Access India with Mrs Teirney - Indian Poetry -classic and contemporary verse by Indian, Anglo-Indian and traditional sources

Ogilvie: English: Sunitra: Literature: Poetry

Sunitra's India

Poems by classic, colonial, contemporary and ex-patriot Indian authors.

Here are links to poems I have selected which I believe to be of interest to Australian students encountering Indian culture and history in their English study. Included are works by Rudyard Kipling, who was born in India during the Raj, classic and contemporary Indian writers and some ex-patriots.

The music playing is the Indian national anthem, the words for which were composed by Rabindranath Tagore.

If a poem you admire does not appear on the list below, please fill in the recommend-a-poem form or e-mail me so I can add it.

Author Title URL - read poem and activities if applicable

A. K. Ramanujan "A River" http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/382.html

Sarojini Naidu "Palanquin Bearers" http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/390.html

Kipling, Rudyard "The White Man's Burden" http://www.boondocksnet.com/kipling/kipling.html
A colonial perspective, written during the Raj.

Kipling, Rudyard "If" http://www.easytraining.com/kipling.htm

Rabindranath Tagore "Vocation" about a hawker who craves the regimental life
http://www.123orissa.com/kids/poem1.asp
http://www.getmoremarks.com/cbse9eng3.pdf
http://www.oocities.org/Athens/Parthenon/1963/frame5.htm

Rabindranath Tagore "Stray Birds" "What language is thine, O sea?"
"The language of eternal question."
"What language is the answer, O sky?"
"The language of eternal silence."
---Rabindranath Tagore, "Stray Birds"
Translated from Bengali to English by the author
http://www.oocities.org/Athens/Parthenon/1963/frame5.htm

Bhagavadgita "Arjuna's Despair Before the Battle" From the Bhagavad Gita, translated from Sanskrit by Juan Mascaro
http://www.san.beck.org/Gita.html
Shrikant Verma "Process" translated by Vishnu Khare
Sujata Bhatt "Search for My Tongue" http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/gcsebitesize/english/poems_from_other_cultures_and_traditions/sujata_bhatt_search_for_my_tongue_rev.shtml
A Gudjarati international student worries aboout losing her mother tongue but finds it in her dreaming.

Please use the form below to recommend more Indian poetry accessible to lower secondary students in Australia:

Your e-mail:	
Author:		
Title :		

URL :		
Notes to assist in interpretation (max 480 chars):

Unit created by: Mrs R Teirney

This site was developed in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Teacher In-Country Fellowships to Asia program of the Asia Education Foundation. Email Tasmanian State Advisor: Jan.Kiernan@education.tas.gov.au

Site construction begun: 20 September 2001 Last updated: 30 August 2002

Author	Title	URL - read poem and activities if applicable
A. K. Ramanujan	"A River"	http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/382.html
Sarojini Naidu	"Palanquin Bearers"	http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/390.html
Kipling, Rudyard	"The White Man's Burden"	http://www.boondocksnet.com/kipling/kipling.html A colonial perspective, written during the Raj.
Kipling, Rudyard	"If"	http://www.easytraining.com/kipling.htm
Rabindranath Tagore	"Vocation"	about a hawker who craves the regimental life http://www.123orissa.com/kids/poem1.asp http://www.getmoremarks.com/cbse9eng3.pdf http://www.oocities.org/Athens/Parthenon/1963/frame5.htm
Rabindranath Tagore	"Stray Birds"	"What language is thine, O sea?" "The language of eternal question." "What language is the answer, O sky?" "The language of eternal silence." ---Rabindranath Tagore, "Stray Birds" Translated from Bengali to English by the author http://www.oocities.org/Athens/Parthenon/1963/frame5.htm
Bhagavadgita	"Arjuna's Despair Before the Battle"	From the Bhagavad Gita, translated from Sanskrit by Juan Mascaro http://www.san.beck.org/Gita.html
Shrikant Verma	"Process"	translated by Vishnu Khare
Sujata Bhatt	"Search for My Tongue"	http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/gcsebitesize/english/poems_from_other_cultures_and_traditions/sujata_bhatt_search_for_my_tongue_rev.shtml A Gudjarati international student worries aboout losing her mother tongue but finds it in her dreaming.