Soliloquy of a Sailor (A Long Poem)

<p>Soliloquy is a literary device: a word<br>etymologically used to refer to a monologue<br>delivered by a character while being<br>alone.Per Se, soliloquy tends to let us have<br>access to a character and his/her true inner<br>state-an insight into character’s intimate<br>thoughts,hopes,intentions and motives.It<br>springs from Latin roots.Sophocles used<br>soliloquy to depict protagonist’s state of<br>mind applied to a range of emotions. The<br>opening Speech in Christopher Marlowe’s<br>“Doctor Faustus”{1} is an early<br>example.Later Elizabethan writers used this<br>literary figure in abundance to enrich their<br>dramatic /poetic proficiency. Thenceforth,<br>soliloquy-poetry got accepted and grew<br>gradually in conventional traits to denote<br>the solo utterance. Modern/Post modern era<br>counts countless soliloquies written in<br>poetic-verse.While meta-modernism<br>inescapably represents soliloquy as<br>veritable characteristic of the<br>age.Instragram and YouTubers have<br>unarguably won and reached to more<br>readers than ever before.Michael<br>Donaghy{2} who died in 2004 has written<br>greatest monologues such as-“Conjure” and<br>“Black Ice and Rain”.In India soliloquypoetry has been attempted with profound<br>impact by poets such as-Vandana<br>Khanna,Sunu Chandy, Shikha<br>Malaviya,Menka Shivdasani,Anindita<br>Sengupta and a host of others.Among<br>present- day writers Manas Bhakshi has<br>carved irreplaceable eminence by writing<br>13th collection of poems-Soliloquy Of A<br>Sailor.It’s a long poem that appeared from<br>Author’s Press : New Delhi in 2020.{3}<br><br></p>