‘Language, Literature and Linguistics’ Diasporic Literature: A Search for Indian Elements in the Works of Select American Poets of Indian Origin

Abstract

Literature reflects life and diasporic literature, in particular, replicates memories of a bygone life and a faraway land. When it comes to works by Indian diaspora, they are often reconstitutions of Indian myths, rituals, culture and its geography. Early Indian diasporic writers summoned their memories of India in their works by virtue of words. Do the contemporary Indian diasporic writers follow the same trend? Almost all the novels by Indian diaspora have an inherent Indianness in them, but what about poetry which need not always exhibit this Indianness? What are the Indian elements in the poems by the recent Indian diasporic poets? This paper is a search for Indian elements in the select poems of the American poets of Indian origin, Meena Alexander and Usha Akella. These two poets are selected for the study as they were celebrated as the best contemporary Indian diasporic poets (at London in 2016). The paper attempts to find how these poets retain Indianness in their poems.