Epitome of Elegance
“Impetus-Rhymes Within Us” by Divya Venkateswaran and Rajani Nair is quite a captivating collection of poems which expounds on pristine joys, the beauty of deeply riveting experiences, and a slew of nostalgic memories . As the subtitle” Rhymes Within us” echoes, the book takes the readers to an inner journey wherein they are enabled to explore the fathomless layers of human heart. Suspending ties with the outer world of inexplicable pain and mammoth agony, the book instantaneously transports the readers to the realm of sheer bliss where they behold the metaphysical visions festooned with divine light that radiates from the soul- soothing verses.
Going through these deeply sensitive and subtle poems quickly reminds the readers of two doyens of Romantic Age William Wordsworth and Jon keats. Keats articulates in one his famous poems ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ that “heard melodies are sweet but unheard sweeter.” Somewhat similarly , this emotive anthology is daubed with sublime emotions
“Muffed beneath the words A restricted speech…….”
So intense and gripping are the latent emotions that a critic at times feels at a loss and looks for adequate words to express the profound thought enshrined in the poetic pieces . The coming line sheds a flood of light on the boundless intensity of emotions which are not uttered or articulated but rather cried through alphabet unheard,
“ Crying alphabets unheard
Words brimming on the edge”
Richness of poignancy makes one state that the poets do not convey their emotion rather they cry them in their muffled voices.
Here, the reader will be greatly elated to acknowledge the truth that Divya has displayed remarkable ability with which she deftly paints abstract ideas on the poetic canvas with her fecund imagination . Those who are the apostles of Muse can properly understand the different dynamics of the term poetic license . The literary device of poetic licence provides an absolute freedom to writers with which they, without offending anyone grammar martinet, flout the old fossilized norms of a language.
The examples of syntactic and morphological deviations are aplenty in Divya’s poetry. The set norm of SVO patteen of English Language has been artistically and aesthetically altered to enhance the appeal and augment the charms which rather give deep delight even to a confirmed linguistician in a conventional sense.
The eerie suppleness of the verses brings our focus to the great poets such as William Blake and PB Shelly. When the analogy of Romantic age is drawn, it will fit into the scheme of things to refer to Wordsworth as well. The poem ‘Innocence Personified’ initially seems to have stark similarity with WordsWorth’s ‘The Solitary Reaper’. In ‘The Solitary Reaper’ the chief protagonist is a lone girl who is lost in her self absorbing thoughts crooning a melody in some foreign tongue. Somewhat In the same vein in the poetic piece “ Innocence Personified”, we come across a bare footed tiny Lass who is not at all aware about the brutal boundaries of this barbaric world. The lines “ Wandering Barefoot, A frivolous girl walking up in love
In her own stride Unfamiliar with the boundaries of the cosmos” dwell over the idea that children are the paragon of innocence. Oblivious of the heart-rending reality of this cruel world, they creat their own imaginative world replete with boundless bliss.