Cultural Recovery from Folklores, Folktales and Myths: A study of select poems of TemsulaAo

Abstract

For the people who have lost many of their cultural and historical moorings, the resurrection of old folklore through poetry might be viewed as an alternative source of history.The tribe's internal history is based on an oral tradition that is becoming more brittle with each passing generation, the poet's role as the transmitter and preserver of history assumes even more significance. The manifestation of creative thoughts and emotions of myth & memory through storytelling provides uniqueness to the tribals. This tradition of storytelling has a group solidarity for collective welfare. TemsulaAo, the emerging writer from Northeast India, seeks to articulate the wholeness of life in the face of disintegration and fragmentation through collective creativity. Her works titled Books of Songs:Collections of poems (1988-2007),explores the problematics of identity that threaten their roots. Thus, this paper critically analyses the revival of a lost identity and making it relevant for the new generation. As a result, the current study attempts to have a discourse on the important part that writers play in recovering and renewing the traditional oral heritage of their people through their writings, with a focus on poetry. The paper will carefully discuss a few of TemsulaAo's poetry.An analysis of her poems reveals that she makes a strong and intentional effort to restore her people's lost history through poetry. She points out that losing the songs of her ancestors would be disastrous for the history, territory, and inherent identity of her people.