July 2020
37
ISSN 2278 0742
An Eco-Conscious Awakening - A Socio-Eco-critical Elucidation of Select Indian Poets Rashmi Maniar & Priya Raghav
Abstract
In the last few decades, Indian English poets have penned down many a verse pertaining to popular subjects such as social activism, environment, ecoconsciousness etc., with censorious compassion and candor. India is home to a rich cultural tradition of deifying each and every element of nature. This oriental view was negated by the occidental view of man‘s supremacy over nature. The advent and further rise of Christianity created an anthropocentric view of nature which further led to the earth‘s natural resources being pilfered, pillaged and raided. Not one to be left behind, Indians too, explored, excavated and experimented with its natural resources. This act helped in awakening the consciousness of nature lovers like Dilip Chitre and Vihang Naik to pick up their pens and voice their concerns against impending ecocide of man. They used poetic techniques and expression in such a manner so as to create awareness amongst the readers about the actual endangerment of community life. Both Chitre and Naik‘s approach in this direction, lies in the usage of satire heavily layered with cynicism, in their verse. The readers readily empathize and sympathize with the poet‘s pain of denuding nature. Thus, they project human responsibility towards caring for and protecting the environment. This paper is an endeavour to showcase the perceptions of these two poets on how they resist and raise the green movement to a level where it awakens eco-consciousness in the society through their poems ―The Felling of the Banyan Tree‖ and ―The Banyan City‖.
Keywords: Eco-criticism, Nature, Human, Anthropocentrism, Eco-consciousness
Volume 9 Issue 2
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