For Wednesday: 'Close Reading' Classical Indian Poets

For Wednesday: Poems from Classical India

Readings: Bhartrhari (pp.1259-1262); Vikatanitamba (1263); Bhavakedevi (1263); Bhavabhuti (pp/1265-1267); Rajasekhara (pp.1270-1271)

For this week, I only have ONE question for you, but it’s much more focused than usual.  I want you to choose one of the poems from one of the writers above, and write a ‘close reading’ analysis of the poem.  A ‘close reading’ means you explain what the poem is saying by examining the metaphors, the language, the tone, and even the sounds so we can ‘see’ how you read/understand the poem.

Remember, don’t summarize the ‘plot’ of the poem or be too vague.  The goal here is to examine specific ideas and words so you can analyze rather than summarize.  This will make you a better reader of poetry and a better writer in general.  Both are the goal of our readings in Humanities I!

For example, here is a close reading of the poem “When she’s out of sight” (pg.1260).  Don’t do this poem in your own analysis!  J

The poem opens with the poet discussing the longing he has for his love when she’s “out of sight.”  It seems love becomes more powerful with absence, as he admits, “When she’s out of sight,/we desire to see her;/when we behold her,/we want to hold her in a sweet embrace.”  In other words, the desire for the woman comes with a reunion; if he had seen her all along, would he want to “hold her in a sweet embrace?”  The poet goes on to say that when they are embracing, “we wish our separate bodies/to be one at once--/without difference.”  While this alludes to a sexual union, it also has a deeper, more passionate meaning.  If they could be “one—without difference” they could never again part, never be forced to imagine rather than love.  This poem seems to underline the old saying that “absence makes the heart grow fonder,” since the passionate desire of “oneness” comes from knowing what it is to be without.  Can true love take root without conflict and loss?  This ancient poem suggests that to love is to suffer, and without great pain we can never know great love—or great peace.