Nissim Ezekiel was an innovative Indian poet. He brought modernity to Indian poetry.
Nissim Ezekiel is, therefore, known as ‘The Father of Post-independence Indian-English Verse’. Ezekiel himself was influenced by modern English poets.
Nissim Ezekiel was born in Mumbai on 16th December, 1924. Moses Ezekiel, his father, was a professor of Botany at Wilson College, and his mother was principal of her own school. In 1947 Ezekiel took his BA in English Literature from Mumbai University. Then he studied philosophy at Birbeck College, London.
‘The Bad Day’, Ezekiel’s first book, was published in 1952. ‘The Deadly Man’, was a well known poetry collection. His other notable volumes of verse are ‘The Third’, ‘The Unfinished Man’, ‘The Exact Name’, ‘Snakeskin and Other Poems’, ‘Hymns in Darkness’, ‘Latter-Day Psalms’, and ‘Collected Poems 1952-88’.
Nizzim Ezekiel was honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983 for his poetry collection, ‘Latter-Day Psalms’.
In 1988, he was awarded the Padma Shri. The poet struggled with Alzheimer’s disease in the last phase of his life.
Nissim Ezekiel passed away in Mumbai, on 9th January, 2004.