Signatures on the Sea Shore - C. Narayana Reddy

Poem Analysis

C. Narayana Reddy's tryst with words of wisdom is echoed beautifully in the first stanza of the poem. He tries to make a mark for himself in the whole ocean of universal art. In the process, he finds his imprints on sand being washed away by the white horse of waves with the hooves of the surf. The white horse symbolically refers to the incarnation of god himself, who helps him in the process of poetic creation. In short, the divine muse who inspires the poet is God himself manifested in the form of the white horse through the frothing waves of the ocean. The waves here symbolise unsettled emotions or emotional disturbances that prevent a thought from being born.

On entering the threshold of poetry, the poet is literally flabbergasted at the enormous waves that seek to rub against his signature.

In line 6, the poet draws sustenance for his poetry from the ocean which contains the elements of language needed to weave a fine piece of poem. It is language that comes from the soul, (not from the mind) that forms the body of his poetry, which is beautifully explicated in the lines “the anguish of my soul rises from the ocean”.

In his persistent attempt to win over the domain of the ocean of language, the poet deftly uses the image of the cavalry – (soldiers who fought mounted on horseback), and lays siege to the unnumbered melodies and thus gathers them together into a chant – a harmonious and rhythmical melody. The word “chant” indicates the divine nature of the inspiration, which the poet has obtained in his tryst with the universal art.

In line 14, the poet uses the knitting imagery, where he finds a harmonious knitting together of the waves in the ocean and the vapours of his heart. It speaks of the transcendental nature of the communion between man and nature that he has been able to create in his poems. The line “no, you can’t understand” speaks of the highly personal yet mystical nature of the experience of the poet which none else can fathom or try to understand.

In the penultimate stanza, the poet alludes to his inspiration and enthusiasm that he has got now, as a froth bubbling on and on, like the waves of the sea. Even though they are insignificant and very soft like the cotton, they are always there to give him the necessary spark and illumination to carve a fine piece of poem.

The poet seeks to contrast the first stanza with the concluding stanza. While in the first stanza, the poet had not come to terms with the art of writing poetry, in the final stanza, the poet has now been inspired by the poetic muse, and hence has got the ability to create works of art that can transcend the bounds of Time, like the ocean.

The poet thus begins on a note of dejection and ends on an optimistic tone, filled with hope and wisdom.

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Dr. C. Narayana Reddy is a household name for Telugu literature, culture and especially poetry. He is immensely popular for his outstanding contribution to Telugu literature and Telugu Cinema.

His innate sense of rhythm and his command over the language and grip over the classical and neo-literary trends makes his songs and poems instantly appealing and catchy. As a Telugu professor at the Osmania University, Hyderabad, Dr. Narayana Reddy has achieved great success in the classroom, with his critical acumen, incisive insight and poetic sensibility. He has been holding important and responsible positions in academic and administrative fields.

His diction is musical both in textual form and in recitation form. He doesn't use rhyme in a simple way but with associated internal rhyme in meaning and poetic metaphor. He is not particularly influenced by any of the poets who preceded him; his poetry is neither bound by the times in which it is written nor is it limited to any persuasion or style. Dr. Reddy's poetry is characterized by universal values of humanism, hope and well being of the people. He also has written thousands of songs for Telugu films. His poetic work Visvambara, which was translated into three other languages, earned him a Jnanpith award (1988). Dr C Narayana Reddy is only the second Telugu poet to have been conferred with Jnanpeeth, the most distinguished literary award of the country.

Acknowledging his roots he says: “I owe my song to the village and owe my speech to the town. The village taught me how to move and the town how to march.” He calls himself a “a modem poet who has turned from romanticism to humanism.” In many of his poems, Dr.C.Narayana Reddy has dealt with the aesthetic, scientific and spiritual quests of man who ultimately seeks solace in spiritualism.

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“Signatures on the Sea Shore”
Here is my signature
on the seashore;
the white horses of waves
wash it off
with the hooves of surf.

Ocean is my language;
the anguish of my soul
rises from the ocean.

In the lamp of the ocean,
I lay siege
on melodies unnumbered,
gathering into a chant
the three dimensions of Time.

As the fire within me
sobs out in a symphony,
the ocean hums in
a music of silence.
As the roar of the ocean
blares out in boundless spate,
my heart turns
in to inchoate vapour.
The bond between me
and the ocean ,
and the ceaseless agony
knitting together
the vapours of my heart
and the waves in the ocean.
no, you cant understand.

The froth bubbling on,
at the surface,
is merely the run of the cotton,
soft and unsubstantiate.

The signature scribbled
on the sand
vanishes in a moment;
the signature sculpted
on the forehead of Time
---like the ocean!