Kundu, page1 Sanjana Kundu Rakanjana Sen Indian Writing in English 20/06/2022 “Enterprise” by Nissim Ezekiel Ezekiel was born on 16 December 1924 in Bombay (Mumbai) in Maharashtra. His father was a professor of botany at Wilson College, and his mother was principal of her own school. The Ezekiel’s belonged to Mumbai's Marathi-speaking Jewish community known as the Bene Israel. In 1947, Ezekiel earned a BA in Literature from Wilson College, Mumbai, Bombay University. In 1947-48, he taught English literature and published literary articles. He studied philosophy at Birkbeck College, London. Ezekiel's first book, A Time to change, appeared in 1952. He published another volume of poems, The deadly man in 1960. He became art critic of The Times of India (1964–66) and edited Poetry India (1966–67). In 1969, at the Writers Workshop, Ezekiel published his Three Plays which includes Nalini, Marriage Poem, The Sleep-walkers. A year later, he presented an art series of ten programmes for Indian television. In 1976, he translated Jawaharlal Nehru's poetry from English to Marathi, in collaboration with Vrinda Nabar, and co-edited a fiction and poetry anthology. Nissim Ezekiel is often considered the father of Modern Indian English poetry by many critics. He was honoured with the Padmashri award by the President of India in 1988 and the Sahitya Akademi cultural award in 1983. After a prolonged battle with Alzheimer’s disease, Nissim Ezekiel died in Mumbai, on 9 January 2004 (aged 79). Kundu, page2 Sanjana Kundu Rakanjana Sen Indian Writing in English 20/06/2022 Enterprise’ by Nissim Ezekiel is an allegorical poem describing the journey of life and the poet’s realization at different stages of his journey. In ‘Enterprise’ the poet, Nissim Ezekiel talks about going on a pilgrimage. He is not alone in the journey. There are other pilgrims too in that group. They have set out to reach a destination that is unknown to the readers. It is not disclosed even at the end of the poem. There is a hint in the poem that the place is somewhere near the sea. The poet divides their journey into some stages. In each stage, the path they have chosen is not that smooth. They have to face some difficulties in order to reach their goal. Some members leave the group for their difference of opinion. One such person is an intellectual and prose writer. The situation worsens when they are close to their destination. But the ending is paradoxical. Even after suffering from hardships to reach their coveted goal, they feel dejected after reaching there. At last, the poet paradoxically remarks, “Home is where we have to gather grace.” Enterprise’, a poem by Nissim Ezekiel, has manifold layers on its actual meaning. Readers can interpret the poem in their own way. It being a well-written piece of art, welcomes various critical appreciations. Apart from the meaning of the text, the essence of Indianness is there in the poem. These elements make it so dear to the Indian readers. The language used in the poem isn’t so tough that one cannot understand the meaning after reading it for the first time. The first line is an example of sarcasm. The poet says that their journey isn’t an ordinary one. It was like a pilgrimage for the group. It is meant to bring a sense of humor at the same time a Kundu, page3 Sanjana Kundu Rakanjana Sen Indian Writing in English 20/06/2022 smell of irony in the poem. There are some other instances where the poet uses the same literary device. Such lines are, “We stood it very well, I thought”, “On how to cross a desert patch” and “…I tried to pray”. In the last line of the first stanza, the sun is personified. In the second stanza, “The way of serpents and of goats” is a metaphor. “Serpents” is a metonym of mischievous persons with whom the poet met during the enterprise. In the 4th stanza, readers can find another metonymy in the word “section”. Here “section” stands for the persons in the poet’s group. In the line “he smelt the sea”, the poet uses another metonymy. Here the sea symbolizes the sea breeze. In the last stanza, Ezekiel invests the abstract idea “trip” with the ability to blacken their face. It is definitely a use of personification. The last two lines of the poem contain a deep meaning which seems absurd to the readers at this juncture of the poem. Here the poet uses a literary device which is called epigram in the art of rhetoric. Nissim Ezekiel is one of the prolific Indian writers in English of the 20th century. He was playwright, editor, critic and poet. Ezekiel’s poetry has different themes and styles. His poems are a depiction of his craftsmanship, restraint and intellectual approach to everyday life. It revolves around a metaphorical journey of man on this earth followed by hardships and failures which man is subjected to by the very nature of the earthly life that he leads. The poem ‘Enterprise’ is written in a conventional form. The poem consists of six stanzas, each having five lines. The poet has used verbal antithesis to achieve a balance. Antithesis is a contrast or opposition in the meanings of contiguous phrases, lines or stanzas. Kundu, page4 Sanjana Kundu Rakanjana Sen Indian Writing in English 20/06/2022 ‘Enterprise’ is a symbolic poem. Symbolism refers to the use of symbols to represent ideas or facts. The various symbols used in Enterprise are listed below: *Pilgrimage in the poem symbolizes life. *The ‘crowd of pilgrims’ symbolizes a group of men, who undertake to achieve common goal which begins with excitement and hope but ends with disillusionment and frustration. *The ‘Sun’ is the symbol of hostility of nature towards human aspirations and ambitions. *A ‘desert patch’ is symbolic of the challenges and hardships which the group faces or the differences that rise among them. * ‘A shadow falls on us and grows’ is symbolic of the differences in opinion that leads to a discord in the enterprise and consequently, a member leaves the group and the disharmony grows. * ‘A straggling crowd of little hope’ symbolizes a group of people who had a well focused goal and during the course of their journey loses their zeal and becomes a crowd of aimless and frustrated wanderers. * ‘Thunder’ is symbolic of man’s inner voice. * ‘Home’ symbolizes remaining rooted to the soil or remaining true to oneself. . The poem ‘Enterprise’ is allegorical in nature. The group of men all set for the journey, enthusiastic and full of vigour set out for the spiritual quest. The journey here is a metaphor of life. The poem is a stark depiction of the condition of men on this earth who are subjected to such failures, hardships and disillusionment during their course of journey of life. Kundu, page5 Sanjana Kundu Rakanjana Sen Indian Writing in English 20/06/2022 Work Cited Page https://englicist.com/questions/stages-of-life-enterprise "Nissim Ezekiel - Wikipedia". En.M.Wikipedia.Org, 2022, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissim_Ezekiel. "Poem Analysis | A Database Of Poetry Analysis And Summaries". Poemanalysis.Com, 2022, https://poemanalysis.com.
