english-for-mystudents: The Void poem by Gajanan- Analysis

The Void

Gajanan

Satavahana /OU/KU M.A. English Sem.1

(Paper-V.Modern Indian Literatures in Translation)

The void inside us
has jaws ,
those jaws have carnivorous teeth;
those teeth will chew you up,
those teeth will chew up everyone else.
The dearth inside
is our nature,
habitually angry,
in the dark hollow inside the jaws
there is a pond of blood.
This void is utterly black,
is barbaric, is naked,
disowned, debased,
completely self absorbed.
I scatter it,
give it away,
with fiery words and deeds.
Those who cross my path
find this void
in the wounds
I inflict on them.
They let it grow,
spread it around,
scatter it and give it away
to others,
raising the children of emptiness.
The void is very durable,
it is fertile.
Everywhere it breeds
saws, daggers, sickles,
breeds carnivorous teeth.
That is why,
wherever you look,
there is dancing, jubilation,
death is now giving birth
to brand new children.
Everywhere
there are oversight
with the teeth of saws,
there are heavily armed mistakes:
the world looks at them
and walks on,
rubbing its hands.

•• Translated from Hindi by Vinay Dharwadker.**

englishlanguage-lit.blogspot.com

Gajanan is a Hindi poet.His poem “The Void” has surrealist (https://literarydevices.net/surrealism/ ) elements. He expresses his displeasure towards the present world, juxtaposing the void in humans with bizarre things. The Void is shapeless,colourless and immeasurable but the poet attributed some characteristics to it. The poet created horror in the minds of the readers with the use of vivid, shocking, horrific imagery such as a pond of blood, giving birth to brand new children , Jaws have carnivorous teeth.

The words such as daggers, sickels, saws, utterly black, barbaric symbolizes death, violence and destruction. These symbols evoke horror in the poem.

The repetition of words like chew up, breed emphasize the poet idea very clearly.

Analysis

The void inside us
has jaws ,
those jaws have carnivorous teeth;
those teeth will chew you up,
those teeth will chew up everyone else.

Emptiness or void in us has jaws with carnivorous teeth. These flesh eating teeth not only eats you but also chew every one. Carnivorous teeth are very sharp, useful in tearing the meat/flesh. These teeth are similar to saws or swords, which kill others and also kills sword wielding man.Vaccum in us has self absorption.

The dearth inside
is our nature,
habitually angry,
in the dark hollow inside the jaws
there is a pond of blood

Humans have the quality of dearth or insufficiency, which is usually anger. We witness a pond of blood in the dark hollow inside the jaws. In the beginning of the poem we encountered the phrase that jaws have carnivorous teeth which are ready to tear apart the flesh. The pool of blood inside the jaws is the result of the beastly nature of humans.

This void is utterly black,
is barbaric, is naked,
disowned, debased,
completely self absorbed

The void or vacuum is naked and debased. It has nothing to hide and no morals. The void is barbaric in nature since jaws do not have any rationale; they just cut bodies into pieces as they come across them. The utterly black void is a symbol of death, menace, and evil.

I scatter it,
give it away,
with fiery words and deeds.

The poet making it clear that he scatter and spread the void with fiery words and deeds. Void in us easily spreads and also engulf others.

Those who cross my path
find this void
in the wounds
I inflict on them

They let it grow,
spread it around,
scatter it and give it away
to others,
raising the children of emptiness.
Those who encounters him can find this utterly black, barbaric void in their wounds, which are inflicted by him. In turn the wounded grow, spread and scatter this void. They give offspring to the emptiness.

The void is very durable,
it is fertile.
Everywhere it breeds
saws, daggers, sickles,
breeds carnivorous teeth

As the void is fertile and lives for a long time, it reproduces saws ,daggers,sickles and carnivorous teeth

That is why,
wherever you look,
there is dancing, jubilation,
death is now giving birth
to brand new children.

We see dancing, enjoyment because death is giving birth to a new kind of children,who are born with void having carnivorous teeth. The paradox in these lines catches on the reader.Children are synonymous with innocence but the poet visualises brand new children with saws,daggers and sickles.The poet has no hope for good generation in near future.
Everywhere
there are oversights
with the teeth of saws,
there are heavily armed mistakes:
the world looks at them
and walks on,
rubbing its hands.

We fail to notice the teeth of saws and heavily armed mistakes. We are unconcerned with gun violence,killings and massacres happening around us. The world moves coolly looking at those inhuman and barbaric acts.

Rajesh Kumar. englishlanguage-lit.blogspot.com