Wind

Subramania Bharati. Source: Wikipedia

About the poet: A spiritual leader, freedom fighter and social reformer, Subramania Bharati (December 11, 1882-September 12, 1921) was born to Brahmin parents in Madras Presidency in British India. An Indian nationalist who let his words speak of his rage against the British rule in India, he was also a social reformer who firmly believed in and campaigned for women’s rights and social equality for all.

His form of writing brought a massive change in Tamil literary world. He is counted as one of the best modern Tamil poets.

Wind 

                                        by Subramania Bharati

Wind, come softly.

Don’t break the shutters of the windows.

Don’t scatter the papers.

Don’t throw down the books on the shelf.

There, look what you did — you threw them all down.

You tore the pages of the books.

You brought rain again.

Meaning:

Scatter-to throw in random directions

Literary Devices:

Personification- The poet addresses the wind as if he is talking to a person.

Anaphora- Repetition of a word or a phrase to bring a rhythmic effect, here two words have been repeated, i.e. “You” and “Don’t.”

We have a pretty disgruntled poet here. He is a little annoyed at the antics of the wind. The way he tells the wind not to play havoc in his home is quite stern and authoritative. He asks the wind to blow softly. He asks it not break the shutters of the window, scatter the pages or throw down the books kept on the shelves.

The wind, however, is a force of nature. It will not listen to a mere human. In a tussle of wills, the wind will always come out as the victor. It blew through the poet’s home and made the books fall. We can almost feel the glee of the wind at flouting the orders of the poet. The wind was so strong that it tore the pages of the fallen books and brought rain with it.

(Geography lesson time! Clouds are subject to the will of winds. They go wherever the winds take them. Even the South-West Monsoon is a wind that brings water-laden cloud banks to India.)

You’re very clever at poking fun at weaklings.

Frail crumbling houses, crumbling doors,

crumbling rafters, crumbling wood, crumbling bodies,

crumbling lives, crumbling hearts —

the wind god winnows and crushes them all.

Meanings:

Crumbling- falling apart, about to fall, breaking into small pieces

Rafters- wood beams supporting the roof

Winnows- to separate chaff from the grain

Literary Devices:

Have you found the Anaphora here? The “C” word.

Alliteration- Wind god Winnows

Subramania was a freedom fighter and an extremist at that. Can you find hints of his anger in this stanza? His anger toward not only the British rule but also the helplessness of his fellow countrymen and their fear of the British is clear here.

He accuses the wind of mocking the weak and downtrodden. He says that it is easier for the wind to destroy all things that are dilapidated and already falling apart. Houses, doors, rafters (support for roofs), wood (possibly a reference to huts or wooden houses), bodies (weak, fragile, poverty and hunger-stricken Indians), lives (again a reference to the oppressed Indians under the British Raj) and hearts (a reference to the broken spirit of the Indians reeling under the cruel rule).

Winnowing

Winnowing is a method of removing chaff from the grain with the help of wind. So the poet says that the wind god (now he is changing his tone; from authoritative, he is now turning a little respectful toward the wind) crushes the weak but leaves the strong alone. The “crumbling” stand no chance against the mighty wind god but the powerful and steadfast do.

He won’t do what you tell him.

So, come, let’s build strong homes,

Let’s joint the doors firmly.

Practise to firm the body.

Make the heart steadfast.

Meaning:

Steadfast- determined and unwavering

The poet is advising the Indians under the British rule to make their bodies stronger and their resolve firmer. He wants the people of the country to unite. Remember, he is NOT comparing the wind to the British Raj. Instead, he is comparing the wind to challenges and problems that we face. Where on one hand, trials may break the weak-willed, on the other, the strong become stronger during challenges.

This reminds me of the proverb, “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.”

Therefore, the only way to stand up to the strength of the wind is to make ourselves, our homes, our bonds and our hearts stronger.

Do this, and the wind will be friends with us.

The wind blows out weak fires.

He makes strong fires roar and flourish.

His friendship is good.

We praise him every day.

And the turnabout. The poet now wants us to make every possible effort to be stronger so that the wind god is not able to break us. The wind extinguishes weak fires. But if the fire is strong, it flares higher with each gust of wind.

The friendship of the wind god is good. Why? Because challenges hone us, polish us and make us a better version of ourselves. We praise the wind god every day because it can be benign and bring the rain-bearing clouds that help the crop grow.

It’s how you perceive the message here. You can be angry and frustrated at the challenges that come your way or you can accept that the only way to beat these challenges is to fight them.