Write the introduction and explanation of the poem entitled Back

Write the introduction and explanation of the poem entitled Background, Casually.

Ans.

Introduction to the Poem

The poem, entitled Background, Casually is a confessional and autobiographical poem. This poem is a testimonial to the poet’s innate Indianness and his commitment to India. In it, the poet reflects upon his success and failures. His love for earth finds an expression in the poem. He affirms his Indianness and the fact that his roots are deeply embedded in the Indian diaspora. The poet has described his background or his past in this poem. His devotion to the country and the city of his choice is just as great as his commitment to his profession. He has depicted the city of Bombay very realistically and with deep emotions. The poem provides an example of cultural and social alienation. He was an allan among both the Muslims and the Hindus.

Explanations

(1) How to feel it home, was the point.

Some reading had been done, but what

Had I observed, except my own

Exasperation? All Hindus are

Like that. my father used to say,

Reference to the Context: These lines presenting the offensive attitude of the Hindus towards the poet, have been extracted from an autobiographical poem entitled Background, Casually, written by Nissim Ezekiel.

Here the poet describes the circumstances which he had to face in India.

Explanation: According to the poet, he spent two years in London full of despair. He could make no achievement there. He remained confined in his basement room and led a lonely life. Later on he decided to return India. He had to accept menial jobs on Cargo-ship to pay the fare. After reaching India, he was able to laugh and feel happiness. After reaching his house, he felt and observed how he could feel comfortable at his house. He found it difficult to regard India as his real house. The Hindus of India had not the spirits of humanity and brotherhood. Their attitude was inhuman. His father had also told him that all the Hindus were alike in their behaviour which according to him was offensive and obnoxious. On his return to India he was a total failure. He had studied a bit of philosophy, which was of no use in real life. His study of philosophy added to his own exasperation. He was in utter confusion. He did not know what to do.

Critical Comments: 1. The poet is depicting the tyrannical attitude of the Hindus in India.

2. The Hindus’ had the feelings of contempt.

(2) When someone talked too loudly, or

Knocked at the door like the Devil.

They hawked and spot. They sprawled around.

I prepared for the worst. Married.

Changed jobs, and saw myself a fool.

Reference to the Context: As above. Here the poet says that the Hindus had dirty habits. They could be identified easily because of their nature and habits. They spoiled the atmosphere by their activities.

Explanation: According to the poet, all the Hindus had the same nature and habits. They had bad manners. They talked loudly and when they went to meet someone, they knocked at the door badly like the approach of a Devil. In fact, it was not wrong to call them Devil. They wandered in the streets and roads calling and crying loudly in order to sell the things to earn their living. They were very lazy. They were in the habit of passing their time in wandering and gossiping. They were not active in their work. They did their work as a burden. They were dull and monotonous. They did not like the life of action. The poet was not ready to face the circumstances. He could not settle at one place. He was changing his jobs. He also realized that he had committed a folly by getting married.

Critical Comments: The poet is condemning the habits, nature, behaviour and conduct.

(3) The later dreams were all of words.

I did not know that words betray

But let the poems come and lost

That grip on things the wordly prize.

I would not suffer that again.

Reference to the Context: As above. After his childhood dreams, as a grown up man, the poet began to dream only of words. He was under the impression that the words could not deceive him.

Explanation: Initially Ezekiel used to dream that he had become prisoner in the hands of the enemy forces but subsequently he began to dream only of how words should be chosen for the writing of poetry. In the beginning of his poetic career, the poet did not know that the choice of wrong words could lead to a lot of misunderstanding in the minds of his readers, and that he could thus discredit himself if he were not careful. In the beginning, he used the words which came in his imagination. He did not use the words after analyzing the real things based on this physical world. He did not ponder over the real things which led to his losing his grip on things. He was failure in the real world, and thus was not prepared for the harsh realities of life. He reiterated that if he was given a second chance, he would not make the same mistake twice.

Critical Comments: 1. The poet is presenting a fact that being carefree in the use of words may be harmful.

2. If the poet writes the poems in carefree and spontaneous manner, he is deprived from the real things and realistic world.

(4) I look about me now, and try

To formulate a plainer view:

The wise survive and serve-to play

The fool, to cash in on

The inner and the outer storms.

Reference to the Context: As above. The poet decided not to continue that facile manner of writing but to adopt a more worldly style which consisted in commercializing his poetry.

Explanation: According to the poet, he has come to the conclusion that the wise poet is one who manages to make the best use of the opportunities which come his way. The wise poet has often to follow a foolish course of action. For instance, a wise poet can try to exploit a situation in order to write a popular poem. He would have to create a poem out of the inner tumult in human beings and also to deal with the upheavals in the external life of human beings. Still, despite all the disappointments and bitterness, the poet strives for a clearer vision, and deeper understanding of life and its varied problems. Some may consider him fool, but he believes that wisdom lies in making the best use of one’s opportunities. He, therefore, makes best use of his internal as well as external experiences and writes about his emotion and passions, frustrations and failures, as well as the problems that real life had in store for him.

(5) The Indian landscape sears my eyes.

I have become a part of it

To be observed by foreigners.

They say that I am singular,

Their letters overstate the case.

Reference to the Context: As above. Here the poet says that he has chosen India to live. He has a great attachment with India. Inspite of being the extremity of summer weather, he has fondness of India. His determination to settle in India impresses every one.

Explanation: The poet’s devotion and love to India and its city of his choice is just as great as his commitment to his profession. The poet seeks his identity in Indian soil. The climate is too hot for him. The intensity of heat of this country is scorching, but the poet has become so much a part of the environment of this country. He manages to survive the heat and the squalor. Even the foreigners get the impression that he really belongs to it. It is much to the surprise of his foreigner friends, who visit him, or who write to him. They say that he is very different from the native Indians. They exaggerate his alien character. The poet means that he is after all, not too different from the natives of India.

Critical Comments: 1. The poet’s escape is not from community but into it.

2. The poet refers to himself as an alien because basically he belongs to the Jewish race which has its real home in the Middle East, even though he was born in Bombay.

3. The poet’s great fondness for India.

(6) I have made my commitments now.

This is one: to stay where I am,

As others choose to give themselves

In some remote and backward place.

My backward place is where I am.

Reference to the Context: As above. Here the poet, on his part, feels sure that he has made his commitments one of which is that he would stay on in this country where he finds himself, and that he would stick to it even if he is regarded as a man who has settled down in a backward country.

Explanation: The poet is proud of his country and its environment. He has made a decision to make India his home, and will continue to live in his chosen home. He has kept his commitment by depicting Indian environment and reality of life in his chosen city, Bombay, which has shaped his sensibilities. He affirms his attachment to India even though he had not properly been treated during his years of boyhood and even later, and even though he is acutely and painfully conscious of the deficiencies and defects. of the Indian people. If one has to choose a backward place for settling, then the backward place for him is this country. However, he has made this remark not because he thinks India to be a backward country but because he has said in the preceding two lines that many people choose some remote and backward place for settling down in life.

Critical Comments: 1. The poet does not show a penchant for visiting foreign countries and his poetry shows the life as it is actually lived in this backward place.

2. He faithfully recounts the life as he finds it in the city of Bombay.

3. The poet is depicting the city Bombay very realistically and with a lot of emotions in his works.