Donne's holy sonnet where he asks his maker - "thou hast made me and shall thy work decay" reminded me of Barathi's tamil poem "Nallathor veenai seidhe - Would you dump to rot an instrument you made so well". Both poems address the maker - you made me, only you can save me.
Donne's poem addresses imminent death and temptation and asks for deliverance. And the stress of Donne's requests more on the 'you' - an instrument made by you.. Only by thy grace I can face this. Without you I cant handle it well.
But Barathi is making demands in all moral anger, that he be granted the power to change the world. It sounds more like why the heck did you make me smart if you weren't planning to give me the power to use it. He asks cheekily - 'gotta problem with granting my wishes?'
Two poets, centuries apart, from different religions and cultures starting of with a similar question yet ending up with two different yet powerful poems!
Thursday, August 18, 2005
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