A River

In Madurai,
city of temples and poets,
who sang of cities and temples,
every summer
a river dries to a trickle
in the sand,
baring the sand ribs,
straw and women's hair
clogging the watergates
at the rusty bars
under the bridges with patches

of repair all over them
the wet stones glistening like sleepy
crocodiles, the dry ones
shaven water-buffaloes lounging in the sun
The poets only sang of the floods.

He was there for a day
when they had the floods.
People everywhere talked
of the inches rising,
of the precise number of cobbled steps
run over by the water, rising
on the bathing places,
and the way it carried off three village houses,
one pregnant woman
and a couple of cows
named Gopi and Brinda as usual.

The new poets still quoted
the old poets, but no one spoke
in verse
of the pregnant woman
drowned, with perhaps twins in her,

kicking at blank walls
even before birth.

He said:
the river has water enough
to be poetic
about only once a year
and then
it carries away
in the first half-hour
three village houses,
a couple of cows
named Gopi and Brinda
and one pregnant womanexpecting identical twins
with no moles on their bodies,
with different coloured diapers
to tell them apart.

 A. K. Ramanujan

  

A.k.Ramanujan

Attipate krishnaswami Ramanujan,  an Indian poet well known to the Indian literature.  He has written both in English and Kannada. He was born in Mysore City on 16^th march 1929.  Ramanujan was very much interested in English, Kannada and Sanskrit languages.  He received his education at Marimallappa’s High School.  Due to his father’s advice he changed his majorfrom science to English during his college. He became a great scholar at Indiana University in 1959 – 62.  He did his PhD in linguistics from Indiana University.  He as a poet, professor and philologist and playwright. In 1976, he was honored with Padma Shri award by the Government of India.  In 1983 he was given MacArthur Prize Fellowship. He works reflect his views on cultures of east and west.  His works are well known for its motivation and for cultural views.  He died on 13^th July 1993 at the age of 64 in United States.

 

Summary

“A River” by A.K.Ramanujan brings out the views of the ancient poets and the modern poets to human struggles.  Both the old and new poets don’t reflect to the sufferings of the human. They glorify the River. The poet says about the river Vaikai of the Historic city Madurai of Tamil Nadu which is associated with the culture and life of Tamil people.  The poet says the two differentseason of the river.  During summer the river would be dry and flooded during rainy season. The poet describes the drought in summer and how the people suffer without water.  They could see the sand ribs on the bed of the river.  Same Vaikai River over flows during rainy season and again the people suffer with flood.  They see how the two cows Brinda and Gopi were carried away by the flood, how a pregnant lady was drowned in the flood.  But both the old and the modern poets only glorify the Holiness of Vaikai River, they don’t express the pain and suffering of the people who live there during summer and rainy season.

 Detail analysis

Stanza 1

“In Madurai,
city of temples and poets,
who sang of cities and temples,
every summer
a river dries to a trickle
in the sand,
baring the sand ribs,
straw and women's hair
clogging the watergates
at the rusty bars
under the bridges with patches
of repair all over them
the wet stones glistening like sleepycrocodiles, the dry ones
shaven water-buffaloes lounging in the sun
The poets only sang of the floods.”

 The first stanza takes the readers to the beauty of historic City Madurai of Tami Nadu. Madurai in Tamil Nadu is well known for its tradition, culture, temples and poets.  The glorious culture of Madurai add beauty to India. The great poets of olden and modern times have sung the beauty and glory of the Historical values of Madurai.  But every summer the holy River Vaikai is dried and emptied to trickle and could see the sand ribs.  The stones along the river bed are visible.  Straw and women’s hair clog up the water gates and which are now rusty.  They need to be repaired.  They are rusted for they haven’t been looked after properly. The drainage system is very old and damaged.  Even the wet stones shines likes a sleepy crocodiles, they dry stones looks like a shaven water buffaloes lounging in the sun.  Ramanujan says the readers to look not only the beauty of River Vaikai but also to note the suffering of the people who live in such polluted environment.  The great poets see nothing of the suffering.  They sing and praise the River ignoring the struggles of the people.

 Stanza 2

“He was there for a day
when they had the floods.
People everywhere talked
of the inches rising,
of the precise number of cobbled steps
run over by the water, rising

on the bathing places,
and the way it carried off three village houses,
one pregnant woman
and a couple of cows
named Gopi and Brinda as usual.”

 

The 11 lines second stanza say about the stay of the poet.  His stay was just a day.  But he reveals more complicated issues here in this stanza. He now describes the rainy season of the River Vaikai.  The people were very uneasy and spoke all that happened during the flood. They watch anxiously the rising of the river inch by inch due to rain. The flood was very dangerous.  It enraptured three village houses.  They saw how two cows’ named Brinda and Gopi were taken away by the flood and a pregnant lady was drowned. “as usual” is a very significant word used by the poet for these terrible things happen every year and the people are used to such painful experiences.  These painful struggles are ignored by the old and modern poet who describes the beauty and holiness of River Vaikai.

Stanza 3

“The new poets still quoted
the old poets, but no one spoke
in verse
of the pregnant woman
drowned, with perhaps twins in her,

kicking at blank walls
even before birth.”

The poet in the third stanza brings out more clearly the problems of the old poets and the new poets, both of them talk about the flood but they don’t bring out the tragedies of the people due to flood. The modern poets follow the writing style of the ancient poets and they too ignore the main subject. In this stanza the poet expresses a very contrast feeling, for he says the woman may give birth to twins and that may increase the death rate. Even before their birth they face death.  What is their fault? Painful thought.  When they were drowning the babies must have kicked the wall of their mother’s woman, it would have given terrible pain to the dying mother. But no poets can see and feel the pain of such situation.  The poets glorify the waters as the symbol of prosperity and fertilization but River Vaikai becomes threat during rainy season.

Stanza 4

“He said:
the river has water enough
to be poetic
about only once a year
and then
it carries away

in the first half-hour
three village houses,
a couple of cows
named Gopi and Brinda

and one pregnant woman
expecting identical twins
with no moles on their bodies,
with different coloured diapers
to tell them apart.

 The final Stanza ends with a sad note.  Again he points out the ignorance of the poets.  They say “how the river has water enough to be poetic once a year”  Ramanujan says hope the modern poets as well as the old poets look Vaikai River once a year and write the beauty not the sufferings and destruction behind the flood. Again the poet brings out with sad tone the loss of the two cows Brinda and Gopi, the destruction of the houses of three villages and the sufferings of the pregnant woman.  He describes that the pregnant lady would have imagined twins and they would be same identical twins with no marks and to dress with colored diapers to show the difference as it would be confusing. But all gone with the flood. The poets see only the River and its natural beauty and show no care for the suffering of the people.

 Literary Devices

The poet has used number of poetic techniques to bring out the theme very clear.

“city of temples and poets”  he makes a reference ironically to the historic city Madurai as a treasure of Tamil Culture, but very soon a contrast statement satirizes the views of the old and modern poets on this same sacred River of Madurai.

Enjambment is another technique used by the poet.  Enjambment means a line of verse that flows on into the next line without a pause.

Example lines four and five, they take the reader to the next line to know about the summer sufferings.

Central idea or theme is the Vaikai River of Madurai is a symbol of holiness and purity.  At the same time its represents pollution and sufferings. Ignorance of the old and modern poets.

The tone of poem is sad and also it expresses the disappointment of the speaker who points out the negligence of the experienced old poets and the wrong followers of them.  The tone quite sarcastic and ironical.

Humor is used in the name of couple cows Brinda and Gopi.  The names are given to the cows as they are regarded as holy.

Structure of the poem is in paragraph style.  The whole poem consists 49 lines. They have been divided into four stanzas and each follows different line patterns.  Such arrangement brings the central idea with clarity.

Images are used to create a picture or visual images.

“drying to a trickle and the sand ribs”  it refers to the scorching summer that evaporates everything.  It makes the life terrible for the people.  They suffer with draught, shortage of food and hunger.  The sand dunes are visible along the river bed due to heat they look like a weak ribs of a suffering human.

Metaphors are used to bring make a comparison of one thing to another to make the description more vivid.

“The wet ones appear like crocodiles sleeping and the dry as lounging water-buffaloes.”

He compares two types of stones to the animals.  The wet stones look like crocodiles sleeping and the dry stones appear like water buffaloes.  The comparison makes the visuals very clear.  Even then the poets sing the beauty of the River ignoring the reality.

“the straw and women’s hair” they block the water gates and make the situation worse under the bridges.  There are many patches over the bridges and they need to be fixed.  The poet exposes the ugly situation.

Simile also used to make the readers to realise the disastrous situation.  “Wet stones to sleepy crocodiles and the dry ones to shaven water-buffaloes.  The poet suggests the crocodiles stands for polluted disastrous place.  The shaven water buffaloes shows that they may have lost their hair due to unhealthy environment.

“He said:
the river has water enough
to be poetic”   the He could be a modern poet probably the poet Ramanujan who visits that River Vaikai to enjoy the beauty but realizes various issues related to the River.

“kicking at blank walls
even before birth.”

A great description to bring out the chaotic situation of the mother and her twins in her womb.  The imagination is beyond human suffering. It gives a mental agony to visualize the innocent twins die before their birth in their mother’s womb in flood.  They struggle and kick the walls of the womb to escape from their awful condition. It also implies human sufferings start before the birth.

Rmanujan looks deep into his work to express his open and honest views on tradition and culture without fear.  The poem has many different deep meaning.  He points out the attitudes of the old
and modern poetd who ignore the suffering of the humand caused by summer draught and rainy flood in Holy River vaikai in Madurai which they admire and praise in their writings.

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