OUR PICNIC AT THE CLINIC

                                                             

                  

 

 

1.     People in large numbers, behold!

 Mostly aged persons, ailing persons old;

 As if all diseases congregated here;

 We too joined the crowd, our complaints to share;

 The doctors and nurses too busy their time to spare;

 The nurses moved too swift; none came to hear.

 A tiresome journey to prestigious clinics so far

 Life seemed- with diseases, a perpetual war. 

 

2.      In a long line they have to wait and wait

  A lot of time they have, to talk with mates;

  Stuck to their mobiles, they tend to forget

  Their waiting time so quickly spent;

  They share with others about their complaints

  A rare chance, mingling with strangers they met;

  A long list of medicines they learnt by heart

  From their chronic troubles, many lessons they got.

 

3.      Their sickly state brought them together to chat 

       About our various troubles as we patiently sat;

   A host of age-related diseases long

   Which play hide and seek and will never end

   To keep them under check, they are compelled to spend

   Their hard-earned wealth and prolong

   Their tender health with minimum complaints;

   To stay unconcerned about health, they are not saints.

 

4.       Some talked about their stiff limbs and pain

   Some limped slowly leaning on prop with strain; 

   Some fretted about their hypertension

   Some complained about their rising medical bills;

   Some spoke about pollution’s ills.

   Some about their diabetic state did mention

   Some spoke about their relatives abroad

   Their changed food habits, and manners odd.  

 

5.       Some recalled their youthful days and past

   About their stamina and prizes, they got;

   About how they ran with winged feet

   About how they defeated their rivals strong

   To see their physique perfect how people did throng;

   About their appetite for dishes sweet;

   And how they took keen meticulous care

   Of their habits, food, dressing and wear.

 

6.       Though age has dented their appearance pale

   Their hopes and desires did not seem to fail;

   They loved to dwell in past forgetting their pain

   Rich-laden memories voiced in humorous vein;

   Still, they loved to seek knowledge with interest keen;

   Still, they wish from others, some wisdom gain;

   No more can they travel and freely roam

   Mostly they stay confined to their home. 

 

7.       Though age has sapped their healthy glow

   Their inner spirit like fire in cinders shows

   Their bubbling wit and jovial shine

   Seasoned with maturity, one can spy

   Their natural traits that hardly die

   They radiate their mirth in spite of suffering pain

   They found a touch of intimacy indeed

   With sympathetic care they help others in need.

 

8.      They treat their lives as God-given lessons to know

  Of truths profound and restrain their passions’ flow;

  Age has taught them patience, fortitude and calm

  They have endured so many challenges dire

  Their words and deeds so many people did inspire

  They withstood many hurdles and storms;

  This friendly meet, chance has turned it into a picnic

   In happy bonding of their visits to various clinics.

 

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   21 -07-2022                             Somaseshu Gutala

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Note on Whitman’s Poem “When Lilacs last…”

                       

                                

Abraham Lincoln's Tomb, Springfield, Illinois

                                            

Lilacs

This elegy to President Abraham Lincoln was written by Whitman in the summer of 1865 after president’s assassination on 14^th April, 1865. Whitman included this poem in his 1865 collection of “Drum-Taps”, a sequence of poems based on the experiences of his working as a nurse during the American Civil War. This is a long poem of 206 lines cast in pastoral elegy form. Whitman revised this poem many times from the time it was published. The final version was published in 1881 in “Leaves of Grass.”  This elegy is considered as one of the best elegies comparable with John Milton’s “Lycidas” (1637) and Shelley’s “Adonais” (1821).

 

This elegy is a first-person monologue with sixteen stanzas or strophes. The range of each stanza varies in length from five to fifty-three lines. The length of each line also varies from seven syllables to twenty syllables. It does not have consistent metrical pattern. He achieves a coherent structure and beauty through “the internal patterns of sound, diction, specific word choice and effect of association.” The use of literary devices like repetition, cataloguing, and parallelism, long flowing lines gives a pattern of unity and incantatory quality to this poem.

 According to Kathy Rugoff “the poem …has a broad scope and incorporates a strongly characterized speaker, a complex narrative action and an array of highly lyrical images.” According to another critic, Helen Vendler, the poem reaches its most lyrical pitch in 14^th strophe, reaches its moral climax in fifteenth and ends with a note of reconciliation in sixteenth strophe. This elegy does not mention Lincoln by name or the circumstances surrounding his death.

 

This is a pastoral elegy written in free verse. Whitman wrote two other elegies “O captain! My captain!” and “Hushed be the camps today”. But this elegy is grander and more touching than the other two elegies in structure and content. Though it does not follow the conventions strictly, it is considered as a pastoral elegy in which the deceased person and the poet are depicted as shepherds. In one sense Lincoln was the shepherd of the American people in wartime and his loss left the north in the position of a flock without a leader. As in traditional elegies, Nature mourns Lincoln’s death along with people.

 

 This poem also makes reference to the problems of modern times in its brief shadowy depictions of civil war. Though this is a public poem with private symbols, Whitman tried to determine the best way to mourn the loss of a great leader in the modern world. Unlike classical elegies this poem is simple and modern without too many allusions. Similarly, there is a shift in language. In the first few stanzas the language is formal, even archaic filled with exhortations and rhetorical devices. By the end, much of the ceremoniousness has been stripped away. Eventually the poet simply leaves behind a sprig of lilac and ceases from song with philosophical resignation.

 

 Though the form is elegiac, it also contains elements found in Operatic music. Nature’s mourning the death of a great leader is seen when Lincoln’s body was sent from Washington to Spring field. Not only men and women but natural objects salute the departed leader.

 This poem shows Whitman’s love Abraham Lincoln and his deep grief over the death of soldiers in American Civil War. The poet used three private or personal symbols with complex meanings to reveal his feelings and thoughts. Private symbols are those whose significance the writers generate for themselves. Whitman’s symbols are mostly private and personal. The lilac symbolizes reverence for the memory of Lincoln. Whitman’s symbols are unique which are meant for all people of all times and which evoke emotions and feelings for understanding the significance of his poetry.

 

The green heart-shaped green leaves reveal the unadulterated feelings which come out from the heart of man. The season of spring symbolizes recurrence of every existence after its temporary extinction. It indicates recurring memory of Lincoln and the immortality of the great soul. The Western Star, Venus, is a complex symbol which symbolizes a lofty leader, Lincoln. It also represents a heavenly body having a mystic relationship with terrestrial beings. The hermit-thrush is shy and withdrawn and pours out melodious songs from the recesses of the swamp.  The bird symbolizes the poet and the bird’s song tallies with the voice of the poet’s spirit.

 

The funeral procession of Lincoln’s corpse symbolizes a spiritual journey towards understanding death. It begins in sorrow and gloom and ends in joy and serenity of spirit and acceptance of death as the happy ending of life. Grass, a recurring symbol in Whitman’s poetry, symbolizes democracy and the miracle and mystery of the life and nature. The word “I” in Whitman’s poetry symbolizes the whole of humanity at large, human beings of all places and beings. This poem is published in the volume “Drum-taps”. The very title evokes the American war scene associated with the sounds of drums, bombs, clatter of weapons and bloodshed.

 

This elegy was divided into four cycles:  the first cycle contains first four stanzas. The second cycle has stanzas from fifth to ninth. The third cycle has stanzas from tenth to thirteenth. The fourth cycle has stanzas from fourteenth to sixteenth. 

The first section of the poem comprising four stanzas present the setting of the poem. As the spring returns the lilacs blossom and the planet Venus drooped in the western sky. The powerful Western Star was covered by black murk in the tearful night. The poet mourns “The loss of him I love.” He is powerless and helpless because the cloud around him “will not free my soul”. The poet breaks off a small branch of lilac bush with heart-shaped leaves. The solitary thrush like a secluded hermit sings a song of its inmost grief. It sings “death’s outlet song of life” The first section introduces three principal symbols of the poem-the lilac, the star and the bird. They are woven into a poetic and dramatic pattern. Lilacs are associated with recurring spring, a symbolic resurrection. Its heart-shaped leaves indicate love. The everblooming lilacs bring out the memories of Lincoln and the western star hidden in dark clouds portended some future tragic event and made the poet feel sad and helpless. The bird is the symbol of reconciliation with death and is its song is the soul’s voice. The bird’s tragic song of death,” the song of the bleeding throat” represents the poet’s own mourning of Lincoln’s death.  The phrase “Death’s outlet song of life” indicates that out of death will come renewed life. Lilac’s purple color is a symbol of crucifixion or sacrifice and violent ending of Lincoln’s life.

The second section from fifth to ninth stanzas describe the journey of Lincoln’s coffin through natural scenery and industrial cities representing the diverse facets of American life. The thrush’s song in section four is a prelude to the journey of the coffin which will “pass over the breast of the spring”, through wheat fields, orchards, woods and through cities. But “in the midst of life we are in death” as the Book of Common Prayer says. The cities are draped in black and the “crape-veiled women” mourn and salute the dead. Somber faces, solemn voices and mournful dirges and dim-lit churches with tolling bells mark the progress of the journey. The land seems dark and covered with dark clouds.

 The poet brings forth blossoms not for Lincoln alone but for all men who sacrificed their lives in the civil war. He chants a song “for you, O sane and sacred death” and offers flowers to “the coffins all of you, O death”. The poet addresses the star, “Now I know what you must have meant”. Whitman imagines that the star is full of woe until it vanished “in the netherward black of night.” The poet thinks that the dim western star foretold him about the impending death of Lincoln in advance as the star disappeared behind the dark enveloping cloud. The poet’s soul sank with grief on seeing the star.

Whitman calls upon bird to continue singing. The poet lingered on held by the evening star, “my departing comrade.” The star is identified with Lincoln and the poet is under the influence of his personal grief for his beloved dead leader and is not able to perceive the spiritual existence of Lincoln after death. The song of the thrush makes the poet aware of the deathless and spiritual existence of Lincoln.

In the third cycle of the poem from 10^th to 13^th stanzas, the poet wonders about how he shall sing “for the large sweet soul that has gone.” And how he shall compose his tribute” for the dead one I loved.” In a poetic way he says that the sea winds from East and West meeting on the prairies along with the poet’s song will “perfume the grave of him I love.”  Later he wishes to decorate the walls of Lincoln’s burial chamber with natural and diverse scenes of American landscape like pictures of growing spring, the sunset glories of April, the pale green leaves of the trees, fresh sweet grass, the flowing river with wind-swept waves, the distant hill ranges, and with city dense with dwellings and chimney stacks, busy workshops, and workmen returning home ward. The gentle purple morn with soft breeze, the summer afternoon and the star-lit night shining over cities reveal the pictures of the urban landscape.  In short “all the scenes of life.” The body and soul of America will be painted on the tomb such as the beauties of Manhattan spires as well as the shores of Ohio and Missouri rivers and “all the varied and ample land.” This shows Lincoln’s love for American landscape and American people. The poet admires the natural as well as the crowded urban landscape if America which made that country a democratic, prosperous and developed nation.

 Th gray brown bird is singing from the swamps its “loud human song of woe”. The song has a liberating effect on the poet’s soul although the star still holds him as does the mastering odor of the lilac. In this cycle the description of natural objects and phenomena indicates the breadth of Lincoln’s vision- the purple dawn, delicious eve, and welcome night- suggest the continuous cycle of the day which in turn symbolizes Lincoln’s immortality. The language is quite lyrical, poetic and emotional.

Stanzas from 14 to 16 comprise a re-instatement of the earlier themes and symbols of the poem in a perspective of immortality. The poet remembers how “a cloud with a long black trail” appeared one evening and suddenly made him aware of death. He walked between “the knowledge of death and the thought of death”. He listened to the bird’s song of “the carol of death” which praises Death as lovely, soothing and delicate. The fathomless universe is adored for “life and joy” and “sweet love”. Amidst this spectacle throbbing with life and joy he looks upon death as an integral part of creation. Death is described as a “dark mother” always gliding near with soft feet. To her the bird sings a song of “fullest welcome”. Death is a strong deliveress to whom “the body gratefully nestles”.

 

 The bird’s song is the spiritual ally of the poet. As the bird sings the poet sees a vision of the battle, corpses and “debris of all slain soldiers”. These dead soldiers are happy in their resting places but their parents and relatives continue to suffer because they have lost them. The suffering is not of the dead but of the living. The coffin has now reached the end of its journey. It passes the visions “the song of the hermit bird” and the “tallying song of the poet’s soul”. Death’s outlet song is heard sinking and yet bursting with joy. The joyful psalm fills the earth and heaven with joy. As the coffin passes the poet salutes it reminding himself that the lilac blooming in the dooryard will return every spring. The coffin has reached its resting place in “the fragrant pines and the cedars dark and dim”. The star, the bird and the lilac join with the poet as he bids good-bye to Lincoln, “his comrade, the dead I loved so well”. 

The poet’s realization of immortality of the soul through the emotional conflict of personal loss is the principal theme of this great poem, which is a symbolic dramatization of the poet’s grief and his ultimate reconciliation with the truths of life and death. It also deals with persistence of life in spite of pains and sufferings. The images of bustling cities such as “the sun”, “the stars” and “the hermit bird” remind us of life’s continuance. Just like in other elegies this ends with a sense of reconciliation and spiritual understanding of death as an integral part of life.

    8th July, 2022                                   Somaseshu Gutala