July 6, 2011I BA LiteratureIV Hour

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Today’s Class

• My Allotment

• Introduction to A. K. Ramanujan

• Works of A. K. Ramanujan

• Features of A. K. Ramanujan’s Poetry

• A River- An Introduction

• A River- Poetry Explanation

• A River- Notes

My Allotment

Indian Writing in EnglishUnit II: Poetry A. K. Ramanujan• Small Scale Reflections of a Great House • A River

• Breaded Fish Keki. N. Daruwalla • Death by Burial • The Epileptic

A. K. RAMANUJAN1929-1993

A. K. RAMANUJAN 1

• Mysore

• 1929

• Attipat Krishnasamy Ramanujan

• Poet

• Translator

• Playwright

• Folklorist

A. K. RAMANUJAN 2

• D. Bhanumiah’s High School

• Maharaja College of Mysore

• Fellow of Deccan College, Pune 1958-1959

• Fullbright Scholar in Indiana University in 1959-1962

• Mysore University

• Ph.D in Linguistics from Indiana University

Works of A. K. Ramanujan 1

Poetry, fiction and drama• The Striders. London: Oxford University Press, 1966• Hokkulalli Huvilla, No Lotus in the Navel. Dharwar, 1969• Relations. London, New York: Oxford University Press,

1971• Selected Poems. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1976• Samskara. (translation of U R Ananthamurthy's novel)

Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1976• Mattu Itara Padyagalu and Other Poems. Dharwar, 1977• Second Sight. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986

Works of A. K. Ramanujan 2

Translations and studies of literature• The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical

Tamil Anthology, 1967• Speaking of Siva, 1973• The Literatures of India. Edited with Edwin Gerow.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974• Hymns for the Drowning, 1981• Poems of Love and War. New York: Columbia University

Press, 1985• Folktales from India, Oral Tales from Twenty Indian

Languages, 1991

FEATURES OFRAMANUJAN’S POETRY

• Inscape or inner meaning is the hallmark of Ramanujan’s poetry.

• Follows the tradition of interior landscape and exterior landscape

• Imbibed this quality from Tamil poetics

• His poems are compact

• Anti-Romantic

• Association of Thought

A RIVER- AN INTRODUCTION

• Reality of the river

• Against poets praise for river

• Critique of the poets who praised only the glory of river

• River in summer

A.K. Ramanujan A River

In Madurai,city of temples and poets,who sang of cities and temples,every summera river dries to a tricklein the sand,baring the sand ribs,straw and women's hairclogging the watergatesat the rusty barsunder the bridges with patchesof repair all over themthe wet stones glistening like sleepycrocodiles, the dry onesshaven water-buffaloes lounging in the sunThe poets only sang of the floods.

First Stanza

He was there for a daywhen they had the floods.People everywhere talkedof the inches rising,of the precise number of cobbled stepsrun over by the water, risingon the bathing places,and the way it carried off three village houses,one pregnant womanand a couple of cowsnamed Gopi and Brinda as usual.

Second Stanza

The new poets still quotedthe old poets, but no one spokein verseof the pregnant womandrowned, with perhaps twins in her,kicking at blank wallseven before birth.

Third Stanza

He said:the river has water enoughto be poeticabout only once a yearand thenit carries awayin the first half-hourthree village houses,a couple of cowsnamed Gopi and Brindaand one pregnant womanexpecting identical twinswith no moles on their bodies,with different coloured diapersto tell them apart.

Fourth Stanza

A RIVER- NOTES

This poem is a critique of the poets praising only the glory of the river. A.K. Ramanujan presents the stark reality of the river. He presents the negative aspects of the river. For this purpose he has taken a river in Madurai.

A RIVER- NOTES 2

Ramanujan presents what the other poets failed to do. Poets, both ancient and modern simply glorified the river. But Ramanujan says that their claims may be true only once in a year.

A RIVER NOTES-3

Flooding of river is not only a sign of prosperity but also a cover for the fatal consequences of the same. The poet presents two cows Gopi and Brinda. Cows are considered to be the symbol of prosperity. But they are washed away by the flood. It means only that prosperity is washed away. That is, flood is capable of bringing adversity at times.

A RIVER NOTES-4

Summer takes away the charm of the river. It is dry in the summer. It dries to a trickle. Women’s hair clog the watergates. Under the bridges one could find rusty iron bars. It reveals that for the most part of the year the river is dry. He presents the image of shaven water-buffaloes lounging in the sun. Here the poet brings out the contrast between the river in summer and during floods. During floods cow gets washed away but in summer buffalo lounges. Buffalo is a symbol of death or darkness and the cow is the symbol of prosperity. He cleverly uses the image of cow and buffalo.He uses the hue of black and white to bring out the summer and flood.

A RIVER NOTES 5

He presents a pregnant woman who expects identical twins. There is also reference to three villages washed away by the flood. The use of numbers one,two, three makes an interesting reading. The very beginning is like a opening of a folk song. It has also got a folk rhythm. The twins may suggest the twin reality of the river. The pregnant woman may suggest the poetic idea of prosperity and the identical twins may suggest the similarity in the perception of ancient and modern poets. His play with numbers and colours presents the twin nature of things and it adds up to his style of depiction. His images are more suggestive. The poem appears to be simple but it has more layers of significance. At times it appears to be vague.

A RIVER NOTES-6

It is unusual indeed, in both theme and treatment.

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