country."11 I can attempt only a summary of the part relating to the effects of the cold north wind. It is the end of November, and the heavy clouds, having exhausted their first fury, now take to training themselves in the gentler art of drizzling. The shepherds change over to new pastures, and gather in groups and warm themselves at the fire which they have kindled by rubbing together two pieces of wood. It is so bitter cold and shivering that the cattle are reluctant to graze; the monkeys chatter with cold; birds fall weary in the course of their flight; the cows kick at their calves that approach them; the, storks and cranes flock to the shoals where the fishes congregate; the rice stalks bend under the weight of the grain; and raindrops hang on branch and leaf and flower in the groves and parks. |
Having described Nature's stage, the poet proceeds to describe the wintry evening in the town, and finally leads his reader to the queen's bedroom in the palace, where listless and forlorn she lies thinking of her lord. But her lord is far away in the battle-field. It is midnight; however he knows no rest. With his left hand he holds closely his cloak and with his right hand on the shoulder of his aide-de-camp, he goes from soldier to soldier inquiring after the wounded, while the stallions in the temporary stables restlessly stir themselves to get rid of the raindrops. The latter picture brings to mind the scene described by Shakespeare in King Henry V: O, now, who will behold the royal captain of this ruin'd band walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent, let him cry, 'Praise and glory on his head!' For forth he goes and visits all his host; bids them good-morrow with a modest smile, and calls them brothers, friends, and countrymen. Upon his royal face there is no note how dread an army hath enrounded him; nor doth he dedicate one jot of colour unto the weary and all-watched night; but freshly looks, and over-bears attaint with cheerful semblance and sweet majesty; that every wretch, pining and pale before, beholding him, plucks comfort from his looks: A largess universal, like the sun, his liberal eye doth give to every one, thawing cold fear.12 |
The poem is an excellent example of how the panorama of Nature is made the stage of human action. In the poems of the ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11The Tamilian Antiquary, No. 5, p. 71; see K.GOTHANDAPANI PILLAI, Netunalvaatai (Tm) Madras, 1946. 12 Act IV, Prologue, 28-45. |