Literature reflects life and reveals its intricacies through poems and other literary genres. Language and literature influence society as they are inseparable and intertwined with human life. Flowers are a perennial theme in poetry and to narrow down the best poems based on this imagery is difficult. There are innumerable poems in different periods and diverse literature based on Flowers. The readers feel the touch and sight of a flower through these poems. They also allow us to contemplate the great teachings of life and what life is all about through several allegories.
India is a land of various languages and cultures. And each of these languages has a rich body of literary works. Malayalam literature has had a significant impact and is deeply ingrained in me. I am proud to introduce a poem by Kumaran Asan, a great epic poet.
During the 20th century, Malayalam literature saw the supremacy of a trio or triumvirate: Kumaran Asan, Ulloor Parameswara Iyer, and Vallathol Narayan Menon. Kumaran Asan initiated a revolution in Malayalam poetry in the first quarter of the 20th century and he became a Mahakavi (great poet) without writing any Mahakavyam (epic poetry). It was Asan who started Romantic movement in Malayalam literature. There were many poets before, who were fully conversant with western literature; but it was Asan who first introduced the western style of introducing the subject and description. He was also known as “Ashaya Gambheeran” (an individual of great thoughts). Kumaran Asan, the poet who denotes the poetic revolution in the first quarter of the 20th century.
The poem “Veenapoovu” (veena/veenathu means fallen/dead) (English: Fallen Flower), a powerful poem by Asan is distinctive in many respects in the entire literary array for various reasons. Firstly, most of the other poets have used the imagery of flowers to describe beauty and visual richness and to highlight the wonders of nature. Asan uses a fallen flower to speak about the fleeting nature of life and to discuss in detail various other intricacies that usually challenge human life. Secondly, most of the poems on flowers in any language are sonnets, small odes, lyrics or comparatively smaller masterpieces. The Fallen Flower is a considerably long poem with philosophical overtones, creative subtlety, and poetic originality. It is written as an elegy as well. One cannot say that there has been a poet who has not experienced and written about the charm of flowers. All of us know that they are the most widely used image or motif in poetry. But few have considered a fallen flower, something that is usually flattened and lost in the mud, an apt subject for poetry. Asan was able to project a whole life while reflecting over a fallen flower. This poem is somehow similar to the poem called "Dead Rose" written by Elizabeth Barret Browning who lived in the early 18th century.
This poem tries to introduce the ephemerality of the mortal world, and depicts the various stages in the life of a flower. Asan describes in great detail: the fallen flower, its plausible past, and the place it held. This is a Malayalam poem which created ripples in the hearts of readers and is one of the most significant works of Asan.
The forty-one well-written stanzas of Veena Poovu, (Fallen Flower, 1908) in an elevated and dignified style, unfold figuratively the issues of ‘Being and Becoming’. The fallen flower is transformed into a personalised symbol of life and its whims and fancies. The three stages of life dealt here are childhood, adolescence/youth and the culmination by treacherous death. The first word Ha, and the last word Kashtam of the entire poem is often considered as an allegory of him calling the world outside "Ha! kashtam" (Oh bad).
The poem is a rational elucidation of death through the life cycle of a flower. Kumaran Asan penned these 41 stanzas after seeing a fallen flower on his way while hiking. To analyse or describe this poem is not my cup of tea because it is a symbolic poem, philosophical one, an elegy of unrivalled beauty, and reveals consolation and reconciliation also.
The flower has fallen and is waiting – for the inevitable to happen, to perish. The poem starts with the exclamation of Ha! Oh flower! The poet exclaims that the same flower was ruling like a dazzling queen fondled by the mother plant, leaves and twigs and in the midst of the buds. He compares the flower to a cute baby fondled by the leaves and a soothing lullaby sung by the winds and the entire universe. The flower grows stage by stage and the poet in his verse mentions that the flower learns from the small birds and the stars’ teachings of life. The poem exemplifies each and every object in the universe and how it affects an individual in its growth.
The flower gets nurtured and reaches the stage of puberty and in his verse, the poet depicts the stunning beauty of the flower. He even tries to explain how everyone stares at the beauty of the flower exactly like a man stares at the stunning beauty of a young girl. The poet pens his feelings through an amazing imagery that even a coward who is running away from an enemy cannot stop turning to gaze at the flower and even a celebrant cannot also stop staring at the young girl. He illustrates how butterflies and a black beetle start humming round the flower. Quite contrary to the usual practice, the flower gets attracted to the black beetle. Alas! It is all so short. Death knocks at the door. The flower falls down. Life turns down our dreams and it has its own way of expression. This poem during this pandemic has more implication as it is a philosophical juxtaposition of a flower. A queen, rather a dazzling queen eventually faces death and is ready to turn to soil and decay. Asan uses his imagery as a harsh reminder to all human beings who boast of beauty, authority, power, and dominance. Life does not guarantee anything.
It is an idealistic poem that exemplifies the life of a human being and puts across this transience of life and especially we learned this in this pandemic. Asan conveys a strong message that every living being is bound by the same laws of nature and will one day fade away just like a flower. It is an intense sarcasm on people on high powers/positions finally losing all those in this brief life. Death is the same for all rich or poor or any creed or caste.
The poet enlightens us that the flower lost its glory and is lying down on the ground. However, the green grass felt exhilarated because the dainty flower fell on the ground touching the grass. The beetle is weeping and moving around. The entire nature laments. The small birds start blabbering exactly how human beings weep near the corpse and murmuring words of no meaning. The stars shed their tears as dew drops; even the rocks lament. The beetle laments and the poet explains there is no point in mourning and brings out the harsh reality of life. Life is just like a dream and a sudden death is always better than a prolonged death. We all one day will submerge in the soil.
This kind of absolute daintiness of touch in each line was very rare in Malayalam poetry at that time. The flower’s innocence in its bud, through its youth and charm, and in the end – a withered, dying shadow lying on the ground waiting to rejoin its source, the earth.”
(Please note that this is just a summary of the poem to provoke you to read and I am sure I haven’t been able to do complete justice to this poem. Please accept my apology if I have omitted or added any point.)
(Translation by G. Kumara Pillai: You can read.)
Friends, this is life. It is not about how many obstacles you have hit to reach the destination. It is how we have made our way through these obstacles and 2020 is a classic example of this lesson…
At the end of the day, all that matters is to follow what we like to do and the happiness bestowed on that. Life is transient. So, enjoy each moment and do not forget to read good literature and poems like this which stirs our mind.
Jayasree Menon
Co-Ordinator & Visiting Faculty