MAJOR THEMES IN EARLY POETRY OF DOM MORAES: A STUDY OF COLLECTED POEM 1954-2004

Abstract

As an internationally acknowledged poet from the community of Indian English writers, Dom Moraes has recognized the art of writing poetry as revelation of his tapestry of imagination incorporation the trajectory between real to surreal, rural to urban, subjective to objective, home to homelessness. Chiefly expounding inner turmoil and desires of a life lacking harmony, Moraes in his early poetry is found to be lonely and exiled in search of a ‘promised land’ where he can share his lonely moments in utter ecstasy and wish-fulfillment. What is striking in such a perspective is that he always seems to be endeavored to create a “space” within his self- a private space of imagination, legend, romance pastoral or fairytale away from harsh reality of life and society. That imaginary “space” was so compelling to the poet that reality often seems distorted and self-critical to him, while imagination always beautiful and enhancing. In many cases, memory and imaginations in the form of therapeutic re-membering have become two strategic maneuvers to come into terms with his ancestral root and to bring the sense of rootedness. Oscillating in between the eastern and western epistemology and artifice of poetic art, Moraes often reveals a tendency to encompass private associations, allusions and conventions which ultimately overwhelm the coherence of his poems. Hence in most of his confessional moments, he is a poet of convention, of literary allusion, civilization and a world of personal imagination at the same time.