Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Poem:
This is history,
Two eerie arms spread upon the marble, over an alien name.
Offends my ways
17-20 In the circle… The names and other details on the epitaphs
Seriousness
40 to keep historyin contrast with ‗flaking history‘ of Line 12.
Theme:
This is a perfectly crafted poem that displays Mahapatra‘s
brooding vision of life and the manner in which he transforms the
stark images of realism to the level of lyrical poetry. The poet
speaks of the effect that a visit to an old British cemetery has on
him, triggering off as it does thoughts of unvanquished diseases
snatching away the young to make them a part of the ever-
advancing realms of history. The poet‘s anguish is caused not by
the sight of the ancient graves of unknown Britishers, but by the
morbid thought of countless lives that continue to be needlessly
lost in their prime.
Composed in short stanzas of four lines each, the poem is full of
wordscapes created by beautiful and unusual images.
The poem is about the forgotten memories of the dead where the poet sees the
tombstones and reflects over the foreigner's lying dead and buried in the
cemetery, bringing to our memory the images and pictures of Raj Days and the
colonists on a mission or tour to India, in the heat, dust and humid conditions
doing the rounds and also to those times of epidemics when survival was almost
ngligible, hoping against hope.
It expresses how the cold hand of death has snatched away both wives an
children. This is evident whereby the author mentions Florence who is the
wife of Captain R and Helen daughter of Mr and Mrs J.S.
The author expresses how the great have easily been forgotten and
despite their contribution to the nation no one remembers them.
He expresses the painful reality of death, that once one dies nothing can
be done within the grave. There is no existing relationship between the
dead an the living.
He expresses how the only interaction within the grave is the living
creatures around the grave yard and the growing grass within the grave that
vanishes the memory completely.
He again expresses that only the dying young meaning those who want
to have fun and make most of their lives before growing old know what it
means to be alive.
Jayanta Mahapatra, in all his poems clarifies his stand that the past
cannot be blamed for all the ills of the present. In conclusion the author
expresses the sad reality of how once one dies his or her memories are
forgotten and are left to the mercies of the grave.
MRIDUL MUDAI