Ramanujan’s “Snakes” points out the touching truth, the truth of insensibility and indifference of the modern society. The poor do not hesitate to face danger. No doubt, snake-charmers take any risk only to extinguish the starvation of the family by providing entertainment or pastime to the rich.
Here it appears that their lives are for the sake of snakes :
“The snakeman wreathes their writhing
round his neck
for father’s smiling money.”
Another reference is made to snakes, flies and frogs. The poet brings out the puzzled association of snakes with the family. The snakes are “like some terrible aunt.” Whenever his sister entwines her hair he conceives it as ophite. The poet as a child does not get rest from the fear of snakes till they
are killed.
“Now
frogs can hop upon this sausage rope
flies in the sun will mob the look in his eyes,
and I can walk through the woods.”
The poet is placid and lepid that small creature like frog can now hop on the serpent which is just like a “sausage rope” and flies will mob the look in his eyes. Another reaction of his parents and the poet to the snake can be seen here. His mother gives it milk; the father cheerily pays the snakecharmer, but the poet screams at its sight. The poet adroitly depicts the
“The twirls of their hisses
rise like the tiny dust-cones on slow noon roads
Winding through the farmers feet.
Black lorgnettes are etched on their hoods,
ridiculous, alien, like some terrible aunt,
a crest among tiles and scales
that moult with the darkening half
of every moon.”
Bruce King has corroborated this poetic feeling in his own words : “The poem presents an image, a complex of feelings, distilled memories and events which are not elaborated or commented upon. But as it begins in the present ‘now’ of museums of book stacks which contrast with rural India and family life, the poem celebrates the liberation from the fears of the past, ‘ghosts’ from which Ramanujan now feels safe.”
Ramanujan illustrates the pathetic picture of the poor in his many poems. In “Elements of Composition” he feels deep grief over the pitiable position of the leprous men of Madurai. The deformed postures of lepers and their troublesome movement reduce them to a skeleton, “Pillars” :
“add the lepers of Madurai
male, female, married with children, lion faces, crabs for claws,
clotted on their shadows under the stone-eyed goddesses of dance, mere pillars,
moving as nothing on earth can move.”
The poet is anxious about the miserable condition of the lepers and so he calls gods and goddesses as “stone-eyed.” S.S. Dulai expressively says : “Ramanujan observes closely and often laments poignantly the human misery resulting from material want and moral corruption in contemporary India.”
"Snakes" is among the best poems of Ramanujam. The poem begins on a note of suspense with an emphatic, "No, it decs not happen when I walk through the wood". This happens when he is walking through museums or libraries. The description is of a snake that induces fear in the minks of all. The snakes take shelter in the museums, book shelves, glass-shelves, etc., The Poet says that the book of yellow vein, yellow amber would remind him of snakes, the shelf which is arranged in geometric lines would remind him of snakes.Ramajujam can be distracted by his own skill for description is seen in the apparently irrelevant but rived detail of" the yellow vein in the yellow amber" or "the book with gold on its spine". The amber yellow and gold and the curves with the imagination think of snakes.
The Poet compares the intermittent hissing of the snakes to the little clouds of dust that arise one walks along a dusty road. They have the nature of winding through one's feet exactly the way the snacks do. The hoods, the snacks have display a kind of design resembling the etched black lorgnettes. It looks ridiculous all the same. It is likened to the terrible aunt who is proud of her titles. The snake's scales mount with the warning of the moon. Them, he explains a real incident. One day a snake man has brought a basket full of cobras to the poet's home. The snakes are Jet out and the person watches them more on the floor. Their bodies are wheat - brown in colour with rings all over. The way they move on the floor looks like a strange alphabet written here and there. The poet's mother feeds the snakes with saucers of milk. As they suck the milk, the etched design on the brass reappears. The snake man then wears them on his neck in order to impress the poet's father. The latter gives him money.
The Poet has a sister who has long hair touching the ground. He notices her tying her hair in braids. She takes great care in tending them and decorates them with tassels. These braids look very much like the snakes and the wa^/es themselves resemble the scales on the body. Both have the nature of shinning
brightly. In other works the poet is often reminded of snakes when he looks at the braids of his sister. He is so afraid that he waits impatiently to see hair trimmed and tried up neatly.
Then, the poet narrates the happening while he walks along the forest path suddenly he feels as if he is walking on a slippery surface. It is a snake and it writhes in pain. Its body is green -white the bluish nodes resemble a lotus stalk that has been plucked lately. He steps on it until it is dead; He is now confident and is not afraid. He expects the frogs to hop over the sausage rope without fear of being eaten up. The flies can come round the eye part of the snake and he himself has grown at all.
Portrayal of the Market scene in Ramanujan's Snakes.
A.K. Ramanujam brings out the market scene in this poem. He feels provoked on seeing the oranges in the city market. They are carried in wicker baskets. The oranges fill the gaps inside these baskets woren in intricate designs. The fruits are of various colours. Some are still green, others are over ripe with a pot of fungi-ash in a hollow; some others are of saffron colour; others are puply and velvet - sinned. Some of the fruits resemble the inner first of fingers held rather loosely. It is compared to the loosening skin andweakening nerves in the part of a grand old man who is termed by the poet as 'Grandpa's grip'.
Noticing the orange tree the poet looks at the small branch which once served as an extension is found to be intact. The same is described as the human umbilical cord. The tree once nourished the young bud, the power coming from the root part of the tree. The fruit has come out at this mature stage and the tree holds it even now. There is now no connection between the fruit and the tree. The fruit itself finds its way into the basket. The fruits in the tree every seed of the tree can produce thousands of oranges in turn. The cycle goes on like this and it is a never ending process. As is characteristic of Ramanujam, there is no real conclusion.
Here it appears that their lives are for the sake of snakes :
“The snakeman wreathes their writhing
round his neck
for father’s smiling money.”
Another reference is made to snakes, flies and frogs. The poet brings out the puzzled association of snakes with the family. The snakes are “like some terrible aunt.” Whenever his sister entwines her hair he conceives it as ophite. The poet as a child does not get rest from the fear of snakes till they
are killed.
“Now
frogs can hop upon this sausage rope
flies in the sun will mob the look in his eyes,
and I can walk through the woods.”
The poet is placid and lepid that small creature like frog can now hop on the serpent which is just like a “sausage rope” and flies will mob the look in his eyes. Another reaction of his parents and the poet to the snake can be seen here. His mother gives it milk; the father cheerily pays the snakecharmer, but the poet screams at its sight. The poet adroitly depicts the
“The twirls of their hisses
rise like the tiny dust-cones on slow noon roads
Winding through the farmers feet.
Black lorgnettes are etched on their hoods,
ridiculous, alien, like some terrible aunt,
a crest among tiles and scales
that moult with the darkening half
of every moon.”
Bruce King has corroborated this poetic feeling in his own words : “The poem presents an image, a complex of feelings, distilled memories and events which are not elaborated or commented upon. But as it begins in the present ‘now’ of museums of book stacks which contrast with rural India and family life, the poem celebrates the liberation from the fears of the past, ‘ghosts’ from which Ramanujan now feels safe.”
Ramanujan illustrates the pathetic picture of the poor in his many poems. In “Elements of Composition” he feels deep grief over the pitiable position of the leprous men of Madurai. The deformed postures of lepers and their troublesome movement reduce them to a skeleton, “Pillars” :
“add the lepers of Madurai
male, female, married with children, lion faces, crabs for claws,
clotted on their shadows under the stone-eyed goddesses of dance, mere pillars,
moving as nothing on earth can move.”
The poet is anxious about the miserable condition of the lepers and so he calls gods and goddesses as “stone-eyed.” S.S. Dulai expressively says : “Ramanujan observes closely and often laments poignantly the human misery resulting from material want and moral corruption in contemporary India.”
"Snakes" is among the best poems of Ramanujam. The poem begins on a note of suspense with an emphatic, "No, it decs not happen when I walk through the wood". This happens when he is walking through museums or libraries. The description is of a snake that induces fear in the minks of all. The snakes take shelter in the museums, book shelves, glass-shelves, etc., The Poet says that the book of yellow vein, yellow amber would remind him of snakes, the shelf which is arranged in geometric lines would remind him of snakes.Ramajujam can be distracted by his own skill for description is seen in the apparently irrelevant but rived detail of" the yellow vein in the yellow amber" or "the book with gold on its spine". The amber yellow and gold and the curves with the imagination think of snakes.
The Poet compares the intermittent hissing of the snakes to the little clouds of dust that arise one walks along a dusty road. They have the nature of winding through one's feet exactly the way the snacks do. The hoods, the snacks have display a kind of design resembling the etched black lorgnettes. It looks ridiculous all the same. It is likened to the terrible aunt who is proud of her titles. The snake's scales mount with the warning of the moon. Them, he explains a real incident. One day a snake man has brought a basket full of cobras to the poet's home. The snakes are Jet out and the person watches them more on the floor. Their bodies are wheat - brown in colour with rings all over. The way they move on the floor looks like a strange alphabet written here and there. The poet's mother feeds the snakes with saucers of milk. As they suck the milk, the etched design on the brass reappears. The snake man then wears them on his neck in order to impress the poet's father. The latter gives him money.
The Poet has a sister who has long hair touching the ground. He notices her tying her hair in braids. She takes great care in tending them and decorates them with tassels. These braids look very much like the snakes and the wa^/es themselves resemble the scales on the body. Both have the nature of shinning
brightly. In other works the poet is often reminded of snakes when he looks at the braids of his sister. He is so afraid that he waits impatiently to see hair trimmed and tried up neatly.
Then, the poet narrates the happening while he walks along the forest path suddenly he feels as if he is walking on a slippery surface. It is a snake and it writhes in pain. Its body is green -white the bluish nodes resemble a lotus stalk that has been plucked lately. He steps on it until it is dead; He is now confident and is not afraid. He expects the frogs to hop over the sausage rope without fear of being eaten up. The flies can come round the eye part of the snake and he himself has grown at all.
Portrayal of the Market scene in Ramanujan's Snakes.
A.K. Ramanujam brings out the market scene in this poem. He feels provoked on seeing the oranges in the city market. They are carried in wicker baskets. The oranges fill the gaps inside these baskets woren in intricate designs. The fruits are of various colours. Some are still green, others are over ripe with a pot of fungi-ash in a hollow; some others are of saffron colour; others are puply and velvet - sinned. Some of the fruits resemble the inner first of fingers held rather loosely. It is compared to the loosening skin andweakening nerves in the part of a grand old man who is termed by the poet as 'Grandpa's grip'.
Noticing the orange tree the poet looks at the small branch which once served as an extension is found to be intact. The same is described as the human umbilical cord. The tree once nourished the young bud, the power coming from the root part of the tree. The fruit has come out at this mature stage and the tree holds it even now. There is now no connection between the fruit and the tree. The fruit itself finds its way into the basket. The fruits in the tree every seed of the tree can produce thousands of oranges in turn. The cycle goes on like this and it is a never ending process. As is characteristic of Ramanujam, there is no real conclusion.