“An Ode To Death”

Your ode to death is in the lifting of a single eyebrow. Lift it and see. (Conrad Aiken)

Death is more than certain, says e.e Cummings,

But the clocks go on ticking as before

And in every particle of carbon dust

There lives a diamond dream

How many galaxies yet to be explored-

How many seeds in the pomegranate of time?

The pine tree blasted by last year’s Thunderbolt

And the burn out match stick in my ashtray

Look so terribly alike

I have sat by your bedside and felt

Your sinking pulse. Are the hair and bones

Really indestructible and how long

Does it take for the eyes

To dissolve in the grave?

Two streams mingle in a forgotten river.

Between the eye and the tear

There is the archipelago of naked rocks

Only sleep and silence there-

No anchorage for grief.

I, too, have wandered in a forest of symbols

And clutched at the harlots of memory.

I have seen the “stars plummet to their dark addresses”

 I have felt your absence around my neck

But let bygones be bygones

Who was the deceiver and who the deceived

Was I on a floating island

And were you on the shore?

Which one of us moved away?

(Daud Kamal)

Theme of the Poem “An Ode to Death”

Conrad Aiken says that “Your ode to death is in the lifting of a single eyebrow. Lift it and see”.

An ode to death is a short poem about the universal approach of death. Death is the central focus of the
poet. It means that death is not a mystery but something that can be understood through observation of
life.

Theme of decay and decline

In this poem “An Ode to Death” theme of decay and decline is given. Not only human beings are subject
to death but each and every thing in this world e.g materialistic things are subject to decay. By using
reference of ‘clock’ Daud Kamal is giving the uncertainty of time and behind this he has the view that
with time everything will be finished. Similarly the time of time of born and time to die is defined by our
creator. For example if we buy something from bazar, salesman make sure the customer that we are
giving you the guarantee of this thing for three or four years. It means that after this defined guarantee
time thing will be expire. Similar case is with human beings’ life and death. Stephen Crane says:

“Death is a secret of life”

Fragility of life and temporality:

In this poem it is written that life is temporary and death is marked as permanent. Nothing in this world
is permanent but death is permanent. After meeting with death there is no chance of life anymore. Life
is fragile and humans are weak as well. Weak things cannot survive for long period of time.

Theme of materialism:

Death is something through which materialistic aspects of life are destroyed by spiritual consciousness.
Death is not only used as a theme but also as a recurring motif. By reading this poem one can analyze
that Death is not concerned with particular human beings or ethnic group or a religion. Everyone has to
taste the flavor of death.
Critical Summary

Ode to death is one of the best poems of Daud Kamal. This poem is about the ultimate reality of death
and it is written in a very beautiful way. He has used symbols and imagery very brilliantly he has also
given comparison in it. Its language is really simple but the manner in which he has conveyed a deeper
thought of universal interests is admirable. There are three major themes in it first is the ultimate reality
of death, second is uncertainty of life and third is eternal life after death. One thing which is very
interesting about this poem is that he has added two quotations of two different American but
contemporary poets, in the beginning one after another. In the opening lines of the poem he has quoted
Conrad Aiken:

Your ode to death is in lifting

of a single eyebrow.lif it and see.

This very first quotation shows that there is very little distance between man’s life and death. The story
of man’s life end exactly at a time when, death grasp him in its arms. It happens within seconds and it
takes even much little time than lifting of an eyebrow. How minuscule is distance between a man and
death.

Death is more than a certain, says E.E Cummings,

But the clocks go on ticking as before

Then he takes the quotation of E.E Cummings that: Death is more than a certain.Death is an ultimate
reality, it’s certain and undeniable fact. No one can escape from its grip. There is a saying of Owen
Meredith that:

There is nothing certain in a man’s life that he must lose it.

No doubt that everyone experiences to perish one day, but it’s likewise a fact that time bears no effect
with the demise of a soul. No one can die with the grief of his loved ones death, at last he have to come
towards his routine life. As the needles of clock never stop ticking for anyone same is the case with
human beings they never stop taking breath with the death of their beloveds.

And in every particle of carbon-dust

There lives a diamond dreams.

If we understand the chemical composition of a diamond it’s made up of carbon. But it is not necessary
that every molecule of carbon dust becomes a constituent of the diamond or diamond itself. Like is the
case with men that it is not necessarily in the fortune of every human being that he accomplish all his
desires in this really short animation. Because:

Death is certain but the time of death is uncertain

There are two lines from Hairat Allahabadi’s poetry which shows the uncertainty of life:

Aagaah apnii mout se koi basher nahiin

Saamaan sau baras ka hai pal ki khabar nahiin

How many galaxies yet to be explored—–

How many seeds in the pomegranate of time?

Human beings has great ambitions and wishes in their life, but it is impossible for a man to fulfill them
all because time is like a pomegranate and the deeds and wishes of man are its seeds and he cannot
fulfill them all. He cannot make all his whishes in really limited life.

According to Bahadur Shaw Zafar:

Umr-e-daraz mang-ke laye tthe char-din

Do arzu-me kat gaye, do intezar-me

The pine tree blasted by last year’s thunderbolt

and the burnt-out match-stick in my ashtray

looks so terribly alike.

These are really beautiful lines because the poet has made a comparison between big and small
creature very intelligently. He points out that what is a difference between a huge pine tree which was
ruined by a crash of thunder last year and a small match stick which he has burnt out in his ashtray. The
end of both is same. Both have to taste the flavor of death.

If there die a great baron of a country and a poor beggar of the same nation, what difference is in
between both. The last destination of both is grave. There is an Italian proverb that: When the game is
over, the king and pawn go into the same box.

I have sat by your bedside and felt

your sinking pulse. Are the hair and bones

really indestructible and how long

does it take for the eyes

to dissolve in the grave?

It’s a conversation between poet and a person who is going to die. To express the uncertainty of life
poet address to a person, that is on a deathbed and says I am holding your sinking pulse and feeling you
taking last breath. Normally it is considered that hair and bones of body stayed long while all body parts
dissolved soon. So he demands a question here that how much time your hair and bone will take to
dissolve in the grave and do I too live alive till that time. Do I have the assurity of my own life that how
long I live. It’s a very nice quotation of Euripides about the uncertainty of life: No one can confidently say
that he will be living tomorrow.

Two streams mingle in a forgotten river,

Between the eye and tear,

In this verse the poet wants to say that, the Existence of human beings is the combination of soul and
body, and these two elements mingle into the luxuries and colors of life. The word ‘two streams “used in
these lines which means that, the human soul and human body and which “mingle into the forgotten
river” of world. The relationship between life and death is like the relationship between an eye and tear.
In the busy life people forget death will come as rapidly as tears flow out from eye. No one knows that
when tears will begin to move outside the eye similarly, no one knows that when death will come but it
will surely happen.

There is an archipelago of naked rocks

Only sleep and silence there,

No anchorage for grief.

Now the Daud Kamal presenting the condition of grave after death, there is a silence, and endless sleep
in the group of islands. The silence in the island in literature is the symbol of danger and also shows the
silence of death because there are no more hardships of life. Actually Daud Kamal here presents the
Islamic point of view about the eternal life after death. He says that this is a place of barrel naked rocks,
and there is no space of grief, it is free from all trails. Troubles, sorrows of life.

I, too have wandered in a forest of symbols

And clutched at the hanots of memory,

In this verse the readers also seems Daud kamal’s, personal feelings about his own past life. He says that
he had indulged in ethically bad habits. He says that,

when I imagine his own death time, and thinks about his past life,there is nothing except the darkness of
prostitutes.I have seen the stars praament to their dark addresses I have felt your absence around my
neck…

Now here Again Daud Kamal presenting the concept of death that death is a ultimate reality. Everyone
have to die. We can take an example from the history, that the brave leaders like Muhammad bin Qasim
and even cruel leaders like Hitler was came, but the end of all was death. Death is blind it never see who
is in front of it, either it is a huge or small creature.
But let bygones be gones

Who was the deceiver and who the deceived

Was I on a floating island?

And were you on the shore,

Which one of move away.

These lines are about the feeling which a man feels when death occurs and poet has express all these
feeling very beautifully. He says that I am feeling that my life is moving away from me. Death as a cruel
monster is engulfing my life. I can feel but can’t do any do anything because I am hopeless. The poet is
expressing pessimists feeling of man. The poet says that no one knows; either life is deceiver or death or
which one of them is going to deceive or both are giving deceive to each other. Daud kamal is asking a
question to life that either on floating Island or you was on a shore actually no one knows who moves
away he is conversing with life that either you moved away from me or I came near to death.

Technical Analysis

Ode (Lyrical poem):-

A poem that expresses deep personal feelings in a way that is like a song. This poem of Kamal has
personal thoughts and feelings. Ode is a lyric poem typically of elaborate or irregular metrical form in
which a person expresses a strong feeling of love or respect for someone or something. This poem is
written as an ode form.

Poem:-

An ode to death is a poem about the ultimate reality of death that death must happen in every one’s
life. So, when a man comes in this world a dream is also born with him. In the poem “An Ode to Death”
the diction employed by Daud Kamal is finest. His writing style is deeply influenced by the imagists.
“Poetry for him was of Yeats and Pounds”. He was the true son of soil.

Tone:-

The tone of the whole poem is pessimistic, gloomy and dark. It is full of suspense and sensation. It does
not vary from stanza to stanza, it remains consistent, spiritual. The theme of death is so gloomy and
serious and that seriousness reaches to its height by his using diction like thunderbolt, grave, forest of
symbols etc.

Metaphor:-

It is a word or phrase for one thing that is used to refer to another thing in order to show or suggest that
they are similar. So, he has used metaphorical expressions in the first stanza such as:

“And in every particle of carbon-dust

There lives a diamond dreams”

Every man nourishes a dream which dies with his death. So, here ‘diamond dream’ and ‘carbon dust’
represent death of man’s dream with his death.

“ how many galaxies yet to be explored” here the word ‘galaxies represent man’s wihes or dreams that
are not yet fulfilled but death finished it.

“ The pine tree blasted by last year’s thunderbolt

And the burnt-out match-strike in my ashtry look so terribly alike”

Here poet compares the man’s death with the death of ‘pine tree’ and “match strike”. He tells about the
uncertainty of death and says that thing can be big like pine tree and can be small like match-strike but
everything has to taste the death.

Imagery:-

Imagery means to use figurative language to represent objects, actions and ideas in such a way that it
appeals to our physical senses. So, poet has used imagery in the second stanza like:

“I have sat by your bedside and felt

Your sinking pulse. Are the hair and bones

Really indestructible and how long

Does it take for the eyes?

To dissolve in the grave”

In this whole stanza the poet has depicted the whole scenery and he appears to be a witness of a
person’s breathing his last.

Islamic Approach:-

“Two streams mingle in a forgotten river.

Between the eye and the tear

There is the archipelago of naked rocks

Only sleep and silence there-

No anchorage for grief.”

In this stanza the poet describes Islamic approach using the word ‘forgotten river’ that our soul and
physical body mingle in forgotten river, and we have forgotten our real aim and so busy in the luxuries
of the life that we have ignored eternity. Forgotten river is the ignored eternity. ‘Sleep and silence’
symbolize the eternal peace.

Style:-

The style of this poem is dramatic monologue and dramatic monologue is a poem in the form of a
speech or narrative by an imagined person, in which the speaker inadvertently reveals aspects of their
character while describing a particular situation or series of events. Daud Kamal representing this poem
in the form of dramatic monologue he represents in these verses such as:

“I have felt your absence around my neck

But let bygones be bygones

Who was the deceiver and who the deceived

Was I on a floating island?

And were you on the shore?

Which one of us moved away?”

So, the poem ends on the confusing note that this is an address to a man by his soul or soul is addressing
to the man. Hence suspense remains till the end.

Conclusion

It is concluded that “An Ode to Death” by Daud Kamal is a poem about the certainty of death. It is not
written for the special area. It is a universal phenomenon. By using different examples like ‘clock’,
‘thunderbolt’, ‘galaxies’ etc. he creates the effect of naturality. Images create concrete pictures in our
mind. That images have symbolic interpretations for e.g. clock is the symbol of uncertainty of life as time
is uncertain. It does not wait for anyone. Language used by Daud Kamal is very simple and easy.
Construction and arrangement (syntax) of words is easy to understand. Equally important are inter-
woven stanzas that create the boundage of thought throughout the poem. In the whole poem reader
finds himself engaged with the idea of happening of death. Whole poem revolves around the opening
verse of poem that is “Death is more than a certain”. In the last he has personal feelings as he was
involved in ethically corrupt habits.