POETS AND POETRY IN DIFFICULT TIMES (Pages 31-42) by Mr. P C K Prem in THE ENGLISH RESEARCH EXPRESS / ISSN:2321-1164 (Online); 2347-2642 (Print)

Many a time, a poet, a creative artist experiences incredible stress of age. However, it stirs imagination and strength of mind to see realities, which make life difficult and at the same time, throw challenges. Encounters with persons of wide range experience and knowledge, build up feelings of resolve to read human mind and heart. Even chance meeting, creates plethora of impressions with crowds of feelings and thoughts. I fail to offer logic in a normal sequential course of fallout but it often happens with a sensitive intellect, who wishes to participate in the affairs of the world. An intellectual inquiry into the actualities of life reveals a deadly conundrum where man tries to put aside emotional areas so that he puts up a gutsy face and understands judiciously existence and identity in complex times. Questions of survival at the worldly level and happening beyond arise but do not find apt answers. Who, why and how of life appear to disturb but he ignores. An assortment of thoughts and feelings gather, an ordinary man realizes but avoids in-depth scrutiny and so outlook regarding life never gains intensity or depth of understanding. Wherever, crisis of feelings, perplexity of ideas and thoughts about the man and the world exist in inquiring intellect, it is a cautious journey into the regions of man’s natural ability to react and speak about what he feels and if it continues, he begins to reflect seriously. Keywords: feelings, plethora of impressions, intellectual inquiry, identity in complex, intensity or depth, perplexity of ideas etc.