Upside-Down

 

 Upside-Down

 Once there lived an Upside-Down

Who was the talk of all the town.

If he was told to turn to right

He turned to left out of spite.

If he went sailing in a boat

 No one could make him understand

Why he seem to be afloat

 And what had happened to the land.

 

He read his letters backside-fore,

And wrote his letters backside-fore.

So if a “ton” was to be read

He read it “not,” the dunnder-head!

 

 All his life he was afraid

 To cross a bridge. He’d always wade

 (Unless the water was too deep

 Or the embankment was too steep.)

 

He went into a restaurant;

The waiter said, “What do you want?”

He said, “I’d like a pair of socks                   

With clocks on them, and in a box.”

 

 The circus came to town one day;

 Of course he went without delay.

 And everyone said Upside-Down

 Was funnier than the circus clown.

 

Just yesterday the postman brought

A letter to him from his aunt:

“Shall I read it? P’raps I ought,

P’raps I will, p’raps I can’t.”

 

Alexander Kushner

Alexander Semyonovich Kushner is a Russian poet from Saint Petersburg. He was born 14^th September 1936. He published about 15 collections of poetry and two books of his essays. In 1945 he became a member of the Writer’s Union.  He does not write in free verse and tries to elaborate a new poetic form. Translation of Kushner’s poetry into English Italian and Dutch were published in book form. Several of his poems were translated to German, French, Japanese, Hebrew, Czech and Bulgarian. He is also known as one of the best lyrical poets of the 20^th century.  He gives universal messages through his poems.  One of the most appreciated work is Upside Down which gives awareness to the society to accept the reality.

 

Summary of “upside down”                                  

Upside Down is a humorous poem by Alexander Kushner. The central character of the poem is a boy whose name is Upside Down. A weird name. He acts in an eccentric way. He makes everything upside – down. The whole poem is about his behaviour which evokes humour. Due to his crazy behaviour he becomes a laughing stock in his society. He does not fit into the society, He is not considered as anti – social character. But he could not mingle with all as behaves humorously. He also appears to be a sympathetic character, as he expresses his loneliness as a result of his behaviour.

 Detail Analysis of Upside Down

Stanza – 1

“One there lived upside – down

Who was talk of all the town

If he was told to turn to right

He turned to left out of spite”

 In this stanza the main character is introduced as a Jester. He is called as Upside Down.   He does everything in an opposite way. All the people comments about him. He becomes the talk of the town. He is one of the major attraction of the society.   His behavior makes him a rebellious character.

Stanza 2

“If he went sailing in a boat

No one could make him understand

Why he seems to be afloat

And what had happened to the land”

 The poet portrays the main character as a person who cannot understand simple things of life like how and why a boat is floating on water. The poet leaves to the readers to judge – whether to laugh or to feel sympathy about this character. Through a jumbled rhyming pattern the poet questions the people and brings out their opinions

Stanza 3

 “He read his letters backside – fore,

And wrote his letters backside fore,

So if a “ton” was to be read

He read it “not” the dunder head”

 The poet refers the hero as a dunder head. It means a foolish person. He calls him so because of his way of life which lacks discipline and order. He writes a word “Ton” and reads it as “not”. All in reverse order. This kind of behaviour could be seen in some people who suffer with mental imbalance.  To cure such people certain treatments will be done in reverse order to check, their mental capacity. This poem may be a message to the society to look at such people who have strange behaviour with sympathy and to help them to come out of their weakness. It is our responsibility to support them not to laugh at them.

 Stanza 4

“All his life he was afraid

  To cross a bridge, He’d always wade

(Unless the water was too deep

Or the embankment was too steep)”

 Again the poet brings out his innocence in this stanza.  He wades across rivers when there is a bridge to cross. It might make others to laugh at him. But the poet wants the society to think deep about some people who suffer with phobias around them. If one thinks too deeply about such people it won’t make us laugh. It would make us to feel for such people. The poem is ironically humorous. He seems to do and behave in reverse order and repeats the same thing. But the entire poem give a different message to the society. Society should think of such people who are afraid to phobias.

 Stanza 5

 “He went into a restaurant

The waiter said “what do you want

He said, “I’d like a pair of socks

With clock on them, and in a box”

 Now Upside Down enters a restaurant and asks for a pair of socks with clock on them. These could not be available in restaurants. This weird behavior may anger people or make people to think bad of him. But Upside-Down enjoys when others look at him. May be likes to see people getting irritation because of his disorderly behaviors.

Stanza 6

 “The circus came to town one day;

Of course he went without delay.

And everyone said Upside Down

Was funnier than the circus clown”

 This stanza says about the views of people on Upside Down. All who came to enjoy the circus, now enjoy the funny behavior of upside down.  Why does he want all to laugh at him? Does he enjoy or does he wants to forget about his pain?

Stanza 7

 “Just yesterday the postman brought

A letter to him from his aunt

“Shall I read it? P’raps I ought,

P’raps I will, p’raps I can’t”

 In this stanza the poet brings out the unstable mind set of Upside Down. Because he is not sure and ready to read the letter which is from his aunt. He stammers and shivers to read the letter. The rhyming pattern refers that he is not ready to read the letter as he is not steady enough to focus on the contents of the letter. The situation of the character makes the readers to feel for him.  May be the poet wants us to feel for such weak people.

“He eyes it this way, eyes it that,

Then he stuck it in his hat

His auntie wrote, dearest boy,

All you do is to annoy.”

Wearing flannels when it’s hat,

Going naked when it’s not

You must behave as others do

If they’re to have a respect for you!”

 He glances the letter and reads the advices of his aunty, she mentions few of his misbehaviors such as the way he wears flannels during hot seasons, going naked when it is not hot, and she requests the boy

Upside –Down to behave with discipline. She advices him to stop annoying others by his funny behaviors. She ends the letter by saying to behave properly if he wants society to respect him. The poet in this two stanza gives expectations of the society.   Society expects and respect decency and discipline behavior. If anyone go against the society norms the people would laugh at them.

The poet wants to feel sympathy for some people who live with phobias, people who suffer with mental weakness. But society cannot tolerate and support people who do to get attraction and to enjoying annoying others.

Literary Devices

The poem follows a simple pattern 2^nd and 7^th stanzas follows ABAB and other stanzas follow AABB

Language is simple and in narrative style.

Tone of the poem is humors sometime and Ironic most of the time. Theme of the whole poem is the view of the society on those who behave in disorder. The society consider them as misfit. They expect social norms to be followed. One cannot annoy the society for a longer period. For the society could seal you and throw you out easily. It is our life make others to respect or throw out.

Thus the main character Upside-Down is both funny and sympathetic. His behavior should woke not only laughter or humorous but also sympathy. He is misfit to the society. But he could not help himself. The poet wants us to think deep, what we could do to such characters? To support them to fight with their weakness to come out, or to ignore them and laugh at them and label them as “Misfit?”  the poet's message in this poem is universal and thought provoking.

Thank you