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  1. Lucifer
    Lucifer better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven

    In the poem, Of Mothers, Among Other Things, poet's mother is described as sacrificing. In the very first line of the poem, the poet describes her as twisted blackbone tree because she sacrificed her youth for her children. Seeing her children cry, she would use to run in the rain for them. The poetRead more

    In the poem, Of Mothers, Among Other Things, poet’s mother is described as sacrificing. In the very first line of the poem, the poet describes her as twisted blackbone tree because she sacrificed her youth for her children.

    Seeing her children cry, she would use to run in the rain for them. The poet describes her hands like eagle’s feet as they would go through thicks and things for serving the children. Once the poet’s mother stepped on a mouse trapped and one of her feet was crippled.

    So, we find that the mother of poet had sacrificing nature. She never did anything for her own pleasure. She gave up her comforts for the sake of her children. The poet seems to be regretting because he might have not understood her.

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  1. Lucifer
    Lucifer better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven

    The poet makes the use of images and symbolism to describe the past and the present of his mother. He throws light on her youth, middle and old age. In the first stanza, he sees his mother who is bent like twisted blackbone tree and memorises her youth when she was soft and beautiful. Note that theRead more

    The poet makes the use of images and symbolism to describe the past and the present of his mother. He throws light on her youth, middle and old age.

    In the first stanza, he sees his mother who is bent like twisted blackbone tree and memorises her youth when she was soft and beautiful. Note that the poet uses he image of “twisted blackbone tree” to describe her old age and “silk and whitepetal” to describe her youth. Both the images depict the opposite appearance of his mother.

    In the second stanza, he uses the images like “rags of tree” and “eagle” to describe her sacrificing nature. According to him, his mother sacrificed her youth & her middle age for the sake of her children. Like the eagle, she faced all the hardships to make her children happy.

    In the final stanza, the poet tells us that her hand has four fingers which depict that one of her fingers was cut while doing some household work. Hence we see that the whole poem is a comparison of poet’s mother’s past and present (and the reason behind her present condition).

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  1. Lucifer
    Lucifer better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven

    The poet compares his mother will different things. First, he compares her with a twisted blackbone tree because she is old and bent like the tree. Next, he compares her with rags of the tree because the body of his mother is quite weak as she has suffered a lot of hardships. Next, he compares her hRead more

    The poet compares his mother will different things.

    1. First, he compares her with a twisted blackbone tree because she is old and bent like the tree.
    2. Next, he compares her with rags of the tree because the body of his mother is quite weak as she has suffered a lot of hardships.
    3. Next, he compares her hand with the wet eagle’s two black-pink crinkled feet as like the eagle, she used to put her life in danger for the sake of her children.
    4. Next, he compares her foot with the claw of eagle
    5. Again, he compares her old and weak hands with the weak wings of the eagle.

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  1. Lucifer
    Lucifer better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven

    Yes, the poem is a tribute to the self-sacrificing nature of poet's mother in particular and all the mothers in general. Using ample of images, the poet describes the three phases of his mother's life - youth, middle age and old age. In every phase, poet's mother sacrificed herself. First, she sacriRead more

    Yes, the poem is a tribute to the self-sacrificing nature of poet’s mother in particular and all the mothers in general. Using ample of images, the poet describes the three phases of his mother’s life – youth, middle age and old age.

    In every phase, poet’s mother sacrificed herself. First, she sacrificed her youth, then her foot and finally her finger. Her motherhood was so bold that even worst kind of troubles and hardships could not stop her. She become physically weak but her spirit always remained high.

    The last two lines depict this well. In spite of her old age, she struggles to do all the household work. Hence the poem is a tribute to the sacrificing nature of his mother.

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  1. Lucifer
    Lucifer better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven

    In the poem Of Mothers, Among Other Things", we find poet's mother to be struggling and dedicated towards her children. She sacrifices her youth, her foot and hand's finger for her children. She is never discouraged by the troubles and hardships which come into her way. In spite of being weak, she sRead more

    In the poem Of Mothers, Among Other Things”, we find poet’s mother to be struggling and dedicated towards her children. She sacrifices her youth, her foot and hand’s finger for her children. She is never discouraged by the troubles and hardships which come into her way. In spite of being weak, she seems to be determined and bold even when she has grown old.

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  1. Lucifer
    Lucifer better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven

    AK Ramanujan uses a number of images to depict the sacrificial nature of his mother. Let us discuss them: Twisted Blackbone Tree: The poet compares his mother with an old blackbone tree with twisted stem because his mother is also old, bent and in unable to stand properly. She become so because of tRead more

    AK Ramanujan uses a number of images to depict the sacrificial nature of his mother. Let us discuss them:

    1. Twisted Blackbone Tree: The poet compares his mother with an old blackbone tree with twisted stem because his mother is also old, bent and in unable to stand properly. She become so because of the hardships which she faced throughout her life.
    2. Run back from rain to crying cradles: This image depicts the loving nature of poet’s mother. Rain here symbolises hardships. So, poet’s mother would face the hardships boldly for her children.
    3. Rags of the tree: This image symbolises the poet’s mother who is weak and full of misery because problems and troubles were surrounding her all the time and took away her joy and enthusiasm.
    4. Hands are a wet eagle’s two black-pink crinkled feet: Here the poet is comparing the hands of his mother with the black-pink claws of eagle (which are so because the eagle put its life in danger to feed its chicks). Like the eagle, poet’s mother put her life in all kinds of dangers for her young ones.
    5. One talon crippled in a garden mouse trap: Here the poet is calling his mother’s foot as talon (claw) as he considers his mother as struggling as eagle. According to the poet, she crippled one of her feet by stepping over a mouse trap.
    6. Loose feather of a one time wing: Here again, the poet is comparing his mother with the old eagle which spent its life feeding its young ones. According to him, his mother has also grown old and is weak now.
    7. Four fingers flexing slowly: Here the poet is again telling that his mother’s spirit has always remained bold though she is quite weak now. She would use to pick up a grain of rice (which is difficult for her, yet she does so) with her four fingers. It look like she lost one of her fingers.

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  1. Yes, the mother had an deep attitude of reverent towards the champak trees. It can be understood by the fact that she endured the migraines she had due to the fragrance of the champak flowers and didn't let her son know about her pain in order to save the trees.

    Yes, the mother had an deep attitude of reverent towards the champak trees. It can be understood by the fact that she endured the migraines she had due to the fragrance of the champak flowers and didn’t let her son know about her pain in order to save the trees.

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  1. The poem Of Mothers, Among Other Things is about motherhood. From the very beginning, the poet seems to be talking about his mother. In the poem, the poet describes how his mother struggled a lot for the sake of their children. The poet describes the three phases of his mother's life - her youth, heRead more

    The poem Of Mothers, Among Other Things is about motherhood. From the very beginning, the poet seems to be talking about his mother. In the poem, the poet describes how his mother struggled a lot for the sake of their children.

    The poet describes the three phases of his mother’s life – her youth, her middle and and her old age. In each phase of her life, she had to face hardships. In the first part, the phrase “I see my mother run back from rain” shows her sacrifices for her children.

    In the second part, the poet tells that she was crippled in the garden by mouse trap, again a part of her struggled life. In the final part, we see how she kept working even when she has no energy.

    So the whole poem is about motherhood. Through this poem, the poet tells us that we should not consider mother as an ordinary commodity. The poet seems to be regretting in the final part and so does every person who has talked harshly to his mother in the past.

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  1. The poem Obituary is written by A.K. Ramanujan who was born in a typical Brahmin family. However his mother had to undergo surgical operation (not a normal delivery) during his birth (which is not a tradition of Brahmin family). He went to America and found a totally new culture. He married a SyrianRead more

    The poem Obituary is written by A.K. Ramanujan who was born in a typical Brahmin family. However his mother had to undergo surgical operation (not a normal delivery) during his birth (which is not a tradition of Brahmin family).

    He went to America and found a totally new culture. He married a Syrian Christian girl which made him to see his country, his culture, his religion and his beliefs from a new perspective. Coming to the poem Obituary, we find that the poet describe an incident when his father suddenly died and the burden of whole family came on his shoulders because in Brahmin culture, a woman is not allowed to work.

    The poet does not seem to be happy with it. He is not sad because he misses his father but because the death of his father has brought a lot of problems for him. After seeing the American culture, in which both women and men work and share the expenses, the poet questions the Patriarchal culture of India.

    He also questions the supremacy and so-called divine nature of Brahmins by narrating that his father was an ordinary man who died because of a heart attack in the market. According to him, a person who boasts about his knowledge and power could not predict his death.

    Moreover he also questions the cremation of body. For him, this practice pollutes the air and the throwing of bones in water pollutes the aquatic life. Finally he is also critical of celebrating death anniversary for peace of soul because it involves a lot of cost.

    Hence, the poet depicts the poet’s insider-outsider position within Indian culture. He is insider as he was born in an Indian Brahmin family. He is outsider because he spent his time in USA which is a developed nation. Moreover he married a Syrian Christian which made him to rethink about his beliefs.

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