A Brief Introduction to Modern Sinhala Poetry

The origin and development of the free verse movement in Sinhala poetry, is inextricably linked with the socio-cultural upheavals in the 19th century. Many changes occurred in Sri Lankan society after Sri Lanka became a full fledged colony of the British Empire. in 1815. A commercial economy based on plantation agriculture was imposed upon a slow moving simple rural economy, the mainstay of which was subsistence agriculture. A new class structure emerged. A privileged national bourgeoisie merchant class emerged in the urban areas. A middle class too sprung up to render supporting services, and to provide the administrative underpinnings for this dominant class to function. In this class structure, the upper strata got the opportunity to pursue an education through the English medium. These changes gave birth to a new thinking process, which was quite different to the traditional mode of thinking. The educational opportunities that were restricted to the privileged few at the beginning began to spread among a wider section of the population with the establishment of the University College in 1921. Thus, the foundation was laid for a gradually expanding new ethos in the intellectual sphere. These changes were instrumental in expanding the intellectual capacity of the Sri Lankan elite, by weaning them away from the insular Island mentality. A whole new universe was opened before them, which took them to new horizons so far unexplored. Two major influences were evident in the intellectual field during this period. They were the oriental thrust championed by oriental scholars and the western thrust promoted by the scholars who imbibed their knowledge through the English medium. The existence of pre-capitalist and capitalist modes of production simultaneously in the economy, gave rise to these dualistic tendencies in the intellectual arena. It is always possible to witness this dual mentality in a society where capitalist mode of production was super- imposed on a feudal economy. This dual mentality made a great impact on the Sri Lankan arts and literature. This influence began to be quite evident in the fields of literature and arts in Sri Lanka by the 1940's. In 1943 professor E. R. Sarachchandra published his epoch making critical analysis of modern Sinhalese fiction under the title of Modern Sinhalese Fiction. This was the first ever attempt to analyze a literary genre, by using universally accepted criteria of literary criticism. In 1950, B. A. S. Gunasinghe (Siri Gunasinghe) published an article in the Observer Annual titled A New Note in Contemporary Sinhalese Poetry. In his article, he pointed out the severe limitations and weaknesses of Sinhala poetry influenced by the national revivalist movement at that time. The four line structure and the Samudra gosha metre of the traditional Sinhala poetry which circumscribed the poetic expression and the conventional archaic language used in the poetic composition were highlighted by Dr. Siri Gunasinghe as inhibiting factors of Sinhala poetry. G. B. Senanaike published in 1946 a short story collection Paliganeema. In it he included eight compositions which he called some experiments between prose and verse. These works closely resembled the free-verse style that was in vogue in the Western literature. Although there exists a poetic mode called the free verse, it is difficult to recommend a common code of rules and regulations for these compositions, unlike in the traditional poetry. But it does not mean that the free verse movement is completely devoid of disciplining factors. But those factors are not
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imposed by anyone else from outside; They are self-imposed disciplines by the poet himself. Hence they differ from poet to poet, based on his individuality and his experiences. The structure that is formed is also an independent creation of the poet himself. In a gi-poem or in a four line verse, one can extricate the 'meaning' of the poem from the structure and introduce an entirely different content to it. But in a free verse this is impossible. The structure of a free verse is formed as a combined result of the ideas and soul of the poem. The language and the structure of a free verse therefore differ from poet to poet. (Sekera 1985:211) G. B. Senanaike gave voice to new and subtle poetic impressions, garbed in a new structure, which was a complete departure from the old poetry. The Sinhala language which has been finetuned by him to write his short stories was used by G. B. Senanaike to turn out poetry, with suitable modifications. The common notion is that Sinhala poetry was mired in archaic tradition and obsolete ideas due to the indifferent attitude shown by the poets of the national revivalist movement. "We have to call G. B. Senanaike as the pioneer of the free verse movement. It is he who saved Sinhala poetry from a tradition which gave precedence to metre at the expense of meaning and poetic feeling (Ranaweera 2002) But there were earlier attempts to remedy this situation. Some of the verses written for children by the early poets provide positive gleanings in the use of poetic language. HelaHowla, a literary movement pioneered by Munidasa Kumaranatunga also took issue with those who gave pride of place to metre subverting the meaning. "To make the last letter identical what distortions the poets inflict on the tree of verse. When can the poets reconcile the metre, meaning and the poetic feeling into one composite whole" (Kumaranatunga - 1947: 118) Although such responses were made by G. B. Senanaike's predecessors, they were not very much instrumental in forging a new poetic tradition. There were two developments that G. B. resorted to, in developing his poetic language - the potentialities of poetry developed by Western free verse poets and the language niceties developed by contemporary prose writers. It was a combination of those two potentialities that gave birth to the new poetic tradition pioneered by G. B. Senanaike. "It was G. B. Senanaike who completely liberated himself from the old poetic tradition. He thereby brought a revolution in the Sinhala poetic tradition" (Rajakaruna 1962: 17 a) One cannot reduce G. B. Senanaike's contribution to merely a structural and conceptual exercise. His endeavor was directed to capture the rapid transformation of the contemporary social ethos, through his poetry. This was a historical necessity. The composition called 'Deviyan Mareema' or Asassination of the God is a good example in this respect. I who believed Reason Is my friend One day Waylaid And Murdered my God I hear reason The colossus Pursuing me In the dark
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With heavy Giant steps But I no longer Can walk Feeling secure As of old When God Was With me When I Fell down Since no God is present I have to rise On my own (Senanaike 1978:45) The mental state of a person who was a product of a society in which the dualistic trends of capitalist and feudal modes of production prevail is revealed in this literary piece. The old world thinking based mainly on religious sentiments start disintegrating in the face of new social alignments and the new rationalistic thinking process. Although reality is given a new interpretation through scientific deduction, the protagonist of the poem is not able to redeem himself completely from the old world beliefs. The dual mentality which gives rise due to the dualistic nature of the social structure is the source of this poem. The contribution of G. B. Senanaike resulted in rousing a response among a limited section of the Sinhala literati. But a different approach to Sinhala poetry also sprung up as a reaction to this enthusiasm. The pioneer of this nationalistic reaction was Martin Wickramasinghe. In 'his book titled Sahitya kalawa published in 1950, he included two verses of the religious treatise Theri gatha in free verse style. In 1952 he published a work called Theri gi including some more verses of this treatise of religious poetry. Although Martin Wickramasinghe used for his Theri gi the external structure of free verse it was only a garb to re-introduce the religious perspective into Sinhala poetry, which was beginning to cut a new path. This surely was going counter to the historic necessity of a new poetry movement in Sri Lanka. The dominant themes of these religious poems are the meaninglessness of worldly desires, and the praise-worthiness of expiating them. Martin Wickramasinghe sought the assistance of folk poetry to buttress his efforts. "I translated Therigatha inspired by folk poetry for the balanced mature rural folk and the general intelligentsia" (Martin Wickramasinghe 1952:2) this clearly indicates that by the 1950's modern Sinhala poetry embarked on two divergent routes. One following the influences of world literature and the other resorting to follow the indigenous heritage. The potential for such a situation was available in the dualistic social structure explained earlier. It was Siri Gunasinghe who immensely contributed to the free verse movement initiated by G. B. Senanaike. He tried to capture the various intricate shades of the industrial urban society through his poetry. Siri Gunasinghe was widely acquainted with world literature. He drew immensely from these sources in order to unearth the hidden dimensions of the individual psyche of the urban
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man. His was a great contribution to the enrichment of the Sinhala poetic process. Siri Gunasinghe had to invent a poetic idiom of his own since the available language was not adequate for his poetic expression. But the paradox was that the reading public was not quite ready to imbibe the subtle and deep nuances of Siri Gunasinghe's poetry. The traditionalists were alarmed by the fact that Siri Gunasinghe's poetry exposed the true nature of modern society, its hide bound ideas and hypocrisies. They started to attack Siri Gunasinghe's new wave by resorting to various stratagems. For some it was breach of tradition, for others it was an infringement on morality. They even used invective against him. By this time national consciousness has become the felt need of the ruling class. Political power had been transfelTed to the local capitalist class, whose aim was to enjoy a pseudofreedom obtained from the colonial masters. This ruling class saw that the easiest way to approach the common man was to extol the virtues of language and religion. This trend invariably resulted in injecting a kind of national identity into Sinhala poetry. This trend initiated by Martin Wickramasinghe saw its logical conclusion through Gunadasa Amrasekara's poetry. Although Amarasekera's poetic journey ended up in such a sad note, there were some positive elements in his intervention. He was able to give voice to emotions that sprung up from the primary consciousness of the rural pesantry. Andura saha biya (Darkness and Fear) Holman Koodana Andura (The darkness that provokes ghosts) Unduwap Avilla (December Has Come) are examples in this respect. December Has Come Close to the stile in the upper chena At the edge of our little well The mango trees are in bloom Like a yellow cloth spread over. Flowering December has come to rouse our limbs Moon face, can't you see it's time For the new-earth to flower? The feet felt the green grass beneath As if the earth has awakened suddenly From a deep, long slumber. The Erabodu leaves, full-fleshed and tender Reminded me of the cheeks. All these are sent to us to rouse our limbs (Gunadasa Amarasekera 1955:20) There were certain instances in Amarasekera's poetry that penetrated the dualistic nature of the conciousness of the modem man. Kataragama, Ganga Langa Buduruwa, (The Buddha statue by the river) bear testimony to this. All this indicates that Amarasekera can be recognized as a modem poet, in spite of his bent towards nationalistic trends in the bulk of his poetry. Mahagama Sekera also made his own contribution to modem Sinhala poetry from the 1960s onwards. But his best contributions were over shadowed by the much more popular but sentimental, long narrative poem - Prabuddha (The Enlighthened). The main difficulty one can discern in Sekara's poetry, including his best poetry, is his search for an adequate poetic language. This was a problem encountered by almost all the poets,
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right from the beginning of modem poetry. The best success achieved in this regard is in the verses composed for his plays by Professor Sarachchandra. "It is no one but Sarachchandra who is the foremost poet of our era" (Gamlath 1989)

The slow decline of Sinhala poetry from the heights it reached in the 1950's began in the 1960s. The national bourgeoisie, to whom the reins of government were transferred, depended heavily on fanning the national consciousness for their survival. Sinhala was made the official language and as a result the age of bilingualism began to wane. A new generation bereft of the salutary influence of the world literature took its place. The protagonists of the Sinhala poetic scenes in the 1970's sprang up within this social milieu. The dominant influence on the literary scene during this period came to be the so-called Socialist realism. Social issues affecting society were also taking a turn for the worse. During this decade the Sinhala poets who appeared on the poetic scene saw a panacea in Socialism for all the ills affecting society. Their works became mere vehicles articulating this superficial notion. The ultimate result of this development was the churning out of propagandistic didactic verse far removed from actual reality. Berty B. Kudahetti, a poet who composed poetry during this era, did not succumb to the semi official literary doctrine of Socialist realism. He exhibited a broad social consciousness in his poems. But due to the absence of a wholesome aesthetic sense, his poetry was reduced merely to theoretical exercises. Sister The war has started Can you hear The gunfire Students are rising They are writing On the road AB=BA CP=PC Isn't the clock running? Dogs are charging Barking at you Toothless Unable to bite Union leaders Meeting the progressives another broad front For whom is it? For the bureaucrats This major conflict which severely affected the aesthetic consciousness was operative during the 70's. In fact the poetry turned out during this era was mere prosaic statements.
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However with all these entanglement$ with the ideological controversies in some compositions of Parakrama Kodituwakku, one could glean glimpses of cultivated poetic diction. It is not wrong to identify the 70's as a period which experienced a decline in Sinhala poetry. Although poetry saw an upsurge in numbers and range, they lacked the overall aesthetic finesse. One poet who attempted to arrest this decline was Dayasena Gunasinghe. The talent displayed by Dr. Sarachchandra in the composition of dramatic verse was introduced lyrical poetry by Dayasena Gunasinghe. His poetic base was enrich not only by the local traditionbut also through his knowledge of world literature. When the carnival lights Shine Dispelling the darkness The grassy carpet Among the chatty trees Become the bed Oh you woman Who is the earth When you embraced me Like the sky And shed Your attire and modesty Alike It was a spectacle Your body rising to the skies In burning passion Released lightning That swallowed the dark precipice Cruel impulses Born along with creation Reawaken in us Aggressively The lonley effort of Dayasena Gunasinghe was not strong enough to arrest the downward trend of Sinhala poetry, as it was an end result of objective and organic reasons. When, by the 80's, Capitalist social structure, with its overpowering technological upsurge, was bending the entire world to its total domination, Sinhala poetry was turning towards an increasingly insular attitude in its expressions. The language used for poetry descended from folk idiom to the language of the provincial dialects. The island mentality was taking a still narrower path into regionalism. The sun that's Blowing up fire To the sandy compound The white saree giving shade
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To the ruined milk teeth What bells when Biscuits too are over At school? Lines are forgotten In school songs Why let your milk Run dry mother We are so thirsty (Wijesinghe 1985 :24) By the 80's the model followed by most of the aspirant poets was this narrow regional trend both in its language and its human content. Three poets who strived to raise Sinhala poetry from this monotonous trend were Eric Illayapparachchi, Ariyawansa Ranaweera and Nandana Weerasinghe. Eric Illayapparachchi transcended the traditional poetic mode and tried to grasp the contemporary reality in some of his creations. An unknown gunman kills Wijaya Kumaratunga. (A politician who was assasinated.) (A news item) Death rushed out Armed with The 'chakra' My fair friend Cries hiding In the woods It is not I Who did it I want to Say aloud They came after me too Knowing who I am My mother who Prostrates before The holy lamp Waits near the The stone fence With tear Sorrowed face Like a she-cobra Waiting for
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Poison - gathering Darkness to come But unfortunately his efforts were not given their due recognition. The free verse movement, which was a by product of the developments that took place in world literature, became an insular trend which evinced mainly regional influences during the 1970's. This was the outcome of social and political changes that occurred during this period. In the 80's which could be described as the third phase of this movement, the declining trend continued despite the unsuccessful efforts of a few poets with an understanding of foreign literature to prevent this predicament.
Jayantha Amerasinghe