Authors: Dr. Diwakar Singh Rajput, Mohd Shahrukh
Abstract: Dr. Sir Harisingh Gour (1869–1949) is widely commemorated as a jurist, educationist, philanthropist, and social reformer. However, his literary identity—particularly his foray into English poetry—remains a largely neglected facet of his multifaceted legacy. This paper undertakes a discursive analysis of Gour’s poetic oeuvre, focusing primarily on his debut anthology Stepping Westward and Other Poems (1890), published during his student years at Cambridge University. Through a close reading of select poems and an examination of the socio-cultural context of late-Victorian England, this study argues that Gour’s poetry operates at the intersection of colonial encounter, Romantic sensibility, and nascent nationalist consciousness. His verse not only reflects the influence of English Romantic poets like Wordsworth and Shelley but also subtly articulates the dilemmas of the colonial subject negotiating between Eastern heritage and Western modernity. By situating Gour within the broader tradition of Indian English poetry, this paper seeks to recover his place as a pioneering Indian poet in England and interrogate why his literary contributions have been overshadowed by his legal and educational achievements. The analysis reveals that Gour’s poetry, while conventional in form, offers a unique discursive space where reformist zeal, cultural hybridity, and poetic imagination converge.
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