D.C. Chambial’s A Poem-A Symbolistic View

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.