The River Poem

Critical analysis of The River poem by A.K Ramanujan

1. The River by A.K. Ramanujan Murk Razzaque  

2. A.K.Ramanujan Poet, translator, folklorist and philologist. born in Mysore, India. Studied at University of Mysore and Indiana University. Wrote in English and Kannada. Major ideas: Hybridity and Transculturation. Famous works: Second Sight (1986), Selected Poems (1976), and The Striders (1966).  Contributions Died : July 13,1993.

3. City of Madurai

4. Vaigai River

5. Summary The poet talks about how different poets have portrayed Vaigai. Poets write about the same things. Poets old and new write about the river’s beauty. They do not write about the destructive side of the river. A.K. Ramanujan describes the real horrors of flooding of river Vaigai. He mocks other poets of their indifference to it.

6. 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 sleepy crocodiles, the dry ones shaven water-buffaloes lounging in the sun The poets only sang of the floods.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. Literary Devices Alliteration: E.g : “a c ouple of c ows” Consonance: E.g : “city of temple s and poet s , who sang of citi es and templ es , “The n e w po e ts still quot e d the old po e ts, but no one spok e .

11. Literary Devices Enjambment : E.g : “every summer   a river dries to a trickle ” Metaphor : E.g : “ the wet stones glistening like sleepy crocodiles” “ the dry ones shaven water-buffaloes lounging in the sun”.

12. Literary Devices Imagery: E.g : “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.”

13. Symbols The Flood : The destructive flood at the Vaigai river symbolizes the cruelty, and oppression of colonizers upon the colonized people . The Old and New Poets : The old and new poets, depict how the literature, what and how things were written were controlled by the colonizers. The Dried River: The barren sand on the river symbolizes the exploitation, misery , and suffering of the common masses of the colonized country.

14. Symbols Patches under the Bridge: The patches under the bridge depicts the wounds of the common masses of the colonized country . The Rusty Bars: It symbolizes the glory of the past (the Mughal era) which was faded away due to colonization. The Clogged Straws and Hair: It depicts how the peace and the freedom of the common masses was disturbed due to the colonization.

15. Symbols The Unborn Twins: The unborn twins symbolize the suffocating sufferings of the people of the subcontinent , how the natives were trying to get out of the brutality of the colonizers. The unborn twins also depicts the struggle of human life , how the struggle starts before common masses are even born and that there is no escape from it.

16. Quick Quiz What was the city mentioned in the poem? Chennai Mumbai Madurai Delhi

17. Madurai

18. Madurai is the city of _____? Schools and poets Poets and flowers Scholars and sadist Temples and poets

19. Temples and Poets

20. Which river flows through the city of Madurai? Vaigai Kaveri Kothavari Thamirabarani

21. Vaigai

22. What are the two different seasons mentioned in the poem? Summer and winter Summer and rainy Spring and winter Spring and rainy

23. Summer and R ainy

24. What were the names of the couple of cows? Brinda and Krishna Gopi and Krishna Brinda and Bala Gopi and Brinda

25. Gopi and Brinda

26. The pregnant women was expecting _________? A baby boy A baby girl Identical twins Unidentical twins

27. Identical Twins

28. Thank you!