Purushottama Lal (born 1931) a Professor of English at St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta is known more as the founder of The Writers Workshop than as a poet. He is again much better- known as the man who initiated the Modernist Movement in Indian poetry in English. He and his associates, influenced by T.S. Eliot, insisted on a natural voice realism and contemporary verse technique. Lal is one of those who have rejected the romanticism and Victorianism of the earlier poets, particularly the poetry of Aurobindo. But ironically he himself has written considerable poetry which is Romantic.
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His genius is essentially lyrical and his poetry at its best is always emotional echoing nineteenth century English poets. It is a poetry made complex by its absorption of influences from the best modern poetry, both British and American, and also of the strong influence of classical Sanskrit poetry. His well-known works are Love’s the First (1972), The Man of Dharma and the Rasa of Silence (1974), Calcutta: A Long Poem (1977) and Collected Poems I (1977) also of the strong influence of classical Sanskrit poetry.
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The strongest influence on Lai was T.S. Eliot. His poetry has of late been moving towards the spiritual and his poem Calcutta addressed to Mother Teresa he believes, will be classified as the poetry of prayer. His poetry with all its economy and precision is evocative and suggestive. More than everything else, it is pictorial and it is this pictorial quality which takes it back to the poetry of the Romantics whose influence on Aurobindo and Sarojini Naidu he has eloquently condemned.