“I know neither the people nor the language—all is strange and alien. I…” — Manmohan Ghose | V2Melody

“I know neither the people nor the language—all is strange and alien. I am four-fifths an Englishman if not entirely one.”

A candid expression of the divided cultural identity created by his English upbringing · Letter to Laurence Binyon, London period

About Manmohan Ghose

Manmohan Ghose

19 January 1869–4 January 1924

In the annals of Indian literature, few figures occupy a position as quietly significant yet fundamentally pioneering as Manmohan Ghose (19 January 1869 – 4 January 1924), one of the earliest Indian poets to write substantially in English. Born in Bhagalpur in Bengal, Ghose's life represents a fascinating narrative of…

More by Manmohan Ghose

Poems by Manmohan Ghose

More remarks by Manmohan Ghose

“If you were to go to India and look with an unprejudiced eye, you would see that the system of Government is rotten to the core.”

A strikingly early expression of his opposition to injustice under British rule in India · Letter to Laurence Binyon, October 1887

“Love is as necessary to me as to every other human being. I may imprison myself in solitude and devote every hour to calm cultivation yet without this the richest gains of mind will in the end seem as dust.”

Insisting that intellectual achievement cannot compensate for the absence of human affection · Letter to Laurence Binyon, March 1889

“Books are my only refuge, which I seek not from choice but from necessity, and I try to allay a burning breast with hard intellectual labour.”

Describing reading and intellectual work as a refuge from emotional isolation · Letter to Laurence Binyon, March 1889