Kashiprasad Gose’s Poem ‘To a Dead Crow’ – A Critical
Analysis
Kashiprasad Ghosh was a Bengali poet and the editor of an
English-language journal that was published in Calcutta. He fell in
love with English language during his years at Hindu College. He was
enchanted with English poetry and offered literary criticism on various
English texts. His writings were published in prestigious columns, and
soon attracted the likes many scholars and a leaders of the Calcutta
conservative Hindu society His penchant for the English language held
a strong control over his medium of expressing his beliefs.
Kashiprasad wrote an essay on Mr. Mills’ History of India which
received accolades from various quarters. Soon after, he published a
volume of poems known as ‘The Shair’ which reached Lord William
Bentinck, the Governor-General of India. His poem ‘The Hindu Festival’
primarily revolved around the myriad festivities of Bengal. Kashiprasad
Ghosh’s books, On Bengali Poetry and On Bengali Works and Writers
were an attempt to critique Bengali poetry and contemporary poets.
The Memory of Indian Dynasties, is another significant text which
unearthed the history of various Indian kings.
‘To a Dead Crow’ by Kashiprasad Gosh is a poem written on the
theme of love and death. The poem is elegiac as well as pathetic and at
the same time meditative. Like other poems of the poet, this piece of
poetry is also written in simple diction. The poem consists of four
stanzas and each stanza bears independent thought and feeling
pertaining to a dead crow.
In the first stanza, the poet says about the crow when it was alive.
The poet addresses the crow as ‘Gay minstrel of the Indian clime’ that
means cheerful singing bird of India and says that while it was living,
it came out from its nest every morning and sing ‘caw, caw’ in
numbers which vexed the mind of the poet and awoke him from sleep.
The poet hated the sound of the crow and to avoid the sound of the
crow he walked out in his garden where there was a tank on a
spacious piece of land. Besides the tank, there bloomed various kinds
of flowers such as lilies, jasmine, roses etc. In the garden, there were
many trees and thick foliage of trees. Amid the foliage of the tress, the
crow built its nest. There the crow took a rest after daily labour. But
suddenly, one day the crow died.
In the second stanza, the poet says about what the crow did
during the days it was living. The poet, noticing the dead crow, goes
back to his past, while it was living, it took the offals of the poet’s
meal. It took food from the rubbish but now it is no more. It is still and
its eyes are shut forever. Its beak is not now active to seek food from
carcasses, or it is no more to catch the mice from the poet’s home. It is
dead and it will never come to stray and bask in the sunlight.
The poet’s thoughts and feelings, rounding the dead crow, run on
and in the third stanza, he says if death did not come to the crow! But
death had taken the soul of the crow with its destructive sharpened
dart. The death pierced his dart to the heart of the crow. Though life is
no more in the crow yet the poet feels that the crow is still warm. The
eyes of the crow are so open that it seems to be alive. Now the crow is
dead and death no more can impair the quality, the form and
features of the crow. Still, now its former ugliness is in it.
In the fourth but last stanza, the poet meditates and anticipates
his own death. When death will come to the poet his eyes must shut
and his soul will be exempted from earthly bondage and would fly to
heaven and meet eternity. And then, the poet’s body will remain to lie
on the cold lap of the earth. Then the poet would not be able to
compose a verse to please the public ears. Here the poet thinks that
while the crow was living, the poet thought its voice to be harsh, and
unlucky and so he hated the voice of the crow. But while the crow
dies, the poet thinks that its voice had poured the voice of joy and
delight. So would happen to the verses of the poet. At last, the poet
thinks if he meets death at this moment then it will be his last poem.
In the poem ‘To a Dead Crow’ by Kasiprasad Gose, it can be seen
as a nature poem with a note of mysticism. The poet’s kind feeling for
the dead crow, a wild bird, is really a silly matter, but poetically it is
very significant as the poet succeeds to arouse his readers’ sympathy
towards the dead crow. The language used in the poem is simple. The
second stanza is rich in visual imagery. The poet gives a pen picture
about the activities and life of a crow. Even though the poet is initially
irritated and vexed about it, later the poet feels sympathetic and even
feel sorry for the crow’s sudden departure. The poet incorporates the
story of “Bavery Jataka” and shows how a crow who was once famous
lost its glory in the line “The Indian Crow hath, known to fame”. The
poet uses a coupled rhyme pattern of AABBCC.. thus, making the
poem more soothing to the ears. The poet uses simple diction and tone
for this poem. The subtle theme and content makes the poem more
indigenous and rustic in nature.
