NO TEARS ( Alexander Pushkin )

“No Tears” is a beautiful lyrical poem in four quatrains. The speaker of the poem is a lover who comes to know the death of his beloved. He speaks about the death of his lover with no tears in his eyes. She died at home in her native place under the blue sky. Her spirit has flown above him silently. He says that there is an “uncrossable line” between the dead and the living people. So she could not say farewell to him. Therefore he also could not express his sorrow and pain on her death. Like a stone, the messenger told him the news of her death and like a stone he heard the sad news. The poet mourns for the lost love rather than the death of his beloved. The moments of love that he enjoyed with her is still very precious for him. On hearing the news of her death, he reminisces his past days when he was in love with her. On hearing the death of her, he listens to it like a stone. He has no tears for her. Perhaps the news of her death might have shocked and paralysed him that he could not say anything. Now the lover remembers those days when he was in love with her. He spent his days and nights thinking of her. At that time his mind was full of love for her and it was blind love for her. But now his mind is empty. He has no feelings of love for her. He has no tears drop for her. The rhyme scheme of the poem is abcb, in each four line stanza.

1.      Why is the poet sure that the spirit has flown above him? The poet believes that the spirit has flown above him because she had such deep love for him and she was a good spirit who has gone to heaven. The lover is living on the earth and there is a an uncrossable line between the dead and the living.

2.      “And I listened like a stone unshaken”.  Identify and define the figure of speech.

The figure of speech used here is simile because the speaker compares himself to a stone with the word ‘like’

3.      How does the poet describe the death of his lover?

The poet describes the death of his beloved in an unemotional manner. She died in her native land, far away from him. The poet is certain that her spirit must have flown above him to bid farewell to him. But the poet believes that there is an uncrossable line between the dead and the living people. Therefore she could not make farewell to him.

SONNET 116                                                                                 William Shakspeare

Sonnet 116 is one of the most famous sonnets of William Shakespeare. It has a subtitle “Let Me not to the Marriage”. In this sonnet, Shakespeare defines true love. True love never changes. When young lovers become old, their love is still green, fresh and young. Human life is full of changes, ups and downs, pains and happiness. They may come and go. But true love is constant. It is an ever fixed mark just as a light house. Mariners are given light for their safe journey. The lighthouse is not shaken by violent waves and violent wind. Again true love is like a star that guides the ships in old days. The star shows them the right path in the sea where violent wind and waves strike against the ships. Similarly human life is like a sea journey where man has to faces violent waves of problems and difficulties and true love gives him courage and peace and joy and he can forget all his sorrow and overcome these difficulties in a smooth manner.

Love is not Time’s fool. True love is ever lasting. It goes beyond death to the end of the world. Time can destroy everything in the world. Young and beautiful people are made old and ugly looking within his sickle’s bend. Like a reaper Time reaps away the beauty and youth from young men and women and made them old, sick and dying.

 In concluding the poem, the poet says that his opinion of true love is undisputable. If his statement on love is proved wrong, he is willing to take back all his writings and also will declare that no man has ever loved. We agree with Shakespeare and quotes the lines of Kumaranasan “ The world is born out of love and is enriched with love”.

1.       What are the different aspects of love that the poet discuses in the sonnet? Shakespeare discusses many different aspects of love such as the eternity and constancy of love. True love cannot be changed or altered by any power in the world. True love is like light house or ever fixed mark. It can face all the challenges in the world.