Stammer - A REVIEW
The
poem, Stammer by K Sachidanandan is a translation of his poem Vikku
written in Malayalam. As a prominent modern poet and as the secretary
of Kendra Sahithya Academy he has contributed much to popularize
Indian literature by his initiative in translating Indian literature
into English and other European languages.
The
poem is written in free verse. The poem begins with a statement that
stammer is not a handicap. Thus the poet tells us that by stammer he
does not mean impediment in speech as we usually refer to by the
word, stammer. Stammer is described as a silence between the word and
its meaning. Usually we refer to a word as its meaning and sound are
inseparable. A silence happens when word is spoken for the sake of
speaking and when the speaker does not have any intension of adhering
to his word. It is what happens in our social and political context.
Then the poet hints at the silence that happens between the word and
the deed. It is about the words which do not result in any action.
The
poet asks whether stammer proceeds language or succeeds it. The poet
further asks whether stammer is a dialect or a language itself. It
must be remembered that language is incapable of communicating what
we have in our mind. It is a medium which can not completely express
our thoughts. Dialect and standard language can not be differentiated
as one of the dialects happens to be the standard language.
The
poet then adds that each time we stammer we are offering a sacrifice
to the God of meaning and also that when all people stammer it
becomes the mother tongue of people who stammer. It is what happens
with us. The poet wonders whether God might have stammered while he
created man. Man with his actions has proved that God has made a
wrong choice by creating man. When man says something it carries
different meaning. The poet takes an anticipatory bail by saying that
poetry also carries this defective nature as man has inborn
defectiveness.
1 comment:
Nice review
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