Celt: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching & Literature
Vol 14, No 2: December 2014, Nationally Accredited

DEATH AND DESPAIR IN THE POETRY OF TORU DUTT

Suman Sigroha (English Literature, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, India)



Article Info

Publish Date
24 Mar 2015

Abstract

Compared to the short time that she lived Toru Dutt's literary output as a poet was prodigious. Her yearning for the past and her deep sense of many faceted losses are apparent in her poetry. The evocative acceptance of approaching death in one so young presents a picture of a girl mature beyond her years. A study of her poetry reveals her close affinity with the Romantic poets. Referring to various poems of Toru Dutt, the paper studies the role that religion, and her interpretation of religion/s she was exposed to, has to play in this embracing of the inevitability of fate. This paper analyses the reasons for the presence of the elements of death, despair, nostalgia and a yearning for the past and the role that religion plays in her acceptance of the inevitability of death in the poetry of Toru Dutt. Through a critical examination of various poems, the paper tries to uncover the beautiful interplay of memories of past experiences, stories heard long ago and the moments in the present in Dutt's poetry. It traces the journey of the poet from her exposure to death, to a questioning of death, its nature and the forms it might take, to the final acceptance of death as something as inevitable and precious as love.

Copyrights © 2014






Journal Info

Abbrev

celt

Publisher

Subject

Arts Humanities Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media

Description

Celt: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching & Literature is a double-blind peer-reviewed journal, published biannually in the months of July and December with p-ISSN (printed): 1412-3320 & e-ISSN (electronic/online): 2502-4914 It presents articles around the area of culture, English ...