This Week in Poetry

Exploring the Poetic World of Yuvan: A Contemporary Tamil Poet In this episode of 'This Week in Poetry with Professor Nedumaran,' the focus is on Yuvan, an esteemed contemporary poet from Tamil Nadu. Professor Nedumaran introduces Yuvan's work, highlighting his contributions to 21st-century Tamil literature, specifically mentioning his two poetry collections, 'Thira Pahal' and 'Idhuvum Dhaan, Adhuvum Dhaan.' The episode features readings and discussions of selected poems, emphasizing the joy and emotional depth of Yuvan's poetry. Professor Nedumaran encourages Yuvan to continue his poetic endeavors and invites listeners to explore more of his works.00:00 Ep. 11 - Yuvan02:24 Poem - Ninaivootal04:08 Poem - Avalavae Dhaan 05:37 OutroYuvan's books are available through Kaalachuvadu Publications.Thanks for listening to this episode. Please share this with those who love poetry like we do!  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryprofessor.substack.com

This Week in Poetry: A. K. Ramanujan on Waiting, Farewells, Returning, and Daily DrivelIn this episode of This Week in Poetry, I read and discuss four poems by A. K. Ramanujan from Uncollected Poems and Prose (Oxford India Paperback, 2001), and I recommend Journey’s: A Poet’s Diary (Penguin Random House, 2019). I introduce “Waiting,” describing a speaker watching a family of four pass by while he waits aimlessly, then I read the poem in full. I move to “Farewells,” reflecting on everyday goodbyes—comic delays at a railway station and an unfinished cooperative-society presentation—alongside poignant, distinctly Indian leave-takings in a dying patriarch’s household. I read “Returning,” which ends with the realization that the speaker is 61 and motherless for 40 years. I close with “Daily Drivel, a monologue” (1992), a fast-paced list of chores contrasted with “you” going to see Othello, and I thank listeners and invite them to share the episode.00:00 Welcome and Reading List00:54 Waiting Poem Setup02:18 Waiting Full Reading03:24 Farewells Essay Connection04:50 Farewells Full Reading06:46 Returning Poem Setup07:23 Returning Full Reading08:19 Daily Drivel Poem Setup09:34 Daily Drivel Full Reading10:55 Closing and Sign Off This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryprofessor.substack.com

This Week in Poetry Episode 9: Imtiaz Dharker and Life Between BordersIn episode nine of This Week in Poetry, I introduce Imtiaz Dharker—born in Pakistan, raised in Scotland, and living between London and Mumbai—whose mixed heritage and itinerant life shape poetry that explores displacement, conflict, gender politics, and ideas of home, freedom, and faith. I present selections including “They’ll Say, She Must Be from Another Country,” which challenges nationalism and belonging through the speaker’s outsider status and a “country” found in the cracks between borders; “The Right Word,” which questions labels like terrorist, freedom fighter, militant, and martyr before revealing a child at the door and inviting him in; and poems depicting water as “Blessing” amid scarcity, and a schoolgirl surviving violence to claim the right to be ordinary and insist a bullet cannot kill a book. I close by inviting listeners to share, subscribe, and send feedback.00:00 Welcome and Overview00:17 Meet Imtiaz Dharker01:46 Poem Another Country04:35 Poem The Right Word06:39 Poem Blessing07:57 Poem A Century Later09:27 Closing and Subscribe This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryprofessor.substack.com

Welcome back to this week in poetry - episode seven. A poem is communicated before it is understood. Hence, a poem shall be read aloud heard, especially its music, its orchestrated sounds. The listeners shall feel those sounds before attempting analysis, particularly content analysis. Poems were read aloud in public, in durbars, in the presence of kings and people.And therefore this week in poetry is an effort at reviving the tradition of Kavi Samelans and Kavi Arangams where poets presented their work to the aficianados and lovers of poetry. Right. Without much ado, let's move on to the poems.We shall first take up a poem - Ars Poetica, a poem on what poetry is by a modern American poet, Archibald MacLeish.Then we move on to yet another American poet, William Carlos Williams. Who gives us a deceptively short poem, this is just to say.Finally we listen to Charles Bukowski, another modern American poet who was called the poet laureate of American low life, with his confessional lyrics about his life in Los Angeles. We present his the laughing heart and roll the dice.Let's go. And listen.Thanks for being patient listeners! Do write to me with your feedback and reading suggestions.  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryprofessor.substack.com

Welcome back to This Week in Poetry. Oh, I am absolutely thrilled to be back with my listeners after a break. We shall begin our new season, visiting some of the great minds who made a huge difference to the ways creativity and poetic imagination would take shape in the 20th century.In this episode, we shall listen to couple of poems from W. B. Yeats, the Anglo, Irish poet, and two poems from the Tamil revolutionary poet of the 20th century, Bharathi Dasan.Adam's Curse by W.B. Yeats. Professor Harold Bloom calls this poem, a wisdom meditation. Quite rightly so. Meditation on hard work, beauty and love.A Coat by Yeats. He wrote this poem in 1914. An interesting poem about the need for a poet to be inventive, creating new rhythms, discovering new content while discarding, old coats, though embroidered and attractive. For me as a teacher, I have to keep alive the urge to be creative, inventive and enterprising. Even though as a teacher, I'm burdened with critiques and interpretations by scholars from around the world.But then as I, walk into the class, in the words of Yeats, walk naked. Don't carry, your burdens of knowledge. No more embroideries.Puratchi Kavingyar Bharathi Dasan. It was a major voice after Poet Bharathi. Deeply engaged, in the self-respect movement of Periyar EVR, a strong and passionate believer in Tamil nationalism, a casteless tamil society, a pure and de Sanskritised Tamil language and above all a great lover of nature.One could find the traces of the revolutionary fervor of Shelley's poetry in poems like Sudanthiram, and Ulagappan Paattu.That's all I have for you this week. Thanks for listening. Please do share this link with friends and families. We'll catch up with you in my next episode, with more voices from the 20th century till then stay safe and keep listening.This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit profrn.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryprofessor.substack.com

In this episode, we have an impressive playlist of poems. We being with a reading of a poem by Billy Collins, an American poet. We also have Thomas Hood from the romantic period, and we close the episode with a poem by Meera.Needless to remind you, we are surrounded by words from the past and the present from east and west, north and south, we get giddy with emotions and thoughts, moods and feelings, entertaining, enlightening, inspiring, always engaging us in a conversation. Listening to them is more than communication.It's an awesome experience. Well, then let's go time to visit the poets.This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit profrn.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryprofessor.substack.com

Episode 4: Shakespeare, Frost and Kavikko Abdul RahmanProfessor Nedumaran welcomes viewers to this week’s poetry episode and introduces readings from “the Masters,” naming William Shakespeare, Robert Frost, and Kavikko Abdul Rahman. He highlights Shakespeare’s enduring cultural influence and presents Sonnet 73, explaining it is not a romantic sonnet but a meditation on the “autumn of life” and graceful aging, then reads the poem. He then introduces Frost as a major New England voice (quoting Harold Bloom) and reads “The Road Not Taken,” describing it as a poem about choices, the difficulty of deciding, and how choices shape life’s differences. He briefly praises Abdul Rahman as an important 20th-century new Tamil poetry voice and professor of Tamil, noting his complex imagery and blend of love, life, and spiritual realism, before closing with thanks, a request to share the link, and a sign-off until next week.00:00 Welcome to the Show00:36 Shakespeare Spotlight01:23 Sonnet 73 Reading02:40 Robert Frost Intro03:24 The Road Not Taken04:42 Abdul Rahman Intro07:07 Closing and Thanks This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryprofessor.substack.com

This Week in Poetry: A. K. Ramanujan’s “Waiting,” “Farewells,” “Returning,” and “Daily Drivel”Professor Nedumaran introduces an episode of “This Week in Poetry” featuring poems from A. K. Ramanujan’s Uncollected Poems and Prose (Oxford India, 2001) and recommends Journey’s A Poet’s Diary (Penguin Random House, 2019). He discusses and reads four poems: “Waiting,” where a speaker watches a family walk by while he waits without knowing for whom or where; “Farewells,” which turns ordinary leave-takings—train delays, a cooperative society presentation, and a dying patriarch’s family gathering—into conversational, humorous, and poignant poetry; “Returning,” in which a 61-year-old searches for his mother and suddenly remembers she has been dead for 40 years; and “Daily Drivel, a monologue,” a fast-paced list of chores that ends with the speaker contrasting his mundanity with a partner’s trip to see Othello. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryprofessor.substack.com

Hello there! Welcome to This week in Poetry with Prof. Nedumaran. In this episode we will be exploring the poems of Nissim Ezekiel.“Best poets wait for words”- Poet, Lover, Birdwatcher.Nissim Ezekiel waited for his words throughout his academic, poetic,public life. Through his poetry he asserted his identity as Indian, though born of Jewish parents. He was a promoter of poetry. Bruce King, the author of Modern Indian Poetry in English firmly declares, “ Others wrote poems; Ezekiel wrote poetry”.Goodbye Party for Miss Pushpa TS, Night of the Scorpion and Enterprise are up for reading in this episode.Goodbye Party is an interesting satire on our speech patterns and behaviours in certain social contexts.Night of the Scorpion written in the sixties is Ezekiel's vision of the spoken voice. His mother is poisoned by a scorpion's sting.The poem recalls how the father responded, how the ‘peasants’ behaved in that context and the final ‘motherly comment’. Ezekiel presents reality as” observed, known,felt and experienced”. No room for the intellect to play. Enterprise - The poem is about a journey. A metaphor for searching for the self. A quest.Well without much ado. Let's join the Party! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryprofessor.substack.com

In the opening episode of this podcast, Prof. Nedumaran reads a couple of poems written by Kamala Das - My grandmother's house and an introduction. Enjoy!Exploring Indian Poetry in English: Week 1Professor Nedumaran dives into the world of Indian poetry in English in this podcast episode. He shares his journey with the English language and how he discovered various new words. He credits this curiosity and passion to his teachers and other sources of English learning like All India Radio. The focus of the episode is on Indian poet Kamala Das, her eccentric style of writing, and her two poems 'An Introduction' and 'My Grandmother's House'. Professor Nedumaran discusses the uniqueness of Kamala's Indian-English idiom, her daring challenges to traditional norms, and her self-expression. The episode concludes with a humble invitation to listeners to ignite their love for poetry and to join again the following week for a new episode.00:00 Introduction to the Podcast and the Host's Journey01:20 The Power of Listening and Learning Languages02:37 Teaching English Poetry and the Impact of Words03:08 Exploring Indian Poetry in English04:00 The Beauty of Words and Sounds in Poetry04:09 Introduction to Kamala Das and Her Poetry07:17 Reading and Analysis of Kamala Das's Poems13:40 Conclusion and Invitation for the Next Episode This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryprofessor.substack.com