BXIBerniece at 16:33, 28 February 2026

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{{short description|Indian poet, writer and journalist}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Fredoon Jehangir Kabraji
| image = File:Fredoon Kabraji, Parsi Indian Poet.jpg
| imagesize = 220px
| caption = Kabraji in 1918, aged 21
| alt = Kabraji in 1918, aged 21
| pseudonym = Fredoon Kabraji
| birth_date = {{birth date|1897|02|10|df=yes}}
| birth_place = India
| death_date = 1986 (aged 88–89)
| death_place = England
| occupation = Poet, writer, journalist, and artist
| nationality =
| period =
| genre =
| subject =
| movement =
| spouse = Eleanor M. Wilkinson
| partner =
| children = 3
| relatives =
| website =
}}

'''Fredoon Kabraji''' ([[Gujarati language|Gujarati]]: ફરીદૂન કબીરજી; 10 February 1897 – 1986) was an Indian poet, writer, journalist, and artist of [[Parsi]] descent.<ref name="Making Britain Fredoon Kabraji">{{cite web
| last1 = Staff
| title = Fredoon Kabraji {{!}} Making Britain
| work = Making Britain
| publisher = [[The Open University]]
| url = http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/fredoon-kabraji
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201213150200/http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/fredoon-kabraji
| archive-date = 13 December 2020
| url-status = live
| access-date = 13 December 2020
}}</ref><ref name="GRO Online Index">{{cite web
| last1 = Staff
| title = Search the GRO Online Index
| work = [[General Register Office]]
| publisher = [[gov.uk]]
| date = 2020
| url = https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/indexes_search.asp
| access-date = 14 December 2020
}}</ref><ref name="Fredoon Jehangir Kabraji GRO Record Screenshot">{{cite web
| last1 = Staff
| title = Screenshot of GRO Record for Fredoon Jehangir Kabraji
| work = [[General Register Office]]
| publisher = [[gov.uk]]
| date = 14 December 2020
| url = https://sherpoint.uk/documents/fredoon-jehangir-kabraji-GRO-record.pdf
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201214111813/https://sherpoint.uk/documents/fredoon-jehangir-kabraji-GRO-record.pdf
| archive-date = 14 December 2020
| url-status = live
| access-date = 14 December 2020
}}</ref><ref name="Neo-Sufism in the 1960s">{{cite journal
| last1 = Sedgwick
| first1 = Mark
| title = Neo-Sufism in the 1960s: Idries Shah
| journal = Center for Interdisciplinary Study of Monotheistic Religions
| volume = 8
| pages = 52–73
| publisher = [[Doshisha University]]
| year = 2015
| url = http://www.cismor.jp/uploads-images/sites/2/2015/03/cismor8.pdf#page=55
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201214123542/http://www.cismor.jp/uploads-images/sites/2/2015/03/cismor8.pdf
| archive-date = 14 December 2020
| access-date = 14 December 2020
| issn = 2186-5175
}}</ref>

==Life and work==
Fredoon Jehangir Kabraji<ref name="GRO Online Index"/><ref name="Fredoon Jehangir Kabraji GRO Record Screenshot"/> was a [[Parsi]] born in [[India]] on 10 February 1897. His father was Jehangir Kabraji, an Indian [[civil servant]], and his mother was Putlibai.<ref name="Making Britain Fredoon Kabraji"/>

Initially, his parents wanted him to pursue a career in farming, but growing tired of this, he moved to Britain perhaps around the mid-1920s,<ref name="Making Britain Fredoon Kabraji"/> and married Eleanor M. Wilkinson there in 1926.<ref name="Making Britain Fredoon Kabraji"/>

Kabraji studied at the [[University of London]], but failing to secure a degree, he became a self-confessed "drifter, trying his hand at art, journalism and poetry".<ref name="Making Britain Fredoon Kabraji"/> As well as having his poetry published, he also contributed to periodicals such as ''[[New Statesman|New Statesman and Nation]]'' and ''[[Life and Letters|Life and Letters Today]]'',<ref name="Making Britain Fredoon Kabraji"/> and journals including ''[[The Political Quarterly]]''.<ref name="India in Transition">{{cite journal
| last1 = Kabraji
| first1 = Fredoon
| title = India in Transition
| journal = [[The Political Quarterly]]
| volume = 9
| issue = 1
| pages = 68–85
| publisher = [[Wiley-Blackwell]]
| date = January 1938
| url = https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-923X.1938.tb01302.x
| access-date = 14 December 2020
| doi = 10.1111/j.1467-923X.1938.tb01302.x
| url-access = subscription
}}</ref>

Kabraji and his wife went back to India where they had two sons, and a daughter, Cynthia (Kashfi).<ref name="Neo-Sufism in the 1960s"/> The family returned to Britain in 1935, not long before the outbreak of [[World War II]]. Their daughter Cynthia later married the [[Afghans|Afghan]] writer and thinker [[Idries Shah]], an associate and friend of the poet [[Robert Graves]].<ref name="Neo-Sufism in the 1960s"/><ref name="OPrey213-215">{{cite book|last=O'Prey|first=Paul|title=Between Moon and Moon – Selected Letters of Robert Graves 1946–1972|publisher=[[Hutchinson (publisher)|Hutchinson]]|year=1984|pages=213–215|isbn=0-09-155750-X}}</ref> Shah's father, [[Ikbal Ali Shah]] published two of Kabraji's poems, "The Lovers" and "Tulip", in his 1933 work ''The Oriental Caravan: A Revelation of the Soul and Mind of Asia''.<ref name="Oriental Caravan">{{cite book
| editor-last = Ali Shah
| editor-first = Sirdar Ikbal
| editor-link = Ikbal Ali Shah
| title = The Oriental Caravan: A Revelation of the Soul and Mind of Asia
| publisher = D. Archer
| year = 1933
| pages = 166, 167
}}
</ref>

According to letters archived at [[St John's College, Oxford|St John's College Library]], University of Oxford, Kabraji corresponded with Robert Graves and first met him in 1925.<ref name="JISC Archives 1">{{cite web
| last1 = Staff
| title = Ms letter from Fredoon Kabraji to Graves
| work = Archives Hub
| publisher = [[Jisc]]
| url = https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/6adf36ed-997a-37de-ba9e-e926f3812f01?component=b5df7873-1cce-319a-aa56-3a8b55d1d566
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201214130218/https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/6adf36ed-997a-37de-ba9e-e926f3812f01?component=b5df7873-1cce-319a-aa56-3a8b55d1d566
| archive-date = 14 December 2020
| url-status = live
| access-date = 14 December 2020
}} Two records: GB 473 RG/J/Kabraji/1 and GB 473 RG/J/Kabraji/2.</ref> Archives at the [[University of Victoria]] and [[California Digital Library]] also confirm later correspondence with poets [[John Betjeman]]<ref name="University of Victoria Archives 1945">{{cite web
| last1 = Staff
| title = File Box 26, Folder 18 - Kabraji, Fredoon, 1945, 1 letter
| publisher = [[University of Victoria]]
| url = https://uvic2.coppul.archivematica.org/kabraji-fredoon-1945-1-letter
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201214135902/https://uvic2.coppul.archivematica.org/kabraji-fredoon-1945-1-letter
| archive-date = 14 December 2020
| url-status = live
| access-date = 14 December 2020
}}</ref> and [[Walter de la Mare]].<ref name="Walter de la Mare">{{cite web
| last1 = Richardson
| first1 = Gayle M.
| title = Walter De la Mare Papers: Finding Aid
| work = Online Archive of California
| publisher = [[California Digital Library]]
| year = 2002
| url = https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8pr823h/entire_text/
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201214185629/https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8pr823h/entire_text/
| archive-date = 14 December 2020
| url-status = live
| access-date = 14 December 2020
}}</ref>

===Politics===
Kabraji spoke out against [[British Empire|British colonialism]] and poverty in India, and he supported [[Mahatma Gandhi]]'s non-violent protest and the [[Quit India Movement]], which demanded an end to [[British Raj|British rule in India]].<ref name="Reformer">{{cite news
| last1 = Kabraji
| first1 = Fredoon
| title = The Reformer
| newspaper = [[The Guardian|Manchester Guardian]]
| publisher = [[Guardian Media Group|Manchester Guardian Ltd.]]
| location = Manchester, England
| date = 18 October 1937
| page = 16}}
</ref><ref name="Observer 18 February 1945">{{cite news
| last1 = Thompson
| first1 = Edward
| title = Poets in Session
| newspaper = [[The Observer]]
| publisher = [[William Waldorf Astor]]
| location = England
| date = 18 February 1945
| page = 3}}
</ref>

===Offices===
Kabraji was listed among the Vice-Presidents and Representatives of the colonial branches of the [[Empire Poetry League]], under [[Mumbai|Bombay]].<ref name="Some Yorkshire Poets">{{cite web
| title = S.FW – Some Yorkshire Poets
| work = The Works of Sydney Fowler Wright 1874–1965
| publisher = sfw.org
| url = http://www.sfw.org/yorkshire.shtml
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201214195615/http://www.sfw.org/yorkshire.shtml
| archive-date = 14 December 2020
| url-status = live
| access-date = 14 December 2020
}}</ref> The League was founded in 1917<ref name="Against the New Gods">{{cite book
| last = Stableford
| first = Brian
| author-link = Brian Stableford
| title = Against the New Gods: The Speculative Fiction of S. Fowler Wright
| publisher = Wildside Press LLC
| year = 2009
| pages = 9–90
| isbn = 978-1434457431}}</ref> and was operational for around 15 years.

==Works==
===Books===
* {{cite book
| last = Sett
| first = Adi K.
| editor-last = Kabraji
| editor-first = Fredoon
| title = Rain in My Heart: Forty Poems
| publisher = [[Reginald Caton|Fortune Press]]
| year = 1940
| location = London
}}<ref name="Thought Volume 7">{{cite journal
| last1 = S. D.
| title = Adolescent Agony
| journal = Thought
| volume = 7
| issue = 1
| pages = 12–13
| publisher = Siddhartha Publications Ltd.
| location = Delhi
| date = 1 January 1955
}}</ref>
* Fredoon Kabraji (1944). ''A Minor Georgian's Swan Song (Fifty-One Poems)''. London: Fortune Press.<ref name="Making Britain Fredoon Kabraji"/><ref name="The Origins of Dislike">{{cite book
| last = Chaudhuri
| first = Amit
| author-link = Amit Chaudhuri
| title = The Origins of Dislike
| publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
| date = 27 September 2018
| location = Oxford
| pages = 227–228
| isbn = 978-0198793823}}</ref><ref name="History of Indian Poetry in English">{{cite book
|editor-last = Chaudhuri
|editor-first = Rosinka
| title = A History of Indian Poetry in English
| publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]
| date = 29 March 2016
| location = Cambridge
| pages = 
| isbn = 978-1107078949}}</ref><ref name="Mapping the Nation">{{cite book
|editor-last = Reddy
|editor-first = Sheshalatha
| title = Mapping the Nation: An Anthology of Indian Poetry in English, 1870–1920
| publisher = Anthem Press
| date = 25 June 2012
| location = London, New York
| pages = xxxii–xxxiii, xlv
| isbn = 978-0857284419}}</ref><ref name="Guardian 23 May 1945">{{cite news
| last1 = Gibson
| first1 = Wilfrid
| title = Books of the Day: Recent Verse
| newspaper = [[The Guardian|Manchester Guardian]]
| publisher = [[Guardian Media Group|Manchester Guardian Ltd.]]
| location = Manchester, England
| date = 23 May 1945
| page = 3
}}</ref>
* Fredoon Kabraji (ed.) (1947). ''This Strange Adventure: An Anthology of Poems in English by Indians, 1828–1946''. London: New India Publishing Co.<ref name="Making Britain Fredoon Kabraji"/><ref name="Caravan Magazine">{{cite web
| last1 = Mehrotra
| first1 = Arvind Krishna
| title = Man of Letters: The unlikely correspondence between Srinivas Rayaprol and William Carlos Williams
| work = [[The Caravan]]
| publisher = Paresh Nath
| date = 30 August 2018
| url = https://caravanmagazine.in/literature/unlikely-correspondence-srinivas-rayaprol-william-carlos-williams
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201214125432/https://caravanmagazine.in/literature/unlikely-correspondence-srinivas-rayaprol-william-carlos-williams
| archive-date = 14 December 2020
| url-status = dead
| access-date = 14 December 2020
}}</ref>
* Fredoon Kabraji (1956). ''The Cold Flame: Poems (1922–1924, 1935–1938, 1946–1953)''. London: Fortune Press.<ref name="Making Britain Fredoon Kabraji"/>

===Contributions to books and anthologies===
* {{cite book
| editor-last1 = Cranmer-Byng
| editor-first1 = L.
| editor-last2 = Kapadia
| editor-first2 = Dr. S. A.
| title = Anthology of Modern Indian Poetry
| publisher = [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]: The Wisdom of the East Series
| year = 1927
| location = London
}}
* {{cite book
| editor-last = Campbell
| editor-first = Kathleen Winifred
| title = An Anthology of English Poetry: Dryden to Blake
| publisher = [[Henry Holt and Company]]
| year = 1930
| location = New York
}}
* {{cite book
| editor-last = Ali Shah
| editor-first = Sirdar Ikbal
| editor-link = Ikbal Ali Shah
| title = The Oriental Caravan: A Revelation of the Soul and Mind of Asia
| publisher = D. Archer
| year = 1933
}}
* {{cite book
| editor-last = Wright
| editor-first = S. Fowler
| editor-link = S. Fowler Wright
| title = From Overseas—First Series: An Anthology of Contemporary Dominion and Colonial Verse
| chapter = Fredoon Kabraji (Bombay)
| publisher = Merton
| year = 1924
| location = London
}}
* {{cite book
| editor-last = Ganguly
| editor-first = Anil Baran
| title = Indian Poetry in English: An Anthology
| publisher = Atma Ram
| year = 1984
| location = Delhi
| pages = 153, 155
}}<ref name="Indian Poetry in English Ganguly">{{cite book
| editor-last = Ganguly
| editor-first = Anil Baran
| title = Indian Poetry in English: An Anthology
| publisher = Atma Ram
| year = 1984
| location = Delhi
| pages = 153, 155
}}</ref>
* {{cite book
| last = De Souza
| first = Eunice
| author-link = Eunice de Souza
| title = Early Indian Poetry in English: An Anthology: 1829-1947
| publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] India
| date = 8 July 2010
| location = India
| isbn = 978-0195677249}}

===Journal articles===
* {{cite journal
| last = Kabraji
| first = Fredoon
| title = The Patriots [poetry]
| journal = [[Left Review]]
| volume = 2
| issue = 12–16
| page = 638
| publisher = International Union of Revolutionary Writers, British Section
| location = UK
| date = September 1936
}}<ref name="Making Britain Left Review">{{cite web
| last1 = Staff
| title = Left Review {{!}} Making Britain
| work = Making Britain
| publisher = [[The Open University]]
| url = http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/left-review
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201214184420/http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/left-review
| archive-date = 14 December 2020
| url-status = live
| access-date = 14 December 2020
}}</ref>

* {{cite journal
| last1 = Kabraji
| first1 = Fredoon
| title = India in Transition
| journal = [[The Political Quarterly]]
| volume = 9
| issue = 1
| pages = 68–85
| publisher = [[Wiley-Blackwell]]
| date = January 1938
| url = https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-923X.1938.tb01302.x
| access-date = 14 December 2020
| doi = 10.1111/j.1467-923X.1938.tb01302.x
| url-access = subscription
}}

* {{cite journal
| last = Kabraji
| first = Fredoon
| title = Ambassadors of a Wider Commonwealth [2 parts]
| journal = Eastern World
| volume = 3
| pages = 22, 33
| location = East Asia
| year = 1949
}}

* {{cite journal
| last = Kabraji
| first = Fredoon
| title = Ahmed Has Four Daughters
| journal = Eastern World
| volume = 3
| pages = 36
| location = East Asia
| year = 1949
}}

===Articles in other periodicals===
* {{cite news
| last1 = Kabraji
| first1 = Fredoon
| title = The Reformer
| newspaper = [[The Guardian|Manchester Guardian]]
| publisher = [[Guardian Media Group|Manchester Guardian Ltd.]]
| location = Manchester, England
| date = 18 October 1937
| page = 16}}

* {{cite news
| last = Kabraji
| first = Fredoon
| title = Creative Literature in English by Indians
| newspaper = Sunday News of India
| issue = 27
| year = 1950}}

==Selected short poem==
{{Poemquote
|text=Tulip, tell me, what do you hold in your cup?
I hold in my cup the magic that swells the thirst of your soul, O Mother, when you look on the form of your child; the opiate that fills your dream, Mother, with the awe of the Unknown!
But, Tulip, tell me, why do you guard your magic beyond the wing of melody?
Because, ere Thought was, a kiss of Love did capture Death in the Seed of Life. That is why no melody of Life can hold all the magic in my cup, Mother; that is why Love cannot hold your child in Life alone!
|char=
|sign=Fredoon Kabraji
|source=in Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah, ''The Oriental Caravan: A Revelation of the Soul and Mind of Asia'' (1933).<ref name="Oriental Caravan 167">{{cite book
| editor-last = Ali Shah
| editor-first = Sirdar Ikbal
| editor-link = Ikbal Ali Shah
| title = The Oriental Caravan: A Revelation of the Soul and Mind of Asia
| publisher = D. Archer
| year = 1933
| page = 167
}}
</ref>
|title="Tulip"
|style=
}}

==Reception==
In ''[[The Observer]]'' on 18 February 1945, the scholar and historian [[Edward John Thompson|Edward Thompson]] criticises the "thoroughly bad" title of ''A Minor Georgian's Swan Song'', and calls Kabraji's preface "brash" and that it would antagonise "powerful critics and versifiers".<ref name="Observer 18 February 1945"/> Thompson does praise the poem "I Look upon Simla", which is critical of the [[British Empire|British colonialism]] and poverty in India, though he notes that the poem will "hardly delight all reviewers".<ref name="Observer 18 February 1945"/> Thompson also notes that Kabraji does not use standard [[Metre (poetry)|metrical forms]], alleging that the poet appears "frightened" by them. However he concludes that he has "no doubt that Kabraji has genius if he can find a way to express it."<ref name="Observer 18 February 1945"/>

Writing for the ''[[The Guardian|Manchester Guardian]]'' on 23 May 1945, [[Georgian Poetry|Georgian poet]] [[Wilfrid Wilson Gibson|Wilfrid Gibson]] is of the opinion that ''A Minor Georgian's Swan Song'' is "unhappily titled",<ref name="Guardian 23 May 1945"/> because the author, Fredoon Kabraji "has no affiliations with any school and is an original poet".<ref name="Guardian 23 May 1945"/> The reviewer adds that although Kabraji's work "suffers at times from diffuseness, [it] is remarkable for its range and for the versatility of its technique."<ref name="Guardian 23 May 1945"/>

In ''A History of Indian Poetry in English'' (2016), editor Rosinka Chaudhuri describes Kabraji's ''This Strange Adventure: An Anthology of Poems in English by Indians, 1828-1946'' as excellent, and "comprehensive and accommodating in its reach."<ref name="History of Indian Poetry in English"/> She writes that after the "lean" years post-independence, there has been a "resurgence of interest" in such anthologies.<ref name="History of Indian Poetry in English"/>

==Citations==
{{Reflist|colwidth=45em|2}}

== References==
* {{cite book
| last = Arora
| first = Sudhir K.
| title = Cultural and Philosophical Reflections in Indian Poetry in English Footprints
| chapter = 24. Fredoon Kabraji (1897–1986)
| publisher = Authors Press
| year = 2016
| location = New Delhi
| pages = 171–175
| isbn = 978-93-5207-206-4}}

==External links==
* [https://www.poetrynook.com/poet/fredoon-kabraji Fredoon Kabraji at the Poetry Nook]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kabraji, Fredoon}}
[[Category:1897 births]]
[[Category:1986 deaths]]
[[Category:Date of death missing]]
[[Category:Place of death missing]]
[[Category:Parsi people]]
[[Category:British people of Parsi descent]]
[[Category:Indian male poets]]
[[Category:English-language Indian poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists]]
[[Category:Emigrants from British India to the United Kingdom]]

Fredoon Kabraji - Revision history

BXIBerniece at 16:33, 28 February 2026