Page:Papers in Tamil Literature.pdf/106

 96 PAPERS IN TAMIL LITERATURE

ment, the country became independent. Doctrines like Gandhism, Marxism, atheism have their impact on the society. The poet has to echo these new philosophies and hence he has in intension to choose a new form for effective communica- tion.

Grammar of any living language differs and changes from time to time. Similarly the prosody also changes. Many think that the new poetry doesn’t have any grammar at all. It is not true. It has its own grammar, which, of course, may not be the same as that of the tradition. Several pieces of literature that followed the traditional grammar do lack the poetic appreciation. For example, some of the uw/@ literature in Tamil have been composed with the faith to the traditional grammar. They do not create any sense of aesthetic appreciation. They are just like the frames of the portraits where there are no pictures at all. On the contrary, in the new poetry (though it may have deviated from the tradition), the content and communication form the nucleus. The modern poet feels that the ancient prosody is the iron-curtain between himself and to whom he writes. Sohe has to follow his own grammar to communicate.

Prose had never been so predominant as at this age. It is a historical fact. After the invention of the modern printing press, and the advent of journals and periodicals, the pens of the wits began to flow freely beyond the walls of prosody. The modern era is thoroughly different from the age of the cadjan- leaves which preserved the literature in verse form, the units of which were useful for the mnemonic purpose. Such memorisa- tions and oral exercises are out of date now. The literature at present is in a position that it need not be got by heart at all. So the rhymes and other metrical units of the tradition are of not somuch importance as they were. The impact of prose is the worth mentioning factor that paved way for the develop- ment of the new poetry.

From the historical point of view, it is clear that man had been a slave for a long time. After independence, his chains were broken (though not fully). Being a free bird, he flies as if �