New Year

-          Parijat (1934-1993)

(Translated by Padma Devkota)

I. Literal Comprehension

            Context: This poem is written by Parijat, Nepal (1934-1993).

            When the speaker sees the strongly blowing wind, the bright and hot sun, the flitting nightingale, and the buds of the bottlebrush, she knows that New Year has come. But her enthusiasm and happiness at the arrival of the New Year day vanishes when she sees the mason wasps returning to their nests and her own black and smoky ceiling of her room. Then, she realizes that she is poor and remembers her unfulfilled old dreams. At that moment, she wishes to change everything around her.

II. Interpretation

            The poem might be trying to tell us that one’s poverty deprives one of celebration and happiness. It has depicted the cruel adversity that a poor has to go through in his or her life. Though the poor want to celebrate the New Year day and get happiness, they cannot because they live in a house with a sooty ceiling.

III. Critical Thinking

            The poem is written in free verse style using simple and lucid language. Very beautifully, it has presented a poor person’s anguish for not being able to celebrate New Year and share happiness. The poem has taken the side of the poor, and has presented the bleak future for them.  

IV. Assimilation

            After reading the poem, I have understood why the poor are often unhappy. They are unhappy because they have many unfulfilled dreams.

Where the mind is without fear

- Rabindranath Tagore, India (1861-1941)

I. Literal Comprehension

            Context: This poem is written by Rabindranath Tagore, India (1861-1941).

            The speaker of the poem wants his country to be free and fearless so that his countrymen will have dignity. He wants free education and unbroken or undivided society where people will speak the truth, work hard for perfection, and apply reason in their thoughts to come out of superstitious beliefs and practices. He expects God to help and lead his countrymen toward broadmindedness in their thoughts and actions.

II. Interpretation

            The poem might be trying to tell us that freedom, knowledge, and reason are the most important things for dignified human society. Without them, the human society cannot be humane. It also means that in absence of freedom, knowledge, and reason, the human society will be full of fear, narrow thoughts, divisions, betrayal, and superstitious beliefs and practices.

III. Critical Thinking

            I think the poem is too idealistic and beyond the harsh reality of the human society. The poet’s idea can be taken as a guideline for creating better human society, but it has never been possible to inculcate all the qualities to any society around the world till date. 

IV. Assimilation

            After reading the poem, I have come to know what the essential qualities of an ideal human society are. But I am dismayed with the realization that it will never be possible to create such a state in our societies. Therefore, we are never perfect and never happy.

The great answer

                                                                                        -          Fulton Oursler, USA (1893-1952)

I. Literal Comprehension

            Context: This story is written by Fulton Oursler, USA (1893-1952).

            There were many refugees in boarding houses of a village near the Spanish border. They were fleeing to Spain when the German police, the Gestapo, along with the Nazi armies, entered France. Among the refugees were a young mother and her four-year old girl. They wanted to reach safely to America. They had already walked hundreds of miles to arrive at the place, but the Spanish guards did not allow them to pass through. The mother was worried that the German police would arrive any time soon and put them into the concentration camp. She prayed to God. Coincidently, the next day, a man appeared in her room. He said he was a guide who had come there to lead the refugees to Spain at night. That night, she went to the appointed place to join the other refugees who were also going to Spain. There were all age-group people (old, middle-aged, and young) in the group. When they started their journey, the middle-aged and young men helped her to carry her baby. The leader told them to trust on God because the path that led them to high up and over the mountain was very difficult. One oldest and frailest man lost his courage on the way. He told the others in the group to leave him alone there to die, but the leader encouraged him and told him to carry the child until the last drop of energy remained in his body. Other two old men also wanted to give up their journey one after the other, but the leader encouraged them as well to carry the child. Walking whole night along the difficult trail, the party of the refugees arrived in Spain. The three old men who had carried the lady’s child had found new strength and new life in them, and were ready to face a new world of freedom.

II. Interpretation

            This story might be trying to tell us that one’s perseverance and faith in God leads one to success through any kind of difficulty. The refugees succeeded in crossing the high mountains walking whole night with a trust in God in their heart. This story might also be trying to tell us that selflessly helping others is a necessary human quality. The guide takes no charge from the refugees for helping them to reach another country. Adding a new problem helps us forget or overcome the older one because we cannot escape from problems. Our life is full of problems.

III. Critical Thinking

            Despite being realistic, this story, I think, is an exaggerated one. The description of the refugees and their panic is very realistic, but the writer doesn’t provide the identity of the guide. Was he God in human disguise? How could the three old men who were ready to give up their journey carry the lady’s child? Do the modern readers believe in the existence of God? Does the faith in God alone help us cross a difficult mountain?

IV. Assimilation

After reading the story, I have understood the riddle of life, i. e. if we add more problems to the older one, we feel it lighter. This is the reality of our life because it is never free of problems.

Stopping by wood on a snowy evening

                                                                                                 -          Robert Frost, USA (1874-1963)

I. Literal Comprehension

            Context: This poem is written by Robert Frost, USA (1874-1963), one of the most prominent poets of the twentieth century.

            On a dark winter evening, the narrator stops his horse to watch the snow falling in the woods. At first, he worries that the owner of the property will be upset by his presence, but then he remembers that the owner cannot see him, and he is free to enjoy the beauty of the falling snow. His horse is confused why his master stopped him at a place where there is no farmhouse nearby, and shakes his harness bells in impatience. After a few more moments, the narrator reluctantly continues on his way.

II. Interpretation

            The poet might be trying to tell us that a person must have aim in life, and he should not be distracted by anything else in the world. There may be various sources of distractions which may tempt or attract a person, but he should always realize that the attraction is only transitory and there are duties and responsibilities to be fulfilled. The poem also depicts the dangerous isolation or loneliness of the speaker. Like in real life, the speaker seems depressed because of his loneliness. So, the poem may be trying to suggest us that there is the temptation of death, even suicide, in the last four lines, in life for a person is basically a lonely wanderer or traveller of the world.

III. Critical Thinking

            The poem is written in a lucid and musical language using simple words and short sentences. The rhyme pattern (aaba, bbcb, ccdc, dddd) has added more music in the poem. Despite the fact that it is one of the best poems written in English, I have some questions about it. How can a person enjoy the beauty of a desolate jungle in the darkest evening of the year? Won’t it be dangerous to stay even momentarily in a jungle where there is no sound except of the blowing wind and the falling snow, and there is nothing else to enjoy except the cold and darkness around?

IV. Assimilation

            After reading the poem, I have realized that as a student I have some responsibilities and duties. There are many things around me that distract me. The internet social media like facebook, twitter, youtube, etc. and mobile phones, friends, films consume a lot of my time, and I cannot spend enough time at my study. Even if I sit for study, I cannot concentrate myself on it. Now, I have realized that I should be focused upon my future aim and should study properly keeping all these things aside.

Piano

-          David Herbert  Lawrence, England (1885-1930)

I. Literal Comprehension

            Context: This poem is written by D. H. Lawrence, England (1885-1930), one of the most prominent twentieth century English poets.

            It is dusk. A young woman is playing the piano and singing softly to impress the speaker. But this romantic situation reminds the speaker of his past. He remembers his mother playing the piano, singing and smiling while he sat at her small feet pressing them. When the song reminds the speaker of family get together that occurred every Sunday evening during the winter and the hymns they sang together in a comfortable sitting room of the house, he forgets that he is a grown up man at present. He weeps like a small child. The singer’s effort for impressing him with her skill to play the piano and her melodious voice is of no use. 

II. Interpretation

            The poem might be trying to throw light on the pains of growing up. The man in the poem is an adult, but his heart ‘weeps to belong’ to his childhood days. His ‘manhood is cast down a flood of remembrance’ as he is overwhelmed by the ‘glamor of childish days’. Then, he forgets his manhood and weeps ‘like a child’. In fact, the speaker seems to have had his adulthood too much to tolerate. Therefore, he is nostalgic in tone. He wants to be a child again. He remembers his mother singing, playing the piano, and smiling at him. He remembers the warm and comfortable sitting room of his house where every Sunday evening the family members gathered and sang hymns together with the piano’s music.

III. Critical Thinking

            Though it is a beautiful poem, it is not clear who the ‘woman’ mentioned in it is. Is she an elderly woman of his mother’s age or his girlfriend? If she is of his mother’s age, why is she trying to impress him?  If she is his girlfriend, why does he remember his mother listening to her song, and cries at last? Why does he crave for his childhood days when there is a beautiful young woman singing in front of him in such a romantic situation, i. e. only the two, the speaker and the woman, are in a room, and the time is the dusk? 

IV. Assimilation

            The poem reminded me of my childhood days. I also think I enjoyed my childhood days better than adulthood days I am having at present. And I also felt nostalgic to my lost and forever irrevocable childhood days.