4. Mktibodh's The Void and So Very Far.pptx

english
delhi university

1. Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh’s “The Void” and “So Very Far” BAI ENGLISH (Literary Cross- Currents) ENG DSC 203

2. Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh 13 th November1917 to 11th September 1964 Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh was one of the greatest Hindi essayists poets, critics and fiction writers of the twentieth century. He is considered as a pioneer of modern Hindi poetry in India along with Surya Kant Tripathi ‘ Nirala ’

3. THE VOID The Void' is a surrealistic poem which brings out destruction and violence resulting from excessive self absorption and a sense of meaninglessness of life. The Void, or nothingness is presented in a negative sense. It signifies moral and spiritual vaccum which has given rise to barbarism and cannibalism. This void then spreads from one person to another like an infectious disease and is therefore more horrible and dangerous.

4. THEME AND SIGNIFICANCE The void in has been depicted as a terrible monster inside everyone of us. It is the void of spiritual sterility. The void has been visualized like a Dracula with huge jaws containing flesh eating carnivorous teeth which have the capacity of grinding and gobbling up everyone. Thus the poet portrays a Picture of corrupt human state with moral vacuity in which every thing is smothered and destroyed . The poet says that the void is not empty but stuffed with corruption and violence. The implication is that its a natural hunger has devoured the human spirit in its jaws to turn man into beast , naked and barbaric, utterly black, debased and it has eaten all the humans from within. Thus the poet creates a fantasy of the void as frightening monster.

5. THEME CONTINUES The poet says that the void is much more malignant than any other conceivable contagion and exercise its malignant effect on whomsoever it comes in contact or range. The evil forces manifested in this void on enlarging their domain and thus grip the whole mankind. It creates more voids as the infected ones infect others and thus the void expands and continues extending its frontiers of evil. The poet portrays the void as a durable , fertile , producing tools of violence and the rejoicing at achievement. Thus the void breeds evil, anarchy, violence and corruption which are always increasing. It is a paradox that death which is supposed to kill is giving birth to fresh new children . Here the new generation being born are symbolized by not life but by death which further reinforces the ever going emptiness in the society . I n the concluding lines from the poem the poet depicts the void as the image of a dehumanized society in which violence and injustice are not challenged but accepted as a part of the social system. The void has overpowered us so much that we are submerged in it and we are help less to do anything against it. Thus paradoxically it is not the void that is within us, but it is who we are within the void. The void in fact is everywhere ,moving about and spreading violence, causing destruction of all values and we are helpless before its onslaught.

6. SO VERY FAR So Very Far' was published in an anthology of poems 'Chand Ka Munh Tedha Hai ' in 1964. This poem too has a m arxist flavour and shows the poet's anger at exploitation and the injustice as well as his own helplessness in setting things right. The poem is a bitter criticism of the rich and influential sections of the society, which have risen up the social ladder through corruption and money power.

7. THEME'S THEME ‘So Very Far' y Far So Very Far focuses on the wide disparity between the rich and the poor in our society and the helplessness of the intellectuals like the poet in being unable to improve the situation. The poet is acutely aware of the role of corruption and money power in bringing about upward social mobility. But due to the circumstances in his life, he feels incapacitated to play his role of an agent of change and cleanse the system. The poem points towards the economic disparity in society and total inaction on the part of the intellectuals, who are supposed to reform it. The poignancy of the situation is clear in poet's realization of the need of scavenger, and his inability to play that role.

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