The Influence of Eliotz's Poem "The Waste Land" towards Gunadasa Amarasekara's Poem "Diya Sindunu Maru Kathara" in "Uyanaka Hinda Liyu Kavi"

Abstract

Gunadasa Amarasekara was a powerful poet during the decades of 1950 and 1960. He has been engaged in poeticism with the influence of various poetic traditions. Amarasekara could be identified as a somewhat controversial poet whose collection of poems titled ‘Uyanaka Hinda Liyu Kavi’ (1957) is considered a landmark and turning point in modern Sinhala poetry. He succeeded in signifying his own identity, approaching a different turn than the independent poetic tradition that prevailed in the second generation of poets in the Colombo era that was introduced by G.B. Senanayake (‘Paligeneema’ - 1946) as a free verses movement. When considering the motivational temperament of Amarasekara enabled to create such a revolutionary change, it appears that fundamental concentration should be extended towards Western poetic tradition. ‘The Waste Land’ (1922), the momentum the Western poetry compiled by famous modern American poet T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), could be considered a significant artwork in this context. This narrative poem illustrates the psychic tragedy of the urbanitecentred complicated lifestyle disowning all legitimate belongings in the social system generated by industrial capitalism. When those two poetic contributions in two countries are compared, the study found that there are considerable similarities and influences of ‘The Waste Land’ to the ‘Diya Sindunu Maru Kathara’ in ‘Uyanaka Hinda Liyau Kavi ’ respectively in structural, semantic and techniques wise correlations. This research intends to discuss the said hypothesis with the assistance of analytical methodology.