Jayanta Mahapatra

Jayanta Mahapatra
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jayanta Mahapatra is one of the best known Indian English poets. He also writes in Oriya. Mahapatra was born in 1928 in Cuttack, the city where he spent most of his lifetime. All his working life, he taught physics at Ravenshaw College, Cuttack.

Mahapatra has authored 16 books of poems. His poetry volumes include Relationship, Bare Face and Shadow Space. Mahapatra is a Sahitya Akademi awardee, and also a recipient of the Jacob Glatstein award conferred by Poetry magazine, Chicago. Besides poetry, he has experimented widely with myriad forms of prose. His lone published book of prose remains Green Gardener, an anthology of short stories. Mahapatra is also a distinguished editor and brings out a literary magazine, Chandrabhaga (http://www.chandrabhaga.cjb.net), from Cuttack. The last issue of Chandrabhaga (named after the river Chandrabhaga) will be released in November-December 2006.

By all standards, Mahapatra's tryst with the muse came rather late in life. He took to writing poetry when he was into his 40s. The publication of his first book of poems, Svayamvara and Other Poems, in 1971 was followed by the publication of Close The Sky Ten By Ten. One of Mahapatra's better remembered works is the long poem Relationship, for which he won the Sahitya Akademi award in 1981. He is the first Indian English Poet to bag the honour.

Besides being one of the most popular Indian poets of his generation, Mahapatra was also part of the trio of poets who laid the foundations of Indian English Poetry. He shared a special bond with A. K. Ramanujan, one the finest poets in the IEP tradition. Mahapatra is also different in not being a product of the Bombay school of poets. Over time, he has managed to carve a quiet, tranquail poetic voice of his own--distinctly different from those of his contemporaries. His wordy lyricism combined with authentic Indian themes put him in a league of his own.

In a way, Jayanta Mahapatra is not just an Indian English Poet. He is a school of poetry that has inspired many younger generation

I have not read him ever
but a new friend this old friend rever
his poetic achievements
Bare Face
Relationship
Shadow Spaced
endeavour
A Rain of Rites
will remain forever
a Fathers Hours
a son to savour
Life Signs failing
health however
waiting for
the woman more loved
a blonde but not a bimbo
cerebral cleavage
far too clever
some knots
untied do not sever