Nissim Ezekiel (16 December 1924 – 9 January 2004) [1] was an Indian poet, actor, playwright, editor, and art critic.[2] He was a foundational figure[3] in postcolonial India's literary history, specifically for Indian poetry in English.[4]
He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983 for his collection, "Latter-Day Psalms", by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.[5] Ezekiel has been applauded for his subtle, restrained and well crafted diction, dealing with common and mundane (everyday) themes in a manner that manifests both cognitive profundity, as well as an unsentimental, realistic sensibility, that has been influential on the course of succeeding Indian English poetry. Ezekiel enriched and established Indian English language poetry through his modernist innovations and techniques, which enlarged Indian English literature, moving it beyond purely spiritual and orientalist themes, to include a wider range of concerns and interests, including familial events, individual angst and skeptical societal introspection.[6]
