A Postcolonial Reading of Cecil Rajendra’s Selected Poems

Abstract

This study analyzes poems written by Cecil Rajendra, a Malaysian poet, from a postcolonial perspective. In other words, it entails a postcolonial reading of his selected poems. It seeks to identify and illustrate embedded concepts of postcolonialism and orientalism in the poems. It also seeks to understand how these concepts operate.The theoretical framework used in this research is the postcolonial theory, specifically employing Bill Ashcroft et al.'s Key Postcolonial Concepts and Edward Said's Orientalism. It uses the Close Reading methodology to analyze the corpus, looking specifically into the concepts being used.The study reveals that although colonization has ended in many countries, a new form of colonization, namely Neo-colonialism is evident in many developing ex-colonies. This includes replication of colonial powers by today's political leaders. It also speaks about Euro-centrism and its related ideologies which can operate oppressively against eastern nations.It is hoped that this study contributes to a better understanding about postcolonial issues, especially in the Malaysian context.