OU Degree 5th Sem English – Ecology Poem Questions and Answers & Summary
Comprehension-I. (Short Answer Question)
Question 1.
What season does the ‘action’ of the poem take place?
Answer:
From the first stanza, we can understand that the action of the poem takes place in the ‘rainy season’.
Question 2.
How often do the “Red Champak trees” burst into flowers?
Answer:
The “Red Champak trees” burst into flowers every year.
Question 3.
What caused a “blinding migraine” to the poet’s mother?
Answer:
The poet’s mother has a severe attack of migraine-a very bad kind of headache. Her migraine is caused by the fragrance of the pollen of the flower of the Red Champak trees every time they are in bloom. The fragrance is heavy and suffocating as the yellow pollen spreads everywhere.
Question 4.
The poet says that the “walls had ears and eyes”. What does this mean?
Answer:
The fragrance is heavy and suffocating as the yellow pollen spreads everywhere. Even the doors of the speaker’s house cannot prevent the strong smell from entering the house. The walls of the house are able to absorb almost everything-the sounds, sights, human voices, the harsh sounds produced when new shoes are worn. But they cannot stop the fog of pollen dust from the Champak trees. Therefore, the poet says that the “walls had ecus and eyes”.
Question 5.
How did the Champak tree take birth in the house? How old is it?
Answer:
According to the poem, the poet’s mother says that the Red Champak tree took their birth by the droppings of a passing bird by chance. It means that its seed was seeded by a passing bird’s providential droppings, i.e. a bird (which is a sign of good omen) dropped the seeds of those plants. She says that the tree is as old as she is.
Question 6.
How does the mother try to deal with her migraine?
Answer:
The poet’s mother tries to deal with her migraine with patience as the cold pack on her head and ‘flashing temper’ like her silver ornaments.
Question 7.
Why would the mother not let anyone cut the trees? What does this suggest?
Answer:
The mother would not let anyone cut the trees because she sees the positive side of the tree in her garden. She says that the tree is as old as her and had been fertilized by the droppings of a passing bird by chance which is considered to be a very good omen. Moreover, the tree provides basketful of flowers to be offered to her gods and to ‘her daughters and daughter’s daughters’ every year. This suggests that she has a kind of emotional attachment to the tree, saying that it is as old as her.
Question 8.
How widespread and powerful is the pollen?
Answer:
The yellow dust of pollen carried in the air is thick and heavy like fog. It covers the earth. No amount of wind can sweep the pollen fog away or ‘lift’ it from the house.
Question 9.
What does the tree give to the daughters and the cousins?
Answer:
According to the poem, the tree provides many basketful of flowers to be offered to her gods and to ‘her daughters and daughter’s daughters’ every year, although the tree would give a terrible migraine to one line of cousins as a legacy.
Question 10.
The entire poem, as you may have noticed, can be seen as a single sentence. Identify the connectors that hold the different parts of the sentence together.
Answer:
The entire poem, as you have noticed, can be seen as a single sentence. However, A.K. Ramanujan, the poet, skillfully maneuvers different connectors and punctuation marks to conclude the poem in one single line. The poem can be read either as a single sentence or in stanzas.
There is no rhyme scheme in the poem. The poet uses a number of literary devices in the poem like metaphor, personification, and simile to bring cohesion in the poem.
Comprehension II. (Essay Type Question)
Question 1.
Attempt a character sketch of the mother, as portrayed in the poem “Ecology”.
Answer:
Attipat Krishnaswami Ramanujan (AK Ramanujan) is an Indo-Anglican writer. His literary work represents the Indian culture and tradition. His poem ‘Ecology’ is a mix of the Indian tradition and modernity. The poem highlights the relationship between human beings and nature. It stresses the need for protecting our ecology and environment.
She has a kind of emotional attachment to the tree, saying that it is as old as she is. The speaker’s mother is the centre of the poem. Her attitude towards nature represents the traditional attitude of the Indians towards nature. She suffers from a severe migraine due to the pollen from the Champak trees in their backyard. Every year the tress blossoms at the beginning of the rainy season. The speaker wants to protect his mother from the Champak trees.
He is angry and wants to cut the trees. However the mother strongly opposes his move and is ready to suffer. She argues that the trees give her flowers for offering to God. She thinks about her daughters and granddaughters find happiness in the beautiful flowers.
She loves the Champak trees which are as old as she is. She feels as a part of her family. As she says that the trees are sown by a bird’s providential droppings. The speaker’s mother is sentimental towards the trees and finds happiness among trees in nature. She represents the Indians’ attitude towards Nature.
The Champak trees are a cause of happiness and joy for the mother. But they are the reason for the speaker’s rage, as their pollen causes severe migraine to his mother. The trees are red in colour. They blossom at the beginning of every rainy season.
Their yellow pollen causes severe migraine to the mother. The speaker loves his mother very much. He worries about his mother’s health. He becomes angry and wants to cut down the trees to protect his mother. The mother is sentimental towards the trees. The son has great affection for his mother. Their attitudes are contrary to each other. Here lies irony in the poem.
Question 2.
Describe the Champak trees and their effect on the people and the place.
Answer:
In AK Ramanujan’s poem ‘Ecology’, the “Red Champak trees” play an important role since they have strong effect on the people and the place. They represent the Mother Nature and have influenced the entire family and their relationship.
In the beginning of rainy season, the Red Champak trees burst into flowers. The speaker’s mother suffers from a severe migraine due to the yellow pollen from the Champak trees in their backyard. The speaker becomes furious at the trees and wants to protect his mother from the Champak trees. He is so angry that he wants to cut down the trees.
However, the mother strongly opposes his move and is ready to suffer. The Champak trees are a cause of happiness and joy for the mother. She argues that the trees give her flowers for offering to God. She thinks about her daughters and granddaughters find happiness in the beautiful flowers.
She loves the Champak trees which are as old as she is. She feels as a part of her family. As she says that the trees are sown by a bird’s providential droppings. The speaker’s mother is sentimental towards the trees and finds happiness among trees in nature. She represents the Indians’ attitude towards Nature.
The Champak trees are a cause of happiness and joy for the mother. However, they are the reason for the speaker’s rage, as their pollen causes severe migraine to his mother. The speaker loves his mother very much. He worries about his mother’s health. He becomes angry and wants to cut down the trees to protect his mother. The mother is sentimental towards the trees. The son has great affection for his mother. Their attitudes are contrary to each other. Here lies irony in the poem.
Question 3.
Compare and contrast the attitudes of the speaker and the mother towards the Champak trees.
Answer:
Attipat Krishnaswami Ramanujan (AK Ramanujan) is an Indo-Anglican writer. His literary work represents the Indian culture and tradition. His poem ‘Ecology’ is a mix of the Indian tradition and modernity. The poem highlights the relationship between human beings and nature. If stresses the need for protecting our ecology and environment. The poem depicts the contrastive attitudes of two kinds of people towards the Champak tree and Mother Nature.
The mother loves the trees, though they cause her pain and suffering. The mother feels that the trees are the members of the family. She loves the Champak trees which are as old cis she is. She feels as a part of her family. As she says that the trees are sown by a bird’s providential droppings and they are considered a sign of good omen. She argues that the trees give her flowers for offering to God.
She thinks about her daughters and granddaughters find happiness in the beautiful flowers. She has a kind of emotional attachment to the tree, saying that it is as old as she is. She is sentimental and represents the Indian tradition. In the contrast, the speaker of the poem (her son) becomes furious at the trees and wants to protect his mother from the Champak trees.
He is so angry that he wants to cut down the trees. He is indifferent to ecology and represents modernity. He wants to cut down the trees for their inconvenience to his mother. The poem sensitizes the readers towards the need to protect ecology by depicting the contrasting attitudes of the people from two different generations.
Question 4.
Explain how Ramanujan humanises the issue of ecology in the poem.
Answer:
Tennyson called his present poem “The Flower” as “My Little Fable”. The central idea of the poem is about the way people react to the new ideas and things. Here the poem explains how people react to the growth of a ‘flower’. The narrator sows a ‘seed’ and it sprouts a ‘flower’. But people call it a ‘weed.’ They criticise and curse the narrator as well as the flower with ‘muttering discontent’.
When the flower grows tall and attractive, the same people are also curious. And they start appropriating it as a ‘splendid flower’. As the time progresses, the new is adopted widely and assimilated into the old. Gradually, it loses it novelty aind becomes commonplace. Once again, people lose interest in it and abandon it as useless. Finally the same people call the flower ‘weed’.
The speaker of the poem says that the meaning of clear and uncomplicated. He says:
Read my little fable.
He that runs may read.
However, the poem is not clear in its meaning and complicated one. It throws up multiple interpretations. The flower in the poem is interpreted in different ways; as the Industrial Revolution, Christianity or Tennyson’s own poetry.
In Tennyson’s days, it was the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. However, Tennyson suggested that the poem be read as a “universal apologue and parable”. The narrator reflects while everyone may see things differently, they should avoid jumping to conclusions on their opinions of things.
Question 5.
Give an account of the house and its occupants as described in the poem.
Answer:
In his poem, ‘Ecology’, A.K. Ramanujan provides a detailed account of the house and its occupants. In turn he humanizes the issue of ecology in the poem. The poem speaks about a house and its occupants. There are three red Champak trees in the backyards of the house. The mother feels that the trees are the members of the family.
‘The black-pillared house whose walls had ears and eyes.’ It had holes and cracks. The walls of the house are able to absorb almost everything-the sounds, sights, the human voices, the harsh sounds produced when new shoes are worn. But they cannot stop the fog of pollen dust from the Champak trees.
The poem depicts the contrastive attitudes of two kinds of people-mother and her son. The mother loves the trees, though they cause her pain and suffering. She is sentimental and represents the Indian tradition. Her son is indifferent to ecology and represents modernity.
He wants to cut down the trees for their inconvenience to his mother. The poem sensitizes the readers towards the need to protect ecology. The speaker, his mother, the daughters and the grand daughters are the occupants of the house. All of them, except the speaker (the son), enjoy the flowers from the trees.
Question 6.
Discuss the tone and the use of irony in “Ecology”.
Answer:
Attipat Krishnaswami Ramanujan (AK Ramanujan) is an Indo-Anglican writer. His literary work represents the Indian culture and tradition. His poem ‘Ecology’ is a mix of the Indian tradition and modernity. The poem highlights the relationship between human beings and nature. In the poem “Ecology” Ramanujan employs an empathetic tone towards nature. Irony plays an important role in the poem. It depicts the traditional and sentimental attitude of an Indian mother towards ecology.
The speaker’s mother has a kind of emotional attachment to the tree, saying that it is as old as she is. She suffers from a severe migraine due to the pollen from the Champak trees in their backyard. Every year the tress blossoms at the beginning of the rainy season. The speaker wants to protect his mother from the Champak trees. He is angry and wants to if the trees. However the mother strongly opposes his move and is ready to suffer. She argues that the trees give her flowers for offering to God.
She thinks about her daughters and granddaughters find happiness in the beautiful flowers. She loves the Champak trees which are as old as she is. She feels as a part of her family. As she says that the trees are sown by a bird’s providential droppings. The speaker’s mother is sentimental towards the trees and finds happiness among trees in nature. She represents the Indians’ attitude towards Nature.
In the contrast, the speaker represents modernism. His rage towards the Champak trees comes from his affection for his mother. The Champak trees are a cause of happiness and joy for the mother. But they are the reason for the speaker’s rage, as their pollen causes severe migraine to his mother. The speaker loves his mother very much.
He worries about his mother’s health. He becomes angry and wants to cut down the trees to protect his mother. The mother is sentimental towards the trees. The son has great affection for his mother. Their attitudes are contrary to each other. Here lies irony in the poem.
Ecology Poem Summary in English
AK. Ramanujan (1929-93) Is the first contemporary Indian English poet to have achieved a remarkable breakthrough in cross-fertilizing English with native literary traditions. AK Ramanujan was a poet, translator, folklorist, and philologist. He was born in Mysore. India and earned degrees at the University of Mysore and Deccan College in Pune and a Ph.D. from Indiana University. Ramanujan wrote in both English and Kannada, and his poetry is known for its thematic and formal engagement with modernist transnationalism.
As a scholar Ramanujan contributed to a range of disciplines, including linguistics and cultural studies. Issues such as hybridity and transculturation figure prominently in such collections as The Striders (1966), Selected Poems (1976), and Second Sight (1986). The Collected Poems of A.K Ramanujan (1995) received a SahltyaAkademi Award after the author’s death.
For much of his career, Ramanujan taught at the University of Chicago, where he helped develop the South Asian studies program. In 1976, the Indian government honored him with the title Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award in the country. Ramanujan’s other honors induded a MacArthur Fellowship. The South Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies awards the A.K Ramanujan Book Prize for Translation in honor of his contributions to the field.
The present poem, ‘Ecology’ is taken from Rarnanujan’s third volume of poems, ‘Second Sight (1986). The speaker in the poem, a devoted son to his mother, is very angry because his mother has a severe attack of migraine; a very bad kind of headache, which is caused by the fragrance of the pollen of the flower of the Red Champak trees every time they are in bloom. The fragrance is heavy and suffocating as the yellow pollen spreads everywhere.
Even the doors of the speaker’s house cannot prevent the strong smell from entering the house. The walls of the house are able to absorb almost everything-the sounds, sights, the human voices, the harsh sounds produced when new shoes are worn. However, they cannot stop the fog of pollen dust from the Champak trees to enter the house.
Therefore, the speaker decides to cut down the trees. However, he is prevented from doing so by his mother who sees the positive side of the tree in her garden. She says that the tree is as old as her and had been seeded by the droppings of a passing bird by chance which is considered to be a very good omen.
She also says that the trees provide basketful of flowers to be offered to her gods and to ‘her daughters and daughter’s daughters every year, although the tree would give a terrible migraine to one line of cousins as a legacy. The yellow dust of pollen is carried in the air which is thick and heavy like covering the earth.
This poem portrays AK Ramanujan’s strong Interest in the family as a very important theme of his poetic craft. His memories of the past would inevitably bring pictures of his family, especially his mother who is self-sacrificing. The sense of irony is indicated when the mother very angrily protests the idea of cuffing down the tree even though she Is suffering badly from the migraine caused by it. She has a kind of emotional attachment to the tree, saying that it is as old as her.
Ecology is a poem which could be read as one single sentence. However, each stanza has one particular idea. There is a casual connection between the ideas and they flow from one stanza to the next, ‘Flash her temper’; an instance of the use of Irony because she is very angry at the idea of having the tree cut down.
Ecology Poem Summary in Telugu
ఎ.క. రామానుజన్ (1929-93) స్థానిక సాహిత్య సంప్రదాయాలతో ఆంగ్లంలో క్రాస్ ఫలదీకరణం చేయడంలో విశేషమైన పరోగతిని సాధించిన మొదటి సమకాలీన భారతీయ ఆంగ్ల కవి. ఎకె రామానుజన్ కవి, అనువాదకుడు, జానపద రచయిత మరియు భాషా శాస్త్రవేత్త. అతను భారతదేశంలోని మైసూర్లో జన్మించాడు మరియు మైసూర్ విశ్వవిద్యాలయం మరియు పూణేలోని దక్కన్ కళాశాలలో డిగ్రీలు మరియు Ph.D. ఇండియానా విశ్వవిద్యాలయం నుండి.
రామానుజన్ ఇంగ్లీష్ మరియు కన్నడ రెండిందిలోనూ ప్రాసారు, మరియు అతని కవిత్వం ఆధునికవాద దేశీయతతో నేపథ్య మరియు అధికారిక నిశ్చితార్థానికి ప్రసిద్ధి చెందింది. పండితుడిగా, రామానుజన్ భాషాశాస్తం మరియు సాంస్కృతిక అధ్యయనాలతో సహా అనేక విభాగాలకు సహకరించారు. సంకలనం మరియు సంస్తతీకరణ వంది సమస్యలు ది స్రైర్స్ (1966), ఎంపిక చేసిన కవితలు (1976) మరియు సెకండ్ సైట్ (1986) వంది సేకరణలలో ప్రముఖంగా ఉన్నాయి.
కవితలు రచయిత మరణం తరువాత రామానుజన్ (1995) సాహిత్య అకాడెమీ అవార్డును అందుకున్నారు. అతని కరరీర్లో ఎక్కువ భాగం, రామానుజన్ చికాగో విశ్వవిద్యాలయంలో దోధించారు, అక్కడ అతను దక్షిణాసియా అధ్యయన కార్యకక్రమాన్ని అభివృధ్ధి చేయడంలో సహాయపడ్డాడు.
1976 లో, భారత ప్రభుత్వం దేశంలో నాలుగో అత్యున్నత పౌర పురస్కారమైన పద్మశరీ బిరుదుతో సత్కరించింది. రామానుజన్ యొక్క ఇతర గౌరవాలలో మాక్ ఆర్థర్ ఫెలోషిప్ కూడా ఉంది. దక్షిణాసియా కౌన్సిల్ ఆఫ్ ది అసోసియేషన్ ఫర్ ఏషియన్ స్ట్రీస్ అవార్డులు. ఈ రంగంలో ఆయన చేసిన కృషికి గౌరవార్ధం అనువాదానికి ఎ.కె.రామానుజన్ పుస్తక బహుమతి.
ప్రస్తుత కవిత, ‘ఏకాలజీ’ రామానుజన్ మూడవ కవితా సంపుది, ‘సెకండ్ సైట్ (1986) నుండి తీసుకోబడింది. తన తల్లికి అంకితభావంతో ఉన్న కుమారుడు థోపాయిమ్లోని స్పీకర్ చాలా కోపంగా ఉన్నాడు ఎందుకంటే అతని తల్లికి మైగ్రేన్ छీవ్రమైన దాడి ఉంద్ష్మి ఎర్రటి చంపక్ చెట్ల పువ్వు యొక్క పుప్పొడి వాసన వలన అవి వికసించిన ప్రతిసారీ చాలా తీ|వ్రమైన తలనొప్పి.
పసుపు పుప్పొడి ప్రతిచోటా వ్యాపించడంతో సువాసన భరీీగా మరియు ఉక్కిరిబిక్కిరి చేస్తుంది. స్పీకర్ ఇంటి తలుపలు కూడా తీవ్రమైన వాసన ఇంట్లోకి రాకుండా నిరోధించలేవు. ఇంటి గోడలు దాదాపు అన్నింటినీ గ్రహించగలవు-శట్దాలు, దృశ్యాలు, మానవ గాత్రాలు, కొత్త బూట్లు ధరించినప్పుడు ఉత్పన్నమయ్యే కఠినమైన శబ్దాలు. అయినప్పదికీ, చంపక్ చెట్ల నుండి పుప్పొడి ధూళి పొగమంచును వారు ఇంట్లోకి ప్రవేశించకుండా ఆపలేరు.
అందువల్ల, స్పీకర్ చెట్లను నరికివేయాలని నిర్ణయించుకున్నాడు. ఏదేమైనా, అతని తోటలో చెట్టు యొక్క సానుకూల వైపు చూసిన అతని తల్లి అతనిని అలా చేయకుండా నిరోధిస్తుంది. ఆ చెట్టు తనలాగే పాతదని, అదృష్టవశాత్తూ ప్రయాణిస్తున్న పక్షి రెట్టల ద్వారా విత్తనాలు వేయబడిందని ఆమె చెప్పింది, ఇది చాలా మంచి శకునంగా పరిగణించబడుతుంది.
చెట్లు తన దేవతలకు మరియు ప్రతి సంవత్సరం ‘తన కుమార్తెలు మరియు కుమార్తెల కుమార్తెలకు’ అందించే బుట్టల పువ్వులను అందిస్తాయని కూడా ఆమె చెప్పింది, అయితే ఒక చెట్టు వారసత్వంగా ఒక వరుస బంధువులకు భయంకరమైన మైగ్రేన్ ఇస్తుంది. పుప్పొడి యొక్క పసుపు ధూళి గాలిలో మోయబడుతుంది, ఇది భూమిని కప్పేలా మందంగా మరియు భారీగా ఉంటుంది.
ఈ కవిత కుటుంబంలో ఎకె రామానుజన్ యొక్క బలమైన ఆసక్తిని తన కవితా నైపుణ్యానికి చాలా ముఖ్యమైన అంశంగా వర్ణిస్తుంది. అతని గత జ్ఞాపకాలు తప్పనిసరిగా అతని కుటుంబం, ముఖ్యంగా ఆత్మత్యాగం చేసే తల్లి చిత్రాలను తెస్తాయి. వృక్షాన్ని నరికివేయాలనే ఆలోచనను తల్లి చాలా కోపంతో నిరసించినప్పుడు, దాని వలన మైగ్రేన్ కారణంగా ఆమె తీీర్రంగా బాధపడుతున్నప్పదికీ వ్యంగ్య భావం సూచించబడింది.
ఆమె చెట్టుతో ఒక రకమైన భావోద్వేగ అనుబంధాన్ని కలిగి ఉంది, అది ఆమెతో సమానమైనదని చెప్పింది. ఎకాలజీ అనేది ఒక వాక్యం వలె చదవగలిగే పద్యం. అయితే, ప్రతి చరణానికి ఒక నిర్దిష్ట ఆలోచన ఉంటుంది. ఆలోచనల మధ్య సాధారణం కనెక్షన్ ఉంది మరియు అవి ఒక చరణం నుండి మరొక చరణానికి ప్రవహిస్తాయి. ‘ఆమె కోపాన్ని ఫ్లాష్ చేయండి వృక్షాన్ని నరికివేయాలనే ఆలోచనతో ఆమె చాలా కోపంగా ఉన్నందున వ్యంగ్యం యొక్క ఉదాహరణ.
Ecology – A.K. Ramanujan
The day after the first rain,
for years, I would come home
in a rage,
for I could see from a mile away
our three Red Champak trees
had done it again,
had burst into flowers and given Mother
her first blinding migraine
of the season
with their street-long heavy-hung
yellow pollen fog of a fragrance
no wind could sift,
no door could shut out from our black-
pillared house whose walls had ears
and eyes
scales, smells, bone-creaks, nightly
visiting voices, and were porous
like us,
yellow pollen fog of a fragrance
no wind could sift,
no door could shut out from our black
pillared house whose walls had ears
and eyes,
scales, smells, bone-creaks, nightly
visiting voices, and were porous
like us,
but Mother, flashing her temper
like her mother’s twisted silver,
grand children’s knickers
wet as the cold pack on her head,
would not let us cut down
a flowing tree
almost as old as she, seeded,
she said, by a passing bird’s
providential droppings
to give her gods and her daughters
and daughters’ daughters basketfuls
of annual flower
and for one line of cousins
a dower of migraines in season.
Glossary:
