Sary's Blog....... Promoting a Culture of Peace!

Poem Analysis

2011-02-18T00:43:00.000-08:00

‘God is Great!’

I think I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree;

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the sweet earth’s flowing breast

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me.

But only God can make a tree.

- Unknown Author -

My humble attempt towards the general meaning of the poem:

I think I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree. A tree has its ever hungry mouth (the roots) pressed against the earth for nourishment (just as a baby would press its mouth firmly against its mother’s breast).

A tree looks up (as the branches protrude upwards to the sky) at God the whole day long and has its arms (the branches) lifted up to pray. When summer arrives, she (the tree) bears a nest of robins in her hair (again branches); the very bosom on which snow had lain the last winter. What more? She shares an intimate relationship with even rain during the season. 

Further analysis: 
  

The whole poem is based around the central theme of the concept of a tree. The speaker seems to be rather awed with this creation and is full of admiration and praise for the tree to which he attributes the immense pleasure experienced by everything that surrounds its immediate environment.  

He starts by assuring the reader almost completely that he ‘shall never see’ something. This very line: ‘I think I shall never see’ provokes the reader to read further to find what it is that he shall never see. This seems to be a good beginning to rouse the curiosity of the reader. 

In order to make the reader really feel the message the poet uses a lot of sensory images to create a mood that is appealing to the senses. For instance, in the second line he uses the word ‘lovely’ to make the tree more appealing to the visual sense. Words like ‘leafy’ in line 6 and ‘robins’ (which are pretty) in line 8 serve the same intention. The mention of robins quite charms the aural sense too, as these birds are associated with the lovely music of their song.

Rarely does a poet succeed in evoking more than two senses; but here we find that even the sense of touch is been stimulated. Almost everybody has at least second-hand experience of the warm tenderness of a baby’s suckling. In the third line the poet personifies the tree in that the tree’s roots that seep into the earth in search of nourishment are wholly compared to as a hungry mouth that is pressed against a breast suckling on it.  The speaker is not content at just personifying and giving a life to earth, he goes on further to picture it as not only a life-supporter (in that the tree depends on it for nourishment), but also as caring and abundant and generous in its offer, as suggested by the words ‘sweet earth’s flowing breast’. The idea of a baby’s suckling not only stimulates the sense of touch and warmth, but also stimulates the sense of taste; as breast milk is renowned for its gratifying sweetness and succulence.

The fifth and sixth lines touch an entirely different spot. The tone creates a completely religious mood. It touches the very soul of a reader as the speaker makes out the tree to be such a dedicated and devout devotee. The fifth line ‘A tree that looks at God all day’ is effective to the extent that a reader could almost feel sorry for the tree for taking so much pain. The sixth line adds to it by creating peace and silence. One could visualise the peaceful status of a prayer who is completely silent and engrossed; oblivious of all other happenings.  

The word ‘leafy’ in line six not only makes the reader visualise the beauty and richness of life, but also awakens a sense of colour; for leaves are easily associated with greenery, and hence green colour. Furthermore, the mention of ‘robins’ in line 8 and ‘snow’ in line 9 go a long way to serve the purpose of creating clear-cut colours; and hence making the poem more colourful and lively.

The sixth line ‘And lifts her leafy arms to pray’ creates a kinaesthetic image; since it brings to mind muscular tension that is felt with the lifting of one’s arms. This feeling is enhanced by the preceding line which informs the reader of time (how long); in this case the whole day long. The tree is visualised here as an unfailing prayer with raised arms looking up to God in her entreaty.

The seventh and eighth lines introduce the reader to another side of the tree. The virtuous tree is not only pious, but also accommodating and supportive in that she sustains an integral part of the robins’ lives by providing them a refuge for nestling and rearing their offspring. The picture one visualises here is that of a young girl who decorates her hair with colourful ribbons during the season of summer. The branches and leaves are symbolical of hair and the colourful robins are symbolical of colourful ribbons worn. Here ultimate symbiosis is demonstrated; the two (the tree and the robins) live in close proximity for the mutually advantageous association, the tree gets herself decorated for the summer and the robins get a home. 

The ninth line again adds to the idea of the accommodative and supportive nature of the tree; for the speaker says ‘Upon whose bosom snow has lain’. The word ‘bosom’ means an emotional centre or the source of an enfolding relationship. It is easy for one to visualise the tender sight of a baby lying in its mother’s bosom. Furthermore, the mention of snow creates a thermal image for snow is associated with immense cold.  

The tenth line adds to the adjustable and tolerant nature of the tree; by conveying to the reader that the tree is capable of sharing an intimate relationship even with rain.  

The eleventh and twelfth lines draw a sharp and striking contrast between God and man. This epigram more than effectively puts forth that a poem can be made by even the ordinary earthlings (fools in terms of wits when compared to God), like the poet himself; but a tree can be made only by God, whose creative supremacy is incomparable to that of any of His creations including man.  

Looking at the above analysis, one can justly state that the poet has succeeded in creating a timely picture and mood with the right combination of simple images. He introduces quite a number of characters and ideas through imagery. All the images are primarily those of life. He has combined these images to create a single stronger one which he helps the reader to visualise through meaningful comparisons. 

The poet hence thrives to suggest something beyond the scene itself. The poet’s search for the right fresh image and his ability to draw similarities between so tremendously unlike things are a vital part of his art. A lively collection of environment friendly and soothing objects have been effectively used to present a single central metaphor. The tree is tremendously personified in that a lot of human qualities are being attributed to it; tenderness, patience, virility, motherliness, sanctimony, adjustability, mobility and tolerance. 

The fact that the central image, the tree is presented through concepts that can be associated with personal experiences makes the picture not only vivid but pleasant to the senses. For instance concepts like breast-feeding and praying can convey nothing but gratification. 

The poem consists of six couplets and each pair end-rhymes. The metrical scheme is not consistent throughout. That is except lines 1 and 10 which are trochaic all the lines are iambic and each line consists of four feet; each foot containing two syllables. This gives immediate joy as one can appreciate it even the first time one reads or hears it. Although the poet does not seem to have made a deliberate effort to use alliteration, the poem on the whole is quite musical with a lot of euphony like ‘lovely’, ‘breast’, ‘leafy’, ‘robins’ etc which are all very pleasing to the senses. In line 3 the speaker has used the archaic ‘prest’ most probably in an effort to make it rhyme better with ‘breast’ in the next line.   

It is also noticed that the speaker uses a lot of metaphoric expressions; ‘hungry mouth’, ‘flowing breast’, ‘looks at God’, ‘lifts her leafy arms to pray’, ‘hair’, ‘bosom’ and ‘lives’ imply comparison between essentially different things, qualities, or actions, without direct indication of a relation between them. This enriches the language by identifying one object with another and ascribing to the first object one or more qualities of the second.

To wind it up, the scene created by the speaker is earthy, common, real and personal; yet much larger than life itself. Conclusively, the poem serves as a useful concrete representation of a basic abstract idea.

If;

2009-08-29T22:27:00.000-07:00

If I could, I would invent;

A device that can tell me exactly what’s going on in your mind! Now isn’t that great? We’ll have an honourable world full of noble men (and women of course! Darn the sexist English Language!), just because nobody can afford to think ugly thoughts! Hehehe.

A tablet that rids me of ma bogs without having to go & sit miserably on that toilet bowl! Now that isn’t fun is it?

A vaccine that rids me of my periods (and of course without affecting the baby-making machinery)! Darn PMS! Not fun at all!

A lil device by which you can select the colour, length, volume and texture of hair you’d like to have. (Just like you choose the font and its size and colour in your word doc!) Aaah that makes me think, I’ll have a lot of baldy fans! Not that I don’t now! :D

A scanner that scans all the pages of a book while I am having a coffee after placing it inside an assigned tray! :D :D

A wardrobe which cleans and presses clothes!

A sleep-replacement tablet to help me at times when I’m deprived of sleep! Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have all the 24 hours to yourself??? (No, I don’t consider sleeping time to be your own, cos you don’t really get to choose what you do when you sleep. You don’t even get to choose your darn nightmares, let alone the pitch, scale or volume of your snoring!)

A line that instantly convinces people to do what I want them to do! It would be something like, ‘You really HAVE TO do it, cos if you don’t I’m doomed!’ and viola! And the first thing I’d get done is convince all educational institutes around the globe to embrace a system of ‘non-assessment’! Oh won’t you love me then!? :D

Facts

2009-08-06T10:54:00.000-07:00

Did You Know?

1) In space, astronauts cannot cry, because there is no gravity, so the tears can't flow.

2) The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump.

4) The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

5) A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue.

6) The Pentagon has twice as many restrooms as necessary. When it was built, segregation was still in place in Virginia, so separate restrooms for blacks and whites were required by law.

7) They have square watermelons in Japan - they stack better.

It could very well have been the fault of the Fence!

2009-08-03T07:03:00.000-07:00

I surely don’t agree with the old Dhivehi saying (it could well have come from another language for all I know!) that goes ‘Eh fulhah mathin fummaali bakari aneh fulhah mathin ves fummaalaane.’

Well I would say that the goat would keep jumping over fences if they were all the same inadequate height. What if she was placed behind a good fence high enough to keep her in? Would she still jump over? I wouldn’t think so.

We use the saying negatively to imply that a person who had once broken a relationship, left a job etc, will do it again. But what do we even know about this person or what this person had gone through in the previous relationship or job? What if this person was put through hell then? What if this person is in good hands now? Isn’t this equivalent to asking what if the goat was placed behind a good fence?

Well, maybe we should think twice before putting such ideas in the textbooks of our school children. Everything that has been handed down to our generation as having been used in our language doesn’t necessarily deserve a place in our children’s textbooks, especially not when we don’t have qualified enough teachers to explain to the kids the limitations. Such notions instil in our kids an inclination towards judging people without even knowing who they are or what the situation was really like. And this does not help them to become open-minded, which however is required of them wherever they go.

Not Even Crocodile Tears!

2009-07-31T14:37:00.000-07:00

This poem is based on an imaginary story of a rich wicked lady who dies accidentally while trying to beat up her maid for bringing in the wrong food by mistake. The lady suffers from a croup which inhibits clear speech as a result of which the maid makes this mistake.

In this poem I have tried to illustrate how unfeeling one can make the people around by treating them ruthlessly. For instance, Caroline, the maid in this poem finds that she cannot even pretend that she is grieved by the death of her mistress. Such distress had the mistress caused her when she had lived that Caroline is actually relieved when she is killed. Furthermore, even Mr. Crimson though obviously faithful when his wife was alive, was so overjoyed that he even cries for joy! Even though he had loved Caroline from his very childhood, this meek little man had not had the courage.

This is a comedy whereby at the end Miss. Christ becomes Mrs. Crimson as Mr. Crimson takes her in marriage.

Mrs. Crimson was a cripple.

Just a cryptic cross-patch was she

Had no cronies, just her crofts!

Rich as Croesus, dry as crouton,

Cross-bred Crimson cross-eyed was too!

The croup she had did make her croak,

That she craved cream with crouton crumbs!

Creepy-crawly Caroline came

With creamy cruller-crust in cream.

Crotchety Crimson went all crimson!

Critical was the time as crucial;

With her crutch did Crimson crash.

Caroline cringed; the crone did crow.

The crook fell on the crampon there!

‘Oh, Christ!’ she cried, she crouched and died!

Not a single crocodile tear

Could Caroline Christ shed in grief.

Crouton crusts creamed her mind

The crunchy crusts she could crunch

And Mr. Crimson, oh so creamy!

Crimson’s husband Mr. Crimson

Only cried a cry of crew!

For he did crave to have Caroline

The crush of his time in the crib!

And so did Christ become Crimson!

Why O Mom!?

2009-07-31T14:33:00.000-07:00

Fresh is the memory of your leave,

Into my little heart fear did creep;

All that I could was only weep.

Why O mom had you to leave?

I watched my dad’s chest fall and heave,

As he looked at me with eyes so stern;

I saw too the anger that made them stern.

Why O mom had you to leave?

I craved for the love I didn’t receive,

And that did make me sit and dream;

Of all the love that one could dream.

Why O mom had you to leave?

All I do now is deceive,

The world at large see just my beams;

Though gay I can be in only dreams.

Why O mom had you to leave?

Finally!

2009-07-31T10:11:00.000-07:00

Finally I have created my own blog! Feels cool! Now lets see if I have anything to write about.