Anthem Nineteenth-Century #1: Mapping the Nation: An Anthology of Indian Poetry in English, 1870 1920

Focusing specifically on the poetic construction of India, 'Mapping the Nation' offers a broad selection of poetry written by Indians in English during the period 1870-1920. Centring upon the 'mapping' of India - both as a regional location and as a poetic ideal - this unique anthology presents poetry from various geographical nodal points of the subcontinent, as well as that written in the imperial metropole of England.

The anthology's selection defines India in various ways. She is variously imagined as being against Britain in loyalty and/or critique; in 'exile' in or through memories of England; via a reconstructed past; through satirical or earnest depictions of her contemporary politics; via depictions of the subcontinent's landscape and scenery; through her various regions and their inhabitants, customs, cultures and religions; or via odes to British and Indian literary figures and politicians. This rich bounty of content is complemented by an equally detailed array of auxiliary notes, including annotations and appendices of poets' prefaces, assessments of other contemporaries, and a collection of formerly lost archive material.

As becomes evident, the diversity of India's imagining by her poets during this period corresponds to the diversity of her inhabitants and geography. In grouping the poetry according to its region of publication, this anthology makes a structural innovation that negotiates the politics of locality, nation and empire by acknowledging the importance of all three terms in constructing an Indian national and cultural identity during the late-nineteenth and early- twentieth centuries.

Sheshalatha Reddy is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Acknowledgments; Note on Transcription and Transliteration; Note on Abbreviations; Critical Introduction; EAST: Shoshee Chunder Dutt; Greece Chunder Dutt; Joteendro Mohan Tagore; Avadh Behari Lall; Romesh Chunder Dutt; Lala Prasanna Kumar Dey; A. S. H. Hussain; Charu Chandra Bose; Nanikram Vasanmal Thadani; Ram Sharma; WEST: Behramji Merwanji Malabari; Cowasji Nowrosji Vesuvala; Aurobindo Ghose; S. D. Saklatvala; C. R. Doraswami Naidu; Jamasp Phiroze Dastur; Rustam B. Paymaster; NORTH: Babu S. C. Dutt [Shoshee Chunder Dutt]; Bipin Bihari Bose; Sir Mian Muhammad Shafi; Tej Shankar Kochak [a “Georgian Brahmin”]; Sushila Harkishen Lal; SOUTH: R. Sivasankara Pandiya; Krupabai Satthianadhan; M. V. Venkatasubba Aiyar; M. Dinakara; Chilkur C. S. Narsimha Row; C. Lakshminarayana Aiyer; P. Seshadri; Ardeshir Framji Khabardar; Rabindranath Tagore; Harindranath Chattopadhyay; Aurobindo Ghose; Nizamat Jung; ABROAD: Govin Chunder Dutt, et. al.; Toru Dutt; Hamid Ali Khan; Dejen L. Roy; Greece Chunder Dutt; T. (Pillai) Ramakrishna; Manmohan Ghose; Romesh Chunder Dutt; Hary Sing Gour; Sarojini Naidu; Roby Datta; Hasan Shahid Suhrawardy; Rabindranath Tagore; Peshoton Sarobji Goolbai Dubash; Sri Ananda Acharya; APPENDICES: Indian Poets on their Poetry; British Poets/Critics on Indian Poets; Excerpts from ‘A Garland of Ceylon Verse, 1837–1897’ (Colombo: 1897), edited and with an introduction and notes by Isaac Tambyah; Bibliography; Index of Titles; Index of Authors