An Eminent and Towering Figure in Indian English Poetry:
Nissim Ezekiel is one of the most eminent and towering figures in Indian English poetry. His poetry is many faceted. and it has certainly enriched Indian English poetry. His poetry is suffused with Indianness. His commitment to India and to Bombay which is his chosen home, is total. His poetry is closely related with his environment. His roots lie deep in India. He has not inherited the great classical tradition of India, of Vedas and Upanishads, but to the extent he has availed himself of the composite culture of India to which he belongs. He must be said to be an important poet, not merely in the Indian context, but in consideration of those that are writing poetry anywhere in India. In his famous poem Background Casually, he clearly reveals his commitment to and attachment with India:
"I have made my commitment now
This is one: to say where I am,
As others choose to give themselves
In some remote and backward place
My backward place is where I am."
The Poet's Having a Typically Indian Sensibility:
Nissim has a typically Indian sensibility. Not only has he made a good use of his Indian background but also of the Indian English. The poem Very Indian Poem in Indian English is one such poem in which Ezekiel tries to portray typically Indian attitudes in typically Indian English. In the lyric Goodbye Party for Miss Pushpa, Ezekiel exploits a common mistake most Indians make of using present continuous tense, instead of simple present tense.
His Disliking for Fashion and Foreign Things:
The poet dislikes the notion of the new generations leanings towards fashion and foreign things. He is hopeful that India is progressing steadily and things are coming in slowly-regeneration, remuneration and contraception.
Making Vivid and Picturesque Depiction:
The poet vividly and picturesquely depicts the rampant poverty, squalor, heat and ugliness of India, especially in big cities, in India. He exposes the hypocrisy of the Roman Catholic Goan Boys, the whitewashed Anglo-Indian boys and the muscle-bound Islamic boys who copied, bullied, stole in pains and bragged about their love affairs, but they never missed their prayers. He also exposes the pitiable condition of Indian wives who are subjected to stern discipline, whereas their husbands are free to enjoy sex. He reveals East-West tensions. The conflict of two cultures is brought out.
Presenting Unhygienic Conditions in Indian Hotels and Restaurant:
Ezekiel has written many poems on the subjects that immediately surround him. In Bombay, the Irani restaurant is as much the part of the city as the sea breeze that blows at every corner. Irani Restaurant brings to light the dirty and unhygienic conditions in Indian hotels and restaurants. In a short poem Irani Restaurant Instructions, Ezekiel creates the authentic atmosphere of peace by the peculiar flavour of language.
His Painting Vivid Picture of Paddy Fields and Officials' Apathy:
The poet paints a very vivid picture of paddy fields filled with knee deep water and the collapsed houses. He also mentions the apathy of the government officials towards the flood victims. The villagers refused to talk to the reporter, mistaking him for a government official, whom they distrust and are suspicious of.
Presenting India's Poverty:
The poem Entertainment reveals another facet of Ezekiel's Indian sensibility. The poem describes a monkey-show, which is a very common sight on Indian roadsides. The poem brings out the poverty of the man, who is conducting the show-the Madari, as well as the unwillingness of the spectators to pay for the entertainment. The poem In India vividly describes the poverty, squalor, heat and the ugliness of an Indian city.
His Presenting Indian Superstitions:
In his poem Night of the Scorpion, the poet ironically presents the world of magic, superstition, irrationality and blind faith, represented by the simple peasants with the world of science, rationalism and scepticism. The people are simple and ignorant people who believe that if the scorpion moves, its poison will also move in the mother's blood. The following lines reveal how superstitious they are:
"With every movement that scorpion made
his poison moved in mother's blood, they said.
May be sit still, they said.
May the sins of your previous birth
be burned away tonight, they said,
May your suffering decrease
the misfortune of your next birth, they said."
his poison moved in mother's blood, they said.
May be sit still, they said.
May the sins of your previous birth
be burned away tonight, they said,
May your suffering decrease
the misfortune of your next birth, they said."
Depiction of Corruption and Dishonesty in India:
“The Railway Clerk” is a satire on corruption and dishonesty rampant in India. Honest, sincere and hardworking persons are humiliated and slighted. The Railway Clerk is the speaker who expresses his feelings of deep discontentment, unhappiness and anguish over his sad predicament. Despite his honesty and dedication to work he has to face difficulties and problems at every step. The poor railway clerk, who is the only support of his family, finds it difficult to make both ends meet because his duties are such as none offers him bribe. His colleagues get bribe and feel no financial pinch. The poor clerk does not know how long this state of affair would go on.
Intellectual and Ethical Note:
Ezekiel brought a calm, dispassionate, intellectual and ethical note to Indian English poetry. He expresses the experiences of the educated and urbanized Indians in his poetry. He studiously and carefully avoids the provincial, mythological and chauvinistic sentiments. His poetic approach is creative and constructive, intellectual and urban, balanced and rational:
“Do not, in your vanity, the tenuous thread
Of difference flaunt, but be
Asserted in the common dance. Participate
Entirely, make an end of separation.”
The city Bombay, a part of his Consciousness:
The city of Mumbai forms the core of much of his poetry. Fascinated by the sweep of the city, its blend of cultures and its streets peak, some of his poems are inspired by phrases picked up in the city's colleges and local trains. The city of Bombay becomes a part of his consciousness and he identifies and acclimatizes himself its dark and dreary spectacle.
"I cannot leave the Island
I was born here and belong."
The Use of Wit and Irony:
Wit and irony distinguish him from other Indian English poets. Irony is present from the very beginning, though it becomes more pronounced in his later works, the analytical faculty progressively displacing feeling at the motivating force of the oeuvre. No other Indian English poet has shown the remarkable ability to organize his experience into words as competently as Ezekiel has done. He has shown remarkable ability to give his poems a certain finality of form.
Ezekiel has also endeavored to identify himself with his environment. He has proved that the roots and stems of great poetry are found in one native soil but the poet universalizes his environment ethos.