Post-2000 Poetry of Dissent

Preface

The need to create an interpretive guide to the post-2000 selections of poetry included in the Edexcel IAL English Literature syllabus came into being in the context of several factors. I had taught the twenty-eight poems of the new course since 2016 to four consecutive batches of highly motivated English Literature learners from diverse racial backgrounds that included Indian, Korean, Swedish, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Russian, and Italian. For most students who had grown up in Auroville, English was their second language although, in general, their language fluency stood at a good level when they entered the A-level segment of high school.

Secondly, given the level of difficulty many students encountered while studying the prescribed poems by British and Irish authors in the Poems of the Decade anthology, I realized that there existed a real need for an accessible, easy to understand collection of critical essays for the hundreds of students who sit for the International A-Level English Literature exam each year in India and other Asian countries and who approach the contemporary poetry section with some trepidation. This resource tool would benefit not only students in my own classroom but also the many others whom I could never meet.

The third, and perhaps most crucial contributing factor behind this book was the general lack of critical material in print. While other sections of the syllabus such as Shakespearean drama, pre-1900 poetry, and even mid-twentieth century drama had sufficient and in-depth literary criticism available, there was a paucity of reading strategies within the post-2000 poetry section. Online forums such as Intrepreture.org, and A-level Revision Blog were in existence, the latter a commendable peer effort by UK students themselves, but there were not many platforms offering contextual guidance to understanding the poems in a comparative mode.

Analyzing post-2000 British poetry is not an easy task and writing a meaningful critical essay of 700 words in an hour’s time is even more daunting. The fact that over four years several of my students secured high rankings in the subject exam proved that international students had the capability to do well and enjoy studying the Pearson Edexcel course as much as I enjoyed teaching it.

Abha Prakash

September, 2023

Acknowledgements

This book took shape in the aftermath of the biggest crisis in my life.

In May 2022, I opted for voluntary early retirement after teaching English Literature for around nineteen years at Future School, Auroville, an international town in south India. Following my last class around May 21st, my students and I went for ice creams at a local restaurant. Ten days later just as I was sending out book proposals to publishing houses, I fractured my ankle on both sides.

Following surgery, I found my right calf and foot in a cast and a long, non-load bearing recovery period ahead of me. In the five or six months that I became house-bound, I divided my energies between physiotherapy sessions, my part-time editing job, and writing the introduction and fifteen chapters contained in this book.

I am grateful to my publishing editors at Peter Lang, India, and the UK, for their enthusiasm, patience, and constructive feedback on the manuscript. To all my professors at the Department of English, Hindu College, University of Delhi, Delhi, and the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada, a warm thanks for their encouragement and continued goodwill. I wish to also thank my PhD supervisor, the late Professor Carol Morrell, under whose insightful guidance I wrote my doctoral dissertation in the 1990s.

Thanks are due to my mother, Dr Sudha Prakash, for being a pillar of support despite her own health problems. To my husband, Agni, for taking over some responsibilities of our teenage children, especially buying the groceries and making the evening meal until I was able to get around. To our domestic help, Lakshmi, for shouldering added burdens.