Understanding Nonsense Verse : A Study of Select Works of Sukumar Ray
Among all the literary genres created and cultivated over the ages, Nonsense verse newlineperhaps emerges as one of the most challenging to comprehend. Nonsense verse often employs subversion (language, syntax, logic, etc.) as its tool and usually leaves the readers in a state of confusion. A look into the limericks of Edward Lear would bear newlinetestimony to this fact. For readers and researchers, the quest for meaning has newlineunravelled many literary and philosophical pursuits. One such possibility, therefore, newlinecould be the attempt to comprehend and critically analyse the unique literary genre newlinetermed Nonsense verse. From the multiple understandings and debatable definitions newlineof verse forms, one striking and rare genre evolves into nonsense poetry. Following newlinethe cue, this thesis purports to seek sense and meaning from what is labelled newline nonsense . It depicts that the functionality of existing, creative stylistics in language newlineand understanding and the text s contextual placement bring out the sense in nonsense. As Edward Lear mastered this art form in the West, Sukumar Ray crafted this genre in India, though he was not the only one. The thesis traces the evolution of nonsense verse in India, literary and folk, to understand the possible functionality of this genre as it exists in India. As the study shows, the writer who made the most contributions to this evolution was Sukumar Ray. Therefore, understanding the evolution and function of Indian nonsense verse become the object of the study, and an in-depth, contextual study of the select poems of Sukumar Ray, the national pioneering writer of nonsense, becomes the subject. This research attempts to unearth a fresh approach to re-evaluating the function of nonsense verse and possibly confer upon it a more considerable eminence. The thesis aims to provide comprehension and newlinecredibility to the genre through the study of select works of Sukumar Ray.