Description
A rich and vibrant poetry has issued from the hybridization of the English muse with the long-resident muses of Africa, India, the Caribbean, and other former British territories in the so-called Third World. "The Hybrid Muse" examines selected poets from indigenous cultures in the aftermath of British colonial subjugation and violence. It argues that these poet have dramatically expanded the contours of English-language poetry by infusing it with native metaphors and rhythms, creoles and genres. As "Non-Western" and "World" literatures become ever more prominent in the globalizing curricula of secondary schools and colleges, there is an increasing need for critical studies of the poetry as well. Situating postcolonial poetry within the historical matrix of British imperialism, this study shows how colonialism's short history and brutal dualism in Africa is reflected in poetry that is often binary in structure. Because British imperialism was less Manichean and evolved incrementally in India, anglophone Indian poetry tends to be less overtly anticolonial. The massive enslavement and deracination of Africans in the West Indies results in the agonized quest for an ancestral home in Caribbean texts. As many of us seek to understand our relation to an increasingly interlocking globe, "The Hybrid Muse" believes that anglophone poetry has a great deal to teach us about the aesthetics, language, and experience of the contemporary world.
