Class 12 English Lesson 12: Poem: Soft Storm: Reference to Context and Reference Beyond Text Literature Section
a. The poet uses the word ‘soft’ with the words like ‘storm’ and ‘gale’, which generally refer to disorder and violence. What effect does the poet achieve through the use of such anomalous expressions?
A sentence that is syntactically well-formed but semantically meaningless is called an anomalous expression. The best-known example in the poem is 'soft storm' and 'softness rose like a gale is inconsistent with what is usual, normal, or expected and is paradoxical. Through this, the poet obtains psychological, social, political and environmental effects. He connects two opposite ideas to express the inner experiences that he feels and realizes in the contemporary suppressed society.
b. What is the speaker’s attitude towards the time he describes in the poem?
The poem has been set in the nighttime when the moon is shining in the sky which itself is shadowed or not as bright as the shining Sun. The speaker's attitude towards time is not as good as he finds no particular work in particular times conducted by humans. Time itself is mad in the sense it is cylindrical and moves in a round framework and is under the control of none. He finds hard times everywhere, where ng Auto expected things take place. Thus, the speaker has not had a positive attitude at the time in the poem.
c. What is the speaker like? Is he a rebel? Why? Why not?
The speaker looks like a rebel. His situation is as same as the animals in 'Animal Farm' by D.H. Lawrence as they are waiting for the appropriate time to revolt and this nature of revolt is found in the suppressed form. Social, familial political and environmental circumstances are responsible to be him so. As a rebel, he seems to challenge authority and break the rules now and then but his rebellious nature is not presented in a radical form rather it is presented in a soft and suppressed form in the poem.
d. Explain the stanza below in your own words:
I became soft
when I saw
a blood-stained shirt
speaking in the earth’s ears
with bruised human lips
in the far corner
under the moon
of history and dreams
playing hide and seek
in open museums
of human times.
These given lines are extracted from the fourth stanza of the poem ‘Soft Storm' by Abhi Subedi. The poem projects people's indifferent feelings towards miserable conditions and sufferings of the people, male practices, tumult atmosphere, and chaos in Nepali society. The poet in this stanza talks about a man with a blood-stained shirt and bruised human lips who is unable to speak anything as his Auto is locked by the powerful inhabitants in the nighttime. The game of hiding and seeking is associated with the landowners and the workers where the rights of the workers are under the control of the landowners. The miserable condition of the poor and marginalized ones is expressed through the given lines.
Reference beyond the text
a. Write an essay, highlighting your dissatisfaction towards social, cultural, economic and political issues prevailing in Nepal at present.
Social, Cultural, Economic and Political Issues Prevailing in Nepal
A large section of the population in Nepal cannot access political participation and representation in public affairs and obtain social and cultural equality due to economic and social conditions, social stigma and lack of access to information among other reasons. Regarding political issues, I oppose this competitive multiparty democratic system of governance which is not stable by its nature and rule of law, human rights and fundamental rights mentioned in the constitution, only named independence and the free and fair judiciary as these things are only projected in the documents, not in the practical life of the people. The political leaders are just playing the game of dirty politics violating the rights of the people and the constitution. On the other hand, social and economic issues such as the old caste system ‘Dalits’ is the most discriminated against people under this system who suffer from restriction and economic opportunities in the society. I disagree with such a sort of social system in the country. There is widespread corruption everywhere and nepotism and favouritism are prevalent in society.
Although the UN estimates that poverty in Nepal has been dropping gradually but a quarter of the population is still below the poverty line. Cultural Issues, Gender inequality, discrimination against women, girls trafficking, violence against women and many more are the obstacles of the current society I am not satisfied with.
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b. Suppose you are a rebel, who wants to change society by eliminating malpractices and anomalies prevailing in society. Draft a speech outlining your vision for change.
Respected ladies and gentlemen and my dear friends,
Namaskar to Everyone!
I am Salima Shrestha and today we have gathered here against malpractices and differences being practised in society and how they are becoming hurdles for our country's development. Some of the common social malpractices or social evils being practised in our society are alcoholism, racism, child abuse, etc. Besides, Nepal is facing a large number of social problems such as caste system, child labour, child marriage, illiteracy, gender inequality, superstitions, religious conflicts and much more. Social evils are the issues opposed by most people in society. In ancient days, our ancestors have divided classes according to their people's occupation like Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Sudras are the most suppressed people.
The other three castes people don't even touch them and even they were not allowed into the temples. These were the adverse effects. The second issue is child labour and child marriage. A child without education is a bird without wings. Without proper education, your child would face a lot of problems in this modern world. There is the right age to do everything. Make your children study until he is ready for work. Illiteracy is also one of the social issues. Educated people like us have to bring awareness to illiterate people. Poverty is a significant problem to be solved as quickly as possible. The cause of poverty is illiteracy, the caste system, and unemployment. The government should provide training for the unemployed. Sanitation and uncleanliness are also social evils. The reason is people's carelessness and laziness. Every person must strive to make our country clean. Gender inequality and low status for women had become familiar. The reason for both of these evils is the narrow mindset of society. All these evils are interconnected. They stop most of our future citizens. To deal with these social evils, we have to get the right education with values. The government has to work more efficiently and try to eradicate these problems.
To check all the issues, the first and foremost step should be to educate people. A lot needs to be done to eradicate the shreds of several social evils still haunting our society. In Albert Einstein's words 'The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil but because of the people who don't do anything about it." With this, I conclude my speech. Thank you, everyone, and I wish you all the best and to get succeed in your objectives of eradicating these social malpractices from society as soon as possible.
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