Ecstasy in Existence with Essential Elements An Elemental Ecocritical Reading of Northeast Indian English Poetry

Abstract

The elements of nature constitute everything, and all matter is composed of the elements in varied shifting combination. Air, water and earth are the fundamental elements contributing to the emergence, dwelling, development and component of environment where all creatures thrive. The present study Ecstasy in Existence with Essential Elements: An Elemental Ecocritical Reading of Northeast Indian English Poetry, advocates preservation of these elements. Elemental Ecocriticism: Thinking with Earth, Air, Water, and Fire edited by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen and Lowell Duckert is analyzed to address the importance of elements with reference to the present day environmental crises. newlineEnvironmental protection is the need of the hour as living turns harder in the atmosphere of polluted air, contaminated water bodies and deflowered earth. Nine crucial principles taken from the introduction chapter of Jeffrey Jerome Cohen and Lowell Duckert, Eleven Principles of the Elements are applied to the selected poems analyzed in the present thesis. Four contemporary poets of Northeast India are taken for the study and poems which reflect the aesthetic elemental poetics and give a warning against exploitation of elements are analyzed. The features, characterization, power and sublimity of the three elements of air, water and earth are demonstrated in the versification of the poets chosen for the study. The ecophilia venerated by the poets for the lush green spaces are to be inculcated by the public for prolonging co-existence in the web of ecology. Ethical commitment to the elements is required t o alter the contaminated crises occurring across the globe. The principles and features of the elements projected in the poetical verses of the four poets evidence the essence of elements essential for ecstasy in human existence. newlinei) Major objectives : newline1. To examine the salient features and principles of the three essential elements; air, water and earth and their relevance in the contemporary scenario newline2. To exemplify comradeship, the selected