The Poetry of I.K. Sharma - New Tracks and Literary Swings
A Volume of Critical Essays Ed. P.V. Laxmiprasad
Author’s Press, New Delhi, India, ISBN: 9352075544, 2017, Pp: 306

If at all the human world lingers it is due to the living geniuses who continue to inspire the people with their sustaining notions, the long felt need for the conceptualized theories, and knowledge. The creative vocation of every writer is to shape up the ideas, structure rationally and condition the thoughts, beliefs and experiences in particular context. The first English poet of Rajasthan has created an exhaustive even authoritative seven volumes of poetry which have helped the readers to see how modern, relevant and insightful speculations of his areas of poetic experiences.

This volume of critical essays edited by Dr. P.V. Laxmiprasad elucidates the fact that genuine great poetry is not made or constructed out of the subtlety of the mind but a spontaneous emanation from the heart filled with emotions. Among the contemporary Indian poets in English, I.K. Sharma is the most significant poet whose writing is determined by the elements of diction, music and inspiration. He defines artistic emotions achieving the functioning of objective condition to feed sensations and dominant aesthetic feelings. There is the substratum of peace, delight and in the process of what is particular and individual gets universalized. The poet Sharma communicates to and includes in the readers a state by choosing the life experiences and then idealizing them and embodying them in the appropriate language.

The research paper titled I.K. Sharma’s Verses through the Lens of Post Colonialism by X. Anita Arul brings out the post-colonial nature of subjects with extensive themes to establish Sharma to be a poet of commonwealth nation. His evolutionary attitude to rail at hypocrisy, immorality and falsehood etc, exemplifies the poet’s synthetic vision to recover for Indians the salient principles and potentialities too. The ironic mode in his poetry stresses the principle of joy and freedom to show that the beauty of Indian society is bound up by strict laws to drive away anomalies created by the corrupt politicians. The poems give meaning to the microcosm of post-colonial life, picturing our native land and other aspects associated with the optimistic fervour to fortify the sovereignty of the nation.  

All for one and one for All – The Poetry of I. K. Sharma by Santhosh Singh is very analytical and critical about mankind possessing satanic anger with unprincipled living hardens one’s heart and makes life unpleasant. The readers are transported to the wondrous land of Rajasthan with its strange sand dunes. The poetic narration and artistic expressions with depth, dimension and richness highlight the various geographical elements, the comradeship of the inhabitants with their native soil, features of the life of the people in this arid land and somber environment, man’s quest for personal identity, the issues that plague mankind, the celebration of nature and culture and the intermingling of history and geographical terrain.  

From the Personal to the Philosophical: A Thematic Study of the Selected Poems of I. K. Sharma by Divya Shree examines credibly the poems in all perspectives and enriches the text of the poems in a simple diction, employed with the extensive use of verbal imagery and a wide spectrum of themes encompassing the universal statement on mother, an epitome of love and sacrifices, then the iron appetite of men to satisfy their selfish needs, their outspread greedy hands, the world choked with uninitiated and reluctant minds and the processes of thoughts to change the old stern ways of the Hindu religion through evolving the idea of a New Bharat. All varied themes of Sharma connect his aesthetic vision to metaphysical and philosophical theories.

From Low Caverns to Lofty Summits: A Synoptic Overview of I. K. Sharma’s Poetry by Assif creates a new rhythm and showcases the enormous talent of an Indian poet, the characteristic soul of India who imbibes variegated traditions and the features of India. His poems are the repository of Indian culture of a particular region. His poetic jewels celebrate the geographical, social, political and cultural life of Rajasthan in highly symbolic modes. The invisible teacher and preacher exposing not only the charm and glory of the natural world but also hinting at the seamy side of natural destruction caused by the evil attitude of the predators tucked within.  

Indian poetic curio in Elitist English: A Study of the Duo in I. K. Sharma’s ‘The Shifting Sand Dunes’ by Visaka Devi enlightens perspective development of poetic ideas, literary output in enormity influences the high perception of practical issues into the attributes of Indian mind obtaining heat and light Indian culture. The poet boosts up the morale and spirit for cultural and environmental awareness excavating the ugly and actual morbidity in human life. The poems act as mighty tools on rectifiable aspects to reprove internal realities between human beings. The poet excels in the manner of digging at Indian callousness and indifference humorously making pungent criticism of men’s ugly habits in Indian streets. The scenes portrayed serve to bring out some social awareness among the localities.

Unearthing the Ravines of the poetic heart: A Review of the Select Poems of I.K. Sharma’s ‘Nirantaram’ by Sheeba Nair serves worthwhile purposes to communicate messages logically sequenced. As a social mediator, his poems become the instruments of self-examination and vehicles of understanding the human life and world. The poet presents, conducts, analyses, illuminates object into a poetic rapture. His exquisite poetry turns the ordinary into sublime permeating one truth, philosophy and treasure house of knowledge that unfolds a venue for communicating the notion of transient life, its limitations and inadequacies.    

Integrity and Compassion in the Poetry of I.K. Sharma – An Appraisal of his select poems by Sunitha is a wakeup call for rethinking the assumptions and reinventing of the ways in which gloom can be reversed. Indian themes clothed in western dialect form are the revelations of the poetic heart. The impulses, experiences, thoughts of the poet originate out of his creative excellence and ability poetically kindled at every phenomenon. The most potent artist combines both animate and inanimate world collectively. His poems are the parades of morality explicating that there is no shortcut to success. His poems exchange manners insinuating the intensity of hardships to strike the chord of victory. His poems are the seeds of fruitful self-questioning to consider the common objects as a great leveller treating all alike.  ‘Khajuraho’ by I.K. Sharma: A Fusion of Beauty and Truth by Chambial is a testament to his critical prowess with a wide range of ideas of intellectual exposition of serious concern. The critic interprets the poem to be the beauty of true art everlasting .The philosophy of love is so revealingly and artistically treated among the sculptures of the place. The well-developed argument step by step is sole factor to ascend the human mind to the metaphysical heights beyond the ephemeral and physical planes. The high and broad concepts carefully executed in epigrams are impressive and extraordinarily speculative reminding the readers of a Free Verse modern poem of America.  

A Promotion of Unfettered Expressions on the Subjects of Man and Nature in the Select Poems of I.K. Sharma’s ‘My Lady, Broom and Other Poems by Lily Arul Sharmila’ highlights I. K. Sharma’s endless visions, perceptions, ideals and aspirations on the advancement of Mankind through the preservation of social harmony, order and the promotion of social happiness. The poet portrays Mankind not in exalted conditions but in the earthly state ravaged by violence and corruption. His poems are the repository of ideas, symbols, associations and suggestiveness entwined with the power to excite the readers objectifying their responses. Thus, his art gains immortal stature as it borders on the living conditions of people.  

Inner Excellence and Human Empathy in the poetry of I. K. Sharma by Malathy claims Sharma to be a seer, a visionary, a bard with a saint’s eye and an idealist. His poetry is the exposition of personal experiences and emotions. Written in a wider spectrum and images embedded in natural landscape, his poems are an antidote for all ills, suffering and suffocating situations. The escapism is impossible when human society is at the height of moral, social and political turmoil with sensitivity and deep concern towards life, Sharma is alert to the actuality around him. These are the new interpretations of literature which the poet has taken into his poetic art. 

I.K. Sharma’s Poetry on the Long Journey in a Maze by Malathy, an enthusiastic critic, has attempted at some of other poems of the poet Sharma with endless critical conjectures. Her critical point of discussion touches upon Sharma’s spontaneity, fathomless subtlety and gravity of thoughts and expressions, rich images and symbols to photographic rendering of Rajasthan and its landscape. The poet teaches man to run and burn making them realizes their duty – ‘Miles to go before I sleep’. Thus, Sharma accomplishes his poetic task for the humanity with his endless creative vision and sacramental function.  ‘Singing of a Solitary Bird – A Silhouette of Oriental Aestheticism in I. K. Sharma’s ‘My Lady, Broom and other poems’ by Naveena Amarah examines the recurring phenomena and sensuous movements of grace in the poems of Sharma imparting interesting insights into the glory of the past. He harks to a traditional past in the mind-set of the conflict of modern subjects of metaphysical directives, mystical experiences and transcendental that pervade his poems. It is in such immeasurability that the critics measure Sharma’s literature in contemporary world. The purification of human mind has its genesis in exercising love for natural world. The inner peace and mental tranquility gleam only out of the unification and oneness with natural world, the enormous creation of God.  

‘Portrayal of Pastoral in the Poetry of I.K. Sharma’ by Palakurthy Dinakar implicitly encompasses social, cultural and rural life of India from the past to the present. The poems of Sharma are very vibrant, fresh, connotative, emotive, evocative with essential poetic experiences drawn from the phase of Indian history, ethos, mythology, nationalistic approach, projection of Indian consciousness, historical turmoil, expression of cultural inheritance, Indian locale, landscape, moods, dreams, sense of crisis, quest for identity, transition from conservatism to phase of cosmopolitanism. A search for individuality and originality is much evident, obvious and predominant in Sharma’s poems.

The article titled ‘Readings Beyond Cultural Ethos in I.K. Sharma’s poetry’ by Anju S. Nair is well crafted and shares the grounds on poet’s love for truth, the employment of mordant irony and satire lashing at man’s interference in the affairs of nature. The poems exemplify the talents of Sharma to view things afresh with imaginative plainness. The richness of texture, the perception, conception, a comprehension of the world around him and the narratives of existence make his poems incredibly direct, lyrical and satirical. Rooted in an abysmal present but wonderfully laid out in recreating the past. A great variety, complexity, simplicity, clarity and sublimity mark his world of poetry.  

‘Vanity unfolded: A Story of Irony and Satire in I. K. Sharma’s ‘Camel, Cockroach and Captains’ by Gobinda Sahoo sheds lustre on the abundant employment of the figures of speech as primary constituents for the verses. The poet achieves new milestones recording discourses on multidimensional subjects of Mankind, at large. He intends to delineate the feelings of man so situated in his life. He draws every representation very consistently and symbolically. The accurate depiction with irony and satire conveys charm and infuses delight through the literary embellishment of abounding wit, humour, irony and satire.  

‘Nothing is Casual Here: An Analytical Study of poems from ‘Nirantharam’ by I. K. Sharma’ by Koganti Vijaya Babu creates the right art of scarce sensibility and conceptualized knowledge on commonplace things, Mankind, locale, human qualities, impulses, natural objects, great personalities, philosophy, semi-autobiography, and speculative subjects, good feelings and mental surcease through poetic images. He does justice to his poetic vocation dealing with the details of human life, the greater action, and intense situation form the basis of the interest in the poetical works of Sharma. His selection of details and literary productivity are the considerations mainly of the values, thoughts and images. 

‘I. K. Sharma’s Humour and Wit: A Deconstructive Study of ‘The White Ants, Cockroach, Mosquito and Termites’ by D.C. Chambial is drawn upon the predominant characteristics of Sharma’s poems as a result of Chambial’s close reading and approach to Sharma’s poetic world. While scrutinizing the poems, one can apprehend the chief function of Sharma’s poetry that serves the human drama bringing into delight and triumph with bright self-consciousness, sense, mind and emotion. The humour and wit in the poems can induce in the deepest sense, the joy of life. The wit and humour makes the possession of power, keenly felt exhilaration and splendour fuses humour, wit and sarcasm inextricably well doing full justice to the subjects of his poems.  

‘Mother’s Lap by I. K. Sharma: A Story in Text’ by D.C. Chambial banks upon the maternal love and affection which is sweeter than all joys of life and the joy of the child is described by Sharma with apt poetic words. His poems are truly excellent with heightened effects produced by the use of metaphor, hyperboles, and transferred epithets. His poetic devices serve sufficiently attracting the attention of the readers and they grasp the essential constituents, the undeniable poetic qualities which renew their minds to drink the cup of joy to explore varied domains of poetic imagination.

‘Conjuring Perspective of Life: A Kaleidoscopic View of I. K. Sharma’s Collected Poems’ by Janatha Kumari claims Sharma to be a man full of poetry.  Our citizens and country owe the renewal of youth and spirit to the poetry of Sharma which is noted for vitality, richness of diction, prophetic vision, impulses, depth of feeling, the spirit of invigoration, cultural exposure, and the emergence of set of notions out of personal experiences. Sharma’s profession of poetry with grace encompasses social realism, criticism and political actuality. A study of his poems engages the readers and informs them action with whatever is good for Mankind.  

‘A Reflective Poet with an Eye for Detail: A Study of I. K. Sharma’s ‘Nirantaram’ by D. Gnanasekaran lashes at religion, a saleable commodity and the atrocities and undesirable go unnoticed. Bhakti is piracy nowadays. According to his designs and strategies, Sharma pours his meditative energy into his poems relating things observed by him. A poet aspirant of immortal garlands holds out the determinants to figure out how difficult the business of poetry is. His poetry is lyrical, to be contented to depict moods – fervour celebrating fraternal feelings. Thus, the moods that is important and perfectly assured of critical labour.  This critical essay on ‘Poetic Ideologies and Charlatan Images in ‘Nirantaram’ by Charles Joseph express a great deal of the identities of mundane actualities of life of Mankind. A particular collection of his poems ‘Nirantaram’ blames the genius of the poet. Both regular and irregular rhyming of eight couplet poem confirms the journey of the day resembling the Karmic circle of birth and death. The poet’s wit and grace in the lyric are so striking when he intends to make an impression on the meaning of growth, evolution, change and transformation. His experimentation with the phenomena of metropolitan, the increasing desert, accusation, victims and scarcity of humanity explicates his strength and seriousness.  

‘A Critical Study on Select poems of I.K. Sharma by Srilatha claims him to be a great poet whose subjects are more obviously poetical, satirical and lyrical on social themes, human virtues invariably ranging from a variety of themes. His poems prove him to be regarded on grounds as a more masterly, a more sufficient indeed a more classical poet who enunciates values in art. One can find excellences, yet it is in wit that Sharma admittedly excels. He focuses on the huge power and vigour in the object of nature. He illustrates the hard-working nature and individuality of the termites to appreciate the single aim, object and one business. He looks at and condemns the oppressor involved in illegal felling.  

Morality and Immortality: A Study of I. K. Sharma’s ‘Nirantaram’ from Indian Vedantic perspective by Karthika Devi focuses the distinguishing subject of journey as a symbol of life. His poems have the apparent ease and a noble obviousness springing from the harmony in the poet who supports lofty thoughts on the spiritual experiences. This sustaining power is more noticeable. The congeniality of the theme is fully given in the poet’s temper and indeed the most fantastical and ideal are keyed down from native solemnity and intensity in order to produce more effects. The sensation the readers feel in reading the poems seeing things distinctly is unparalleled. His artistry, discipline and power make his genius universal. 

The critical essay ‘Echoes of Marxism in the poetry of I.K. Sharma by Hemalatha holds out the promise of enjoyment as humane and luminous standpoints of Sharma’s poems which are adorned with the attribute of actuality. The poet interprets the material state and fiscal activities imperative for the contentment of the people in the society. The spectrum includes more of growing things propelled projectiles from the propositions of the manner of being, to debasement, rakishness, inducement to wrong, unlawful means, excessive gloom, straying away, desultory, erratic and despair.  A triumphant conclusion corresponds to the change from the competition in a free market to the social system.  

‘They who have not written Ten Straight Lines in their school notebooks, Draw the Fate-Line of the Land’ by Shujaat Hussain imparts greater delight and remarkable instructions possible under a more heartfelt peace breathed into by Sharma’s poems. His artistic, poetic journey breaks the barriers of the borders, colour, creed, religion and locality. The author consciously intends to glorify the utility of native. All these things depend on the state of the knowledge in the readers in proportion to the depth of the mind. His poems submit themselves to a kind of perception on the mystery, the unreachable part of his poems and the aesthetic element and analysis of life questions.

‘I.K. Sharma” Poet of Revolution and Emotion: by Suganthi explores that this critical essay relates to the meditated and reflected ideas to be sown in the minds of the people for colourfully and fruitfully breeding over the minds down the centuries. His poems are categorized under the representational works of art. The poetic verse and direct semantical functions mean much making brilliant phrases, harmonies so relevant to the contemporary world. The writer has succeeded in achieving excellences with his multifaceted vision on the mundane and the super mundane world through his poems that are richly textured with themes on quest for liberation, pride of mother land, righteous anger, the reaction of the people around, yearning for love, loss of direction in the internet world and love for mother.  

It is exciting that the book The Poetry of IK Sharma New Tracks and Literary Swings: A Volume of Critical Essays on the poetry of I.K. Sharma edited by the ablest practitioner of editing Dr. P.V. Laxmiprasad promulgates great convictions and the assimilation of critical perspectives into poetic world. This proposition is hailed as an opportunity to embark on an exciting experience for so many critics on the highest echelon from the academic world. The outstanding critics who have contributed to Indian readers have gone ahead with the task assigned and the readers would enjoy the selected essays and be moved to explore further hither to the unexplored realm in the rich field of literature.