Michael, His English Literature

Book excerpt: The effort in this book is to place before the readers certain aspects of the English literature produced by Michael Madhusudan Datta. Notwithstanding Michael being a major writer in Bengali literature, there are certain qualities in his English literature which merit some attention. This book attempts to highlight these qualities. There is a critical biography in which the English literature of Michael is given more attention. There is a consideration of his sonnets in English. The historical and the Romantic sensibilities have been discussed in some detail. The discussion of the historical sensibility is largely based on the works of Michael concerning certain events and periods in the history of medieval India and Europe. The Romantic sensibility of Michael is largely English but the setting and the themes are Indian. This book also contains a chapter on the influence of Michael’s Christian sensibility on the nature of his creativity.