THE LUNATIC

THE LUNATIC

-Laxmi Prasad Devkota

Literal Comprehension:

"The Lunatic" is a satirical poem composed by Laxmiprasad Devkota, the great poet and essayist of Nepali literature. In this poem, the poet presents the supremacy of emotion. This poem is his auto-biography where he expresses his anger at the inhumanity of mankind by wearing the persona of a lunatic. This poem is also a modern expression of his deepest personal feelings and a surgical exposure of the emptiness of the so-called intellectual aspirants of the time. The poet also focuses on the social, cultural, and political scene on Nepal where there is break-down of traditional values and the collapse of civilization.

In this poem, he wanted to show the contrasts between the world of the lunatic and that of the sane people. He addresses his friends and says that his plight is not good. He says that he sees the sound, hears the visibility, tastes the perfume and touches the things whose existence the world denies. He sees flower in the and talks with birds, animals and mountains. He works with the six senses. The wine of the king is the blood of people and prostitute are corpses for him. He sees Helen and Padmini in the beauty of the rose. One minus one is always  one in his mathematics. He dances with the song of the cuckoo. The heaven of the rich is hell for him. The gold is iron and the great religion of the rich is sin for him. Because of these perceptions of the poet, he is called the lunatic and sent to the Ranchi. These contrasts in the visions of the speaker and the sane world create irony in the poem. The tone of the poem is ironic. The poet is not lunatic but the so-called sane people are foolish, non-sane and mad. He compares the leaders with the prostitutes who have no certainty of what they speak. They misuse power and exploit and torture ordinary people. They also spread corruption. They make false conspiracy. It makes the poet irritate and frustrate and volcano explodes from his heart and brain. Thus, this poem is a bitter comment on the hollowness and stupidity of the so-called civilized modern world.

Interpretation:

The poet may be trying to present his deepest personal feelings and surgical exposure of the emptiness of the so-called intellectual aspirants. He also focuses on the break-down of the social, cultural and political norms and values and collapses of civilization. Not only that the poet throws a bitter satire against the social evils, corruption and selfishness, etc.

Critical thinking:

Although this poem is a great moral lesion for the modern world ideas of the poet are questionable. How can a lunatic speak so logically? Does a lunatic rally see sounds and hear sights? So, I am not fully convinced.

Assimilation:

This poem affected me very much. In the beginning, I thought that the speaker is lunatic. But when I went through that the poem, I understood the ironic tone of the poem. I also found the poet very sensitive and sane. I have deep respect and honor towards poet.