THE HARP OF INDIA AS A PATRIOTIC POEM

   A humble poetic attempt to revive and rejuvenate India's poetic glory, The Harp of India by HL V Derozio is a poem charged with patriotic spirit and this spirit is reflected in the poet's deep anguish at the decline of the age old art under the slavish shackles of British supremacy.

The poet Henry Louis Vivian Derozio refers to the rich art and tradition of Indian poetry as the harp of India. The poet commences the sonnet with a rhetorical question as to why the glorious tradition of Indian poetry lies neglected like a broken harp hung on the leafless and withered branch of a tree. He questions whether the art of India poetry which during the period of British domination of India was almost dead, must remain in this state of coma forever, like an unstrung harp. So the poet questions:

                                   "Why hang'st thou lonely on yon withered bough? 

                                             Unstrung for ever, must thou there remain,"

Like a true lover of our land, the poet is sad to recollect that the Indian poetry was once rich and glorious like the sweet melodies of a harp. Now that melody is heard no more as the present times provide no inspiration to the creative minds and hearts to revive the tradition of soul stirring poetic art. The breeze blows over the broken harp of poetry without drawing any melody from it. The prevailing conditions of the times have compelled the poets and the poetic inspirations to remain mute as if bound by the fetters of silence. This is clear in the following lines:

                                             "Silence hath bound the with her fatal chain;

                                           Neglected, mute and desolate art thou

                                             Like ruined monument on a desert plain."

The art of poetry thus lies neglected, silent, and abandoned like a ruined monument in the vast wilderness of the deserts.

Like a true patriotic poet Derazio recollects the poets of the past who had produced remarkable works of art and laments that those great of the past now lie cold in their graves and the once famous poetic art lies abandoned. Though he is sad at the silent and serious condition of India's art, he is not

bruised and broken completely. Like an ardent lover of art and country he expresses his revolutionary desire to revive the about-to-die art of poetry of his country with his humble poetic abilities and make the skies of Indian literature resonant with melody of poetic art just as a musician of a new generation revives a tradition of music with a musical instrument. This revolutionary zeal is well highlighted in the concluding lines of the poem where he wishes:

                           May be by mortal wakened once again, 

                       Harp of my country, let me strike the strain!"

So the poet is optimistic. He wishes divine notes of the harp, "Harp of my country" can be revived once again. In the expression 'my country we feel poet's deep love and patriotism for our country.

Therefore, The Harp of India remains a true specimen of patriotic poem by not only highlighting the glorious tradition of indian poetry but also paying a glowing tribute to the Indian writers of the past who had enriched the Indian literature with their classic and enduring literary works.