Shiv K. Kumar


Shiv K. Kumar was an Indian English poet, playwright, novelist, and short story writer. His grandfather late Tulsi Das Kumar was a school teacher and his father Bishan Das Kumar, was a retired headmaster. The letter 'K' stands for Krishna. Shiv Krishna Kumar.
The poem 'Pilgrimage' is the realistic poem by Shiv. K. Kumar. In this poem, the poet reveals the experience of the pilgrims. In the course of journey to the destination, the pilgrims discuss the glory and greatness of God.The women mumble that rest would indeed have been welcome.
At the end of the poem the poet presents his opinions that the gods had trapped us in belief. The poem is written in a conversational tone and because of its simplicity it is easy to be compared.

Early life and education

Shiv K Kumar was born in Lahore, British India, in 1921. He matriculated from Dayanand Anglo Vedic High School in 1937. He studied for his B.A. at Government College, Lahore and his M.A. at Forman Christian College, Lahore.

Career

In 1943, he joined D.A.V. College Lahore as a lecturer, but moved to Delhi during the Partition. After brief stints as lecturer at Hansraj College, Delhi, and as programme officer at the All India Radio, Delhi, he left India to join Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge in 1950. In 1956 he received his PhD in English Literature from the University of Cambridge. The topic of his dissertation was 'Bergson and the Stream of Consciousness Novel'. His research supervisor was Professor David Daiches. He was also tutored by the influential British critic F.R. Leavis during his stay in Cambridge.
Shiv K. Kumar taught English literature at Osmania University, Hyderabad, and the University of Hyderabad. During 1972–74, he was a UGC National Lecturer in English. He is the founder Head of the Department of English and the first Dean of the School of Humanities at the University of Hyderabad. He retired as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad in 1980. He was Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Universities of Oklahoma and Northern Iowa, and Visiting Professor at the Universities of Drake, Hofstra, Marshall, etc. He was also a Visiting Fulbright Fellow at Yale University.
He was nominated as a member of the Jury for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature.
Several of his poems and short stories have been broadcast over the BBC—and published in Indian, British, American, Canadian and Australian journals and magazines. They have also been translated into several Indian and foreign languages.
In 1978, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, London during his stay in England as Commonwealth Visiting Professor of English at the University of Kent at Canterbury. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1987 for his collection of poems Trapfalls in the Sky. In 2001 he was awarded the Padma Bhushan for his contribution to literature.
He lived in Hyderabad and was married to Madhu. They had two children.

Works

His published works include:
As Poet :
His individual poems have appeared in The New York Times, Poetry Review, Ariel, Southern Review, Hemisphere Meanjin, Western Humanities Review, Trafika, etc.
As Playwright:
As Novelist:
As Short Story Writer:
As Translator:
As Critic:
His research papers have appeared in such scholarly journals as Modern Philology, Modern Language Review, Journal of Aesthetics & Art Criticism, Modern Language Quarterly, Modern Language Notes, English Studies, etc.
Miscellaneous:
Critical Books on Shiv K. Kumar: