Socially-engaged narrative in contemporary Hindi poetry

Abstract

The influence of Marxist ideology has played a peculiar role in the formation of Hindi literature. Many writers believed that a literary word, illuminating the problems of inequality and oppression, could awake effective political, social and economic actions that could change an ordinary person’s life. In contemporary Hindi poetry there is the rise of young poets’ interest in socially-engaged narrative, which they clarify with the concept of “socialist”. It is aimed at criticizing the world order surrounding them and the desire to point out the problems of social peace. The authors discuss and translate for the first time the poems of the 21st century - Hindi poets of the left wing Alokadhanva and Avinash Mishra. They, drawing the reader's attention to the fact that the art of the word is given to them from above, raise acute social issues with realistic poems and simple language, hiding their powerlessness behind rhetorical appeals calling for an active struggle. Special attention is paid to the artistic techniques, which are practically not used in this poetry. It is concluded that poets create their own metapoetics focused on revising literature’s mission as a way of exposing the modern society’s vices.