Nissim Ezekiel

Nissim Ezekiel (16 December 1924 – 9 January 2004)

[1] was an Indian poet, actor, playwright, editor, and art Nissim Ezekiel
critic.[2] He was a foundational figure[3] in postcolonial
India's literary history, specifically for Indian poetry in
English.[4]

He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983

for his collection, "Latter-Day Psalms", by the Sahitya
Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.[5]
Ezekiel has been applauded for his subtle, restrained Born 16 December 1924
and well crafted diction, dealing with common and Bombay, Bombay Presidency,
mundane (everyday) themes in a manner that manifests British India
both cognitive profundity, as well as an unsentimental, (now Mumbai, Maharashtra,
realistic sensibility, that has been influential on the India)
course of succeeding Indian English poetry. Ezekiel Died 9 January 2004 (aged 79)
enriched and established Indian English language Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
poetry through his modernist innovations and Occupation Poet, playwright, art critic,
techniques, which enlarged Indian English literature, editor
moving it beyond purely spiritual and orientalist Citizenship • British India (1924-
themes, to include a wider range of concerns and 1947)
interests, including familial events, individual angst • India (1947-2004)
and skeptical societal introspection.[6] Period 1952–2004
Genre Modern Indian English Poetry
Notable work Night of the Scorpion; Latter
Early life Day Psalms

Ezekiel was born on 16 December 1924 in Bombay Notable Sahitya Akademi Award
awards (1983)
(Mumbai) in Maharashtra. His father was a professor
of botany at Wilson College, and his mother was the Padma Shri (1988)

principal of her own school. The Ezekiels belonged to

Mumbai's Marathi-speaking Jewish community known as the Bene Israel.[7]

In 1947, Ezekiel earned a BA in Literature from Wilson College, Mumbai, Bombay University. In 1947–
48, he taught English literature and published literary articles. After dabbling in politics for a while, he
sailed to England in November 1948. He studied philosophy at Birkbeck College, London. After three
and a half years, Ezekiel worked his way home as a deck-scrubber aboard a ship carrying arms to
Indochina.[8]

Career
Ezekiel's first book,[9] A Time to change, appeared in 1952. A Time To Change, changed the trajectory of
Indian poetry as it was a new form of poetry, Indian English Poetry. The book serves as a declaration of
transformation, encompassing the poet's personal life and surroundings. It brings about a significant shift
with deep implications for society, intellectual thought, and moral values. Most importantly, it introduces
a transformation in the way poetry is written. Written in 1952, it emphasizes the cultural context of the
post colonial period. Ezekiel uses his poetry as a way to make remarks on the period emphasizing his
approach to modernity and encompassing his personal life. A Time to Change may be a small volume
with just around thirty-five pages, but it holds great significance in terms of its quality and historical
importance. The title of the book indicates change embracing all aspects of Ezekiel's writing or poetry
and his aesthetics. A Time To Change marks the onset of a unique form of poetry and the start of a
noteworthy career. The opening lines of the poem are "We who leave the house in April, Lord,/How shall
we return?/Debtors to the whore of Love"[10] suggesting that Ezekiel is expressing deep regret for leaving
home during a season associated with renewal. In addition, A Time To Change represents Ezekiel's talent
for presenting an incident in dew stanzas and his ability to use gentle irony with sadistic humor.[11] This
departure is symbolic, representing a shift away from a life of natural happiness and spontaneity. A Time
to Change depicts a book that fights larger concerns such as power, communication and the limitations of
languages in the world. In addition, Ezekiel touches upon sexuality, human nature, and religion. Ezekiel
is known in his early work that the titles of the poems describe the content of the poem and are closely
related to the meaning.[12]

Ezekiel has distinctive views of his language when it comes to his poetry. In Ezekiel's earlier works much
of the collection was defined by large language with a focus on rhyme, meter, and poetic form. In
Ezekiel's poetry the quality of the heart is evident through his undertones, irony, and self mockery.[13]
Within his poetry the lines are a similar length and if the poem has stanza, the stanza will have a similar
number of lines. This demonstrates Ezekiel's attention to detail with his writing by using symmetry,
further emphasizing Ezekiel's early dependence for structure in poetry. Ezekiel follows what Rene Wellek
and Austin Warren use in their Theory of Literature or the "extrinsic" approach which examines literature
in the broader context as it understands the relationship to society. It also looks at how literature has an
impact by other influences in the world. The "extrinsic" approach follows closely to how Ezekiel writes
because he writes about society, personal experiences, and human connections. Ezekiel also uses the
"itrinsic" approach which focuses on the elements of the literature in itself such as using metaphors,
similes, images, and the techniques that are found in the text. Ezekiel emphasizes the importance of
creating literature that connects on a global scale. He references Berdyaev's ideological approaches with
creativity and how the poet should not imitate other cultures but should be genuine in their writing. The
poet should prioritize their integrity and own experiences in poetry. Ezekiel believes the cultural roles are
secondary which leads him to believe that poetry has a universal likening. For instance, Ezekiel
emphasizes the significance of humanity in the universe in his poem "Morning Prayer".[14]

He published another volume of poems, The deadly man in 1960.[15] After working as an advertising
copywriter and general manager of a picture frame company (1954–59), he co-founded the literary
monthly Jumpo, in 1961. He became art critic of The Times of India (1964–66) and edited Poetry India
(1966–67). From 1961 to 1972, he headed the English department of Mithibai College, Bombay. The
Exact Name, his fifth book of poetry, was published in 1965. During this period he held short-term tenure
as visiting professor at University of Leeds (1964) and University of Pondicherry (1967). In 1969, at the
Writers Workshop, Ezekiel[16] published his Three Plays which includes Nalini, Marriage Poem, The
Sleep-walkers.[17] A year later, he presented an art series of ten programmes for Indian television. In
1976, he translated Jawaharlal Nehru's poetry from English to Marathi, in collaboration with Vrinda
Nabar, and co-edited a fiction and poetry anthology.[18] His poem The Night of the Scorpion is used[19] as
study material[20] in Indian and Colombian schools. Ezekiel also penned poems in 'Indian English' [21]
like the one based on instruction boards in his favourite Irani café. His poems are used[22] in NCERT and
ICSE English textbooks. His poem 'Background, Casually' is considered to be the most defining poem of
his poetic and personal career.

Nissim Ezekiel is often considered the father of Modern Indian English poetry by many
critics.[23][24][25][26]

He was honoured with the Padmashri award by the President of India in 1988 and the Sahitya Akademi
cultural award in 1983.[27]

Editor
He edited The Indian P.E.N., official organ of P.E.N. All-India Centre, Bombay from The Theosophy
Hall, New Marine Lines, and encouraged poets and writers.[28]

He was the founding editor of Quest in 1954.

Death
After a prolonged battle with Alzheimer's disease, Nissim Ezekiel died in Mumbai, on 9 January 2004
(aged 79).[29][30][31]

Recent Discussion of Ezekiel's Work

Balaga Venkata Ramana's Nissim Ezekiel's Poetry- A thematic study (Scholars' Press,
India, 2015; ISBN 978-3639767902)
Subrat Kumar Samal's Postcoloniality and Indian English Poetry: A Study of the Poems of
Nissim Ezekiel, Kamala Das, Jayanta Mahapatra and A.K.Ramanujan (Partridge, India,
2015; ISBN 978-1482848670)
Shakuntala Bharvani's Makers of Indian Literature: Nissim Ezekiel (Sahitya Akademi, India,
2017; ASIN: B09ZBB2M6S)
Apara Sharma's Nissim Ezekiel and Jyant Mahapatra : A Comparative Reading in
Phenomenology (New Era, India, 2017; 978-8129001559)
Sandeep K. Thorat's Indian Ethos and Culture in Nissim Ezekiel's Poetry: A Critical Study
(Atlantic Publishers, India, 2018; ISBN 978-8126927531)
A. Raghu's The Poetry Of Nissim Ezekiel (Atlantic Publishers, India, 2019; ISBN 978-
8126900862)
Satish Kumar and Anupama Tayal's Indian English Poetry - A critical study of the poets
Nissim Ezekiel, A.K. Ramanujan, Kamala Das, Jayanta Mahapatra, K.N. Daruwalla, Arun
Balkrishnan Kolatkar and R. Parthasarthy (Sahitya Saroward, India, 2020; ASIN:
B08DHTQ9TL)
Rinkoo Wadhera's Existentialism, Upanishadic Perception and Via-Negativa in Indian
English Poetry: The Oeuvre of Nissim Ezekiel (Authorspress, India, 2020; ASIN:
B0893TP3KW)
 K.K. Singh's Different Thematic Perceptions in Poetry of Nissim Ezekiel (Aadi Publications,
India, 2021; ISBN 978-8195250165)
Shirish Chindhade's Five Indian English Poets: Nissim Ezekiel, A.K. Ramanujan, Arun
Kolatkar, Dilip Chitre, R. Parthasarathy (Atlantic Publishers, India, 2022; ISBN 978-
8171565856)

Books by Ezekiel
1952: Time To Change[32]
1953: Sixty poems[32]
1956: The Discovery of India[32]
1959: The Third[32]
1960: The Unfinished Man[32]
1965: The Exact Name[32]
1974: Snakeskin and Other Poems, translations of the Marathi poet Indira Sant
1976: Hymns in Darkness
1982: Latter-Day Psalms
1989: Collected Poems 1952-88 OUP

Plays
1969: The Three Plays Kolkata: Writers Workshop, India[33]
Do Not Call it Suicide Madras: Macmillan India, 1993.[34]

Prose
Ezekiel, Nissim (1992). Selected prose (https://archive.org/details/selectedprose00ezek).
Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-562866-1. OCLC 624466913 (https://search.worldc
at.org/oclc/624466913).
Naipaul's India and mine- an essay[35]

Editor
1965: An Emerson Readers[32]
1969: A Joseph King Reader[32]
1990: Another India, anthology of fiction and poetry[32]

Poems
The Couple
Enterprise[36]
A Time to Change
Philosophy
Island
 For Elkana
Soap
Marriage
In the country cottage
How the english lessons ended
The Paradise Flycatcher
Night of The Scorpion
Goodbye party for Miss Pushpa T.S.
Entertainment (was the best of one)
"Background, Casually"
Poet, Lover and Birdwatcher[37]

Appearances in the following poetry Anthologies

The Golden Treasure of Writers Workshop Poetry (2008) ed. by Rubana Huq and published
by Writers Workshop, Calcutta[38]
Ten Twentieth-Century Indian Poets (1976) ed. by R. Parthasarathy and published by
Oxford University Press, New Delhi[39]
The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets (1992) ed. by Arvind Krishna
Mehrotra and published by Oxford University Press, New Delhi[40][41]

Further reading
R. Raj Rao, Nissim Ezekiel: The Authorized Biography (Viking, 2000)
Sanjit Mishra, The Poetic Art of Nissim Ezekiel ( Atlantic, 2001)

See also

Biography portal

India portal

Literature portal

Poetry portal

Indian English Poetry

Indian poetry in English
Indian English Literature
Indian literature

References
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 2. Joffe, Lawrence (9 March 2004). "Obituary: Nissim Ezekiel" (https://www.theguardian.com/n
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23 August 2018.

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