The Architecture of Unresolved Sorrow: Negative Capability and Existential Surrender in the Poetry of Shiv Kumar Batalvi

Abstract

This research paper aims to examine the concept of “Negative Capability” in the poetry of Shiv Kumar Batalvi. John Keats, an eminent poet, coined the term 'Negative Capability' in a letter written to his brothers George and Thomas on 21 December, 1817 and he defined his new concept of writing: “Negative Capability, that is, when man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.” While Keats traditionally explored this phenomenon within the Western norm,  Batalvi's poetry—rooted in the profound cultural and emotional idiom of Birha- implies one of the most fascinating non-Western realizations of Keatsian aesthetic surrender. Batalvi did not pursue intellectual resolution, moralization, or ideological consolation for anguish, but he surrenders entirely to raw, untainted emotion. A rigorous study of his masterpiece verse-drama Loona (1965) alongside key lyrical collections including Peeran Da Paraga and Alvida, demonstrates how Batalvi operationalizes Negative Capability. Keats promotes a removal of the intellectual self while writing (or reading) poetry as he observes: ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty – that is all Ye know on earth and all ye need know '- Ode on a Grecian Urn, lines 49-50. Throughout his poetry and letters, Keats emphasizes that beauty does not need to declare its profound significance. This research paper not only identifies Batalvi as a forlorn romantic poet but also examines his philosophical outlook on life alongside that of John Keats. The study details how Batalvi is tangled in emotional uncertainty and existential doubt, without offering rational or moral resolutions. The paper highlights his deep empathy and his subversion of societal dogma, and he surrenders himself to the raw emotion of Birha.