Dom Moraes is indisputably one of the major modernist Indian poets in English whose poetry best manifests the nuances and complexities of the postcolonial/Third World literature. His enviable poetic career that spans a period of about half a century is marked by ten verse volumes including the Hawthornden Prize winner A Beginning and the Akademic Awardee Serendip, besides a host of autobiographies and memoirs, numerous travelogues, biographies and prose works. His fame, however, shall rest on his Collected Poems 1954-2004 comprising beautiful lyrics, emotionally charged love poems and meditative monologues among others. This volume convincingly argues that as a conscious artist, Moraes has ever been seriously preoccupied with the frequently baffling intricacies of human existence. It presents, for the first time, an ingenious analysis of his entire poetic 'Oeuvre' under two well marked phases, conveniently christened poet as dreamer and poet as Prophet. The chapter on Moraes's deft handling of verse and stylistic virtuosity amply demonstrates how the poet's technical innovations are embedded in his thematic priorities. The author justifiably infers that Moraes's perception of life fits in the post-modern frame of human experience without indulging in the sophistications and intimidating jargons of accepted philosophical systems. The book, as a whole, shall prove a cherishable acquisition to lovers of literature in general, and those of poetry in particular.
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