Poet Lover Birdwatcher PDF

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Poet, Lover, Birdwatcher -

Nissim Ezekiel

From 1947-1948 he taught English at the Khalsa College in Bombay. In 1948 he went to London for three and a half years and there immersed himself in

About the Author

the world of theatre, cinema and art. He also studied Philosophy at Birbeck College. His first book of poems A Time to Change was published in London in 1952, the year he left England, working his way home as a deck hand on a cargo ship. After returning from England, he joined

Nissim Ezekiel was born in Bombay in an

the editorial staff of the Illustrated Weekly

Indian Jewish family. His parents were

of India for about two years. He also

both educators. His father was a professor

broadcast regularly from the All-India

of botany and zoology and served as a

Radio on Art and Literature for about ten

principal in several colleges. His mother

years from 1952-1962.he co-founded the

was the principal of a school she had

literary monthly Imprint, in 1961. He

started.

became art critic of the Times of India

He was a distinguished scholar. He did his

(1964-66) and edited Poetry India (1966-

schooling in the missionary schools and

67). From 1961 to 1972, he headed the

joined the Wilson College, Bombay where

English department of Mithibai College,

he held an excellent academic record.

Mumbai.

While he was studying for his M.A. He

He had married in November 1952 and in

taught part-time at the Hansraj Morarji

1953 he had published his second book of

Public School, Bombay. He stood first in

poems Sixty Poems. Throughout his

Bombay University in his M.A. Examination

career, Ezekiel continued to publish as a

in English Literature, and was awarded the

poet, bringing out many collections and

R.K. Lagu Scholarship.

some plays. He also translated poetry from Marathi in 1976, and coedited a fiction

and poetry anthology, Another India

Or women. The best poets wait for words.

(1990).

The hunt is not an exercise of will

Soft spoken and gentle he was always

But patient love relaxing on a hill

helpful to fellow poets and writers. He

To note the movement of a timid wing;

acted as a mentor to younger poets, such

Until the one who knows that she is loved

as Dom Moraes, Adil Jussawalla and Gieve

No longer waits but risks surrendering -

Patel.

In this the poet finds his moral proved

Ezekiel received the Sahitya Akademi

Who never spoke before his spirit moved.

cultural award in 1983 and the PadmaShri, India's highest civilian honour, in 1988.

The slow movement seems, somehow, to say much more. To watch the rarer birds, you have to go

Did You Know???

Along deserted lanes and where the rivers flow In silence near the source, or by a shore

A beautiful poem taken from The Bard’s A Midsummer Nights Dream has a similar

Remote and thorny like the heart's dark floor.

title to Ezekiel’s poem, Poet, Lover,

And there the women slowly turn around,

Birdwatcher.

Not only flesh and bone but myths of light

Scan or Click on the QR Code to read this

With darkness at the core, and sense is found

interesting poem (Your Choice).

But poets lost in crooked, restless flight, The deaf can hear, the blind recover sight.

A Critical Appreciation In the poem, Nissim Ezekiel tries to highlight the common qualities in a poet,

Poet, Lover, Birdwatcher

lover and the bird watcher. The poem is a testimonial of the good observation of the

To force the pace and never to be still Is not the way of those who study birds

poet. He compares and contrasts the

qualities of all the three revealing how their

in the field of bird-watching much depends

quest ends.

on the mood of the bird, in the field of love

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream William Shakespeare finds the lover, the lunatic and the poet to be living in the world of imagination and so he puts the three together, when he says: The lover, the lunatic and the poet

much depends on the mood of the beloved, and in the field of writing poetry, much depends on the right word’s occurring to the poet: it may occur in a second, or it may take hours to occur. In other words, neither a poet, nor a lover, nor a bird-watcher can get things done at

Are of imagination all compact.

his will: the will of the word, the beloved

In the poem ‘Poet, Lover, Birdwatcher’

and the bird too matters. A bird-watcher

Nissim Ezekiel replaces the lunatic by the

has to wait patiently up a hill in a relaxed

birdwatcher and brackets the poet, the

mood

lover and the birdwatcher together and

movements. He cannot make the bird

finds the three to be alike as all the three

exhibit its ways to him as and when he

have to wait and, in order to gain success,

wants it to. He has to make the bird feel

they cannot depend on their being up and

that he is not an intruder as the moment

doing and fast. There are areas where one’s

the bird feels disturbed, it will fly away and

being speedy and remaining engaged

the bird-watcher will lose the bird.

brings one success but this is not so in the

Likewise, a lover has to win the heart of the

fields of composing poetry, courting a

beloved and has to wait patiently until she

beloved and watching birds. One who

comes to know that he is in love with her.

studies birds does not attain success by

The moment she comes to know that she is

becoming speedy in one’s actions and by

loved, she will take the risk of surrendering.

and

watch

the

timid

bird’s

never becoming still. Similarly, a lover has to wait and cannot attain success by forcing oneself to be swift and to remain engaged.

A poet too has to wait until his spirit has moved: he is able to say his say only when his spirit has started speaking. So long as he

Likewise, a poet cannot succeed in his field

is using only his intellect, he should not

by becoming swift and keeping himself

speak as at that time his words will not be

engaged. A poet has to wait for the right

able to express what he wants to say.

word to cross through his mind. And just as

The piece of advice that a bird-watcher has

The poem consists of twenty lines grouped

to be patient and has to move very slowly

into four stanzas of five lines each. The

implies that in order to watch the rarer

rhyme scheme in the first stanza is abbaa,

birds one has to go to lonely places and to

and in the second stanza it is cdcdd. In the

the places where nature has not been

second half of the poem, the same pattern

disturbed by man: he may have to go to the

recurs: the rhyme scheme in the first stanza

source of a river where man has not yet

is abbaa, and in the second stanza it is

disturbed the landscape or along the lanes

ababb.

which are no longer frequented by human beings. Likewise, a lover has to go to the dark floor of the beloved’s heart and know her unexpressed desires. The beloved responds only when the lover has reached the beloved’s heart which is not easy to

The poem has been written in iambic pentameter and with a few exceptions, each line is decasyllabic. The exceptions are the eleventh line, which consists of eleven syllables, and the thirteenth line, which consists of twelve syllables.

reach and where one may find many pricking thorn-like desires. But when the

Paraphrase of the poem

lover reaches the dark floor of then

Nissim Ezekiel examines common qualities

beloved’s heart, he gets not only her body

between a poet, lover and a bird watcher.

but the whole of her – whatever she is.

A bird watcher is never still in his curiosity

According to the poet the beloved is a myth

for birds. His mind is always in search of

of light having darkness at the core. The

something novel about birds. He observes

poet seems to be using the image of a flame

the birds in a still motion. He never speeds

which gives light no doubt but has darkness

up as far as his observation is concerned.

at the core. If it is so he likens the beloved

The same rule applies to both lovers and

to a flame here. If he means to say that the

poets.

beloved is not light but only a myth of light having darkness at the core, he means to say that the lover is disillusioned and

The lover studies women and the poet studies words or language.

realizes that the beloved is not as valuable

They wait for the right woman and the

a person as he believed her to be.

right words respectively. The hunt of all three is an exercise in itself. At the same time, the hunt is not based upon their own

will. The situation and needs shapeup their

has a dark floor because it is difficult to

untiring hunt. Their hunt needs persistent

comprehend the depth of one’s heart.

tolerance and patience. A bird watcher needs to relax on a hill for long hours even to note a single movement of the wings of a bird. He has to be motionless since the

The poet feels women are not just a bunch of flesh and bones but are like incomprehensible myths of light whose depth has no concrete limits.

birds are timid by nature. The search of all three is in the darkness Whereas a lover waits till he is sure that a woman loves him. The immediate action by his is he stops waiting and surrenders himself. He even at times risks by surrendering.

without any concrete path of their aspirations. At the centre of their quest, there is darkness but it is full of meaning for them. They all are moving in an impractical world according to the sensible beings. Their credit lies in giving meaning

A poet never speaks or expresses himself until his spirit is moved by something. When he proves that his morals are

even to the senseless quest. The outcome of their quest is almost out of the world and something miraculous.

turning right, then he moves to write

Ezekiel’s Poet, Lover and Birdwatcher is a

poetry. All the three: poet, lover and

short poem which deals with the creative

birdwatcher move in a slow pace though

process of writing a poem. It is a simple yet

they say much more than one can

significant poem written in two stanzas of

understand.

ten lines each. The rhyme scheme of the

Their creativity demands untiring efforts.

poem is abbaa cdcdd in which Ezekiel compares a poet with lover and

If a bird watcher wants to study rare

birdwatcher. The poem provides a

species of birds, he has to ungrudgingly

beautiful description to understand the

move in deserted lanes and rivers, shores

period in which a poem comes into

where there is a company of silence only.

existence. The poem captures journey of

The path of all three is very remote and

poet, lover and birdwatcher to reach their

thorny i.e., full of hurdles. The poet

final destination, their pathways are

compares this path to one’s heart which

different but have a close connection in their search of words, love and birds. In

the beginning of the poem, Ezekiel clarifies

not as easy as it seems. A poet wonders

that the act of watching birds and to win

one to another place, closely observes

the heart of beloved is a natural process

nature or around of his being to find

and not a forceful activity. As the poem

inspiration for his creative impulse. As the

starts, “To force the pace and never to be

poem rightly indicates that a poet must

still/Is not the way of those who study

wait patiently for the right moment unless

birds/Or women…” it indicates that those

he discovers a sense. In other words, A

who examine the habits of birds or a lover

poet should have birdwatcher’s eye and

to win the heart of beloved have to work

lover’s thirst to make his poem meaningful

with patience. The poet advises not to

medium of communication. Finally, Ezekiel

make any haste if they naturally want to

nicely illustrates the poetic process and

succeed in their act otherwise, they may

also proposes certain qualities that a poet

be losing what they are going to have.

must possess before articulating his

Similarly, a poet when he composes a

imagination into words.

poem has to wait for appropriate words. A poet also requires deep patience and inner inspiration to frame his emotions in a beautiful poem. Ezekiel rightly states “The

Credits: https://smartenglishnotes.com/2020/12/1 6/poet-lover-birdwatcher-summarycritical-appreciation-and-questions/

best poets wait for words”. The best poem is an outcome of constant inner struggle to find the words. In the state of quietness where silence becomes meaningful and all

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the medium of this poem, Ezekiel tries to My Universe: Coldplay ft. BTS portrait psychological and inner struggle of a poet while composing a poem. He also brings in our attention that poet’s task in

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