To think of human civilization or culture, be it Indian or Canadian, without rivers is an impossible proposition. The Ganges in India has arrested the attention of the sensitive poets like Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and Susheel Kumar Sharma. They have used the river as a metaphor to picture the essence of Indian culture, i.e., perception of harmony in existence. The rivers in Canada: Missinaibi, Abitibi and Little Current etc. have charmed the poets like Bliss Carman and Duncan Campbell Scott who watch the ‘silver rivers go racing to the sea’. Both the Canadian poets share unconsciously the perceptions of Indian poets – the incessant struggle for reaching the goal, at the sight of the rivers which act as catalysts. An eco-cultural study focuses on human-nonhuman or human – environment relations and their cultural dimensions. It also sees culture as the battle ground in which diverse ideas about environmental politics and action are articulated. In this paper the select poets of the rivers of two nations , India and Canada, are compared and it is held that all of them instinctively long for eliminating environmental hazards and promoting universal peace.
kalikinkar.pattanayak@gmail.com
Reader in English Khallikote (Auto.) College, Berhampur,Odisha
