"The Sower” by Victor Hugo

 

                                        “The Sower”

1.  About the Poem, Poet and Title-

The poem “The Sower” is a translated poem from French into English language. It is translated by Toru Dutt who is one of the founding figures of Indo-Anglian literature. She was a literary genius who blended three literary traditions – Indian, English and French. The original poet of these French poem is Victor Hugo. The title of the poem represents the central character of the poem, the Sower. The poem is about the poet’s observation of the sower; his dedication, determination and selfless hard-work. The poet observes the painstaking dedication of the sower and has a deep feeling of reverence for him. The central idea of the poem revolves around all these actions of this sower. The title of the poem represents the central character of the poem, the Sower who works hard in his farm.

2. Theme/ Summary/ Gist of the poem-

The Sower is a pastoral poem written in the first person narrative. The theme of the poem is about the sower who works hard in his field with dedication, perseverance and commitment and the poet observed his all activities at sunset time and admired  of the sower’s actions as Noble and selfless. The poem opens with the poet-persona resting in his porchway at the time of sunset. The porchway opens to the vast farmlands.

The farmers are all returning having finished a hard day's work but an old man continues sowing.

initially, the old man was ignored by the poet taking him to be an ordinary old farmer, but as the old man continues his sowing way after sunset, the poet changes his mind.

He sees in the old man an optimism, a wisdom not often matched to other people. Life has taught him many harsh lessons yet he continues with his work in dedication waiting for it to bear fruit.

3. Poetic style/ Language/ poetic Devices-

The poetic devices used in this poem are Alliteration, Antithesis, Personification, Hyperbole, Inversion etc. For example ‘Shadows run across the lands’ – in this line, The Shadows are given the human  quality of running. The poem is based on figurative language. Visual imagery, symbolism and metaphors are its main rhetorical devices. A pastoral image is created through its subject. Nature and Man is beautifully portrayed through the poem. The sower as in the title stands as a synecdoche for the entire Mankind.

The rhyme scheme of the poem is  ' 'abab' and rhyming pair is cool- rule ; fast- past.

4. Special features-

This is a narrative poem. The special features of this poem are imagery and symbolism. Descriptive imagery is used in this poem. For example- ‘Marches, he along the plane’ –  in this line the word ‘marches’ indicates movement and thus creates a visual image in the minds of the readers. The dominance of the silhouette of the sower over the deep furrows is symbolic of the dominance of man over nature.

 5. Message / Values/ Morals in the Poem-

The message of this poem is that we all should work sincerely with a positive attitude in life. The tone of the poem is full of optimism and is fresh and appealing. Poem  gives the message of the importance of farmer and his service to society.

6. Your opinion about the Poem-

I like the poem for its positive tone and vivid, pictorial imagery. The poem subtly highlights the value of commitment, determination, optimism and selflessness. The value that we learn from this poem is 'Farmers are the heroes' and 'Work is worship'.