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English Thesis
English Thesis
Pratibha Saha
Dr.Susan Thomas
13 February 2017
It is not often that a poet is able to blend the lyrical mode with the political; we see such a rare
blending in Robin S.Ngangoms work. Do you agree? Explain with reference to the poems you
have read.
Robin S.Ngangom is a bilingual poet who writes in English and Manipuri. Ngangom
describes his poetry as mostly autobiographical, written with the hope of enthusing readers
overlooked individual from the nook of a third world country. Ngangoms reactionary poetry to
the bludgeoning violence of his times makes his poetry, to use Tabir Alis words, the poetry of
conflict. Robin S.Ngangoms poetry abounds in the maladies of humanity in the contemporary
era which he juxtaposes with his own experiences of guilt and lamentation for abandoning his
homeland.
A Poem for Mother is a fairly personal poem about the poets life experiences. It deals
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with Ngangoms childhood, growing up in Manipur and then abandoning his homeland to escape
the tense socio-political environment informing the public sphere .This is a direct call-out to the
government about the political chaos and unrest it has engendered leading to his migration to
Shillong.The figure of the son, abandoning his homeland becomes an emblem of a dilapidating
social environment (Kaur 8 ).The poet in the last stanza of the poem laments not being able to
improve his fortune even after leaving home. Im sorry, Palem/I only turned out to be a small
man/with small dreams and living a small life.(Lines 37-43, Ngangom) This can also be
understood to possess political resonances: At the same time, despite the smallness of his
pursuits outside Manipur, the alien land is more covetable. The corruption and misuse of funds
by the government leaving a dearth of economic opportunities; and the state history of Manipur
The poet attempts to draw a parallel between his mother and motherland: ....your lips
couldnt blossom into smile/lines have furrowed your dear face and/the first signs of snow are on
your hair.(Lines 27-29, Ngangom) Yet, he refuses to accord his mother the scope of
regeneration and rejuvenation typical within a nature framework invoking the familiar sentiment
of how the political turmoil and the rule of the gun denies that regeneration and rejuvenation to
the motherland.
The Strange Affair of Robin S.Ngangom is a deeply ambitious and political poem
sketching the narrative of an individual desiring freedom. The political crisis affects the private
sphere deeply, invoking and adding a new dimension to the modern day aphorism of The
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Personal is Political. The breakdown in conventional relationships and expectations mirrors the
loss of control in the society. He attempts to draw a parallel between his inability to rekindle his
love relationship with his beloved and the ravishing of his motherland. He believes that the
abuse of women has become a normative aspect of the society; their existence shrouded under
A possible comparison could be made with one of Ngangoms other poems Childhood
which attempts to portray the childhood of all children growing up in the face of political strife
and conflict:Childhood took place took place/free from manly fears/When I had only my
mothers love/to protect me from knives/from fire and death by water/.childhood took
place/before your friend worshipped a gun/to become a widowmaker.Both the poems are
it a post-modern framework. His works also include a lot of descriptions of nature talking about
Works cited
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