Introduction to Poetry - Kaleidoscope
A poem is a composition in verse, usually characterised by concentrated and heightened language in which words are chosen for their sound and suggestive power as well as for their meaning, and using techniques such as rhythm and metre. To read and hear good poetry is to appreciate the subtleties of cadence and rhythm, the variety of pace and pattern and all that goes to make up the music of poetry.
Every poem that we read adds to, in some degree, our total conception of poetry.
Of the eight poets in this selection, four are from the classical tradition: Donne, Milton, Blake and Coleridge. The other four are closer to contemporary times: Yeats, A.K. Ramanujan, Emily Dickinson and Kamala Das.
Key Elements of Poetry
- Language: Concentrated, heightened, sound-focused for evocative effect.
- Techniques: Rhythm, metre, suggestive power to create musicality.
- Appreciation: Cadence, pattern, and the 'music' that elevates emotion and intellect.
- Traditions: Classical (e.g., Blake's visionary innocence/experience) vs. Contemporary (e.g., Das's confessional intimacy).
Points to Ponder
- How does reading Blake expand your 'total conception of poetry' through contrasts of innocence and experience?
- Compare classical visions like Blake's divine striving with modern introspection: What unites them in poetic 'music'?
Reprint 2025-26
The Poems: Full Text & Summary
Detailed Summary: The Divine Image (Songs of Innocence)
The poem celebrates four virtues—Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love—as divine essences embodied in humanity. In distress, all pray to these, returning thanks as God's fatherly gifts reflected in man's heart, face, form, and dress. Universally, across climes and faiths, these virtues reveal God's presence in the human divine.
Stanza 1: Virtues invoked in prayer and gratitude as sources of delight.
Stanza 2: Virtues as God's paternal bond with humanity.
Stanza 3: Virtues anthropomorphized in human features.
Stanza 4: Universal prayer to human divine; God's dwelling in merciful love.
Detailed Summary: The Human Abstract (Songs of Experience)
A critique of virtues' corruption: Pity and Mercy arise from imposed poverty and inequality, fostering fear-based peace that breeds selfish cruelty. This waters Humility's roots, spawning Mystery's dismal shade where Deceit fruits, Raven nests, and gods vainly seek the Tree of evil—grown not in nature, but the human brain.
Stanza 1: Virtues conditional on suffering; fear yields false peace, cruelty's snare.
Stanza 2: Cruelty's holy tears root Humility under Mystery's shade, feeding Caterpillar and Fly.
Stanza 3: Deceit's fruit in thickest shade, Raven's nest.
Stanza 4: Gods' futile search; Tree grows in human brain.
विस्तृत हिंदी सारांश: द डिवाइन इमेज
कविता चार गुणों—दया, करुणा, शांति, और प्रेम—का उत्सव मनाती है, जो मानवता में निहित दिव्य सार हैं। संकट में सभी इनकी प्रार्थना करते हैं, धन्यवाद देते हुए ईश्वर के पितृतुल्य उपहारों के रूप में, जो मनुष्य के हृदय, मुख, रूप और वेश में प्रतिबिंबित होते हैं। सार्वभौमिक रूप से, हर जलवायु और धर्म में, ये गुण मानव दिव्य में ईश्वर की उपस्थिति प्रकट करते हैं।
विस्तृत हिंदी सारांश: द ह्यूमन अब्स्ट्रैक्ट
गुणों के भ्रष्टाचार की आलोचना: दया और करुणा थोपी गई गरीबी और असमानता से उत्पन्न होती हैं, जो भय-आधारित शांति को जन्म देती हैं जो स्वार्थी क्रूरता को पालती हैं। यह पवित्र आंसुओं से विनम्रता की जड़ें सींचती है, रहस्य की उदास छाया को जन्म देती है जहां छल का फल लगता है, कौआ घोंसला बनाता है, और देवता व्यर्थ खोजते हैं बुराई के वृक्ष को—जो प्रकृति में नहीं, मानव मस्तिष्क में उगता है।
The Divine Image
To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
All pray in their distress;
And to these virtues of delight
Return their thankfulness.
For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
Is God our father dear,
And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
Is Man, his child and care.
For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity a human face,
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.
Then every man, of every clime,
That prays in his distress,
Prays to the human form divine,
Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.
And all must love the human form,
In heathen, turk, or jew;
Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell
There God is dwelling too.
The Human Abstract
Pity would be no more
If we did not make somebody Poor;
And Mercy no more could be
If all were as happy as we.
And mutual fear brings peace,
Till the selfish loves increase:
Then Cruelty knits a snare,
And spreads his baits with care.
He sits down with holy fears,
And waters the ground with tears;
Then Humility takes its root
Underneath his foot.
Soon spreads the dismal shade
Of Mystery over his head;
And the Caterpillar and Fly
Feed on the Mystery.
And it bears the fruit of Deceit,
Ruddy and sweet to eat;
And the Raven his nest has made
In its thickest shade.
The Gods of the earth and sea
Sought thro’ Nature to find this Tree;
But their search was all in vain:
There grows one in the Human Brain.
Reprint 2025-26
