Volume-XII, Special Issue, April 2026 |
Poetics of Resistance: Representation of Waste in the Poems of Sukanta Bhattacharya Aditi Samanta, Assistant Professor, Department of Basic Science and Humanities, Institute of Engineering and Management, Kolkata (Newtown Sector), School of University of Engineering and Management, Kolkata, West Bengal, India |
Received: 05.04.2026 | Accepted: 07.04.2026 | Published Online: 10.04.2026 | Page No: 249-254 | ||||
DOI: 10.29032/ijhsss.vol.12.issue.specialW.288 | |||||||
ABSTRACT | ||
Sukanta Bhattacharya is one of the youngest and one of the most well-read poets in the history of Bengali literature. He wrote during a time marked by the imperial rule, the second world war, and the devastating Bengal famine of 1943, and brought attention to lives that were often ignored and treated as expendable. This paper aims to explore how the poems of Sukanta Bhattacharya use the idea of waste to reflect the harsh realities of Colonial Bengal in the 1940s. Generally, waste is thought of as something purely material, something that is thrown away and never thought of. However, in literature, the representation of waste can expose much about how societies function, especially in terms of power, disparities, and exclusion. This paper uses ideas from Julia Kristeva and Giorgio Agamben, and shows how Bhattacharya’s poetry challenges the demarcation between what is valued and what is discarded. The figures that appear in Bhattachrya’s work; starving individuals, overburdened workers, and marginalised urban populations; are shown as being pushed to the edges of society, almost like waste itself. His poems move away from romantic aesthetics and focus on the stark realities of hunger, labour, and survival in a biased society. At the same time, Bhattacharya gives them a voice, forcing us to confront their existence and humanity. Through close readings of poems such as “Deshlai Kathi” (“The Matchstick”), “Cigarette”, “Ekti Moroger Kahini” (“Story of a Rooster”), and “Shiri” (“Stairs”), it shows how ordinary objects and everyday experiences become powerful symbols of exploitation and resistance. Ultimately, this paper argues that Bhattacharya transforms waste into a space where dignity prevails and from where resistance can emerge. | ||
Keywords: Waste, Colonial Bengal, Bengali Poetry, Sukanta Bhattacharya, Resistance. |