D. C. CHANBIAL’S ‘A POEM’: A SYMBOLISTIC VIEW
(After reading Dr. G.D. Barche’s excellent
analysis in Triveni, 66:3)
K. V. Rama Rao
‘A Poem’ is a wonderful depiction of the
present-day life, an overview of the whole world, a summing up of twenty
centuries of human growth and civilisation. It is a comprehensive picture in
broken images and half expressed symbols. The beauty is in the suggestion. The
poem is rich in allusion too. It ends on a note of optimism, unlike W.B. Yeat’s
“The Second Coming”.
The image of WATER is the staple thread of
the whole poem - whether stated explicitly or suggested implicitly. Water,
being a life-sustaining element, is a symbol of life itself. Without water
there is no life. In fact, 80% of blood is water. A Poem is no poem if we do
not realise the full potential of water in it. Human civilisations flourished
on the banks of rivers and on the coasts of seas. The poem is structured on
‘Water’, the water of divine grace. Sand, glaciers, floods, blood, mud, lake, draw and “parched” brain - all are related to water directly. Even the
word ‘SOS’ in the last line relates indirectly to water, it being
a signal / call for help of stranded sailors at sea.
At one level lines 3-5 refer to three
geographical regions (the deserts, the polar regions and the plains). Thus,
embracing the whole earth, but from a different angle, they also show,
symbolically, the heroic side of the poet-speaker, the saviour-man. He has seen
life he has suffered and he has conquered. Though “sand-dunes, glaciers,
floods” (all overwhelming and destructive forces) flow in his blood, he is able
to say ‘Come, I’ll be by you”.
The world sinking into the mid of Lethe
suggests: (a) a regression (Lethe being the river of forgetfulness in ancient
Greek mythology) and (b) the mud of modern comforts and the forgetfulness of
the drunk. People all over the world are busy drowning their difficulties in
drink, sinking Lethe-ward.
Boisterous lake is full.
Who will draw from it?
In all walks of life, boisterous and noisy
activity is uppermost. Those who indulge in sound and fury are in the
limelight. The poet hints at the superficiality of this life of boisterousness,
through the rhetorical question “Who will draw from it?” Real satisfaction,
peace and joy are not there in the ‘lake’ of present-day life. It cannot slake
one’s thirst. So who will draw strength or inspiration from it?
The sun-set, the night-fall and the nocturnal
activity of selfish elements in lines 12 – 15 suggest powerfully
the darkness of ignorance and the cruel exploitation of the weak and hapless
elements of society. The common man is the edible food item - the “carcass” for
the foes of power, greed and political aggrandisement.
The helpless struggle of the victims is,
indicated by the (cold) wriggle to come out of the cruel clutches of suffering.
But the brain is parched - no inspirations, no new ideas. Humanity in
general is not interested in the general values of life, in learning in selfimprovement.
The brain is parched, limbs are weak
and humanity is lying on the operation-table.
The cruel system has dulled the mind and
weakened the limbs. The poet uses ‘hendiadis’ when he says that “hands and mind
(are) amputated”. By referring to the amputation of the mind, the poet suggests
that modern man’s mind is more whole, no more competent to think out answers to
the pestering problems of life. But his hands, though amputated, are not
totally severed from the body. They are weak and supine and these instruments
of action are partially cut (amputated), but they are not totally severed from
the body - there is a hope of rejuvenation, a new growth.
Like Keats’s last line in the Grecian Um ode,
Chambial’s last line ‘for SOS hands’ is tantalising and mystifying. It could be
read as follows:
hands and mind
amputated
not severed
(waiting) for SOS Hands,
The amputated, but not severed hands are
praying, are waiting for ‘SOS Hands’. The capital H suggests the helping hands
of God. Humanity is agonisingly waiting for the divine help. And the
speaker/poet of the first two lines, the Man who carries in his blood “sand
dunes” etc., the Man who can empathise with the whole world and the whole of
mankind says. “Come/I’ll be by you”. What great assurance. He is there to sit
by the sick-bed of humanity, to guide and advise, to include healing, and to
inspire to do noble deeds and finally to bring down the waters of Divine Mercy.
The speaker-poet is the risen Man, the realised soul. “The SOS Hands” are both
his and of God’s.
Thus Chambial’s poem is a masterpiece of understatement of suggestion. It is symbolically rich.