By: Bijay Kant Dubey
A touch of cold in the Autumn night
I walked abroad,
And saw the ruddy moon lean over a hedge
Like a red-faced farmer.
I did not stop to speak, but nodded;
And round about were the wistful stars
With white faces like town children.
T.E.Hulme,
how to admire and appreciate a poet who is credited with the introduction of
imagism into the realms of modern English poetry, how to assess and analyze a
poet so imagistic in his approach and style? How to discuss his poetry who died
in the prime of his youth just like Rupert Brooke, Wilfred Owen and others, got
killed in the War while serving in Belgium? Hulme is a poet from whom Pound and
Eliot have derived it poetic materials and think him fit to be called so. To
read him is to know poetry is imagery, a study in imagism and imagistic
elements. There must be poetic inspiration as well as the storing of new poetic
images. Poetry is in images, poetry is the imagery of life, the poet means to
say it. A Lecture on Poetry reminds us of Eliot’s essays, Arnold’s criticism
and if poetry is criticism of life to Arnold, poetry is imagism and imagery,
coming down to as a trail of images to Hulme and his explanation of romanticism
and classicism too is splendid. Had he been alive for more, he would have surpassed
and trespassed many great poets and masters of criticism, would have many laurels
and awards and would have definitely changed the course of literature. One who has
read Henri Bergson and Georges Sorel, translated them and has applauded the
modern sculptors, what sort of poetry can we expect from him? He will
definitely be introducing modern things, modern thoughts and ideas into the
realms of poesy. How to pattern thoughts and ideas in the form of images and
the trail of imagery?
Before we
take to the criticism of this poem, we need to know something with regard to
it. When was the poem composed? Had he been abroad? How his origin and
upbringing? All these can allude to poetic anecdote and the inspiration behind
creativity. It is very difficult to say what comes from where and what
occasions which. Poetic meaning is very difficult to reach at.
Even after
being touched by the cold of autumn, he steps outside and takes to the stroll
of abroad, into the country with the ruddy moon hanging over a hedge and he
marking it just like a red-faced farmer. He does not pause it there, just nods
his head in reply to the ruddy moon lurking over a hedge just like a red-faced
farmer and sees the stars blinking like the white-faced town children. Just
with the images given under the wrap of a few lines, the poet hints towards the
cold of autumn, the walks taken and strayed far into the country, the red moon lurking
over the hedge and the white stars blinking like the white town children.
With a handful of words, he crams the poem with ideas and images and condenses the poetic thought lying inherent within the poetic texture of the poem. How beautiful the images are, how musical the lines rhyming with and so the phrases and idiomatic expressions! The ruddy moon, wistful stars, red-faced farmer, a touch of cold, autumn night, etc. add beauty, depth and meaning to the poem. All the lines are quotable.
The first two lines tell of the autumnal cold night which he could sense it but instead of his straying into the cold country during the night time,
A touch of
cold in the Autumn night
I walked
abroad.
And saw the
ruddy moon lean over a hedge
Like a
red-faced farmer.
The poet hides in meaning and the poem too defies it:
I did not stop
to speak, but nodded;
And round
about the wistful stars
With white
faces like town children.
We do not the
meanings hidden under the coating of words. Why has he used the word abroad?
What does the ruddy moon? Why the words a red-faced farmer? Why the comparison
with town children and wistful stars with white faces? When the poet talks of
the ruddy moon, it reminds us of Ode to Autumn by John Keats and when he talks
of the red-faced farmer, it reminds us of Gray’s village forefathers and when
he talks of stars and town children, it of E.V.Lucas’ The Town Week, Lamb’s The
Praise of Chimney-Sweepers and Dream
Children: A Reverie and Robert Burns’ A Red, Red Rose. There is also something
of William Blake’s The Little Black Boy and P.B.Shelley’s To the Moon. There is
something in it when he uses the words wistful stars.
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