Body And Beyond - The Quest In Modern Indian English Women Poets’ Love Poetry

Publication of Kamala Das’ Summer in Calcutta (1965 ) was a kind of  crossing of  the Rubicon for Indian English poetry and particularly Indian English women poetry. The bold new themes included  assertion of Gender-identity and uninhibited  expression of  ‘endless female hungers’. Modern Indian English women poets have  unabashedly articulated their  female sexuality and  carnal desires against a rather traditional socio-cultural background. Body thematics has  come to  occupy a prime place in their writings . A significant aspect herein is the ambivalence of these poets’ attitude towards Body and related physicality as they portray both the ‘pains of hell’ and the ‘pleasures of heaven’ related to the Body World. This paper takes up perusal of these  Modern Indian English women poets’ chequered engagement with Body , their exaltations and their disappointments ,their expectations and their disillusionments. It also analyses the undertaken quest and  the ultimate vision of  Love and Life as expressed in the writings of these poets.