What he said - Avvaiyar translated by A. K Ramanujan analysis

 

About the poet

Avvaiyar (12th-century Sangam poet)

Avvaiyar was a Tamil poet who lived during the period of Kambar and Ottakoothar during the reign of the Chola dynasty in the twelfth century. She is often imagined as an old and intelligent lady by Tamil people. Many poems and the Avvai Kural, comprising 310 kurals in 31 chapters, belong to this period. The name Avvaiyar means a 'respectable good woman', hence a generic title; her personal name is not known.

 Analysis

 The poem begins with a rhetorical question, asking the relationship between the speaker's mother and the listener's mother. Another rhetorical question follows, questioning the relation between the speaker's father and the listener's father. It emphasizes the absence of a direct family connection. 

 
“And how did you and I meet ever?” Speaker also expresses a sense of wonder the fact that they met accidentally and fell in love.  The bond was so strong and firm even without the blood relation. Love is indeed a wonder, which can unite people as the speaker and his beloved united by the single emotion of love.

 
“But in love our hearts have mingled like red earth and pouring rain” This simile in the concluding line powerfully signifies the mingling of their hearts, symbolizing a deep, natural, and inevitable union. The imagery evokes a sense of harmony and blending, suggesting that their love is beyond everything.

 
The poem powerfully suggests that love can go beyond all the boundaries. The rhetorical questions in the first three lines highlight the fact that love can create its own unique bond. Poet concludes the poem by stating that love is a unifying force in the universe. 

 The simile "like red earth and pouring rain" uses natural imagery to depict the merging of hearts. Red earth and rain are the natural elements that symbolise the harmonious nature of love. The poem puts forward a universal message , as  It resonates with the idea that love is a powerful force that can bring people together in unexpected ways.

Questions and answers

Explain the significance of the rhetorical questions in the poem?

 

As poetic device the purpose of rhetorical question is to create a dramatic effect or to highlight something. Here the poem begins with rhetorical questions by asking about the relationship between their respective parents, the speaker underscores that their bond is not founded on blood relations, which is based solely on love. Hence, the speaker highlights the unifying force of love by using these rhetorical questions.

 

Analyse the simile "like red earth and pouring rain" in the poem?

The simile "like red earth and pouring rain" powerfully signifies the merging of the speaker's and the listener's hearts. This natural imagery evokes harmony and blending, suggesting that their union is deep, natural, and inevitable. Red earth and rain are elements that come together to create something fertile and life-sustaining. Love is yet another union between two things to begin a new life. Thus, the union between red earth and rain is the best to way to compare love. The imagery suggests that their love is pure and essential, goes beyond all other forms of relation and creating a deep unity between them.

 

Discuss how the poem portrays love as a unifying force?

The poem portrays love as a unifying force through its emphasis on the bond between the speaker and the listener, which rises above the blood relations. The rhetorical questions in the opening lines highlight that their connection is not based on blood relations but on the unique bond created by love. The concluding simile, which powerfully shows their union is inevitable and natural. The poem suggests that love has the power to go beyond all boundaries, creating a unique and unbreakable bond between individuals.