Episode 3 - A.K. Ramanujan
This Week in Poetry
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In this episode, we'll explore the poems of A.K. Ramanujan. AKR as he was popularly known was born in 1929 in Mysore. He moved to the us in 1962 and became a very distinguished Professor of linguistics and Dravidian studies at the University of Chicago. He's well known for his poems of love and war, an anthology of classical poems in Tamil translated into the English language. His poems in English are the reflections of an expatriate Indian poet, swinging between his perceptions of the vitality, energy, freedom of the west and his memories of his roots in his classical past in South India.
In this episode, we listen to his poem in English, A River - about the Vaigai river in Madurai, which remains dry most of the summer, but always romanticized by Tamil poets. In one of his visits to Madurai, the poet was shocked to see the river in floods, cutting away three village houses, a couple of cows, one pregnant woman, and yet the Tamil poets, unperturbed and indifferent continued to paint a romantic vision of the river.
I have also chosen to read a classical Tamil poem by Kaniyan Poongundran, written between 100 BC and 250 AD in Tamil. It's called, Every town a hometown.
The Poems:
1. Every town a home town by Kaniyan Poongundran. Translation by A.K. Ramanujan
2. A River by A.K. Ramanujan
Music:
Lesfm from Pixabay
JuliusH from Pixabay
NaturesEye from Pixabay
Enjoy the poems!
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit profrn.substack.com
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Episode Chapters
In this episode, we'll explore the poems of A.K. Ramanujan. AKR as he was popularly known was born in 1929 in Mysore. He moved to the us in 1962 and became a very distinguished Professor of linguistics and Dravidian studies at the University of Chicago. He's well known for his poems of love and war, an anthology of classical poems in Tamil translated into the English language. His poems in English are the reflections of an expatriate Indian poet, swinging between his perceptions of the vitality, energy, freedom of the west and his memories of his roots in his classical past in South India.
In this episode, we listen to his poem in English, A River - about the Vaigai river in Madurai, which remains dry most of the summer, but always romanticized by Tamil poets. In one of his visits to Madurai, the poet was shocked to see the river in floods, cutting away three village houses, a couple of cows, one pregnant woman, and yet the Tamil poets, unperturbed and indifferent continued to paint a romantic vision of the river.
I have also chosen to read a classical Tamil poem by Kaniyan Poongundran, written between 100 BC and 250 AD in Tamil. It's called, Every town a hometown.
The Poems:
1. Every town a home town by Kaniyan Poongundran. Translation by A.K. Ramanujan
2. A River by A.K. Ramanujan
Music:
Lesfm from Pixabay
JuliusH from Pixabay
NaturesEye from Pixabay
Enjoy the poems!
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit profrn.substack.com