Write a critical appreciation of the poem Dawn at Puri BA (1st sem) regular:

Write a critical appreciation of the poem Dawn at Puri BA (1st sem) regular

Write a critical appreciation of the poem Dawn at Puri BA (1st sem) regular: Dawn at Puri is a poem composed by Jayanta Mahapatra, a modern English poet. Here in this post  you can read a critical appreciation of the poem Dawn at Puri BA (1st sem) regular. 

Read Questions Answers of Dawn at Puri here

Write a critical appreciation of the poem Dawn at Puri BA (1st sem) regular

Introduction: ‘Dawn at Puri’ by poet Jayanta Mahapatra. In the poem, the poet Jayanta Mahapatra remembers the sea beach premises at Puri Dham. Puri is a famous tourist spot in India, located in Odisha. It is also famous for its Jagannath Temple.

In the poem, the poet presents the picture of the Puri sea beach at dawn and its resemblance to the people living there. Poet also can listen to the endless cawing of crows along with the loudspeaker voice drawing his attention at the outset. He afterward notices a skull dug in the sea and near the cremation ground.

Analysis: Poet Jayanta Mahapatra with the help of his poem ‘Dawn at Puri’ presents a picturesque description of the seashore and the pilgrims visiting each day to visit the famous temple of Jagannath. 

At the beach, there are numerous crows gathering here and there. In this noisy ambiance the poet observes a skull resembling poor and hungry millions of our country. 

Thereafter the poet shifts his vision and looks at the temple where “white-clad widowed Women” are waiting to enter the “Great Temple”. The poet sees a deep religious yearning in their eyes.

In the next section of ‘Dawn at Puri’, Jayanta Mahapatra shifts again to the seashore and now he rather sees empty shells lying there instead of crows. In the landscape suddenly a heap of smoke seeks the attention of the poet. 

In the last section of ‘Dawn at Puri’ depicts the last stage of life by producing the image of the “sullen solitary pyre”. It is actually coming out of a cremation pyre. The poem ends with the wish of the poet’s aging mother. She wants to be cremated at her native place like the mentioned pyre on the seashore.

Conclusion: The six stanza poem has an evenness in its structure. It has three visually descriptive lines imitating the waves of seawater on the sandy shore. The falling waves in the structure of the poem come into attention from stanza four. The metrical structure of the poem imitates the rhythm of the sea. A mixture of trochaic, iambic, and anapaestic meter helps the poet to achieve this sound effect.

There is not any specific rhyme scheme in the poem. Instead of that, the poem is metrical and rhythmic for the equal distribution of foot in each stanza. The majority of the foot contains anapaestic meter. An anapaest is a metrical foot consisting of two short or unstressed syllables followed by one long or stressed syllable.