Title of paper

Landscape : As “Poetics of Space” in Mamang Dai’s Poetry
by Priyanka Sarmah PhD Scholar, Department of English University of Science and Technology of Meghalaya Email: priya4bobby@gmail.com & Dr. Garima Kalita Prof., Department of English University of Science and Technology of Meghalaya

ABSTRACT:
Landscape and literature is deeply connected to each other. We can see that landscape is used as a device to express and reflect the inner workings of a character’s mind. It is also used as a means of narration and it demonstrates and examines the cultural as well as historical background.. There is no denying that the present structure of the world is the result of colonialism .Colonialism systematically and symbolically changed the structures of the places they colonized. They did this for extraction and control. This led to the eraser of history and culture. Once eraser of history and culture takes place the indigenous people “sense of place” is disrupted. Post-colonial landscape is hybrid as new indigenous elements are introduced with the remains of the Colonial rule. The new hybrid places symbolize a place where cultural and indigenous traditions intersect with cultural legacies and globalization. Landscapes after colonialism have lost their originality and nothing pure remains. Landscape as “poetics of space” in post colonialism, is looking at landscape beyond geography. Geographical terrain becomes a living entity. It becomes one’s emotions, memories and internal psychological world. The place becomes the poetic realisation of space where lies connection, one’s culture and the place where one’s dreams are shaped Mamang Dai, writes a great deal about the landscape of Northeast India. Her work treats the land not only as a dynamic backdrop but as a living entity. She defines the landscape through myth, animist tradition and believes that ecology and human culture are interconnected. The land is a “Living Presence” in her poetry collections and novels. Her poetry explores home, belonging, migration and hybridization. She through indigenous spaces reviews culture, tradition and resilience. (280 words)
Keywords:
Colonialism, Landscape, Post-colonial, Indigenous, Culture, hybrid, Northeast, History.

Introduction:
North-East Indian English Post Colonial Literature:
Landscape and literature is deeply connected to each other. We can see that landscape is used as a device to express and reflect the inner workings of a character’s mind. It is also used as a means of narration and it demonstrates and examines the cultural as well as historical background. To depict the psychological and emotional state of characters writers often used landscape as a reflection. In Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights the moor reflects the turbulent passions of the characters. (Brontë 1991)
Landscape is shown as a dynamic element influencing the story line and actions of the characters. When we analyse the landscape of a particular community we can get the knowledge of the cultural and social aspects of that community. The sense of home and belonging of that particular community can also be understood.
In literature landscape forms an integral part of the text. Writers use symbolisms and imagery from the natural world to get the readers interested in the subject and what they wanted to convey. We have writers like Petrarch, William Wordsworth, George Eliot and Thomas Hardy using landscape to depict life and struggles of their characters. Vormac McCarthy and Jack London use landscape to make the stories understandable and psychologically relevant. These are only few example and there are many more in this list.
There is no denying get the present structure of the world is the result of colonialism.Colonialism systematically and symbolically changed the structure of the places they colonized. They did this for extraction and control. This led to the eraser of history and culture. Once eraser of history and culture takes place the indigenous people “sense of place” is disrupted. They also introduced their language demeaning the indigenous language and treating it as inferior. As the colonizer’s language replaced the local language, it systematically marginalises and erased the indigenous language. This is known as language imperialism. A shift in identity takes place and the indigenous people internally perceive the colonial language as superior. Another tool of imperial control is the naming of landscape. Through it the colonizer imposes a new physical and cultural order which is foreign. The naming process removes the original identity and gives the place a new identity. The names, honours explorer or the home country. The original name which often relate to the place’s spirituality and genealogy is lost, thus destroying historical connection to events. So the cultural identity tied to the land is severed. And even if the colonizers leave the place the landscape with those names remain a colonial space. Colonialism changed the terrain frequently through massive projects like plantation and mining, prioritizing the European need and neglecting the natives’ requirements and welfare. They built new monuments, structures on the indigenous towns asserting their supremacy. Postcolonial philosophy acknowledges the long term ecological harm by exploiting depleting resources which resulted in climate change. During colonialism social justice and landscape were interlinked. The new landscape of the colonizer was built to keep racial segregation in mind. The social structure was determined by race. So social injustice and power dynamics during colonial times continue to exist in the relation between former colonies and former Empires. Post colonialism revisits and references these inherited landscapes. The colonial narrative of this landscapes and suppressed identities are identified.
Post-colonial landscape is hybrid as new indigenous elements are introduced with the remains of the Colonial rule. European architect structures are restructured by inserting indigenous elements into it, thus creating syncretic spaces. The new hybrid places symbolize a place where cultural and indigenous traditions intersect with cultural legacies and globalization. Landscapes have lost their originality after colonialism and there is nothing pure anymore.
Landscape as “poetics of space” in post colonialism, is looking at landscape beyond geography. Geographical terrain becomes a living entity. It becomes one’s emotions, memories and internal psychological world. The place becomes the poetic realisation of space where lies connection, one’s culture and the place where one’s dreams are shaped. This concept is based on and draws heavily on Gaston Bachelard’s book “Poetics of Space”, where he states that human consciousness, memories, life interact with the physical space. Landscape ceases to be a physical space as humans gets emotionally and psychologically attached to it. According to Bachelarda small space can be a person’s whole world. (Bachelard 2014) People find solace in that space in times of difficulty and it becomes a place of safety. James Corner in Recoverying Landscape claims that landscape is not just a ecological system but a ‘spiritual milieu and cultural image.” (Corner 1999)
In postcolonial studies landscape is a very important concept. It is that space that is a witness to all the happenings. It is a poetic as well as political space. It reflects the struggles between the colonizer and the native identity. It is a “cultural palimpsest.” It holds terrifying histories which were traumatic. This is the space through which indigenous people rewrite histories, reclaim cultural identity and tradition and also revive erased language and knowledge. It is landscape which define our sense of belonging and identity.. Postcolonial studies bring out those erased hidden indigenous history.
In postcolonial literature, a “cultural palimpsest” means layers of histories and identities within a society or text. In manuscripts which were used in ancient times older writings were scrapped off every time they had to write some things new. This works as a metaphor to describes how indigenous, pre-colonial cultures persist beneath imposed colonial frameworks, creating a complex, hybrid society.

Edward Said in his work World, the Text and the Critic (1983) introduced the concept of “worldliness. In this literary text he pinpoints how representations of culture are embedded within historical events and political realities of the actual and not in aesthetics vacuum. For example the plantation sites of the Caribbean’s indigenous landscape maps colonialism and are witness to historical traumas. (Said 1983)
Bhabha’s “Third Space “is not the blending of two worlds but the creation the creation of a new dynamic identity, through mimicry, ambivalence and fusion of cultures. Bhabha insists the colonizer and the colonized have to participate in cultural exchanges. He says that for these reasons there is no civilization in the world that is pure. Therefore, Bhabha is preparing the ground for what he calls “the third space” that he thinks we can explore to avoid the politics of polarity and become the others of ourselves (Bhabha 2004, pp. 39 ).
The concept of the “poetics of space” concept is, as landscape used in postcolonial poetry through which home, belonging, migration and hybridization is explored. Poetry explores indigenous spaces to review culture, tradition and resilience. Bhabha\s concept is utilised to bring forth feelings of un-belonging/un-homeliness and altered landscape. In Said’s Orientalism, he points out how the European powers charted and defined spaces for domination. Postcolonial Poetry redefines, renames and remakes these spaces relieving lost homelands and history. Poetry also explores urban spaces and focus on the reality of cities. (E. Said 1973)
Walcott in his epic Omeros examines the overlapping spaces of African, European and Caribbean identity .Edward Kamau Brathwaite is known for his “Nation language” which mixes English vocabulary with African rhythm, syntax and expressiveness of African language to reflect return of the Caribbean. The “Negritude” movement by Aime Césaire Leopald Sedar Sengphor used Leon Damas uses poetic landscape to glorify African spirits.
Nissim Ezekiel who is the pioneer of modern Indian English poetry never romanticized nature and landscape. His poetry use urban spaces, especially Mumbai, to explore themes of alienation, belonging and identity. Diasporic poet of India, Agha Shahid Ali explore the in-between spaces of Kashmir and diaspora. His poetry deals with the pain of lost homeland and physical exile. Regional voices of India like Kamal Kumar Tanti and Mamang Dai explores indigenous space turning them into a sites of resistance, not only to colonialism and imperialism but also to centres power politics.
The severing of ties between a person and his community and land creates problems of dislocation and trauma. We find themes of displacement across many postcolonial poems. Displacement is not only a physical relocation but it has got important psychological impacts concerning ones identity, culture, home and stability. In postcolonial poetry displacement is treated as a condition which causes alienation, loss, painful memories, and fragmented identity.

This study has taken up some of the poems of Mamang Dai and explores how she navigates landscape as “poetics of space.”Mamang Dai is a prominent poet, novelist, and journalist from Arunachal Pradesh. Her celebrated collections of poetry include:
River Poems (2004)
The Balm of Time (2008)
Midsummer Survival Lyrics (2014)
The White Shirts of Summer: New and Selected Poems (2023)
The present study critically analyses a few poems from her collection River Poems(2004). So the primary text of this study is,
Dai, M. (2013). The River Poems. The Writers’ Workshop.
This work comes under the category of “First Peoples’ theory,’ also known as “Indigenous theory.” It is indigenous study and falls under the domain of post-colonial theory. It focuses on the specific historical, cultural, and political contexts of aboriginal and native populations. It centres on oral and vernacular traditions, indigenous sovereignty, land rights, and resistance to colonial modernism.
Materials and Methodology:
The methodology followed in the research is an analytical one. The work has a particular theory or approach, i.e. the post-colonial theory. The paper is analysed through “The First Peoples Theory” which falls under the domain of postcolonial studies and which is current and politically relevant. The subject area of this paper is “Postcolonial study of North East Indian English Poetry”. The methodology is a critical study of the poetry of Mamang Dai and an attempt to bring forth the way she explores landscape in her poems as “poetics of space” in accordance to postcolonial theory. Her poetry collections will be taken up. A few poems of one of the collection will be critically analysed and that text will be the primary text. It is an intensive and extensive library work. So, it includes study of all related works, articles, journals, magazines, websites and critical reviews done by scholars.

Discussions and Results:
Mamang Dai, writes a great deal about the landscape of Northeast India. Her work treats the land not only as a dynamic backdrop but as a living entity. She defines the landscape through myth, animist tradition and believes that ecology and human culture are interconnected. The land is a “Living Presence” in her poetry collections and novels.
For Dai everything in nature -Mountains, rivers, forests, animals and even inanimate objects have souls and influence human life. The landscape also has spirits that bridge the material and spiritual worlds. In poems like “Small Towns and the River,” the physical landscape, especially the flowing water, acts as a constant witness to human mortality, time, and grief and it is in nature that gives human comfort. She highlights indigenous knowledge systems, sounding an urgent alarm that the destruction of the natural environment threatens the very survival of tribal identity and heritage. Dai’s connection to the landscape is deeply rooted in ancestral memory. She frequently navigates the borders between what is known, what is sacred, and what is changing in the face of modernity. By documenting local folklore and the realities of her people, her writing acts as a cultural and political resistance to ecological erasure.
“The river has a soul./In the summer it cuts through the land/like a torrent of grief. Sometimes,/sometimes, I think it holds its breath/seeking a land of fish and stars” (Small Towns and Rivers)(Stanza III)River Poems 2013)
In “Gone”, the landscape is a living being that is unhappy and morose. It is harsh, barren and melancholic. More than a picturesque backdrop, the natural surroundings are presented as an active, living participant in the lives of her people.
“and there was the burnt black hill/monumental with the faces of our people,/until the next/moonrise showed us/something about change,/and the existence of dreams”(Stanza Ii, Lines 12-16)(Gone)(River Poems 2013)
The barren rocks, steep hillsides, and burnt black hills present s a landscape which is not vibrant. The historical traumas which occurred on her lap made her a suffering and difficult place. The place has no footing or a place to rest. The landscape is steeped in the collective history and memory of the native people. The “burnt black hill” can be called a historical monument, carrying the imprint and history of ancestors.
“The steep hillside is a hard place./There is nowhere to rest our feet/even when I want to kneel and pray,/moved to tears by a rainbow sky.”(Stanza III)(lines 17-20)(River Poems 2013)
The natural world bears witness to the changes, struggles, and inevitable displacement of the people. The phrases “tugging at land and oceans” and “ropes coiled to barren rock” expresses struggle for survival and a fading connection to their traditional systems. They also shows the beautiful imagery Dai uses. The physical terrain reflects the internal emotional and psychological state of the speaker. “rainbow sky” provide moments of deep, tearful beauty, while the overall setting pinpoints to a lingering sadness and loss of culture.
“At night we sleep with guns and gulls/tugging at land and oceans,/and ropes coiled to barren rock/where once flowers were to seed/pumping blood, and singing voices.” (Stanza I)(lines 5-9)(gone)9River Poems 2013)
In “Prayer Flags — 2”, Dai uses memory, nature to bring forward the spiritual endurance of the Northeast India’s native people and communities. The poem is a beautiful lyric. The i political unrest in Northeast India has created a lot of suffering for the indigenous people. They follow ancient traditions and culture which created a balance between human and nature. The ancient traditions also are about coexistence with nature. They believe that nature has the power to heal human beings. The rapid change in todays time has resulted in demographic change, destruction of nature, as well as human values and they feel trapped between ancient ways and today’s modernization
We find vivid imagery of snow-capped mountains and green valleys, contrasted with juniper incense and a blue sky.For the indigenous people the natural environment is sacred. The landscape and nature preserve the collective memory and identity of her people.
“Someone planted a prayer flag in my heart./Green living, white clouds, and juniper incense/mingled with the blue/left by a sea that once owned this land.”(Prayer Flag-2) (Stanza II)(River Poems 2013)
‘We found each other yesterday,/after they told us the past is over./Now we are floating smudges of colour/flying high over the mountain barrier.”(Prayer Flag-2) (Stanza II)(river Poems 2013)
The prayer flags represent hope, peace, and spiritual resilience. The flags flutter with the wind carry hope, faitha, spirituality and resilence. The flags carry blessings from the landscape as nature and environment is a living entity and represents the Almighty.
The landscape is peaceful and calm but at the same it is disturbed by the “footfall of soldiers” and shadows of conflict. The ecosystem is fragile in the face of time but the flags symbolizes that time itself will provide s harmonious home despite dislocation, displacement and destruction.
In “No Dreams,” poet Mamang Dai uses the beautiful landscape of Arunachal Pradesh to explore human loss, emptiness and displacement against a vibrant nature The rapid growth and change of time has left the speaker clueless to surviving, dreaming and feel connected. This is expressed through the stillness and silence of nature
“The days are nothing./Plant and foliage grow silently,/at night a star falls down,/a leopard leaves its footprints.”(lines 1-4) (No Dreams) (River Poems 2013)
The poem is about the Northeast Indian terrain, nature grows quietly and steadily, There is no sound or anything great happen in the blooming of plants, and falling stars. Even animals move silently and steadily in their tracks. The river has a strong sound of optimism and represents an eternal flow of life, in harmony with nature. The great mountains symbolize age-old resilience and a deep connection to the earth.
“the hills are washed with light./The river sings/love floats!/love floats!/But I have no dreams.”(11-16)(No Dreams)(River Poems 2013)
In sharp contrast to all these, the speaker feels emotionally empty. She says, “I have no dreams.” The speaker’s stillness reflects the mountains, but unlike them, her silence comes from sorrowful detachment, alienation instead of peaceful strength. She feels disconnected from indigenous identity and heritage amid modern progress. Nature in ever-living, renewing itself and dynamic while human life is fleeting, and often stagnant. The poem also brings up existential questions about human existence.

Conclusion:
Mamang Dai’s poems changes the physical landscape of Arunachal Pradesh, into an animate, living presence. Indigenous myth, memory, and ecology are intermingled, framing nature not merely as a backdrop, but as a store house of cultural identity and existential comfort..
Dai’s approach pertains to the post-colonial concept” of poetics of space” through the nature, like the river as a living spirit capable of feelings and has awareness. River is personified as a living force that represents the immortality of water and serves as an eternal counterpoint to human impermanence, connecting the living and the dead. The mountains and valleys function as cultural store houses, holding ancient knowledge and memories. Instead of surrending to capitalist or colonial homogenization, her landscapes preserve the animist traditions and worldviews of the Adi tribe which is her tribe.
The world of nature in her poetry possesses the ability to make choices and resilience. For Dai human existence is closely linked with the cycles of rain, rock, and forest. This is the ecological ethic she advocates stating that the environment provides a spiritual balm against modern anxieties and political upheavals.q

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