209:
Menike, a proper noun is used in certain areas of Sri Lanka to refer to the lady of the house and her daughters. The expressions like "O the rains are coming near" (pluralization of rain), "my woman fretting" (lack of copula) are direct translation from
Sinhala expressions. Even the phrase, "from the behind shed" is a direct translation with local idiom. The substitution of the word, "behind" for "back" is a Sri Lankan expression. The injunction, "you take what straw you need", the retention in the surface structure of the second person subject as well as the particular collocation, "what straw" which substitutes the possible terms, "whatever" or "the" are essentially Sri Lankan in quality. Thiru Kandiah points out that even the rhythmic quality of the expression of "O", in "O the rains are coming near", plays a significant role in creating the distinctively Lankan effects. Suresh Canagarajah claims that Wikkramasinha"s "nativization" of the English language idiom is radical, and going beyond the use of Sinhala nouns and adjectives, it reaches the native rhythm, which the dialogue between Ysinno and Menike evokes.
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probably for a grenade attack. Then the image shifts into a camera that levels and adjusts 'for a clear sight' for a speaker at a public meeting. Moreover in the second stanza the narrator elaborates another function of a poet. The role of the poet is compared to an assassinator who hides and waits with the rifle till the right time comes. These different settings can suggest the different roles activities done by the poet.
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As a bilingual poet who writes both in
Sinhala and English, his ability to permit his fluency in each language establishes him as unique among Sri Lankan English poets. In this study, Wikkramasinha"s two well-known poems are taken in order to experiment the linguistic features of
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As mentioned earlier with these different images
Lakdasa Wickkramasingha completely overturns the image of the traditional poet that can be seen as a commentator or a bystander. His involvement in the society is not just limited to ideological support. He needs to have an active participation. A poet
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Lakdasa
Wikkramasinha is truly native in his poetry in subject matter, style, and language. He has already made the English language as an expressive medium to convey the local flavor and idiom by accommodating the Sri Lankan imagery. He is truly an "original" Sri Lankan poet as
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The cautious arrangement of the lines and the choice of syntactic structures effectively evoke the pleading, anxious tone of Ysinno and the passive authority of Menike. The inversion of the word order in "and from these wattles made his hut", and "to the Menike said how poor he was",
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In "From the life of the folk poet Ysinno" which was written in the form of a folk poetry/ ballad, Wikkramasinha tries to bring out some of the positive aspects of feudalism. He draws from
Sinhala nouns and adjectives such as Menike of Iddamalgoda, Ysinno, Walauwa and Yala harvest.
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Next again with the idea of terrorism the poet
Lakdasa Wickkramasingha indicates the role of the poet as a guerilla preparing for an ambush in the jungle. And it is at the end of the poem the role of the poet becomes more revolutionary comparing the poet for a bomb in the city. This image suggests
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Lakdasa
Wickkramasingha brings out a revolutionary idea throughout his poem "The Poet". The role of the poet he creates is different from the traditional conventional role of the poet. Commonly a poet can be defined as someone who responds in verse to what happen in society. Yet here there is a
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In his poem 'The Poet' Wickkramasingha uses very unusual metaphorical images to create the role of the poet. First we see the poet as a terrorist 'tossing a bomb into the crowd'. The word 'crowd' can represents a busy public place in a town. And next a soldier who mounts a gun on a tripod most
62:(Kandy, 1965 ), was written entirely in English. Feeling constrained by his education to write in the language of what he believed to be 'the most despicable people on earth', he set himself to write as anarchically as possible. His later work, however, did not reflect this mood.
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Wikkramasinha is very conscious of his worth as a poet. In the poem, "The Poet", he comes out with his credo of violence as the image of the poet coheres under the general conclusion that the poet is a rebel with social and political consciousness.
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he has successfully employed the
English language to capture the authentic Sri Lankan experience. His language depicts the exact picture of the rural areas in Sri Lanka and invites the readers to a homely background.
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Since his death a number of books have been written about his life. These include Love Sex and
Marriage in the Poetry of Lakdasa Wikkramasinha by Lilani Jayatilaka and New trends in the Language of Sinhala Poetry by U.P. Meddegama.
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Wikkramasinha's work appeared in
Madrona, Eastern Horizon, New Ceylon Writing, Outposts, University of Chicago Review, and other local and international journals, and was published privately by him in
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is a distinctive feature of Sri Lankan English. Thus, Wikkramasinha"s handling of English language to express his thoughts and feelings in a way comes to the heart of the native reader.
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can be dangerous in his passion and can burst out with uncontrollable emotions. A poet can do a change a difference in the society while creating and reforming new attitudes and aspects.
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Wikkramasinha became an English teacher. His interest in Sinhala literature led him to experiment with methods of fusing Western and South Asian traditions in his writing.
475:'Birds,' 'From the Life of the Folk Poet Ysinno,' 'In Ancient Kotmale,' 'Poem—Tribe' 'The Muse' 'The Poet-I' 'The Poet-II' 'To my Friend Aldred' 'Work of a Professor' in
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Canagarajah, Suresh. "Reconsidering the Question of Language in Sri Lankan Poetry: A Discourse Analytical Perspective", in del Mel, pp. 118-59, 1995.
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Goonitilleke, D.C.R.A. (ed.). (2007–2010). Kaleidoscope : an anthology of Sri Lankan English literature. Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications.
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the uncontrollable feelings of the poet which become explosive. He is more on alert and would end up the task as a suicide bomber.
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complete overturn. For him a poet is a type of terrorist or an activist who purifies changes and restructures the society.
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http://slwakes.wordpress.com/2011/01/03/a-tomb-for-a-man-without-a-family-the-future-preservation-of-lakdas-wikkramasinha/
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In honour of a Sri Lankan artist of a previous generation, Wikkramasinha edited and privately published
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https://web.archive.org/web/20100923095949/http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2005/10/02/mag04.html
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https://web.archive.org/web/20100923100227/http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2005/10/09/mag05.html
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468:'A Straw Pillow' 'Red, the Coconuts' 'The Death of Ashanti' 'Verses' 'Visiting an Aunt' in
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Gooneratne, Yasmine. (1979). "Dead ere his Prime: In Memory of Lakdasa Wikkramasinha" in
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482:'In Ancient Kotmale' 'Stones' of Akuratiye Walauwa' 'The Poet' 'To my Friend Aldred' in
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Dissanayake, Wimal. (1979). "A Note on Lakdasa Wikkramasinha's Sinhala Poetry" in
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281:"Re-centring the Postcolonial Subject: the poetry of Lakdasa Wikkramasinha"
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Meddegama, U.P. (1979). "New trends in the Language of Sinhala Poetry" in
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http://www.conf.jfn.ac.lk/juice2012/papers/fp/TrackF-Paramanathan.pdf
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http://www.conf.jfn.ac.lk/juice2012/papers/fp/TrackF-Paramanathan.pdf
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238:"Sri Lankan Poetry in English: Getting Beyond the Colonial Heritage"
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Consider the other poem, "From the life of the folk poet Ysinno".
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And Ysinno being a folk-poet, and his lines being not all dead,
589:"From the Life of the Folk Poet Ysinno by Lakdasa Wikkramasinha"
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296:[Lakdasa Wikkramasinha: Lankan Flavours and Universal Aromas".
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his use of language. First consider the poem, "The Cobra":
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Love Sex and Marriage in the Poetry of Lakdasa Wikkramasinha
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And how from his twenties he had made those lines of song
240:. page 51. University of Calgary, by D Goonetilleke - 1990
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The powers of the paramitas, took you to heaven however.
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Shadowing the sun, curling round and round in my mind.
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Anthologies Containing Works by Lakdasa Wikkramasinha
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Poems from India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia & Singapore
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199:You take what straw you need from the behind shed.
31:, and is known for his fusion of the two languages.
536:. (1979). "The Poetry of Lakdasa Wikkramasinha" in
252:"Competing discourses in Sri Lankan English poetry"
181:So he made his way to the Walauwa at Iddamalgoda
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19:(Sinhala: ලක්දාස වික්රමසිංහ, 1941–1978) was a
463:Works by Lakdasa Wikkramasinha in Periodicals
492:. (1976). vol. XII: The Poetry of Sri Lanka.
150:They stood before you in obeisance. Death,
623:Alumni of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia
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193:Ysinno said, O the rains are coming near,
175:And had nothing to cover it with, nothing
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300:, Sri Lanka 5 April 2012. via Press Reader
203:The benison of the Menike of Iddamalgoda
195:My woman fretting, her kid will get wet.
99:Wikkramasinha died by drowning at age 36.
183:And to the Menike said how poor he was,
154:The sky, vertical, is where you are now
146:Watched you (your eyes like braziers),
144:Endlessly the people came to Weragoda-
187:Swearing before her all his fealties.
171:Ysinno cut the bamboo near Hanikette,
160:But it was only my woman Dunkiriniya,
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58:Wikkrama Sinha's first book of verse,
353:"The Poet by Lakdasa Wickkramasingha"
339:"The Poet by Lakdasa Wickkramasingha"
325:"The Poet by Lakdasa Wickkramasingha"
311:"The Poet by Lakdasa Wickkramasingha"
173:And from those wattles made his hut
398:"Biography of Lakdasa Wikramasingha"
126:"The poet is the bomb in the city,
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47:, Sri Lanka, where he studied law.
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268:10.1111/j.1467-971X.1994.tb00322.x
128:Unable to bear the circle of the
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514:Works about Lakdasa Wikkramasinha
490:Journal of South Asian Literature
138:Your great hood was like a flag
189:So she said, wait for the yala
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197:Then the Menike said, O then
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191:Harvest and take the straw.
426:Janakiharana and Other Poems
162:The very lamp of my heart,
158:They whisper death-stories
67:Janakiharana and Other Poems
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543:Jayatilaka, Lilani. (1987)
438:Nossa Senhora dos Chingalas
287:, Annemari de Silva, page 1
75:Nossa Senhora dos Chingalas
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177:Like a hundred and sixty
148:Standing somewhat afar.
73:( 1970 —both Kandy), and
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450:The Grasshopper Gleaming
83:The Grasshopper Gleaming
35:Early life and education
554:, IV, pp. 137–142.
534:Haththotuwegama, Gamini
130:Seconds in his heart,
85:( 1976 —all Colombo).
456:Aurudu Mangala Davasa
422:. Kandy: Ariya, 1965.
17:Lakdasa Wikkramasinha
591:. 22 December 2019.
523:, II, pp. 31–2
400:. 20 February 2019.
132:Waiting to burst."
92:Justin Daraniyagala
628:20th-century poets
552:New Ceylon Writing
528:New Ceylon Writing
477:New Ceylon Writing
458:. Colombo: ?.
205:Lives even today.
41:St Thomas' College
23:poet who wrote in
530:, IV, p. 12.
179:Bales of straw.
142:In the village.
103:Work & Legacy
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164:That died
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479:IV 14-24.
538:Navasilu
521:Navasilu
472:II 33-7.
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