New Dimensions in the Poetry of Nissim Ezekiel: A Critical Discourse

Most of the people are in the gutter but some of them, as Nissim Ezekiel, look at the stars. Right from the days when he came of life, till he died, he had something especial in him which ordinary people do not have. He had the capacity “to churn” the springs of unborn songs and felt the wind in whose heart fire did rest. The difference between a poet and a common man is hidden in the use of words. Ezekiel was like an adroit sculptor. He was accustomed to select appropriate words and phrases for a particular line of his poem. In case he was not satisfied with the original drafts, he would write and write until final product glowed with majesty which can be witnessed in it even today. He had raised the banners of revolt against obscurity. He owned that expression should be clear and in simple diction. Besides it, for Ezekiel poetry is not a mere collection of poems but is something greater than such a collection of poems. It is worth noting that the evolutionary process of the development of poetic creed of this stellar poet was not smooth. It was undulating.