Examining the Images and Symbols in Abhi Subedi’s Poem “Soft Storm”
Abstract
This article explores the images and symbols in Abhi Subedi’s poem “Soft Storm” from a sociopolitical perspective. The study interprets this poem's highly allegorical, paradoxical, symbolic, and philosophical signs, symbols, and images that reflect power politics. The poet has presented everything symbolically and ironically. The poet disseminates the sociopolitical messages through the metaphorical presentation depicting modern society's deteriorated condition. The paradoxical language often bothers general readers and most scholars from other disciplines. The images and symbols reflect the adverse situations of the modern world and suggest the necessary steps for amelioration. This poem is as complex as T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Wasteland.” The main findings Subedi’s poem reveal that the number of homeless children is increasing as it is a result of an anarchic and undisciplined world. The poet envisions the absurdities of tumultuous times with a touch of compassion. The research tries to answer the research questions - Why are metaphorical and allegorical meanings ambiguous? Can general readers grasp the underlying meanings of Subedi’s poem? This research paper interprets the depth of meanings and frees a society with a significant departure from traditional power politics. The soft storm signifies the softness of power politics as the system is weak. The study employs the theories of Chandler’s semiotic and Mead’s symbols.
Keywords: Ambiguous, images, paradox, semiotics, symbols.
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Avant-garde. (2023). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avant-garde.
Behera, N. S. (2024). State of Man-Woman relationship in ―A Game of Chess‖ the second section of T.S. Eliot‘s ‘The Wasteland’: An Exegesis. Research Journal of English (RJOE) 9/4, pp: 103-107, 2024. https://www.rjoe.org.in/Files/v9i4/13.Dr.%20Narayan%20Surjit%20Behera(103-107)%20(1).pdf
Birhan1, A. T. and Christopher, N. (2024). Unraveling the persistence of ethnic conflict in Ethiopia: Examining causes. American Journal of Arts and Human Science, 3(2), 10-18. https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajahs/article/view/2575
Chandler, D. (2017). Semiotics: The basic. Third Ed. Routledge, 2017.
Côté, J. F. (2015). George Herbert Mead’s Concept of Society. Paradigm Publishers.
Elias, N. (1991) The Symbol Theory. Trans. Richard Kilminste. Sage Publications.
Lee, G. C. (2019). George Herbert Mead: Philosopher of the Social
Individual. Columbia University.
Mead, H. (1938). The philosophy of the act. Ed. Charles W. Morris. University of Chicago Press.
Miller, D. (2015). Belief, Rituals and Symbols of India. Cavendish Square Publishing.
Plato. (2017). The allegory of the cave. Transl. Benjamin Jowett. (First published in 1871) Logos.
Shakespeare. W. (2008). Hamlet. Ed. Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen. Modern Library.
Sharma, A. (1993). “WAITING FOR GODOT:” A Beckettian Counterfoil to Kierkegaardian Existentialism. Samuel Beckett Today / Aujourd’hui, 2, 275–280. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25781175
Subedi, A. (2022). “Soft Storm.” English. Curriculum Development Center.
Strauss, A. (1956). The social psychology of George Herbert Mead. Phoenix Books.
Wilde, O. (2021). “The Selfish Giant.” English. Curriculum development center.
Winner, T. G. (2015). The Czech avant-garde literary movement between the world wars. Peter Lang.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.