Anger As A Literary Diction In Namdeo Dhasal's Poetry
886 Words4 Pages
The paper seeks to explore the manner in which Namdeo Dhasal uses anger constructively as a literary innovation to articulate the silent rage of dalits who have been relegated to the bottom of social hierarchies since thirty centuries. In Dhasal’s poetry, one observes the startling possibility of anger as a mode of organizing and articulating emotional energy. The paper will further explore how Dhasal deliberately uses the subversive diction to challenge the elitist upper caste notions of decorum and balance.
Keywords: activism, anger, caste, dalit, protest, subversive diction
Indian poetry today is no longer monolithic: it is more polyphonic than ever before, perhaps because of a break-down of unifying concerns, and homogenizing ideologies like Bhakti in the medieval period or National Independence in the first half of 20th century. This destruction of a central voice has made poetry more various and democratic, capable of reflecting upon the subtle nuances of the complex experience of oppressed communities. The destiny of a dissenter poet is always threatened in a consumerist society that translates communal needs into acts of individual acquisition which dismisses even the remotest dreams of an egalitarian society as absurd flights of fancy, suspects’ collective identities for their subversive potential and at the same time turns individuals into manufactured, merchandised personalities. Totalitarian systems of the Nazi, Stalinist, or religious—fundamentalist variety