Essay Questions

Why is the speaker in “Thunderstruck” unreliable?

The speaker, in “Thunderstruck”, cannot be relied on as it is clear from the first three lines of the poems where he/she declares that being alive after being “crushed under the rubble”. One cannot be crushed and be alive at the same time. Arguably, the speaker is already dead hence cannot be depended upon to give an accurate description of his/ her current life which is predominantly non-existent. A dead person does not have the capacity to think or run errands as a live person would.

What are the implications of the speaker’s dreams in “Bright Copper Kettles” ?

The dreams, about the “Dead friends coming back to life, dead family/speaking languages living and dead”, are a psychological process which depicts the speaker’s unconscious thoughts, memories and desires. The speaker is unconsciously reflecting and the conversations with the dead friends and family , which leads him/ her to think that the dead can converse. The speaker undergoes secondary elaboration due to his desire to “sleep all the time” which will enable the speaker keep experiencing the dreams. The dreams fulfill his desire to see the dead friends and family members. The imagery of the butterfly, depicts the satisfaction that the speaker derives from the dreams.

What are the key binary oppositions in Vijay Seshadri’s “Imaginary Number”?

The first binary opposition is “big /small.” Vijay Seshadri crashes this binary oppositions,“big /small”, by acknowledging the relativity of defining ‘big and small’. As a result, it becomes evident that the size of the mountain cannot be ascertained accurately. The second binary opposition relates to consciousness/ the soul. This binary opposition disintegrates due to the amorphous essence of the soul. As a result of the crumbling of the binary oppositions, the reader has to speculate (which is also alluded to in the title’ Imaginary Number’) about the mountain which is left over after death.