Posted on March 11, 2024March 11, 2024 by adminNotes
The poem “Small-Scale Reflections on a Great House” traces the dynamic changes that occurs within the house throughout history. It has many layers of symbols and it also features some post-colonial themes as well as the modernist proclivity in writing. Ramanujan is heavily influenced by the modernist aesthetics and it is evident in his free verse writing style and the representation of darker side of human life and the internal dynamics.
The poem contains history as an important theme. The house becomes a symbolical monument for history where the physical remains the same but it has accumulate various things that has never left. The items in the house gets lost among other things that were lost long ago showcasing the generation of history that has passed and continue to pass in the same house.
The poem also showcases Indian tradition and culture as a theme. The house itself is a microcosm for Indian landscape reflecting the mirror of Indian culture. The poem describes a house where items brought in never seem to leave, getting lost among other things already there. The other examples are given, such as cows being tethered, library books laying eggs for fines, and neighbours’ dishes never being taken back. The return of items is also highlighted, with letters finding their way back, ideas resurfacing, and beggars returning with songs. The family members who leave often come back in different forms such as grandchildren who recite Sanskrit or bringing gifts for ancestors. All these vivid images showcase the Indian tradition and the idiosyncratic behaviour of Indianness.
The poem also gives a space for Indian soldiers who participated in the World Wars. The poem also shows some Indian soldiers who fought in the world war. In an Indian context, the poet suggest that the soldiers return back to their homes even if they are changed or sometimes go to foreign lands “away as the Sahara”. There is a mention of one Indian soldier who presumably died cause of heavy injuries and his body was returned back to the family. The family hears the news of their demise son before the telegram reaches the family which also shows the peculiar nature of Indian atmosphere.
The idea of a family and a sense of belonging is encapsulated in the poem. The Indianness is celebrated vividly throughout the poem. As the reader reads the poem, the Indians can generally sense an awe of belonging and relate their own family temperament. For instance, the poem mentions cows being tethered and given names, as well as encouraged to get pregnant under the supervision of elders. Girls hide behind windows with holes in them during this process. The unread library books mature in two weeks and start laying eggs in the ledgers for fines highlighting that books exist as an ornament. Silverfish breed in the old man’s office room among legal words on Victorian parchment.
The another example in the poem is that the neighbour’s dishes brought into the house for a wedding anniversary never leave, similar to servants, phonographs, and other items. Sons-in-law forget their mothers but stay to check accounts or teach arithmetic to nieces. Women who come as wives from houses open to rising and setting suns wait and yield to monsoons. Anything that goes out eventually comes back with long bills attached, like cotton bales shipped off and returned as cloth.
Critically, the speaker in the poem is addressing the return of people, things, objects and ideas back to home. It clearly shows the various nexus of interconnectedness towards home where hybridity of things is celebrated. For instance, the letters mailed often find their way back with many redirections and red ink-marks earned in different places. Ideas mentioned casually come back as prodigies, resembling what Uncle said about Plotinus and Alexander. A beggar with a violin sings a prostitute song that the voiceless cook sings in the backyard. Daughters get married to short-lived idiots, and runaway sons come back in the form of grandchildren who recite Sanskrit. The visitors bring betel nuts and share anecdotes of unseen fathers. Ganges water is brought for dying ancestors.
The poem also shows the modernist proclivity and a tendency in writing style and darker themes. The poem is written in a free verse style which modernist poets exploited with their poems. The main motif of using it is to translate the social reality perceive by the consciousness of a human mind. Ramanujan also vividly captures the reality of Indian culture and their idiosyncratic behaviour and attitude towards life. His writing is expressionistic meaning that it explores the internal dynamics of family relationships with each other and around each other. The internal dynamics behind the “house” gives a modernist tendency in the poem where the inner ideas of family and their behaviour is very well exposed in the poem ranging from women hiding behind their windows to the women marrying a temporal husbands who runaway to the return of sons with their grandchildren.
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FAQs
The Great House mentioned in the poem can be taken as the Indian subcontinent. In this poem, the poet tries to bring out that most of the goods produced by the colonized countries have used the raw materials from India. But the fact is that these goods were sold to the Indian people for higher prices.
What is the critical appreciation of the poem small scale reflection on a great house? ›
The poet also appears to view favorably the great absorbing power of his traditional culture. “Small- scale Reflections on a Great House” stresses this aspect of it, by making the familial motif a symbol of the larger theme of the Hindu heritage.
What is the conclusion of small scale reflections on a great house? ›
Things that once found their way into the house lost themselves among other things in the house that had also been lost long ago. Therefore this projects the antiquity, rich heritage and innumerable elements the culture encompasses.
What is the small scale reflections on a great house as a social satire? ›
Explanation: “Small-Scale Reflections on a Great House” may appear on the superficial level as a poem about an ancestral house. Nevertheless, it signifies, considerably, the Great Indian Culture. The house is said to possess an incorrigible property of letting anything into its confine without allowing it to go back.
What is the central idea of the poem short answer? ›
The central idea is what the poet is writing aboutor conveying to the reader. The message of the poem is the poet's feelings of position regarding the central idea. For example, the central idea of a poem might be war. The message might be opposition to war, the devastation, loss, suffering.
What is the irony in the poem Small Scale Reflections on a Great house? ›
'Small Scale Reflections a Great House' is steeped in irony. There's irony in the veritably opening lines “Sometimes I think that nothing/that ever comes into this house/goes out.” The speaker, who's Ramanujan himself, also goes on to say, in an ironic tone. 'The obituary' is another completely ironic poem.
What is critical appreciation of the poem? ›
While appreciation is respect for the poem, you can overlook the flaws and still enjoy something about it. Critical appreciation, as a matter of fact, analysing work to evaluate its contents to discover hidden qualities and explain the reasons as to why it should be appreciated.
What is the critical appreciation of the story? ›
Critical appreciation is analyzing a work to evaluate its contents and explain why it should be appreciated. While it's easy to like something, showing a critical justification for your appreciation is somewhat more difficult.
What is the meaning of critical appreciation of the poem? ›
A poem's critical appreciation is the process of evaluating, comprehending, and interpreting a literary work from a DISCERNING perspective.
What is the moral of the poem a house a home? ›
Answer: The moral of the poem a House and a Home is that a house is a lifeless building. It becomes a home only when people live in it with love, kindness and emotions. Therefore, the poet advises to love and help each other so that we can enjoy living in our home.
The speaker concludes that limes must have been the plantation's main crop. He notes that they were most likely grown in the silt on the riverbank. The arrogant and idle white aristocratic men who used to run around with girls are long gone; the river has washed away their memory and the pain they caused.
What is the message of the poem a house a home? ›
It emphasizes that a home is not defined by its physical attributes but by the intangible qualities that make it a sanctuary. The poem emphasizes the importance of love and relationships in turning a house into a home. It suggests that it is the people living within the house who bring life and meaning to its walls.
How is the grandmother's house portrayed in the poem my grandmother's house ?'? ›
This house was clearly once a place of warmth and love. But after the speaker's grandmother died, it fell into ruins, haunted by "snakes" and "frozen" silences. The idea that the house is "far away" might thus suggest that the speaker's happy times in this house feel remote in time as well as space.
What does the house represent in the poem my grandmother's house? ›
The house represents the feeling of love which the speaker could get from her grandmother. But, now the house is silent. The poem moves through the happy past and sad present. The poet uses the image of snakes moving among the books now for which she was too younger in her childhood.
What is the role of satire in modern day society? ›
Although satire is usually meant to be humorous, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit to draw attention to both particular and wider issues in society.
What is the central idea of the poem a house a home? ›
The central theme of the poem revolves around the distinction between a house and a home. It explores the idea that a house is a physical structure made of materials like bricks and tiles, while a home is a place filled with love, warmth, and the presence of loved ones.
Why is the central main idea in a poem? ›
The central idea of a poem is its underlying theme, message or concept that the poet wants to convey. It is the overarching subject that the poet explores in the poem, and it can be expressed in a variety of ways such as through emotions, events, characters, symbols, and imagery.
What is the central idea of the poem Home Sweet Home? ›
Ans: The poet says that though we may roam around palaces and pleasure-filled places, there is no place like home, however simple it may be. Something magical from the sky seems to have made it holy. We cannot find this anywhere else in the world, however much we may search for it.
