (18 April 1809 – 26 December 1831) was an Indian poet and assistant headmaster of Hindu College, Kolkata. He was a radical thinker of his time and one of the first Indian educators to disseminate Western learning a ...

is considered the first poet in the lineage of Indian English poetry followed by

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

, Sri Aurobindo,

Sarojini Naidu Sarojini Naidu (''née'' Chattopadhyay; 13 February 1879 – 2 March 1949) was an Indian political activist, feminist and poet. A proponent of civil rights, women's emancipation, and anti-imperialistic ideas, she was an important person in Ind ...

Michael Madhusudan Dutt Michael Madhusudan Dutt ((Bengali: মাইকেল মধুসূদন দত্ত); (25 January 1824 – 29 June 1873) was a Bengali poet and playwright. He is considered one of the pioneers of Bengali literature. Early life Dutt ...

, and Toru Dutt, among others.

History

Nissim Ezekiel Nissim Ezekiel (16 December 1924 – 9 January 2004) was an Indian Jewish poet, actor, playwright, editor and art critic. He was a foundational figure in postcolonial India's literary history, specifically for Indian Poetry in English. He ...

is considered to be a pioneering figure in modern Indian English Poetry.His first book, ''A Time to Change'', was published in 1952. The significant poets of the post-Derozio and pre-Ezekiel times are Toru Dutt,

, Sri Aurobindo and

. Some of the notable poets of Ezekiel's time are

A. K. Ramanujan Attipate Krishnaswami Ramanujan (16 March 1929 – 13 July 1993) was an Indian poet and scholar of Indian literature and Linguistics. Ramanujan was also a professor of Linguistics at University of Chicago. Ramanujan was a poet, scholar, ...

, R. Parthasarathy,

Gieve Patel Gieve Patel (born 18 August 1940) is an Indian poet, playwright, painter, as well as a physician. He belongs to a group of writers who have subscribed themselves to the ''Green Movement'' which is involved in an effort to protect the environmen ...

, Jayant Mahapatra, Dom Moraes,

Kamala Das Kamala Surayya (born Kamala; 31 March 1934 – 31 May 2009), popularly known by her one-time pen name Madhavikutty and married name Kamala Das, was an Indian poet in English as well as an author in Malayalam from Kerala, India. Her popularity ...

, Keki N. Daruwalla, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Shiv K. Kumar,

Arun Kolatkar Arun Balkrishna Kolatkar ( Marathi: अरुण बालकृष्ण कोलटकर) (1 November 1932 – 25 September 2004) was an Indian poet who wrote in both Marathi and English. His poems found humour in everyday matters. Kolatkar ...

and

Dilip Chitre Dilip Purushottam Chitre (17 September 1938 – 10 December 2009) was one of the foremost Indian poets and critics to emerge in the post Independence India. Apart from being a notable bilingual writer, writing in Marathi language, Marathi and En ...

. Rabindranath Tagore wrote primarily in Bengali and created a small body of work (mainly prose) in English and was responsible for the translations of his own work into English.

Poets

Other notable 20th century poets of English poetry in India include Eunice De Souza,

, Kersy Katrak and P. Lal among others. The younger generation of poets writing in English are

Abhay K Abhay Kumar en Name Abhay K.(born 1980) is an Indian poet-diplomat and currently serves as the Deputy Director General of Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR), New Delhi. He served as India's 21st Ambassador to Madagascar and Comoros fr ...

Adil Jussawalla Adil Jehangir Jussawalla (born 8 April 1940, Mumbai) is an Indian poet, magazine editor and translator. He has written two books of poetry, 'Land's End' and 'Missing Person'. 'Sea Breeze Bombay' is a fine, city poem by this poet. It is actually ...

, A. J. Thomas,

Anju Makhija Anju Makhija is an Indian poet, playwright, translator and columnist. She has won several national and international awards for her poetry in English. Biography Anju Makhija was born in Pune and spent several years in Canada. She has a master's ...

Anjum Hasan Anjum Hasan is an Indian novelist, short story writer, poet, and editor. She graduated in philosophy from North-Eastern Hill University in Shillong, Meghalaya. She currently lives in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Career Anjum Hasan's first book ...

Arundhathi Subramaniam Arundhathi Subramaniam is an Indian poet and author, who has written about culture and spirituality. Life and career Subramaniam is a poet and writer based in Mumbai. She is the author of thirteen books of poetry and prose. She has received ...

, Binay Laha, Dr. Abdul Wahab Sukhan,

Hoshang Merchant Hoshang Dinshaw Merchant (born 1947) is a poet from India. Most of his writings are in English. He is best known for his anthology on gay writing titled ''Yaarana''. Early years and education Hoshang Merchant was born in 1947 to a working clas ...

Madan Gopal Gandhi Dr. Madan G. Gandhi (31 August 1940 – 26 January 2019), a visiting fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, was an educationalist, litterateur and poet. Early childhood Gandhi was born to Srimati Savitri Devi and Kewal Krishan on 31 August 19 ...

Bibhu Padhi Bibhu Padhi, born Bibhu Prasad Padhi, on 16 January 1951, is an Indian poet. He writes in English and Odia, and is also a translator and literary critic. Early life Padhi was born on 16 January 1951 in Cuttack, Odisha. He studied at Ravensha ...

, C. P. Surendran,

Dileep Jhaveri Dileep Manubhai Jhaveri ( gu, દિલીપ મનુભાઈ ઝવેરી) is a Gujarati language poet, translator, playwright, editor and physician from Mumbai, India. Biography Jhaveri was born on 3 April 1943 in Mumbai, India to Ma ...

Anuradha Bhattacharyya Anuradha Bhattacharyya (born 6 December 1975) is an Indian writer of poetry and fiction in English. Her novel ''One Word'' was awarded Best Book of the Year 2016 by the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi. She is Associate Professor of English in Post ...

, Gopi Kottoor,

Jayanta Mahapatra Jayanta Mahapatra (born 22 October 1928) is an Indian English poet. He is the first Indian poet to win a Sahitya Akademi award for English poetry. He is the author of poems such as "Indian Summer" and "Hunger", which are regarded as classic ...

, Jeet Thayil, Sridala Swami, Jerry Pinto, Urvashi Bahuguna, K Srilata, K. V. Dominic, D. C. Chambial, T. Vasudeva Reddy, Makarand Paranjape, Akhil Katyal, Mani Rao, Meena Kandasamy, Menka Shivdasani, Manohar Shetty, Priya Sarukkai Chabria, Sharanya Manivannan,

Ranjit Hoskote Ranjit Hoskote (born 1969) is an Indian poet, art critic, cultural theorist and independent curator. He has been honoured by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, with the Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee Award and the Sahitya ...

, Jaydeep Sarangi, Jayanthi Manoj Robin Ngangom, Nitoo Das, Rukmini Bhaya Nair, S. Anand, Salik Shah, Sudeep Sen, Sukrita Paul Kumar, Nalini Priyadarshni, Vijay Nambisan, Kumar Vikram, Durga Prasad Panda, Brian Mendonca, Syam Sudhakar, Vihang A. Naik, Tapan Kumar Pradhan,

Amitabh Mitra Amitabh Mitra ( bn, অমিতাভ মিত্র) is an Indian-born South African physician, poet and artist, whose paintings depict dramatised stick figures. Education and career Mitra studied medicine and did postgraduate studies in ort ...

and Yuyutsu Sharma among others. Modern expatriate Indian poets writing in English include Meena Alexander,

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North In ...

, Sujata Bhatt,

Tabish Khair Tabish Khair is an Indian English author and associate professor in the Department of English, University of Aarhus, Denmark. His books include ''Babu Fictions'' (2001), ''The Bus Stopped'' (2004), which was shortlisted for the Encore Award (UK ...

, Vikram Seth and

Vijay Seshadri Vijay Seshadri (born 13 February 1954) is an American, Brooklyn, New York–based poet, essayist and literary critic. Vijay won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, for ''3 Sections''. Early life Vijay's parents immigrated to the United States ...

among others

Anthologies

Notable anthologies of Indian English poetry include ''Ten Twentieth-Century Indian Poets'' (edited by R. Parthasarathy), ''Three Indian Poets:

A K Ramanujan Attipate Krishnaswami Ramanujan (16 March 1929 – 13 July 1993) was an Indian poet and scholarly method, scholar of Indian literature and Linguistics. Ramanujan was also a professor of Linguistics at University of Chicago. Ramanujan was a poet ...

, Dom Moraes'' (edited by Bruce Alvin King), ''The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets'' (edited by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra), Reasons for Belonging: Fourteen Contemporary Indian Poets'' (edited by Ranjit Hoskote), ''60 Indian Poets'' (edited by Jeet Thayil), ''HarperCollins Anthology of English Poetry'' (edited by Sudeep Sen), Voices Now World Poetry Today (Edited by Binay Laha &B. K. Sorkar), ''Anthology of Contemporary Indian Poetry'' (edited by Menka Shivdasani, published by Michael Rothenberg in 2004); ''Ten: The New Indian Poets'' (edited and selected by

and Yuyutsu Sharma, New Delhi/Jaipur: Nirala Publications).Yuyutsu Sharma
"Ten: The New Indian poets: Edited and Selected by Jayanta Mahapatra & Yuyutsu Sharma"
(review), 27 October 2012.

Awards and laurels

* Muse India – Satish Verma Young Writers Award,

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

, India *

SAARC Literary Award SAARC Literary Award is an annual award conferred by the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature ( FOSWAL) since 2001 Shamshur Rahman, Mahasweta Devi, Jayanta Mahapatra, Abhi Subedi, Mark Tully, Sitakant Mahapatra, Uday Prakash, Suman Pokhrel ...

–

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

, India *

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

– New Delhi, India *Indology Literary Award -Raiganj, India.

Journals

*''Indian Literature'' – published by

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...

, India *''The Indian P.E.N.'' – edited by

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

, India *Indology -edited by Binay Laha, West Bengal *''The Journal of Poetry Society of India'' – published by The Poetry Society (India), New Delhi, India *''

Kavya Bharati ''Kavya Bharati'' is an annual literary journal. Its primary language is English and also includes translations from Indian languages translated into English. Objective ''Kavya Bharati'' is published by SCILET: The Study Centre for Indian Literatu ...

'' – published by SCILET: The Study Centre for Indian Literature in English and Translation, edited by R. P. Nair

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

, India *''

Mithila Review ''Mithila Review'' is the only international science fiction and fantasy magazine published from India. It publishes original speculative fiction, poetry, reviews and interviews from authors from South Asia and around the world. Contributors to ...

'' – founding editor and publisher Salik Shah, New Delhi, India *'' Muse India'' – founder and managing editor G. Surya Prakash Rao,

, India *'' Coldnoon: Travel Poetics'' – edited by Arup K. Chatterjee, New Delhi, India *''

Poetry Chain ''Poetry Chain'' is an English poetry journal of India published quarterly from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. The Indian English poet Gopi Kottoor is its founder editor. The journal was founded in 1997 with the mentoring of the Indian poet Ayy ...

'' – edited by Gopi Kottoor,

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, India

References

External links

Five reasons Indian poetry matters more than everCultural Semiotics Reading of Contemporary Indian Poetry in EnglishContemporary Indian English Poetry
* Roy, Pinaki. "Indian English Poetry: ''A very brief history''". ''Contemporary Indian Poetry in English''. Eds. Sarkar, J., and S. Mondal. New Delhi: Authors Press, 2016 ({{ISBN, 978-93-5207-113-5), pp. 11–29. *Mitra, Amitabh. "Unforgettable Times: Indo English Poetry in the Seventies

Poetry movements Indian poetry Indian literary movements