GLIMPSES OF ‘GANDHISM AND NON VIOLENT PROTEST’ IN AUDEN’S POETRY (Pages 410-418) by Ms. Divya Walia in THE ENGLISH RESEARCH EXPRESS / ISSN:2321-1164 (Online); 2347-2642 (Print)

Non violence as a form of protest or an instrument for bringing change has been preached and accepted by almost all the nations. In India, where Gandhiji employed it to drive way British, Martin Luther King Jr. in The U S used it as a prime means of protest to combat racism. All the political thinker and intellectuals talk of non-violence as the most effective form of protest and thus many literary artists have also been inspired to propagate it for a life marked by peace, safety and certainty.. Such profound is the spirit and essence of the principle of non violence that visionaries and literary artists have often looked at it as an oasis in a desert in times of tumult and upheavals in order to restore physical as well as mental peace for the masses. During the days of World War II in the 20th century, many poets emerged on the literary scene who showed their resentment for such bloody and extreme solutions to the nation’s ambitious visions. Among such poets, W H Auden is well known for condemning military power and expressing his disillusionment at the state of national and political affairs of his time through his poems. His anger at the political leaders responsible for creating an atmosphere of threat and uncertainty in the mind of the individuals by resorting to war for the fulfillment of their ulterior motives gives his expression a touch of scorn and bitterness. The paper is an attempt to highlight the anti war theme and plea for universal love illustrated by Auden in his poems as a form of non violent alternative to national, social or individual problems. Keywords: cultural-political movement, Gandhism and Non Violent Protest, truth and non violence, peaceful alternative, Spiritual love, international disputes, soul force etc.