Free sample essay on My Favorite Poems. I read books in English and Tamil. I read a number of books of Tamil and English poetry. I am greatly drawn to poetry. Modern poetry is food for thought.
Some poems make us think deeply. A great Tamil poet said: ‘We attained political independence at midnight; why it has not dawned still?’ It means that political independence has not given us economic independence. A poet wrote like this: ‘It was a barren tree, hundreds of multicolored political party flags flutter on it; I stood under the tree for shade as it was midday; the flags did not protect me from the temporary sunshine; how can they protect me from the furious, eternal heat of poverty?’ Are we not made to think?
Another poem says, ‘It was a barren land with big splits here and there; it was as though a sad mind was split woefully; the land was scorched by the sun’s fierce anger of heat; as I proceed there were wider and wider splits on the land; the land opened its mouth wide to the sky, hoping that it would call the clouds to rain water on the parched throat of the land; but the sky was unmerciful; the mouth of the vast land is still open; the land is the storehouse of water, but it begs for water; if the sky and the clouds are unmerciful, it is doomsday for the world.’ Lines that stay in our memory. ‘Love is as tall as the Everest, how can I scale it? Love is as deep as the Pacific, how can I explore its depth? Love is as vast as the world, how can I measure it?’
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These lines are indeed thought-provoking. ‘I saw a big, dark spot over there, at least a mile ahead of me; it was a straight road in a forest; as it neared and neared, I saw a big elephant; sometimes, when a minor problem, we see in the distance, approaches us nearer and nearer, we realize its stunningly big size.’ Memorable lines indeed. ‘If the radiance of the three stripes of the sacred ash you wear on your forehead does not chase away the impure thoughts in your mind, why should you wear the sacred ash?’ Really lines that make us think. Many other poems can be quoted from the profuse amount of poetry of our day.
‘It was bleached sunlight in the street; a poor, dark beggar curling his body like a question mark lay lifeless in the middle; a dark patch of poverty in the bright, white light; an old, puny man was dragging a cart in hot sunshine; his sweat-drops spilling all along the way imprinted his poverty; a woman street-vendor announced the names of the vegetables at the top pitch of her voice; now and then she spat and drops of blood fell on the ground, imprinting her poverty.’ Lines very impressive indeed. The poet’s heart is wrung by thoughts of poverty.
‘O city, your skyscrapers are as tall as the desires that rise to the vault of my mind; your thorough-fares are spotlessly clean and bright, but in your by-lanes and lanes, gutters of intolerable stench run; I look smart and fashionable, but in my inmost being foul thoughts emit foul smell; the machines in your factories shriek and howl just like me when I’m depressed, sullen.’ Indeed I like this poem.