Ramakant Rath (1934 - ) is one of the most renowned modernist poets of Oriya literature. Heavily influenced by the poets such as T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, Rath experimented greatly with form and style.

Rath is known as a poet who writes for his own intellectual satisfaction rather than one being constrained by the limited demands and tastes of readers. The quest for the mystical, the riddles of life and death, the inner solitude of individual selves, and subservience to material needs and carnal desires are among this philosopher-poet's favorite themes. His poetry betrays a sense of pessimism along with counter-aesthetics, and he steadfastly refuses to put on the garb of a preacher of goodness and absolute beauty. His poetry is full of melancholy and laments the inevitability of death and the resultant feeling of futility. The poetic expressions found in his creations carry a distinct sign of symbolic annotations to spiritual and metaphysical contents of life. Often transcending beyond ordinary human capabilities, the poet reaches the higher territories of sharp intellectualism. The contents have varied from a modernist interpretation of ancient Sanskrit literature protagonist Radha in the poem "Sri Radha" to the ever-present and enthralling death-consiousness espoused in "Saptam Ritu" (The Seventh Season).

Rath was born in Cuttack, Orissa (India). He joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1962, but continued his writing career. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award, Saraswati Samman in 1992, and Bishuva Samman in 1990. Presently, he is the President of the Sahitya Akademi of India, New Delhi.

A number of his poems have been translated into English and other Indian languages.

Major Works

Poems

• "Kete Dinara" (Of a Long Long Time), 1962
• "Aneka Kothari" (Many Rooms), 1967
• "Sandigdha Mrigaya" (Suspicious Hunting), 1971
• "Saptama Ritu" (The Seventh Season), 1977
• "Sachitra Andhara" (Picturusque Darkness), 1982

Long Poems

• Sri Radha (Sri Radha), 1984
• Sri Palataka (Mr. Escapist), 1997