This works intends to analyse the elements of symbolism in Nissim Ezekiel’s poem ”In the country cottage”. Ezekiel is considered as a master in the use of symbols and images. Symbolism is the literary device that uses symbols, like words, locations and abstract ideas to represent something beyond literal meaning. Thus the use of symbolism add emotion, imagery, themes and sometimes it defines characters present in a literary work. Nissim Ezekiel is a poet who use highly evocative and suggestive symbols and images in his poetry. The images and symbols usually used by Ezekiel are women, natural elements like hill, river, sky, sun etc. These symbols give pictorial quality to his poems. Even though he uses simple language and less use of words, it makes the work impressive and sharpens the intended meaning.
In the poem In the Country Cottage the speaker talks about a particular night in a cottage when a lizard came out at night.All the other members of the house seemed lazy and decided to go to bed early as the saw the lizard. Then Nissim Ezekiel shows the image of the lizard through his description.The gray coloured stout lizard was laying without any movements. Poets says that the lizard seems to give a lesson of patience. As the poet says, “…he was more alive than us in silent energy..” the lizard was more alive than humans, in it’s silent energy. The lizard gave his full concentration in this act of waiting for the cockroaches. Its only intention was to kill the cockroaches and in silent energy it outed for them. The next morning the other family members woke and found that the lizard completed its job with utmost ‘cleanliness’ and left the place.
Even though the poem presents ordinary things and is shorter with lesser words, the symbol of lizard is significant. The lizard can be considered as the symbol of cleanliness, patience and dutifulness.Thus it shed light on the line of the achieves who both work hard and remains patient for achieving the goal. Thus it is a symbol of perseverance and will power. By the use of this symbol poet urges the people to save their energy for better purpose, instead of wasting time for futile activities. Thus Nissim Ezekiel places the ordinary lizard for superior to lazy humans. It can be said that he is a poet who make use of the ordinary situations and creatures and makes great poems from them. From the ordinariness of human life he emphasizes the philosophy of life. As said earlier, Ezekiel is considered as a master in the use of symbols and images. His major poems like Enterprise, Night of a Scorpion,The Professor, Philosophy and Marriage possess such symbolic and pictorial qualities. Examples from the poem Enterprise is the use of the symbol “pilgrimage”, which stands for life and “sun” stands for hostility between nature and human aspirations.
While analyzing these symbols in his poems it can be concluded that he is a great artist. The symbolism he used in his work had deep meaning which can encourage any reader to think further about the life from a fresh perspective. By the use of images or symbols of primitive simplicity, he shows the world that poetry does not have to deal with great philosophical truths to be impressive, and ordinary situations are more than enough.
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