Introduction of the Poem:
This poem appeared in Ezekiel's sixth volume of poems which was published in 1976 under the heading of “Hymns in Darkness”. But it differs from the preceding two poems not only in its theme but in its tone and atmosphere. In Background, Casually we find a vein of irony through the poem though there is an element of seriousness in it also. Goodbye Party for Miss Pushpa T.S. is a wholly ironical and satirical poem full of mockery and without any serious element in it. Poem of the Separation is a love - poem which is predominantly touching and poignant though there certainly is a touch of humour or irony in the concluding ten to fifteen lines.
Summary of the Poem:
The speaker, who may be Nissim Ezekiel himself or some imaginary male, is here addressing a woman whom he used to love but who, after a time, deserted him. She is not present before him at this time; and he is addressing her only in his imagination.
The speaker says that, as far as he can remember, he and she had really fallen in love with each other at the very time when a war between India and Pakistan had broken out in Kashmir. Their love was as explosive as the bombs which began to burst in that part of India. Their falling in love was a stormy affair; and the lover felt that his being had merged with hers. At that time, he says, the war between the two countries did not matter to them at all even though they tried to think of it. They were so absorbed in each other that the season, the time, and the place had no importance in their eyes. Then one day she had said that she was suddenly feeling like a person who had grown up. This feeling of maturity on her part had been achieved by her through the thousand kisses which they had exchanged with each other.
The speaker then goes on to recall how he and she were so engrossed in each other that; regardless of the place and the time, they used to exchange caresses and kisses. A man may be violently passionate, and a woman may be fierily passionate; but, even so, they have to reach their destination or the place of their appointment by buses and by trains. However, whether they travelled by buses and trains, or whether they were seated in a restaurant or on the seashore or on a bench in a park, they only thought of their love for each other , and they heard only music in each other's voice.
Then came another stage in their relationship. She began to feel somewhat bored with him. He tried his utmost to retain her regard, but she rushed forward, far ahead of him, to listen to somebody else's musical voice. The speaker now understands that lovers cannot feed themselves on memories of their love for each other when the love itself has ceased. The Woman, Gone to a Distant Place The woman had then left the speaker and is now at a distance of ten thousand miles from him. She is writing letter after letter to him; and she has also sent him her photograph and a newspaper cutting with certain words underlined by her to draw his attention to something particular which she had come across in the newspaper and on which she had put down her comments with a pencil. At night the speaker is alone, and he thinks of her. His thoughts are stimulated by his recollection of her smell, or perhaps by his recollection of the perfume which she was in the habit of using.
The speaker then has some more recollections of the woman. In the city, where he was born and which is not only dirty but also offensive because of the uncivilized ways of the people, that woman was a great comfort to him because she laughed and made him laugh in a new way at the actual state of affairs in the city and at the realities of life. He wants her back with him to enable him to share with her the kind of unsophisticated happiness which she seemed to enjoy in a light - hearted manner and which found an expression on her face. He remembers her face which stood above her shoulders and above her breasts and her thighs.
Finally, the speaker finds that the woman does not wish to continue her relationship with him because in her last letter she has enclosed Ramanujan's English translation of a religious poem written in Kannada in which occur two lines expressing the idea that the Lord is playing with flames of fire. After quoting these two lines from that poem, the woman has written in her letter that she would also like to play with fire even if she gets burnt. What she means is that she wants to take risks and wants to plunge into a life of adventure even if she comes to grief as a consequence of her rashness.
Critical Analysis of the Poem:
“Poem of Separation” is a beautiful love lyric which appeared in Hymns in Darkness. Ezekiel describes with artistic detachment the deep and poignant feeling of irreparable loss the poet - lover sustained after separation from the beloved. Delicate pathos is permeated in this lyric. Anisur Rehman writes, “It could have never occurred to the poet to write “Poem of Separation” in any of his earlier phrases. It is just another variation on the theme of love characterised by a typical pathos on the loss of love. It dwells on the nature of love which the poet had so dearly preserved but cannot hold to now.”
The first three stanzas deal with the intensity of their love. The poet recalls how his love blossomed when bombs blasted in Kashmir:
To judge by memory alone,
our love was happy
when the bombs burst in Kashmir
my life had burst
and merged in yours.
Apt and suggestive words have been used to depict the tenderness, rapidity and intensity of love. They fell in love at first sight during the tumultuous days of Indo - Pak war over Kashmir. The war did not matter to them. Their love was a sudden and violent passion, as is suggested by the word “burst”. Soon they became one soul in two bodies.
Nothing mattered to them. The war had no meaning to them. Season, time and place did not matter to them. Love was their all in all. They lived in the love world of their own making. The beloved had a feeling of fulfilment and one day she said:
Suddenly I feel
grown up. The price was only
a thousand kisses.
Their love was intense. They made love wherever they went:
Any man may be a whirlwind,
Any woman lightning,
but buses take us to our meeting,
trains to our destination
In these, and in cafes
on beaches
and in the park,
our music was made.
The last four stanzas describe the intense pathos occasioned by separation. The poet - lover wanted to love her forever but the beloved was fully satiated with their relationship. It became too cloying for her. So, she swept “ahead to hear another music”. Reality shatters the dream world of romance. The lady ultimately decided to leave him and to go to some remote place, “ten thousand miles away.” He remembers her eagerly and with a deep note of anguish he says:
Ten thousand miles away,
You became a shower of letters,
A photograph, a newspaper cutting
underlined, with pencilled comments,
and a smell at night.
The sweet perfume of her body haunts him at night. In her company he learned to live happily in “the squalid, crude city” of his “birth and rebirth”. Separation from her is unbearable. He wants her back with all her usual sweetness and happiness. Life would be easy and worth living “supported by your shoulders / breasts and things.”
But she refuses to come back. The poet lover plunges into great grief. In her latest letter she writes that their relationship must come to an end. She can love him no more. There is an unmistakable undertone of numbness, pathos and regret in the concluding lines:
But you ask to break it up.
Your latest letter says:
“I am enclosing
Ramanujan's translation
of a Kannada religious poem;
“The Lord is playing
with streamers of fire.”
I want to play with fire.
Let me get burnt.”
The end of the poem conveys the sense of profound loss the poet has sustained due to separation. The note of sadness is permeated in the entire poem and it reveals the poet's maturity in the artistic treatment of the theme of separation.
“Poem of Separation” is written in simple, clear and colloquial language. The rhythm too is of everyday speech, Images and symbols are suggestive and meaningful.