Harin appeared like a meteor to announce the new spirit in Indian English poetry. It was a turning away from the materialistic stress in English poetry in search of the untold Beyond. The poet is a conscious pilgrim and is aware of his mystic experiences. These give poetry not simply the poetry of sight; the poet also listens to various sounds with the help of his soul. Mostly, he moves around the flame and does not enter the zone. He enjoys speaking about the flame in various strains, but does not take a dip into it. Yet, his initial perceptions come out in a wonderfully original way with very little trace of Wordsworth and Shelley in them. KR Srinivasa Iyengar rightly believes that “verbal and metrical facility is Harindranath’s main strength” and that power saves him when his “inspiration is dry and the content thin”. Iyengar echoes Sri Aurobindo when he says that Harin “is not primarily a mystic poet, nor a philosophical poet either”. Nobody can disagree. Also, nobody should deny Harin’s new ways of loving the Divine in poetry. Except for Sri Aurobindo’s and Iyengar’s views, there is not much of “critical study” on Harin. Hope this humble effort will offer some fresh ideas for the critic of Harin’s poetry.
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