Samudrasnana

₹150.00

Appearance of Samudrasnana in 1970 scratched out a new map of modern Odia poetry and established Guruprasad Mohanty’s reputation as the harbinger of a new age in Odia poetry. The book made a decisive break with the decadent Radhanath-Fakir Mohan- Madhusudan tradition of Odia poetry which dominated the poetic scene for over a century. Guruprasad with this exiguous volume of only eighteen poems, besides ten sonnets experimented with form and subject matter of poetry which were distinctly modern. Modelled on Western modernism these poems were hailed for the poet’s deft handling of contemporary reality using “wit” and “irony,” as well as magnificent images and symbols. His use of an Indian myth in “Kalapurusha,” a long poem included in this collection of poetry, made a tremendous impact on the generations of young poets who wrote after him in the nineties and after.

Category: Poetry

Description

About the Author

Guruprasad Mohanty (1924) is arguably one of the most powerful and influential poets of the 1950s of India. Born In a nondescript village to a prominent family of Odisha, he completed his higher education in English literature. He is acknowledged as the foremost modern Odia poet who forged a new poetic idiom to express an overwhelming sense of a malaise of despair and cynicism that had set in post-independence Odisha, India. Guruprasad has written only sixty-eight poems, including ten sonnets which are scattered in only three exiguous volumes of poetry: Nutan Kavita, Samudrasnan and Ascharya Abhisar. Recipient of Sahitya Akademi award for poetry, he served as the Principal of a premiere government college of Bhubaneswar before his retirement and death in 2004.