Review of A.K.Ramanujan’s poem ‘Snakes’

Review of A.K.Ramanujan’s poem ‘Snakes’ I request the readers to read the poem from the link https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=28723 and my review next. Thanks. The first reading makes it clear that a snake is the metaphor in the poem. The poet subtly points to the riddles in human lives and relationships with an elaborate use of the metaphor. Usually a metaphor will disappear like a lightning. But this poem is so layered that the reader finds the features of a snake have been used in detail. Snake is never anyone’s choice in the visualization or focus. The poet is no exception. There are only certain occasions that invariably remind him of a snake. In the first stanza he lists a few: 1. A museum’s ambience (in the poet’s view ) is yellowish, reminding him of the snake’s skin, but the museum’s aisles and the books staked therein are simply straight lines with no curves, much in contrast to the anatomy of a snake. So, both the identical features and the contrast remind him of the snake. The poet subtly expresses that books too, remain silent, secretive and unnoticed but move about with deadly capabilities. In my view, he reminds us that both books and history remain unnoticed and worshipped or feared for wrong reasons. 2. The first stanza hints at the occasions in which the poet is reminded of the snake. In the second stanza the dust in a rural agricultural land and the hiss of a snake are compared. The struggles of the rural peasants go unnoticed, but their lives and plight is a rich resource for the power games of politicians. ‘Terrible aunty’ suddenly surfaces in the second stanza. The poet simply drags the reader to a child’s inability to understand the world of adults and when and why they are sweet or terrible. 3. A ‘snakeman’ often skins a snake, but in the third stanza he ‘wreaths the writhing’ of a snake which has difficulty in moving about on the smooth tiles of a house. The metaphor-snake here symbolises the peers, coaches or masters who ensure that a co-worker or team member falls in line in every situation. In families it is done rather overtly. A thought process of who we find alien and about what we are in the dark and how society and family tame us for the tailor-made roles sprouts within the reader. A.K.Ramanujan has gone for the metaphor snake to bring the reader the feel of the riddles that are eternal but elusive and secretive nevertheless. I sign off wondering this poem could read whole new when I revisit after sometime.

Review of A.K.Ramanujan’s poem ‘Snakes’