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    Laxmi Prasad Devkota

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    ramesh pokhrel
    The poem "The Lunatic" is a satirical work by Nepali poet Laxmi Prasad Devkota that critiques society. Through the persona of a lunatic, the poet expresses his anger at humanity's inhumanity and surgically exposes the emptiness of intellectuals of his time. He contrasts the visions of the lunatic and sane world, ironically suggesting that those called sane are actually foolish and exploit ordinary people. While thought-provoking, the interpretation of a lunatic speaking so logically is questionable. Overall the poem offers a bitter commentary on the hollowness of the modern world through its ironic tone.

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    Laxmi Prasad Devkota

    Uploaded by

    ramesh pokhrel
    1K views2 pages
    The poem "The Lunatic" is a satirical work by Nepali poet Laxmi Prasad Devkota that critiques society. Through the persona of a lunatic, the poet expresses his anger at humanity's inhumanity and surgically exposes the emptiness of intellectuals of his time. He contrasts the visions of the lunatic and sane world, ironically suggesting that those called sane are actually foolish and exploit ordinary people. While thought-provoking, the interpretation of a lunatic speaking so logically is questionable. Overall the poem offers a bitter commentary on the hollowness of the modern world through its ironic tone.

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    The poem "The Lunatic" is a satirical work by Nepali poet Laxmi Prasad Devkota that critiques society. Through the persona of a lunatic, the poet expresses his anger at humanity's inhumanity and surgically exposes the emptiness of intellectuals of his time. He contrasts the visions of the lunatic and sane world, ironically suggesting that those called sane are actually foolish and exploit ordinary people. While thought-provoking, the interpretation of a lunatic speaking so logically is questionable. Overall the poem offers a bitter commentary on the hollowness of the modern world through its ironic tone.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    1K views2 pages

    Laxmi Prasad Devkota

    Uploaded by

    ramesh pokhrel
    The poem "The Lunatic" is a satirical work by Nepali poet Laxmi Prasad Devkota that critiques society. Through the persona of a lunatic, the poet expresses his anger at humanity's inhumanity and surgically exposes the emptiness of intellectuals of his time. He contrasts the visions of the lunatic and sane world, ironically suggesting that those called sane are actually foolish and exploit ordinary people. While thought-provoking, the interpretation of a lunatic speaking so logically is questionable. Overall the poem offers a bitter commentary on the hollowness of the modern world through its ironic tone.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    Laxmi Prasad Devkota

    THE LUNATIC

    -Laxmi Prasad Devkota

    Literal Comprehension:

    "The Lunatic" is a satirical poem composed by Laxmiprasad Devkota, the great poet and essayist of
    Nepali literature. In this poem, the poet presents the supremacy of emotion. This poem is his auto-
    biography where he expresses his anger at the inhumanity of mankind by wearing the persona of a
    lunatic. This poem is also a modern expression of his deepest personal feelings and a surgical exposure
    of the emptiness of the so-called intellectual aspirants of the time. The poet also focuses on the social,
    cultural, and political scene on Nepal where there is break-down of traditional values and the collapse of
    civilization.

    In this poem, he wanted to show the contrasts between the world of the lunatic and that of the sane
    people. He addresses his friends and says that his plight is not good. He says that he sees the sound,
    hears the visibility, tastes the perfume and touches the things whose existence the world denies. He
    sees flower in the and talks with birds, animals and mountains. He works with the six senses. The wine
    of the king is the blood of people and prostitute are corpses for him. He sees Helen and Padmini in the
    beauty of the rose. One minus one is always one in his mathematics. He dances with the song of the
    cuckoo. The heaven of the rich is hell for him. The gold is iron and the great religion of the rich is sin for
    him. Because of these perceptions of the poet, he is called the lunatic and sent to the Ranchi. These
    contrasts in the visions of the speaker and the sane world create irony in the poem. The tone of the
    poem is ironic. The poet is not lunatic but the so-called sane people are foolish, non-sane and mad. He
    compares the leaders with the prostitutes who have no certainty of what they speak. They misuse
    power and exploit and torture ordinary people. They also spread corruption. They make false
    conspiracy. It makes the poet irritate and frustrate and volcano explodes from his heart and brain. Thus,
    this poem is a bitter comment on the hollowness and stupidity of the so-called civilized modern world.

    Interpretation:
    The poet may be trying to present his deepest personal feelings and surgical exposure of the emptiness
    of the so-called intellectual aspirants. He also focuses on the break-down of the social, cultural and
    political norms and values and collapses of civilization. Not only that the poet throws a bitter satire
    against the social evils, corruption and selfishness, etc.

    Critical thinking:

    Although this poem is a great moral lesion for the modern world ideas of the poet are questionable.
    How can a lunatic speak so logically? Does a lunatic rally see sounds and hear sights? So, I am not fully
    convinced.

    Assimilation:

    This poem affected me very much. In the beginning, I thought that the speaker is lunatic. But when I
    went through that the poem, I understood the ironic tone of the poem. I also found the poet very
    sensitive and sane. I have deep respect and honor towards poet.

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