“A River” is one of Ramanujam’s finest poems appeared in “The Striders” in 1966. It is a poem on the vaigai which flours through Madurai. A City that has been the seat of Tamil Culture. The poem is an evocation of a river. The poet refers to the river as a helping as well as a destructive force. In the Sangam Period the city had many great pundits who sang the glory of their town, Language asd river, They wrote profusely when the river was in spate. At the same time there were times when the river remained dry. On the Sandy bed could be seen he hair and stow dogging the Watergates. The iron bars under the bridge are in need of repair. The wet stones all like the sleeping crocodiles. The dry stones look like the sharen buffaloes. It is a wonder for the poet because not too often such scenes are described by the poets.
The water in the river makes all the poets imaginative and sing verses about it. A poet visits the river and examines the scene quite closely. But the scene witnessed by him is different. As it was raining the level of the water in the river kept rising. The whole city was flooded. Three village houses were swept away. The news came of a pregnant lady and a couple of cows being washed away. Even the new poets do not bother to write about all these things. They look at it still in the old way as seen by the old poets. A careful, imaginative consideration should bring in many things so far unsaid about the river. It is a pity that no one has the heart to feel about the heart with twin children in her womb getting drowned in the river.
In “A River” Ramanujan throws light on the reality of the present and the past. In the past, the poets were the appreciators of the cities, temples, rivers, streams and are indifferent to the miseries of human beings and animals. The river dries to a trickle in every summer the “poets sang only of the floods.” Flood is the symbol of destruction to person and property. The poets of today still quoted the old poets sans the relevancy of life:
“The new poets still quoted
the old poets, but no one spoke
in verse of the pregnant woman –
drowned, with perhaps twins in her,
kicking at the blank walls even before birth.”
drowned, with perhaps twins in her,
kicking at the blank walls even before birth.”
The image of “pregnant woman” implies a fine example of two generations, the present and the future. R. Parthasarathy verily remarks “The relative attitudes of the old and new Tamil poets, both of whom are exposed for their callousness to suffering, when it is so obvious as a result of the flood.”6 This statement is, no doubt, corroborated by K. Sumana in a lucid manner:
“The poet narrates the poem through the mouth of a visitor to make it objective. The greatness of the poem lies in the fact that the traditional praise for river has been contrasted with what is actually experienced by the people during the floods. Apart from presenting the grim realities of a rover in spate,
Ramanujan hints at the sterility of new Tamil poets who still quoted the old poets.”
Ramanujan hints at the sterility of new Tamil poets who still quoted the old poets.”
“A River” and “Epitaph on a Street Dog” ironically present the same reality : “She spawned in a hurry a score of pups/all bald, blind, and growing old at her paps.” The cosmic vision of India in “A River” and “Epitaph on a Street Dog” is contrasted to “Love Poem for a Wife.” Ramanujan’s attempt to squire the ancient circle/of you and me is fascinating in its varying moods. His lover claims that he cannot recollect the face and the words of his absent beloved, though his memory is not explained. “Love Poem for a Wife” is an imposing comment on how an unshared childhood eliminates a dedicated couple and “Still Life” is an appraisal of love as an abiding presence. These love poems are conspicuous for their insight, splendour and deep emotion.