A Birthday Wish

                          

         

                

                             

             You ever mingle freely with one and all

             You entertain both elders and children small;

             You enjoy everything with playful ease

             Your humble helpful ways always please;

             Good, friendly relations you ever maintain

             You treated none with anger or disdain;

              In studies and career too, you did exceedingly well

              To tempting greed and deceit you never fell;

              Happiness you find in whatever you perform

              Ever helpful, jovial, affectionate and calm;

              Wherever you are, there blooms delight

              A festive togetherness warm and bright;

              A promising future I wish on your thirtieth year

              Full of domestic peace, good health and cheer .

             

          (With hearty blessings, Dear Anvesh)

 

           30th September, 2021                  Somaseshu Gutala         

LIVING SO LONG!

 

               

   

           

1)             So  many years, Time gave thee to stay

             And live this life in so many ways;

             To use your senses and feel a sense of thrill

             A plentiful harvest in your bosom to fill;

             With deeper meanings and noble thoughts

             To live with hope and faith, a God-given art.

 

2)                             In every dawn you find a promising chance

            As you get up refreshed from your trance;

            Too much engaged in routine repetitive deeds

            Lessons of life you did not care to heed;

            Worried over future we overlook present

            Thinking about past that vanished and went.

 

3)                           You sip your morning cup of tea

           Reclining with ease newspapers you see;

           You loiter in garden with leisurely pace

           Have your breakfast in room with ample space;

           You take everything with mechanical stride

           Delight in common things you never tried.

 

4)                          We ignore the worth of things easily got

          A very easy thing it is for us to fault

          With others who struggle for bread a lot;

           In web of trivial matters, we are easily caught

           We never care to know others’ feelings

           We are too busy with our frivolous dealings. 

5)              Winds of change none can stop and resist

          Old, rigid principles you can’t insist

          Why you condemn changes as worthless trash

          While you enjoy gadgets and splurge your cash;

          Accept the gifts of change with liberal mind

          In proper use of things true worth we find. 

 

6)                     Rush not with passions and reckless rage

        Adamant nature matches not with your age;

        Ripe maturity shows itself in restraint;

        Explode not with too many morose complaints

        Win thy weakness of limbs with attitude bright

        Curse not burdens of long life to worsen your plight.

 

7)                   Hanker not too much with earthly pleasures

        In old age good health is a valuable treasure;

       Observe due limits and be not a slave

       To tempting senses which ever crave

       Pay due attention to thy mental health

       What is the use of having abundant wealth?

 

8)                 Buffeted by ups and downs you lived so long

      Roughened by blows, so try to be strong;

      Keep thyself fit and not too much depend

      On others stating your age, Dear friend!

      Interfere not with others’ affairs and tasks

      Give thy advice only if they ever ask;

9)   So many dear people we have to lose

      The curse of old age, yet we can't but choose;

       So many tender lives cut off in their prime

       Beyond our reach the mysteries of time;

       Accept real facts as all beings should part

       With everything and nothing ever lasts.

10)  Though slow, our progress no regrets to feel

        God’s intentions none can reveal;

        Find calm delight in Nature sweet

        In beasts and birds who never cheat.

        To grasp the deeper meanings, change your thoughts

        To live with hope and faith, a life-long art.

 

11)   Just like Her, be calm, happy and serene;

         Enjoy her gifts with feelings fresh and green;

        Treat thy troubles as floating bubbles that pass;

        Time leads people--- no gain or loss;

         Fill thy days with patience and wisely spend

         Be ready and bold whatever be thy end.

 

12)  Death opens gates to distant stars unseen    

       To see the secrets of soul she lifts the screen     

       A liberator great and God’s image indeed

       Reforming vision and gently lead;

       To reveal more realms and reform our souls

        A long, long journey to reach our final goal.

              ****************************

        23rd September, 2021                      Somaseshu Gutala

           

           

 

          

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

                                     LIVING SO LONG!

1)    So many years, Time gave thee to stay

And live this life in so many ways;

To use your senses and feel a sense of thrill

A plentiful harvest in your bosom to fill

With deeper meanings and noble thoughts

To live with hope and faith, a God-given art.

 

2)     In every dawn you find a promising chance

As you get up refreshed from your trance;

Too much engaged in routine repetitive deeds

Lessons of life you did not care to heed;

Worried over future we overlook present

Thinking about past that vanished and went.

 

3)     You sip your morning cup of tea

Reclining with ease newspapers you see;

You loiter in garden with leisurely pace

Have your breakfast in room with ample space;

You take everything with mechanical stride

Delight in common things you never tried.

 

4)    We ignore the worth of things easily got

A very easy thing it is to fault

With others who struggle for bread a lot;

In web of trivial matters, we are easily caught

We never care to know others’ feelings

We are too busy with our frivolous dealings.

 

 

5)        Winds of change none can stop and resist

Old, rigid principles you can’t insist

Why you condemn changes as worthless trash

While you enjoy gadgets and splurge your cash;

Accept the gifts of change with liberal mind

In proper use of things true worth we find.

 

 

6)    Rush not with passions and reckless rage

Adamant nature matches not with your age;

Ripe maturity shows itself in restraint;

Explode not with too many morose complaints

Win thy weakness of limbs with attitude bright

Curse not burdens of long life to worsen your plight.

 

7)    Hanker not too much with earthly pleasures

In old age good health is a valuable treasure;

Observe due limits and be not a slave

To tempting senses which ever crave;

Pay due attention to thy mental health

What is the use of having abundant wealth?

 

8)    Buffeted by ups and downs you lived so long

Roughened by blows, so try to be strong;

Keep thyself fit and not too much depend

On others stating your age, Dear friend!

Interfere not with others’ affairs and tasks

Give thy advice only if they ever ask.

 

 

   9)    Before our eyes so many dear people we have to lose

           The curse of old age, but we can’t but choose;

           So many tender lives cut off in their prime

           Beyond our reach the mysteries of time;

           Accept real facts as all beings should part

           With everything and nothing ever lasts.

 

10)     Though slow, our progress no regrets to feel

           God’s intentions none can reveal;

           Find calm delight in Nature sweet

           In beasts and birds who never cheat.

           To grasp the deeper meanings, change your thoughts

           To live with hope and faith, a God-given art.

 

11)    Just like Her, be calm, happy and serene;

          Treat thy troubles as floating bubbles that pass;

          Time leads people--- no gain or loss;

           Fill thy days with patience and wisely spend

 Be ready and bold whatever be thy end.

 

12)     Death opens gates to distant stars unseen    

           To see the secrets of soul she lifts the screen     

           A liberator great and God’s image indeed

           Reforming vision and gently lead;

           To reveal more realms and reform our souls

           A long, long journey to reach our final goal.

            ****************************

           

           

 

          

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 11)   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                         LIVING SO LONG!

1)    So many years, Time gave thee to stay

And live this life in so many ways;

To use your senses and feel a sense of thrill

A plentiful harvest in your bosom to fill

With deeper meanings and noble thoughts

To live with hope and faith, a God-given art.

 

2)     In every dawn you find a promising chance

As you get up refreshed from your trance;

Too much engaged in routine repetitive deeds

Lessons of life you did not care to heed;

Worried over future we overlook present

Thinking about past that vanished and went.

 

3)     You sip your morning cup of tea

Reclining with ease newspapers you see;

You loiter in garden with leisurely pace

Have your breakfast in room with ample space;

You take everything with mechanical stride

Delight in common things you never tried.

 

4)    We ignore the worth of things easily got

A very easy thing it is to fault

With others who struggle for bread a lot;

In web of trivial matters, we are easily caught

We never care to know others’ feelings

We are too busy with our frivolous dealings.

 

 

5)        Winds of change none can stop and resist

Old, rigid principles you can’t insist

Why you condemn changes as worthless trash

While you enjoy gadgets and splurge your cash;

Accept the gifts of change with liberal mind

In proper use of things true worth we find.

 

 

6)    Rush not with passions and reckless rage

Adamant nature matches not with your age;

Ripe maturity shows itself in restraint;

Explode not with too many morose complaints

Win thy weakness of limbs with attitude bright

Curse not burdens of long life to worsen your plight.

 

7)    Hanker not too much with earthly pleasures

In old age good health is a valuable treasure;

Observe due limits and be not a slave

To tempting senses which ever crave;

Pay due attention to thy mental health

What is the use of having abundant wealth?

 

8)    Buffeted by ups and downs you lived so long

Roughened by blows, so try to be strong;

Keep thyself fit and not too much depend

On others stating your age, Dear friend!

Interfere not with others’ affairs and tasks

Give thy advice only if they ever ask.

 

 

   9)    Before our eyes so many dear people we have to lose

           The curse of old age, but we can’t but choose;

           So many tender lives cut off in their prime

           Beyond our reach the mysteries of time;

           Accept real facts as all beings should part

           With everything and nothing ever lasts.

 

10)     Though slow, our progress no regrets to feel

           God’s intentions none can reveal;

           Find calm delight in Nature sweet

           In beasts and birds who never cheat.

           To grasp the deeper meanings, change your thoughts

           To live with hope and faith, a God-given art.

 

11)    Just like Her, be calm, happy and serene;

          Treat thy troubles as floating bubbles that pass;

          Time leads people--- no gain or loss;

           Fill thy days with patience and wisely spend

 Be ready and bold whatever be thy end.

 

12)     Death opens gates to distant stars unseen    

           To see the secrets of soul she lifts the screen     

           A liberator great and God’s image indeed

           Reforming vision and gently lead;

           To reveal more realms and reform our souls

           A long, long journey to reach our final goal.

            ****************************

           

           

 

          

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 11)   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

                          

1

A Note On Frost's Poem "After Apple-Picking"

 

                              

                             

The rural New England forms a common setting for many of Frost’s poems. This poem also describes the dreamy experiences of an apple-picker after his hard day’s work of picking apples is over. Just like in other poems, this poem is also filled with deep, subtle meanings about sleep and death. This poem is included in “North of Boston” published in 1914.

The apple-picker felt drowsy and dreamy after his work. The water in the trough froze into a pane of glass. He looked at the apple trees through a sheet of frozen ice he picked from the water trough. The grass appears hoary or frosty. He wonders whether it is a normal end of the day or something deeper. It is the winter time. The scent of apples makes him feel strange and drowsy. The apple-picker’s day is over but the task of apple-picking is not yet complete. The barrel has not yet been filled with apples.

 It seems as if the speaker were in a state of confused state of mind because of the onslaught of sleep that sent him into a trance in which everything seemed to have been blurred. “I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight.” The sheet of ice in his hand melted and he allows it to fall down as he is on the verge of falling asleep. In this sleepy state, his dream comprises “an exaggerated re-creation of the sensations of apple-picking” he had done during the day.

 “Magnified apples appear and disappear/Stem end and blossom end/And every fleck of russet showing clear. “Apples of an enlarged size appear and disappear everywhere. The speaker sees even the tiniest apples and their colours in his dream. “My in step arch not only keeps the ache/It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.” His feet felt not only pain but also the pressure of the ladder-round. “I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.” As he picks apples, the boughs bend down and with their movement the ladder also seems to sway. A picturesque description of his day’s labour in his dream is given. From the cellar-bin he hears the rumbling sound of carts carrying “load on load of apples.” There are so many apples to admire, to touch, to pick and to lift carefully so as not to let them fall down on the ground and get bruised. If the apples fall down on the ground, they are discarded even if they are not bruised or spiked with stubble. They are set aside to be used for making cider and not fit to be sold as fruits. “But I am done with apple-picking now.” As he has done enough apple-picking, he feels exhausted and seems to be fed up with the bumper harvest that he does not want to have anything more with the apples.

 In the concluding lines he guesses as to what will trouble his sleep. His sleep may be troubled by the thought or awareness of reality. He contrasts his human sleep with the long winter sleep of wood chuck untroubled by reality. “Is it a simple sleep or the sleep of death?” The poet guesses whether his sleep resembles the long sleep of woodchuck or just an ordinary sleep of human beings. Frost’s use of a long sleep seems metaphorically suggestive of the long sleep of death or of the shift into the afterlife, as it differs from a human sleep. But Laurence Perrine argues that “whatever sleep it is,” it presents “a continuation of earthly activity”. Either way, this farmer is “done with apple-picking now” as the “Essence of winter sleep is on the night.”

 The harvest of apples can be read as a harvest of human effort.  The poem focuses on the fevered hallucinations of a tired person who is about to leave the world of reality and tries to escape into the world of long sleep but his sleep is troubled by the day-long labour of picking the harvest. The sleep of the wood chuck is the long winter sleep associated with death. The apple-picker’s day is over but the task of apple-picking is not yet complete. The barrel has not been filled with apples. The apples left on the tree represent things he regrets for not having done or achieved during his life time. The act of apple-picking is an extended metaphor which represents the speaker’s longing to escape from the worldly troubles by entering a world of dreams where those troubles are non-existent. The ladder signifies the speaker’s climb through life towards death or final end. The “two- pointed ladder” is also considered as life and human career which is similarly difficult to balance

 The poet repeatedly used the word “sleep” to express man’s innate desire for long sleep free from worldly troubles. The repetition of the word “sleep” highlights the speaker’s gradual descent into dreaming. 'After Apple Picking' by Robert Frost has often been compared to Keats' "Ode to Autumn", as if it were primarily a celebration of the harvest. But its elevated diction (quite distinct from anything else in the book) as well as its images, mood, and theme, all suggest a greater affinity with Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale." The apple-picker in Frost’s “After Apple Picking”, like Keats, is suffused with drowsy numbness, yet enters the visionary state necessary to artistic creation; Like Keats, the speaker has a secret longing to escape from the world of reality and enter the realm of death or like woodchuck enjoy “a long winter sleep” unperturbed by worldly troubles.

Robert Frost used rhyme that follows no set pattern. It is basically in iambic pentameter but variation in line-length is seen. The poem’s shorter lines of (two, three and four feet in each line) serve to syncopate and sharpen the steady, flowing rhythm of pentameter. Both rhyme and line-length are varied with subtlety. The wandering structure allows Frost to emphasize the sense of moving between waking and dream-like states.

 Frost’s use of different tenses and the unworldly tone of the poem with mixed up rhyme add to the drowsy world of slumber where time looks blurred experienced through a sheet of ice. He wants that the rhythm of his poem mirrors the state of mind of the speaker.   The poet explores the relationship between human and natural worlds.  In this poem the poet also deals with the theme of life and death. 

In another shorter poem “Unharvested” the poet gives a sensuous description of an apple tree the fruits of which have fallen themselves on the ground forming “one circle of solid red.” The poet passing by the way was attracted by the scent of fallen apples and thought that enjoying the smell of ripe apples on the ground does not amount to theft. The apple tree, unburdened of its load of apples, swayed as lightly “as a lady’s fan”. The poet subtly suggests that Nature is always liberal and transcends man’s selfish plans. He also refers to the Biblical story of Adam and Eve who were expelled from Eden for tasting the forbidden apple of knowledge with a greedy ambition to become equal to almighty God.  The poet concludes that Nature’s designs always surpass the narrow and selfish intentions of man.  Though this poem though resembles a sonnet, it has quite different rhyme scheme (abacbcdadeedff) with different line lengths.

“After apple-picking” is one of the widely-read and popular poems of Robert Frost. It is neither a narrative poem in blank verse nor a dramatic dialogue. It is a nature-lyric depicting the experience of an apple-picker who is tired after the day’s hard work and falls asleep absorbed in the lap of dreams about his day’s hard work. There is a fine blend of illusion and reality in this poem. The poet describes objects realistically and sensuously. All descriptions are vivid and concrete based on poet’s own observation. Physical states like fatigue, drowsiness and mental states like the strangeness of the apples seen through a sheet of ice are nicely depicted. Reality and dream states are vividly described. 

This is a poem of reality which has the enchantment of a lingering dream. Themes like life, death and the fall of man are subtly described with deep layers of meaning. The theme of apples symbolically suggests man’s desire for knowledge in the garden of Eden that led to his downfall. The word “Ladder” refers to man’s efforts to reach his goal. It also refers to the ladder that Jacob saw in his vision in which God promises Jacob that he and his descendants will be given the land of Jerusalem. Thus, this poem is filled with deep layers of meaning portraying the feelings of a person gradually sinking into dream-world after being exhausted with day’s hard work. John T. Napier calls this as Frost’s ability “to find the ordinary a matrix for the extraordinary.” In this respect, he is often compared Emily Dickinson and Ralph Waldo Emerson, in whose poetry, too, a simple fact, object, person, or event will be transfigured and take on greater mystery or significance. 

                 ******************************        

     9th September, 2021                                Somaseshu Gutala                     

 

A Note on Robert Frost (1874-1963) Part--I

                                

      

Robert Frost is one of the greatest American poets who expressed the American life and natural beauty in a simple typical style through conventional verse. Frost was born on march 26^th,1874 in San Francisco. His father was of New England region and his mother was a Scot woman. When Frost was eleven, his father, working as a head master, died. He attended Dartmouth College in New England. In 1892 he left his studies and did various jobs. In 1895 he married his classmate, Elinor White. In 1897 he joined Harvard to continue his studies. In 1899 he left again. He did shoe-making, edited a country newspaper, worked as a teacher at Pinkerton Academy from 1905 to 1911, and finally worked in his grandfather’s farm near Derry.

As a man who worked in various professions, Frost captured the experiences and feelings of common man in his simple conversational style; yet there is depth of meaning with symbolic undertones beneath his simple use of language. He was known for “his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech” and “for using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes.”

In 1912 he went to England and made friendship with Edward Thomas, a famous poet. He published “A Boy’s Will” a collection of poems in 1913. According to Edward Thomas these poems are revolutionary because they lack the exaggeration of rhetoric. In 1914 Frost published “North of Boston” which brought him name and fame. He returned to America in 1915 and taught at Amherst College. His other famous works are: Mountain Interval (1916), New Hampshire (1924) and West Running Brook (1928). In 1924 he won Pulitzer Prize for his poetic collection “New Hampshire”. In 1957 he was awarded Honorary degrees from Cambridge and oxford. Frost won Pulitzer Prizes three more times again in 1931 for “Collected Poems”, in 1937 for “A Further Range” and in 1943 for “A Witness Tree” respectively. During his life time he was conferred 44 honorary degrees by various institutions. John Kennedy described him as “the best poet of our time.”

 As a regional poet of New England, more particularly of New Hampshire,  Frost used realistic themes with a broader perspective. Though his descriptions, speech, rhythms and vocabulary are regional, he discovered universal truths in memorable characters in every poem. Wisdom comes distilled from experience processed by insight. Though he is a regional poet, his regional slant has a universal appeal. In this sense he is not a regional poet but is a metaphysical poet in the tradition of Emerson and Emily Dickinson. But his imagery is less complex and his style is more lucid. Frost confessed that poetry to him was essentially dramatic. 

Though like Wordsworth he wrote pastoral poetry, it is not decorative like that of Virgil. Frost defined poetry as “a connection of two things in verse” and as “inclusion of mind and emotions”, something similar to metaphysical concept of “fusion of intellect and emotion”. For him a poem begins with delight and ends in wisdom. It is “a clarification of life”. “The poet is essentially an accidental collector of impressions.” Frost believed in the fusion of form and content. He was not a believer in the saying that art should teach. He believed in endless experimentation in form and content. Regarding his deceptive simplicity, Geoffrey Moore said,” Frost’s poetry is deeper and tougher than it seems.”

As an American poet Frost depicted the pastoral and rural life of America in a sensitive manner. Like Whitman he was concerned with brotherhood and fellowship of man and democracy. Though he is a new England poet, he added universal meaning to his regional themes. Though he is not a visionary like Wordsworth or Shelley, his message is that we should love our work, help our fellowmen, understand their views, accept our limitations, face the life fearlessly, make the best use of our energies and skills, and above all have faith in God and not feel lonely in the world. Elizabeth Jennings noted that there is an almost total absence of despair or pessimism in Frost’s poetry. 

As a Nature poet Frost described Nature in relation to man. His descriptions of Nature are not idealized pictures, but realistic ones. In his view man has to face hardships and challenges in Nature with courage and live with dignity and fortitude. He made rural new England an artistic medium to express the alienation of modern man. Man is helplessly alone in an indifferent universe. Frost brings to our attention the terrible things of human life. Nature is ambivalent to him. A variety of emotions are aroused on different occasions by Nature. He draws his images from Nature which he observed carefully in all its moods and seasons. 

Frost’s treatment of mankind is based on realism, variety in his characters represents different aspects of man’s life. He lets his characters speak freely. A sense of alienation, fear and uncertainty and loneliness are revealed in his characters. A dismal and helpless picture of the common folk against the aggressive urban civilization is poetically picturized. That is the main reason why Lionel Trilling finds a terrifying picture of life in frost’s poems beneath their apparent simplicity and innocence. Yet most of his characters are brave and heroic in the face of adverse situations. Frost looks on the rural characters with a humorous, ironic and sympathetic detachment. He used the speech of common folk. There are philosophical undertones behind his simple use of language. He employs provincialisms. His poems show variety in attitude and approach. Like Yeats and Auden he handled a great number of English meters. His verse is smooth cadenced and flows with ease without any artificial decoration. Regarding his style and diction Frost believed that poetry is derived from common speech. New England speech rhythms and simple diction are used in his poetry. 

His long dramatic poems reproduce with amazing faithfulness the speech and sentiments of the people. (e.g.: “West-running Brooke, “The Death of the Hired man”, “Home-Burial etc.) His vocabulary and syntax are also simple. His allusions and images are derived from common life. He adopts a conversational tone and offers aphoristic wisdom in his poems. Frost’s long poems are studies in various characters. His use of blank verse is suitable for “poetry of talk.” It is a fit vehicle for expression of deep thoughts and feelings. It has the power to blend observation and imagination. It re-enacts the movement of thought in a dramatic way with conversational ease. There is an undercurrent of psychological analysis beneath his light, playful tone. His dramatic dialogues are not rhetorical speeches but short clipped and meaningful ones. They are comparable to dramatic, character-analyzing speeches of Chaucer and Robert Browning. The use of New England speech rhythms with simple diction in loose blank verse gives a spontaneous and realistic touch to his long poems. The abrupt breaks and broken syntax reveal the inner workings of mind with all its moods and reflections.

 According to John E. Lynen "Frost's regionalism is both symbolic and creative."  "Like Faulkner Frost stands forth as both the interpreter and the representative of his regional culture. "He uses New England as a means of revealing what is universal rather than merely local. frost's rural world is interesting because it symbolizes the world, we ourselves know. Our main concern must be to discover how he has shaped his world as an image of everyman's experience." According to Marion Montgomery "His best poetry is concerned with the drama of man in Nature." According to Louis Untermeyer, Frost's poetry lives with a particular liveliness because it expresses living people. "They are drawn with affection but not with a blurring sentimentality."   

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          28th July, 2021                                                    Somaseshu Gutala