The Earthen Goblet - Harindranath Chattopadhyaya
O silent goblet
Red from head to heel,
How did you
feel
When you were
being twirled
Upon the
Potter’s wheel
Before the
Potter gave you to the world?
‘I felt a
conscious impulse in my clay
To break away
From the great
Potter’s hand
that burned so
warm.
I felt vast
Feeling of
sorrow to be cast
Into my present form.
Before that
fatal hour
That saw me
captive on the Potter’s wheel
And cast into
this crimson goblet-sleep,
I used to feel
The fragrant
friendship of a little flower
Whose root was
in my bosom buried deep.
The Potter has
drawn out the living breath of me
And given me a
form which is the death of me.
My past
unshapely natural state was best
With just one
flower flaming through my breast.’
Harindra Nath
Chattopadhyaya
He was born on 2nd April 1898, He was an Indian
English poet, a dramatist an actor, a musician and a member of the 1st
Lok Saba from Vijawada constituency. The Government of India honored him with
Padma Bhushan for his services in 1973. HarindraNath Chattopadhyaya recited his
poem “Rail Gaadi” often on all India Radio. The song was sung by Ashok Kumar in
the film “Aashirwad” He wrote many poems for children in Hindi. “The Earthen
Goblet” is an interesting poem by HarindraNath Chattopadhyaya. The whole poem
adopted a conversational tone. The poem expresses a dialogue between the goblet
and the speaker. HarindraNath
Chattopadhyaya died of cardiac arrest on 23rd June 1990 in Bombay
Summary of the
poem
The poet speaks to an Earthen goblet and asks its feeling
and opinions about its creation on the potter’s wheel. Now the goblet explains
how it felt to turn from a ball of clay into a new different shape. Also the
goblet says his close relationship with nature, its friendship with the natural
flowers. The goblets regrets the unnatural shape of the potter. The entire poem
talks about the human approach to nature. The human’s greediness which destroys
the nature.
Detail analysis
of the Earthen Goblet
The poem is written to show importance of the natural and
simplicity of life. It also paints the artificiality of unsophisticated life.
The poem is written is a conversational style between the goblet and the
potter. Through this conversation the poet regrets the way we human keep
distance with nature. The life of us is dominated by sophistication and we have
abandoned the nature.Stanza 1O silent goblet Red from head to heel,How did you feel
When you were being twirled
Upon the Potter’s wheel
Before the Potter gave you to the world?
The poet the speaker asks the silent goblet why its
appearance is amazes him, why its color is Red from head to heal. The speaker is very anxious to know the
feelings of the goblet when it is molded, shaped and created by the potter on
his wheel. It is given so many turns and
twists before becoming a complete goblet to the world. The poet is so curious to know the meaning of
its silence, for it has undergone into various process of making a goblet. Since he could not keep silence he expects
the goblet to share his experience in the hand of the potter.
Stanza 2
‘I felt a conscious impulse in my clay
To break away
From the great Potter’s hand
I felt vast
Feeling of sorrow to be cast
Into my
present form.
The speaker in
this stanza brings out the feeling of sorrow of the sad goblet. This stanza is full of goblet’s feeling of
sorry. So far the goblet is silent, now
it begins to express its feeling and says it felt as if it’s breath has been
taken away forcefully in to the warm hands of the potter. The goblet regrets with pain to be shaped into
this present form. The poet touches the
sensitive feelings of nature. The clay
the part of the nature which has turned into goblet. The speaker through the goblet gives us a
painful picture of the destruction we bring on nature.
Stanza 3
Before that fatal hour
That saw me captive on the Potter’s wheel
And cast into this crimson goblet-sleep,
I used to
feel
The fragrant friendship of a little flower
Whose root was in my bosom buried deep.
More painful
feelings are expressed in this stanza.
Before the molding process, the goblet was merely a lump of clay. It was
part of the nature. But it was taken by
the potter. It was collected by the potter without mercy and kept as a prisoner
on the potter’s wheel for an execution.
When it was a clay it was a part of the mother earth. It could feel the fragrance of the little
flower and the root of the flower was sleeping on its bosom. Their friendship was so deep. They could not be separated. They feel for each other and supported with
care. Their bondage was so deep and strong.
Stanza 4
The Potter has drawn out the living breath of me
And given me a form which is the death of me.
My past unshapely natural state was best
With just one flower flaming through my breast.’
In the final
stanza the poet says the total depression of the goblet. The goblet says its life has been taken out
without mercy by the potter. Before the
present form, the clay without any shape or design was living with nature very
closely associated with the flower and root.
The clay enjoys the smell of the flower and was proud to be a part of
nature. It was its best form of life. Now all gone with the potter’s creation. The goblet is dead as his life has been taken
forcefully and given a new shape and new life.
This new life is not able to give happiness and voice to the goblet, all
its new shapes and colors made him silence.
The poet wants
to point out that the clay which is the part of the nature becomes a prisoner
in the hands of the potter. Nature lose
its freedom, when it became a part of man’s need and desire. When it is in its true form, it could enjoy
life and friendship with the little flower and root. But now the clay which takes the shape of
goblet would be used by anyone to fulfill their purpose. But the goblet could not return the happiness
of human as they enjoy in drinking anything whereas the goblet wants to be a
part of earth.
Literary Devices
The poem is
structured in a conversational Tone between two sides.
In the opening
line “silent goblet” represent the sad feeling made the goblet speechless.
The poet has
expressed “the silent” in a paradoxical or oxymoron style. For
the goblet in the next few stanzas is not silent, it is talking a lot about its
pain and agony.
Image: The color “Red” is used to show the
color of the clay. “Crimsons” show the color the goblet.
The color
refers two different idea. The Red symbolizes “love”. It is the
color of love. The goblet when it was in its original form as a lump of clay
enjoyed the love and friendship of its companions,the flower and the root. But the
goblet’s color changed into crimson as it misses its friends and their love and
affection.
Red refers to warning
sign. It is a color of warning stop. The poet used this color to say and warn
the human to stop destroying the nature. It is a warning to the creator. The
clay wants to be in its original form and to enjoy the love of nature.
Personification:
The goblet is
like a confessor, confesses its pain with depression.
“How did it
feel? It brings out the emotions of the goblet
“ Break away”
The goblet wants to come away or escape from the warm hands of its creator. The
goblet bursts out in pain for loosing its original ugly form. But now it looks
beautiful in its new shape. There is no praise or appreciation for the potter.
It is ironical; he deserves praise for, he turns an ugly clay into a beautiful
goblet which could be a useful vessel for human. Instead the goblet complains
the creator.
“Vast feeling
of sorrow”
…My present
form”
There is a
transformation in the appearance. The lump of clay turns into a beautiful
goblet, but behind the beauty there was a vast feeling of sorrow. The goblet
remembers its friendship with it two lovely companions the flower and root.
Alliteration
/F/ sound in
warmth of the friendship
The fragrant
friendship of a little flower
The goblet is
sad because
It has
been transformed into a new shape that fatal hour killed his happiness. Before
that, the clay is forcefully taken by the potter as a prisoner. It has been
imprisoned. The influence of the human over the nature is well brought out by
the poet.
A sleeping
goblet refers to the inactiveness of the goblet. The goblet is not happy to be
active. Its life is over and now it has become a thing or an object to
be used by human. This new life is given to the goblet by force so now it is
sleeping without any feeling.
The Death of the clay and goblet warns us, the humans to
stop influencing nature and stop destroying nature for our personal benefits. Goblet symbolizes artificiality and modernization
Potter or creator refers to the addiction to modern life
style and the influence of modernization. We are attracted to modern life
style. For that we cut trees, we build buildings, we construct big roads, factories
and many more with the destruction of nature. Thereby we pollute the Universe.
Pollution leads to destruction and creators “We” become the victims of
the nature’s anger.
The clay becomes an empty vessel to drink water. It is
useful only to man not to the world.
The poet has given us contrast views such as:
Goblet – Pretty
appearance, silent, shape, far from nature, lonely, unhappy, materialistic, empty
vessel, decorative, attractive. No love, affection influence of modernization.
Lump of clay –ugly,
shapeless, reality, part of nature, full of love, beautiful companions, clay is
giving life the flower, happy and proud to a part of nature.
Themes
The Theme of the poem is nature and life
Nature
Nature is beautiful, wonderful and life giving. The poet
admires the nature and he could feel the pain of its destruction. He requests not to disturb it. Let the nature live; let the clay live with its companions.
Life
life of man and
other creators are linked to nature. All are connected like a beads in a
Necklace. If we destroy nature, the life of the Universe become unbalanced and
leads all to the path of destruction. This bondage should not be broken. Once it
is broken the entire life of world would end.
Thus the poet Harindranath chattopadhyays protests against
those who influence the nature for their personal benefits.
Thank you
.
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