1           Marathi poetry

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Marathi poetry is a form of Indian literature written in the Marathi language, one of the official languages of India.

1.1         Contents

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·         1 Earliest prominent Marathi poetry

·         2 16th to 18th century

·         3 19th century

·         4 20th century

·         5 External links

1.2          Earliest prominent Marathi poetry[edit]

The poet-saints Namdev (Devanagari: नामदेव) and Dnyaneshwar (Devanagari: ज्ञानेश्वर), from Maharashtra, India, wrote the earliest significant religious poetry in Marathi. They were born in 1270 and 1275, respectively. Namdev wrote over 400 verses in the abhang (अभंग) form. Dnyaneshwar composed his poetry in the owi (ओवी) form. His compositions,Dnyaneshwari (ज्ञानेश्वरी) and Amrutanubhawa (अमृतानुभव), consist of 9,037 and about 800 owis, respectively.

1.3          16th to 18th century[edit]

Eknath (एकनाथ, 1533 – 1599) was the next prominent Marathi poet.

Prominent poets from the 17th century include Tukaram, Mukteshwar, Ramdas, Vaman Pandit, Raghunath Pandit and Shridhar Pandit.

Moropant was a prominent poet of the 18th century. His Aryabharata (आर्याभारत) was the first epic in Marathi.

1.4          19th century[edit]

Early 19th century Marathi poetry consisted of powada (पोवाडे) ballads, phataka (फटके), and lawani ("लावण्या), which were composed by tantakawi (तंतकवि) or shahir (शाहीर). Prominent poets included Parasharam (परशराम), Honaji Bal (होनाजी बाळ), Anantaphandi (अनंतफंदी), Ram Joshi (रामजोशी), and Prabhakar (प्रभाकर).

The work of mid-19th century Marathi poets such as Krushnashastri Chipalunkar (कृष्णशास्त्री चिपळूणकर), Kunte (कुंटे), Lembhe (लेंभे), and Mogare (मोगरे) showed influences from both Sanskrit and English poetry.

In the late 19th century, Keshavasuta and Rev Tilak Narayan_Waman_Tilak (रेव्हरंड टिळक) produced poems influenced by English poets such as Wordsworth and Tennyson. They extended the horizon of Marathi poetry to encompass beauty in nature, love, romance, and mysticism as subjects.

Other 19th-century poets include Mangesh Padgaonkar, Bhalchandra Nemade, Arun Kolatkar, Dilip Chitre, Namdeo Dhasal, Vasant Abaji Dahake and Manohar Oak.

1.5           20th century[edit]

Modern Marathi poetry began with Mahatma Jyotiba Phule's compositions. Later poets like Keshavsuta, Balakavi, Govindagraj, and the poets of Ravi Kiran Mandal, like Madhav Julian, wrote poetry that was influenced by Romantic and Victorian English poetry, being largely sentimental and lyrical. Prahlad Keshav Atre, a renowned satirist and politician, wrote a parody of this sort of poetry in his collection, Jhenduchi Phule.

The major paradigm shift in sensibility began in the 1940s with the avant-garde modernist poetry of BS Mardhekar. In the mid-1950s, the 'little magazine movement' gained momentum. It published writings which were non-conformist, radical and experimental. It also strengthened the Dalit literary movement, and in general many poets emerged from the 'little magazine movement'.

A major change in Marathi sensibility began in the 1990s with the criticism of Shridhar Tilve. Shridhar Tilve brought to attention how the post-sixty generation^{[clarification needed]} is outdated, in his article "Chauta Shodh". His first collection of poems(Eka Bhartiya Vidyarthache Udgar) was published in 1991 by Popular Prakashan.