Critical Analysis of the Poem:
“Lawn” is a beautiful lyric which reflects Ezekiel's spiritual and religious leanings. “Lawn” is used as an image for spiritual growth. Chetan Karnani writes about it: “In a poem like “Lawn” Ezekiel tends to be religious in outlook. He pleads for patience and for the thing to grow of its own accord. One fears that the Lawn may not grow at all, but it is very slowly that we reap the reward of our work.
“Lawn" is the symbol of gradual and slow process of spiritual growth and maturity and also of the ritual of “human mortality.” The growth of grass in the lawn is very slow. It requires great effort and much patience to grow. The poet in the beginning thinks that grass grows by itself but soon he sees a man watering his field in the early morning. He waters regularly every morning with great patience, and leaves the grass to take its own time to grow up. For weeks the grass does not sprout, but invisible to the human eyes there is stir and growth beneath the apparently calm surface. In the silent depths of the lawn there is botanical turmoil and an upward thrust. Then gradually grass appears. Now it is a beautiful green lawn . The grass tends to grow too long and so it is cut to size from time to time . In this way the ritual of mortality is maintained. Ezekiel writes:
Expectancy
is satisfied.
And when the grass becomes too long
You only
cut it
Short
to let it grow again.
You keep an eye on it.
in rapport with its secret laws,
maintain its ritual
of mortality.
The process of spiritual growth is equally slow. Spirit has to be fostered with great painstaking effort and patience. Spiritual growth remains unseen initially. It appears silently and imperceptibly. Spiritual growth is a long, silent, invisible process like the growth of grass in the lawn.
“Lawn” is written in verse libre. The use of lawn as symbol for spiritual growth is highly evocative and suggestive.