Red Oleanders by Tagore: A Discussion in Symbolism

The Red Oleanders of Tagore at once stands out as a major milestone in the career of the modern Bengali drama; impregnated with a deep, sustained symbolism, the drama abjures the more mundane dialect of conversational prose, and speaks in a language charged with poetry and mysticism, a language that invariably matches the deep ecstatic nature of the message of the drama... Ranjan and Nandini have that great elusive duality which make them at once our comrades and yet transcendental beings... The duo belongs not so much to the world of flesh and blood as to the realm of symbolism - allegorical illustrations of Tagore's vision... Nandini, the protagonist of the play is a remarkable innovation, who trudges across the stage as freely as air. She has a most elemental vitality which she owes to another self and stands as an idealized emblem of love and its reassuring virtues-youth, spring inspiration and revolution. Ranjan and Nandini do not have strict separate identities, although Ranjan is the thematic abstract ideal of freedom through bondage and Nandini is the grand priestess, who helps us achieve the goal by breathing love into us.

The Red Oleanders contains a plethora of symbolism interpenetrating one another... Though Tagore was not obviously intending the play to be a socialist manifesto, industry, capitalization and the co-related exploitation of labor find footages in the play. At the heart of the play, lies the class struggle. The arbiters of Yaksha town ruthlessly set out to exploit nature and common man, have a most spiritual nexus between them, but now their very life and soul are at stake under the deep mass of mechanized civilization. The quiet rural existence in the bosom of nature now looks like an embarrassing relic of an older life style in collision with the nature, which is now threatened by the devouring menace of the king and his associates. The king ransacks nature and rifles its bowels with an eccentric frenzy... He has the most deadly touch which tortures everything to destruction and sucks out the life sap of everybody so as to leave them in the state - "life in death and death in life". Nandini, the fresh flow of life radicalizes a spiritual glow of freedom, which naturally frightens the king whose cells of mind are closed. The king is both afraid and attracted by Nandini and her Red Oleanders for they are the token of love, liberty and the coming change.

Nandini, the great emissary of nature, is the sweet heart of Ranjan, very appropriately, even in terms of symbolism. If Ranjan stands for the message of liberty, (Irresponsible in its approach, because he is likened to the wind) then Nandini is the great spirit of love in nature and hence the votary of alter eyes of Ranjan... She is an incarnation of nature with those garlands of red oleanders. The oleanders are read, because they emit love and liberty and liberty must be hatched through a most impersonal kind of love. Ranjan wisely gave the red oleanders to Nandini, love because, as an passion has red for its natural color and red looks forward to revolution.

The Yaksha town is a lucid illustration of the chain of bondage... The capitalist industry makes an attack upon the innocent helpless people from the first retiring villages and compelled them to a huddled existence in the industrial slums and shanties. Divorced from the domestic, pleasure and freedom, these ill-fated laborers forfeit their humanity by dredging all day long in the dark prison houses symbolized by the mines. Victims of the capitalist greed, these men are reduced to mere 41v numbers-or 69ng. They thus wear badges of abject slavery. Their tears invite Ranjan and Nandini into the scene. The drunken eyes and drooping heads of such hapless creatures like Bishu, Chandra, Phagulal and others receives a thrust of rejuvenation at the appearance of Nandini into the scene. She is a soul who contains in her the life forces-softness and indomitable willpower, love and fearlessness, girlish enthusiasm and matronly wisdom. She touches everything back to life... As her name warrants, she is the very quintessence of the aesthetic pleasure in man, destined to enthrall everybody. Bishu can go mad for her. The most choric professor shakes off his abstract impersonality and sings refrains of love... Even the dehumanized Sardar cannot escape her attraction, although like Gossains, his passion is of a different nature. Because of her poor comprehension of the other characters, she is often misunderstood in her vacation.

Chandra mistakes her as a libertine, for messages of change are not always well received. We are afraid of change sometimes, even when we need it, because it tends to lead us into regions of uncertainty, to which we are not used to... Our pettiness stands in the way of proper understanding, juts as Chandra's jealousy blinded her vision temporarily.

The height of Nandini's conquest is when after the splendid encounter with the king, she succeeds in transforming the self. But symbolically again it is not before his blindness snatched a great price-the herald of youth love and spring is killed by his own hands out of ignorance. Nandini takes up the unfinished work of Ranjan and carries on the torch of change with the belief that Ranjan can't die, though it is a great regression. Of course Ranjan ceases to be a man anymore here in this sense, just as Nandini, remains as a becoming star to guide us through the civilizational ups and downs.

Shel Silverstein - Outstanding Poet

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AppId is over the quota

Shel Silverstein was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1932. He began writing poetry when he was young. He was not familiar with the work of any famous poets, so he invented his own style. This turned out to be a good thing, because style is one of the most distinctive things about Shel's poetry.

Although he was best known for writing children's literature, Shel was creative in many ways. He began his career in the arts as a cartoonist. He also was a talented singer, songwriter, composer, and illustrator. In fact, Shel illustrated all of his children's books himself. This is one reason the pictures seem to accompany the poetry so perfectly.

Where the Sidewalk Ends, first published in 1984, is one of the most beloved children's books of all time. But what makes Shel's poetry so timeless and popular? His poems are often hilarious, and young people love Shel's type of humor.

In one poem, he told the story of a girl who refused to take out the garbage. It piled up higher and higher until it finally threatened to take over the town. Many kids have experienced the feeling of not wanting to do a chore. They love how out of control the author let the situation get because they know that it would never happen that way in real life.

In another popular poem, a girl pretends to be sick so that she will not have to attend school. Shel made fun of the situation by having the character exaggerate her symptoms to the point where they became ridiculous. The punch line of the poem occurs at the end. The girl discovers that it is Saturday, and she would not have had to go to school anyway.

Shel also liked to play with language in his poetry. He often used elements like alliteration in his work. Alliteration is the use of words that begin with the same sounds. In the poem about the girl who refused to take out the garbage, the character's name is Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout. This type of alliteration can make poetry fun to read aloud. Shel's poems also often rhymed and had a good rhythm, two more elements that make his work easy and interesting to read.

In 1999, Shel Silverstein died in his home in Key West, Florida. Children and adults will miss his quirky humor and incredible imagination. But a bit of Shel Silverstein is captured in his work, which will live on and bring joy to children for many generations to come.

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The Thematic Analysis of The Poem "Do-Gooders" By Olu Obafemi

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AppId is over the quota

The poem titled DO-GOODERS was written by Olu Obafemi to portray the weaknesses and atrocities of the religionists who instead of being the last hope of a common man are threats to people's life. He tries to condemn the attitudes of the religionists who are using their position as a man or messenger of God to blindfold the people and exploit them. They use their position to tell people lies and demand exorbitantly from them; they deny them their belongings and turn those wretched (lines 14-17).

The central theme of the poem is CONDEMNATION. Olu Obafemi tries to expose what is happening in our present environment where people dabbled into church, mosque or palm grooves only to save themselves from the escalating unemployment problem. When the people eventually discover these anomalies of the people of God, they tend to be aggressive. This has led to desertion of many churches, many mosques have been damned and some grooves are no more in existence (lines 10-13)

The poet shows his anger or agony when he said that Horror begets horror, to nullify horror, meaning that whenever these type of people are caught, they must be dealt with without an iota of mercy, just as thieves, tied to the stakes, and set on fire (lines 18 and 19). He emphasized that pity should not be allowed to come in because they have destroyed many lives already; many have been turned to wretched beings, with bloated stomach, smelling like the stinking gutters and sucked thin (lines 1-5).

The poet ended it by lamenting saying, Woe be on them, who cheat in the name of God, even an unending woe.

POETIC DEVICES IN THE POEM

Let's examine jus two (2): Poetic License and the figures of speech used in the poem.
Language used (Poetic License)

Poetic license is the permission given to a poet to use unconventional language i.e. free to use language in whatever way it pleases him in order to achieve his desires. He can violate the grammaticality of language.

They include in this poem the following:

1. Bloated - swollen in an unpleasant way (line 1)
2. Hoot - funny situation of a person/short loud laugh of a person (line 5)
3. Flatulent - sound important in the way that exaggerate truth (line 9)
4. Damnable - bad or annoying (line 12)
5. Stakes - host on which somebody to be burnt is first tie (line 18)
6. Wretched - extremely bad or unpleasant (line 13)
7. Flakes - small pieces of something larger
8. Blazed - mount brightly and strongly
9. Do-gooders: those who do good/believed to be doing good

Figures of Speech

Expressions used to polish any piece of writing and to embellish it in a poetic ornament so as to make it elaborate, vivid, picturesque and interesting (Roy Omoni)

1. Assonance:
Line 1: bloated stomachs
Line 7: horror begets horror
Line 19: blazed in flames and flakes

2. Consonance:
Line 7: horror begets horror
Line 19: blazed in flames and flakes

3. Alliteration:
Line 4: of sprawling skeletons
Line 7: horror begets horror
Line 19: blazed in flames and flakes

4. Repetition:
Line 7 & 8: horror begets horror to nullify horror

5. Rhyme:
Line 18 & 19: must be tied to stakes
blazed in flames and flakes

6. Enjambment:
Line 7 & 8: horror begets horror to nullify horror
Line 3 & 4: the naked ribs of sprawling skeletons