MONUMENTS

Monuments

By Kamala Wijeratne

The bus sweeps past the swinging trees
And the road unwinds long and cold
The chassis creaks with the load
And jolts to a halt by the road.

 The bus stops for a moment to load
And I see the writing on the halt
A wayside monument etched in gold.
“IN MEMORY OF MY SON” I get a jolt.

 

The legend goes on, on every bus
Stand a new name every time but
The story’s old “To the hero who fell in the north
Erected by Father, Mother and next of kin”

More than a dozen names penetrated my mind.
But I remember the one common to all
“Bandara” master of the soil
Sons of those who teased out paddy from this land
They would have ploughed this soil

Gathered the harvest at reaping time
Followed their fathers with the paddy in bins
And sat by the hearth for the new rice
Served steaming and scented by a mother’s fond hands
While the Koha sang on the erabadu trees.

 

The inscriptions hug the white walls
And the bus swings in and out of halts.
I gaze at the unwinding miles of the road
And try to make the broken images whole

 

Vague shapes rise undefined in front of me

A farmer in a muddied loin cloth haunts me
And a housewife with billowing sleeves and string of beads
Stare at me out of the unwinding road
And their faces are stern with unshed tears.

 

Kamala Wijeratne

 Kamala Wijeratne from Ulapone, a village near Kandy was born on 15^th August 1939.  She did her education in Teldeniya.  She did her graduation in Scholasticus College, Kandy.  She studied English, and economics in University of Peradeniya.  In 1962 she did her Post Graduate Diploma and Masters in Art in Education.  In 1992 she received her second Master in Arts in Teaching English from the University of Edinburgh. She dedicated herself to teaching.  She worked as a lecturer at the Teacher’s College, Peradeniya.  She retired in 1999. Now works as a visiting lecturer at University of Colombo and the department of English at University of Sri Jayawardhanapura. She started her writing carrier in her teens but she became well-known after the publication of “Smell of Araliya”. She reflects the Sri Lankan Culture in her works.  Some of her works show pain and agony over war and violence in Sri Lanka and the loss of lives of the civilians in vain.

 

Kamala Wijeratne is a short story writer and poet. Some of her well known works include “The Smell of Araliya” (1985), “The Disinherited (1986), “That One Talent (1987), “the other Trojan Woman (2014), “My Green Book” (2015) and “Impression” (2017). Short stories are “Ten Stories (2012), “The Plotted Plant” (2014).  She has received State Literary Awards for Poetry Collection in 2002, State Literary Award for the Best Anthology of Short Stories in 2014 and Sahithya Ratna, the highest honor of Sri Lanka to her contribution to Sri Lankan Literature. She married Rankondegedara Wijeratne in 1966 and they are blessed with three children.

 

 

Summary of the poem

Kamala Wijeratne recollects the effects after the civil war of Sri Lanka between two ethnic groups of the small beautiful Island. She expresses her pain over the untimely death of many young soldiers and innocent civilian in that war.  Her poem “Monuments” shares the pain of the parents who lost their young dear ones in the war.  Certain monuments built for the dead soldiers to pay respects too expresses their pain.  Also the poet discusses the different festivals which were celebrated by our ancestors with their traditions.

Detail Analysis

Stanza 1

“The bus sweeps past the swinging trees
And the road unwinds long and cold
The chassis creaks with the load

And jolts to a halt by the road.”

 

The speaker starts by describing her travel by bus which goes showing the beauty of landscape to the passengers.  The bus goes passing the swinging trees and the road is straight and long route, and the climate is quite cold. The load bearing frame of the vehicle makes a high pitch harsh sound due to the overload.  Since the bus is moving fastly and shakes roughly giving a bump to the travelers.  The poet is also one of the traveler who experience the discomforts of the travel. 

Stanza 2

“The bus stops for a moment to load
And I see the writing on the halt
A wayside monument etched in gold.
“IN MEMORY OF MY SON” I get a jolt.”

 In the second stanza the poet says about that one moment of “Jolt.”  She could see the bus which stops at certain bus halt to pick passengers and she accidently reads a message off the side of the halt.  “A wayside monument etched in gold”. “IN MEMORY OF MY SON.”   These words were written on the panels of the halt.  It is a respect and homage paid to the son of some unknown parents. The death of that son is not in news or not talked much in any social circles.  Only the family members and his parents are missing and grieving over the sudden untimely demise of their beloved son. The speaker is taken aback and feels a jolt within her.

Stanza 3 

“The legend goes on, on every bus
Stand a new name every time but
The story’s old “To the hero who fell in the north
Erected by Father, Mother and next of kin”
More than a dozen names penetrated my mind.”

 The third stanza consists five lines (quintet). It says about the thoughts of the poet.  She says every time they could see such death notices dedicated to someone who have faced untimely death in the war, same story but the name changes.  There are many lost their lives and it’s like a legend, it continues without any peaceful solutions. She thinks every bus has different names which gives the message of lost lives.  The dedication is made by the loved ones, Father or Mother or their relation to those who have died fighting in the northern parts of Sri Lanka.  Only their memories live with them.  

 Stanza 4

“But I remember the one common to all
“Bandara” master of the soil
Sons of those who teased out paddy from this land
They would have ploughed this soil”

 Kamala Wijerante in this stanza remembers one common thing to all Sri Lankans.  The name “Bandara” means master of the soil.  She could have referred to all Sri Lankans irrespective of their race and language could have enjoyed the soil if they had lived in peace.  The land belongs to each and every Bandara.  But the conflict killed the happiness of the Land.  They would have enjoyed their lives in Farming which gives the staple food Rice for Sri Lanka. Paddy fields are common feature in Asia. It gives the staple for Rice for Sri Lanka.  But the Civil War closed the doors for a peaceful life and all lost their rights on this lands. A painful thoughts from the speaker.

 Stanza 5

“Gathered the harvest at reaping time
Followed their fathers with the paddy in bins
And sat by the hearth for the new rice
Served steaming and scented by a mother’s fond hands

While the Koha sang on the erabadu trees.”

 The beautiful memories from the previous stanza continues to penetrate the mind of the speaker.  She suggest that the people, if they had lived in peace they could have done their work with great enjoyment together.  They would have gathered their harvests at its reaping time and with their family sat near the hearth to cook the new rice with religious rituals.  Then the cooked rice would be served to each member of the family by their mother’s hands with love, affection and care. They could enjoy the happy songs of the Koha birds from erabadu trees.  This beautiful scene brings the harvesting season and its pretty nature. It is a simple life with loads of love and care.

Stanza 6

“The inscriptions hug the white walls
And the bus swings in and out of halts.
I gaze at the unwinding miles of the road
And try to make the broken images whole”

 In the sixth stanza the poet while describing the beautiful harvesting season with the song of birds and the new rice, she could not avoid noticing the inscription hug the white walls which says the death of the innocent people. Her painful thoughts swings in and out. She looks at the long stretching road. Her thoughts go around the world of the past, present and future. She tries to make the broken pieces into one whole image.  She could not enjoy the travel and the beauty of the nature perhaps all around her could change anytime. All look week before her eyes.

Stanza 7

“Vague shapes rise undefined in front of me
A farmer in a muddied loin cloth haunts me
And a housewife with billowing sleeves and string of beads
Stare at me out of the unwinding road
And their faces are stern with unshed tears.”

 The final stanza gives more painful thoughts.  The poet could visualizes dim shapes which appear in front of her eyes, ahead of the bus she is travelling.  They are vague and could not give a complete image to her.  But very soon she could see the images of a poor farmer in mud covered cloth and his wife with puffed sleeves.   Their expressions were haunting the speaker’s thoughts.  They are horrified by their losses. They are living for their survival.  The poor couple stared at the speaker with thousands expressions as they are destroyed by the situation. Their faces are grim with unbearable pain.  They could shed no more tears.  They were dried out by their loss and pain.  Kamala wijeratne’s thoughts go around “what could be the reason for this Civil War”, and “will there be an end to the war?”, so that all can live happily as brothers and sisters of one family. 

Poetical Devices

The Theme is the loss of the young one in the Civil War and the pain of the loss in each family.  They are beyond expression.  The reason behind the war could explained and expressed but the pain of the affected family could not be defined.  It has to be felt. One has to be in their shoes to feel their pain. 

The tradition and the culture which are practiced for the new harvest and the happiness of being together as one family and share what they harvested is well portrayed by the poet.

Monuments erected for the dead soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for the country in the north.  Is it worth to die being in the same family and living as brothers and sisters?

 Metaphor

Comparison made to bring out the idea more clear.

“The bus sweeps past the swinging trees
And the road unwinds long and cold”

The speed of the bus has been described here and the road appears to be long never ending one just as the War which is a long one in the Lankan History.

“I gaze at the unwinding miles of the road
And try to make the broken images whole”

 Once again the unwinding miles of the road indicated the long time war of the county which destroys the happiness of the people.  The poet could not understand when she saw the broken
pieces of the images as whole.  Her thoughts could be interpreted as, she could not find one good reason for the broken situation of the country. 

“And jolts to a halt by the road.”  Not only the bus jolted at the bus halt, But also  the speaker’s thoughts jolted her as well the readers.

“The legend goes on, on every bus
Stand a new name every time but
The story’s old “To the hero who fell in the north”

The death of the soldiers from both sides goes on.  Every time new names will appear on the obituary notices.  The same story is repeated as patriotism. Ironically patriotism is built on peace and love not with War. Destruction, hatred and diversity cannot define patriotism.

“But I remember the one common to all
“Bandara” master of the soil

Son of the soil is Bandara. The poet means to say every Sri Lankan is a “Bandara” who have the rights to enjoy the life in this soil as one family.

Symbols

“And the road unwinds long and cold”  unwind roads are implying the long unending war which destroyed the lives of the innocents.

“And jolts to a halt by the road.”  Jolts describe the vibration and effects that occur to the poet after seeing the notice of the death soldier.

“A wayside monument etched in gold.
“IN MEMORY OF MY SON” I get a jolt.”

 

 Monument in gold is the only way one can show our respect to the dead soldier.  “IN MEMORY OF MY SON” I get a jolt.”   A painful memory to hurt the feelings of those who see the words.  They give a jolt, the word is used again to refers to the sad and unbearable pain of the loss.

 

“Gathered the harvest at reaping time
“followed their fathers with the paddy in bins” the harvest time symbolizes the good memories that are associated with their culture and tradition of every Sri Lankan Farmer. “Followed their fathers” stands for the family tradition of the farmers.  The poet wants to say proudly that the son follow the father and supports him in all his endeavors.

 
“And sat by the hearth for the new rice
Served steaming and scented by a mother’s fond hands” represents the love of the mother which unites the family.  The poet could have interpreted Sri Lanka as a motherland to each Lankans, should have been a Mother to embrace her children with love and peace.  But futile war destroyed her into pieces.

 Images

“While the Koha sang on the erabadu trees.” A beautiful visual image to bring the sweetness of the nature during its season.  The birds sing to welcome the harvest from erabdu trees.  Everything was perfect before the eruption of War.

 “Vague shapes rise undefined in front of me
A farmer in a muddied loin cloth haunts me” the poet is so soaked with painful thoughts and could not see anything clear.  Hope the war must have destroyed the pretty Island to pieces

And a housewife with billowing sleeves and string of beads
Stare at me out of the unwinding road

And their faces are stern with unshed tears.”  The sad face of the poor farmers have become stern as they could not expresses their sadness. They are used to this hard life and have become speechless and live merely for survival. They are standing on the unwinding road, for they have no answers for their plight as the road has no end.

 Tone:  sad, unhappy and expressed with agony.

Language: very simple language with deep meanings.

 Monuments the seven stanza poem of Kamala Wijeratne is separated in various lengths for a better analysis and understanding.  The first, second and fourth stanzas are with four lines (quatrains). The other stanzas consist five lines (quintets).

 The poem goes around the conflict between the LTTE, a rebel groups and the Sri Lankan government.  The Civil War started in 1983 and ended in May 2009 with the defeat of the LTTE.  The speaker expresses her pain over the deaths of the soldiers from both sides.  She wants all live in peace and each lines expresses her hope to see a better future for every Sri Lankan.

 Thank you