Ecocritical Poetry

Ecocriticism is a newly emerged area of research in the literary field. It has a wide scope and approaches which make it a distinguished field of literary studies. Today, this field of literary criticism is not restricted to only English literature but rapidly burgeoning in other languages. In this research paper, I have analysed the poems of two different languages poets from ecocritical perspective. For this research, I have selected Famous English poet William Wordsworth and Punjab Poet Bhai Vir Singh. Bhai Vir Singh wrote his poem in Punjabi, but his poetry have been translated in English. Both the poets have their unique identity in their respective literature or even beyond it. A lot of research work have been conducted on William Wordsworth’s

It has been spontaneously influenced by other social institutions. Literature being a mirror of the society, it recreates aspects of its existential reality. Literature has been witnessing the various phenomena happening around the world such as wars, the emergence of ethnicity, exploitation of race, caste, etc. The quality of tracing all the aspects related to human being has made literature a famous and living area of study. However, it is slow to react against the degradation of environment. Since the ancient time, literary scholars have been showing their keen interest in the living environment. Poets, writers almost from every age have depicted environment as a part of literature, but earlier studies demonstrate the lack of proper understanding regarding environmental concerns in literature. The gap in the knowledge came to an end in 1990 with the inception of the theory of ecocriticism. The revival of environmental consciousness in literature was initiated by American scholars Charlly Glotfelty. She put forth her theory of ecocriticism in her paper, entitled “Introduction Literary Studies in an Age of Environmental Crisis”. Since the time ecocriticism is burgeoning in the field of literary

The theory analyses literary works from environmental perspective. It focuses on the things that have been at the margin and has been neglected by the social theorists. It includes nature in general such as flora, fauna, landscape, etc. The Historical roots of the theory can be grounded in the first essay by William Rueckert where he tries to draw attentions toward environment and literature relationship. William Rueckert in his essay “Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism” forges a link between biology and literary activities. He suggests that poems accumulate energy from their communities in the same way plants do, this energy can be useful for the outside world. Further, he discovered it problematic in “figuring out how to turn the stored energy of literature into effective political action in the real world” (Estok). However, it did not get much fame in the literary field. In Cherlly Glotfelty, in her edited The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology work with Harold Fromm explained it as a study of the relationship between literature and environment such as the study of literature and other social theories like feminism, Marxism, etc. After the foundation of the theory, it drew the attention of many scholars around the world. The primary concern of the relationship between