First Indian English Poet.
° First Indian English Poet.
Indian English poetry is the oldest form of Indian English literature. Indian poets writing in English have succeeded to nativize or indianize English in order to reveal typical Indian situations.
Henry Louis Vivian Derozio is considered the first poet in the lineage of Indian English poetry followed by Sri Aurobindo, Sarojini Naidu, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Toru Dutt among others.
Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (18 April 1809 – 26 December 1831) was an Indian poet and assistant headmaster of Hindu College, Kolkata
The son of an Indian father and an English mother, Derozio was influenced by the English Romantic poets. He began publishing patriotic verses when he was 17, which brought him to the attention of the intellectual elite of Calcutta. In 1826 he was appointed instructor at Hindu College, where his reportedly brilliant teaching influenced his students and won him their loyalty. In 1828 his students organized the Academic Association, a debating society that drew both Britons and Indians to discussions of religion and philosophy.
In the spirit of English rationalism, Derozio criticized the social practices and religious beliefs of orthodox Hinduism. Accused of irreverence by his students’ orthodox Hindu parents, he was forced to resign by the directors of Hindu College in 1831.
To India - My Native Land is a poem composed by indian poet Henry Louis Vivian Derozio in 1828. It is one of the most notable works by the Indian poet.
To India - My Native Land
My country! in thy day of glory past
A beauteous halo circled round thy brow,
And worshipped as a deity thou wast.
Where is that glory, where that reverence now ?
Thy eagle pinion is chained down at last,
And grovelling in the lowly dust art thou;
Thy minstrel hath no wreath to weave for thee
Save the sad story of thy misery!
Well–let me dive into the depths of time,
And bring from out the ages that have rolled
A few small fragments of those wrecks sublime,
Which human eyes may never more behold;
And let the guerdon of my labour be
My fallen country! one kind wish from thee!
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