Romantic Literary Influences on M M Dutt’s King Porus: An Analysis

M M Dutt is a man with an Indian heart throbbing for Albion shore. Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824-1873) –his longings for Albion shore and soil so influenced him that he embraced Christianity and added a prefix ‘Michael’ to his Hindu name. Walking on the path of Derozio and Kashiprashad Ghose, Madhusudan advanced Indian poetry in English with all new lures, desires, and strives for the West. It was a major advance in feelings and forms with portrayal of Nature under the Romantic and Western inspirations. His ‘King Porus’ based on the display of an archetypal courage against victorious Alexander the great and his army by King Porus, a popular historical figure, whose bravery against Macedonians has become a part of folklore. It is possible that he exhibits the Romantic trait –Medievalism and Hellenism by selecting his poetic topics from the medieval or ancient time, but, of course in an Indian context. The poem, published in 1843 in the Literary Gleaner, like the previous one, betrays the influence of the Orientalists. Madhusudan, here, portrays a wonderful picture of bravery which has been one of the main threads in the web of ancient literatures but the way poem was written it is more of English Romantic one. Following the Romantic poetic traditions, poem is preceded by two quotations: ‘We ne’er shall look upon his like again!’ from Shakespeare, and ‘When shall such hero live again?’ from Byron (469). It is divided into six stanzas of approximately 20 lines each. Through Derozio Madhusudan recalls Thomas Moore. As Derozio’s ‘The Harp of India’ laments India’s fallen condition and reminiscences about its glorious past when the likes of King Porus breathed fire against its exploiters and compares it with the hopelessness that characterizes the present situation