A Post-colonial Ecocritical Approach to the Select Poems of A.D. Hope

Nature has been vividly portrayed and depicted in different colours and forms in Postcolonial literatures. Nature has often been portrayed as vicious, a destroyer, an evil force that feeds on human hopes and aspirations, and sometimes as creator and nurturer, creating and sustaining life on Earth. However, time and again, the literature of the post-colonial era has portrayed an essential decay in the World of nature in the aftermath of colonialism. Colonialism has significantly affected the culture and environment of the indigenous people of the colony countries. Australia was colonised by the British imperialists in 1788 and the country got freedom in 1901. This colonization had a devastating impact on the social, cultural, religious, political and economic life of the indigenous people of Australia. It goes without saying that the native people of Australia suffered tremendously at the hands of the British colonisers. The British colonizers exploited, subjugated and tortured the indigenous people of the country. However, they were not contented with that. They were obviously interested in Australia’s vast natural resources. They ruthlessly exploited the vast natural resources of the country, they extracted the precious metals and rocks, like gold, and shipped them to Britain. This exploitation of the natural resources and the tyranny and cruelty of the British colonizers who took away the culture, history and identity of the indigenous people of Australia, left an indelible mark on the lives of the Australian aboriginals. The postcolonial literature of Australia gives us an insight into this hapless condition of people as well as the environment in the aftermath of Independence. Colonialism has significantly affected the lives of the indigenous people of Australia and their connection with nature. The social stagnation and moral degradation brought about by the British colonizers has got vividly portrayed in the poetry of A. D. Hope. The Australian poet, Alec Derwent Hope has tried to depict the British Colonizers’ social and environmental exploitation and the miserable condition of people in the aftermath of colonialism in his poetry. This paper is an endeavour to study Hope’s poems from a postcolonial and ecological perspective. The poems under consideration here are – Australia, Standardization, The Death of the Bird and Toast for a Golden Age.