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 ...

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 an ...

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

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian Modern yoga gurus, yogi, maharishi, and Indian nationalist. He also edited the newspaper Bande Mataram (publication), ''Bande Mataram''. Aurobindo st ...

Sarojini Naidu Sarojini Naidu (Birth name, née Chattopadhyay) (; 13 February 1879 – 2 March 1949) was an Indian political activist and poet who served as the first Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Governor of United Provinces, after Independence Day (India), Indi ...

Michael Madhusudan Dutt Michael Madhusudan Dutt (born Sri Madhusudan Dutta; ; 25 January 1824 – 29 June 1873) was a Bengali poet and playwright. He is considered one of the pioneers of Bengali literature. Early life Madhusudan was born in Sagardari, a villag ...

, and Toru Dutt, among others.

History

Nissim Ezekiel Nissim Ezekiel (16 December 1924 – 9 January 2004) was an Indian 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 was awar ...

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,

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, linguis ...

R. Parthasarathy Rajagopal Parthasarathy (born 1934) is an Indian poet, translator, critic, and editor. Early life and education Rajagopal Parthasarathy was born on 20 August 1934 in Thirupparaithurai near Tiruchchirappalli. He was educated at Don Bosco High ...

, Gieve Patel, Jayant Mahapatra,

Dom Moraes Dominic Francis "Dom" Moraes (19 July 1938 – 2 June 2004) was a British writer and poet who published nearly 30 books in English. He is widely seen as a foundational figure in Indian English literature. His poems are a meaningful and substan ...

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 fame in K ...

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

Arun Kolatkar Arun Balkrishna Kolatkar (1 November 1932 – 25 September 2004) was an Indian poet who wrote in both Marathi and English. His poems are known for expressing the humour in everyday life. Kolatkar is the only Indian poet other than Kabir to be fe ...

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 and English, he was als ...

. 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 Eunice de Souza (1 August 1940 – 29 July 2017) was an Indian English language poet, literary critic and novelist. Among her notable books of poetry are ''Women in Dutch painting'' (1988), ''Ways of Belonging'' (1990), ''Nine Indian Women Poet ...

, Gieve Patel,

Kersy Katrak Kersy Katrak (1936–2007) was an Indian Parsi advertising personality and poet who rose to prominence with the advertising agency he founded in 1965, MCM (Mass Communication and Marketing). MCM revolutionized Indian advertising, offered gre ...

and

P. Lal Purushottama Lal (28 August 1929 – 3 November 2010), commonly known as P. Lal, was an Indian poet, author, translator, professor and publisher. He was the founder of publishing firm Writers Workshop in Calcutta, established in 1958. Life an ...

among others. The younger generation of poets writing in English are

Abhay K Abhay Kumar (known mononymously as Abhay K.) is an Indian career diplomat and the author of several books including ''Nalanda: How it Changed the World.'' He was appointed as India's first resident Ambassador to Georgia. He currently serves as ...

, Adil Jussawalla, A. J. Thomas, Anju Makhija, Anjum Hasan,

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 13 books of poetry and prose. She has received the Ra ...

, Hoshang Merchant, Madan Gopal Gandhi, Bibhu Padhi, C. P. Surendran,

Dileep Jhaveri Dileep Manubhai Jhaveri (born 3 April 1943) is an Indian Gujarati-language poet, playwright, translator, editor and physician from Mumbai, India. He is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award (2024). Biography Dileep Jhaveri was born on 3 ...

Gopi Kottoor Gopikrishnan Kottoor is the pen name of Raghav G. Nair (born 1956, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala), an Indian English poet. He is the founder editor of quarterly poetry journal ''Poetry Chain''. Early life and education Kottoor studied at the Loyola ...

Jayanta Mahapatra Jayanta Mahapatra (22 October 1928 – 27 August 2023) was an Indian poet. He is the first Indian poet to win a Sahitya Akademi award for English poetry. He was the author of poems such as "Indian Summer" and "Hunger", which are regarded as c ...

Jeet Thayil Jeet Thayil (born 1959) is an Indian poet, novelist, librettist and musician. He is the author of several poetry collections, including ''These Errors Are Correct'' (2008), which won the Sahitya Akademi Award. His first novel, ''Narcopolis (book ...

, Jerry Pinto, Urvashi Bahuguna,

K Srilata K. Srilata (also known as Srilata Krishnan) is an Indian poet, fiction writer, translator and academic based in Chennai. Her poem, ''In Santa Cruz, Diagnosed Home Sick'' won the First Prize in the All India Poetry Competition (organized by the ...

, K. V. Dominic, D. C. Chambial, T. Vasudeva Reddy,

Makarand Paranjape Makarand R. Paranjape (born 31 August 1960) is an Indian novelist, poet, author of '' Body Offering'', a former director at Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla, and former professor of English at the Jawaharlal Nehru University ...

Akhil Katyal Akhil Katyal (born 1985 in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh) is an Indian poet, translator, scholar and a queer activist. Career Katyal has published four books of poems: ''The Last Time I Saw You, Like Blood on the Bitten Tongue: Delhi Poems'', ''How Ma ...

Aditya Tiwari Aditya Tiwari is an Indian poet and LGBT rights activist. He has also worked as a journalist and producer at the BBC. Life He was born in Jabalpur, India and completed his primary education at St. Aloysius Senior Secondary School. He then a ...

, Mani Rao, Meena Kandasamy,

Menka Shivdasani Menka Shivdasani is Indian poet. In 1986, she co-founded The Poetry Circle in Bombay, with Nitin Mukadam and Akil Contractor. Bibliography Poetry books *''Nirvana at Ten Rupees'' published by XAL-Praxis Foundation, Mumbai .1990 * Stet, firs ...

Manohar Shetty Manohar Shetty (born 1953) is an Indian poet, writer, and literary editor based in Goa, India. He is considered as one of the prominent Indian poets writing in the English language. He has been a Senior Fellow with the Sahitya Akademi, the India ...

, 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 Sah ...

, Jaydeep Sarangi,

Robin Ngangom Robin S Ngangom (born 1959) is an Indian poet and translator from Manipur, North Eastern India. Biography Robin Singh Ngangom was born in Imphal, Manipur of North Eastern India. He is a bilingual poet who writes in English and Meiteilon. He stud ...

, Rukmini Bhaya Nair,

S. Anand S. Anand is an Indian author, publisher and journalist. He, along with Ravikumar (writer), D. Ravikumar, founded the publishing house Navayana (publishing house), Navayana in 2003, which is "India's first and only publishing house to focus on t ...

Salik Shah Salik Shah is an entrepreneur, poet, writer, editor and publisher based out of New Delhi, India. He is the founding editor and publisher of ''Mithila Review'', a journal of international science fiction and fantasy established in 2015. His poetry, ...

Sudeep Sen Sudeep Sen (born 1964) is an Indian English poet and editor. Early life He was educated at St. Columba's School in Delhi and received a degree in English literature from Hindu College, University of Delhi. He received a master's degree from ...

, Sukrita Paul Kumar, Nalini Priyadarshni,

Vijay Nambisan Vijay Nambisan (1963 – August 10, 2017) was an Indian poet, writer, critic and journalist who primarily wrote in English. He won the first All India Poetry Prize in 1990. He died following health complications on the 10th of August, 2017. Li ...

Syam Sudhakar Syam Sudhakar (born 16 October 1983) is a bilingual poet and academic from Kerala, India. He writes poems in Malayalam, his native language, and in English. His poems have been translated into several languages including Tamil, Hindi, Bengali, ...

, Vihang A. Naik,

Tapan Kumar Pradhan Tapan Kumar Pradhan (born 22 October 1972) is an Indian poet, writer and translator from Odisha. He is best known for his poem collection "Kalahandi" which was awarded second place in Sahitya Akademi's Golden Jubilee ''Indian Literature'' Transl ...

Amitabh Mitra Amitabh Mitra is an Indian-born South African physician, poet and artist. Education and career Mitra studied medicine and did postgraduate studies in orthopaedic surgery at the Gajara Raja Medical College, Gwalior, India. He further specialise ...

and

Yuyutsu Sharma Yuyutsu Ram Dass Sharma (; born January 5, 1960) is a Nepalese-Indian poet and journalist. He was born at Nakodar, Punjab and moved to Nepal at an early age. He writes in English and Nepali. Life and career Sharma received his early education ...

among others. Modern expatriate Indian poets writing in English include

Meena Alexander Meena Alexander (17 February 1951 – 21 November 2018) was an Indian American poet, scholar, and writer. Born in Allahabad, India, and raised in India and Sudan, Alexander later lived and worked in New York City, where she was a Distinguished ...

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

Sujata Bhatt Sujata Bhatt (born 6 May 1956) is an acclaimed Indian poet known for her evocative and culturally rich works, has carved a unique niche in the world of literature through her exploration of identity, language, and cultural intricacies. Born in In ...

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 Vikram Seth (born 20 June 1952) is an Indian people, Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has won several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Akademi Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Awar ...

and

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

among others

Anthologies

Notable anthologies of Indian English poetry include ''Ten Twentieth-Century Indian Poets'' (edited by

), ''Three Indian Poets:

, A K Ramanujan,

'' (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

), ''HarperCollins Anthology of English Poetry'' (edited by

), 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 Michael Rothenberg (1951–2022) was an American poet, songwriter, editor, artist, and environmentalist. Born in Miami Beach, Florida, Rothenberg received his Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He moved ...

in 2004); ''Ten: The New Indian Poets'' (edited and selected by

and

, 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 ''Muse India'' is a literary e-journal based in Hyderabad, India. Since 2005, it has appeared bi-monthly in a web edition; it has no print version. In June 2017, Muse India was approved by the UGC as a literary e-journal. Its founder and manag ...

– Satish Verma Young Writers Award,

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

, India * SAARC Literary Award –

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

, 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 off ...

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

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

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

The Poetry Society (India) The Poetry Society (India) was formed in July 1984 at New Delhi as a voluntary association to promote Indian poetry and to look after the interests of Indian Poets. The founding members included the Indian poets Keshav Malik, Jagannath Prasad Da ...

, New Delhi, India *'' Kavya Bharati'' – published by SCILET: The Study Centre for Indian Literature in English and Translation, edited by R. P. Nair

Madurai Madurai ( , , ), formerly known as Madura, is a major city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District, which is ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, 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. Contributor ...

'' – founding editor and publisher

, New Delhi, India *''

'' – founder and managing editor G. Surya Prakash Rao,

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

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, 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 ...

, India

References

{{Reflist

External links

Cultural Semiotics Reading of Contemporary Indian Poetry in English
Poetry movements Indian poetry Indian literary movements