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CSI COLLEGE OF EDUCATION PARASSALA

NAME OF THE TEACHER TRAINEE : RAJITHA YSOPTIONAL SUBJECT : ENGLISH

K. SATCHIDANANDAN

PROFILE OF K. SATCHIDANANDAN

K. Satchidanandan (b. 1946) is a major Indian poet, who writes in Malayalam and English. He is also a critic, editor and translator. He was the Executive Head of the Sahitya Akademi and editor of Indian Literature, the bimonthly journal of the Akademi. He has translated the poems of Bertolt Brecht,Garcia Lorca, Pablo Neruda and Cesar Vallejo into Malayalam.

cactus

Cactus(Poem)Thorns are my language.I announce my existencewith a bleeding touch.Once these thorns were flowers.I loathe lovers who betray. Poets have abandoned the desertsto go back to the gardens.Only camels remains here, and merchantswho trample my flowers to dust.One thorn for each rare drop of water.I don’t tempt butterflies.

Introduction of the poem Cactus

The poem Cactus by Sachidanadhan is like the manifesto of a different notion of beauty. Conventionally ,beauty is associated with harmony,softness,symmetry and brightness.The toughness and sharpness of the of the cactus is not normally associated with beauty. But the plant posses serious questions on the notion of beauty.

Summary of the poem

The poem is in an autobiographical tone. The cactus has no one else to speak for it. It says, ‘No bird sings my praise. 'Even poets cannot see its beauty, which is a continuous story of suffering and survival. The thorn of the cactus is used as a metaphor for pain or suffering by poets. According to the poet, Cactus becomes anti-romantic with the statement that thorn is the is the language of the cactus which proclaim the existence of the lone desert plant.

New Words

Cactus - plant with thick, fleshy stem ,covered with pricklesLoathe - feel disgust forAbandoned(adj) - deserted, given upTrample - crush under the feetpiercing(adj) - penetratingMerchants - traders

Images of garden and desert used in the poem

Flowers, butterflies, birds and their songs are the images of a garden.

Camels, merchants, thorns, dust and drought are the images of a desert.

CONCLUSION

In short , the poem is an attempt to define an alternative concept of beauty and the cactus represents the subaltern world view and aesthetic of the marginalized.

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