The Professor By Nissim Ezekiel Analysis
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About The Poet
Nissim Ezekiel
Born – 16 December 1924, Bombay, India
Died – 9 January 2004, Mumbai, India.
He was a poet, playwright, art critic, and editor.
He was one of the prominent writers in English in the post colonial period.
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Notable works
i) The Discovery of India (1956)
ii) Hymns in Darkness (1976)
iii) Night of the Scorpion
Awards
i) Sahitya Akademi Award (1983)
About The Poem
“The Professor” is a work of satire to Indian society and Indian English. The poem is a one – way conversation between Professor and a student. After a long time, they met. The Professor boasts about his sound health, his sons who are well established and daughters who are married. He is happy to have 11 grandchildren. He talks about changing modern India. He at last he tells his student to come to his house. He lives at the backside of the opposite house.
A Poem Of Satire And Humour
The poem “The Professor” is a poem which presents humour through Satire-when he says that all of his children are settled in life, he goes on giving detail about them. One is bank manager and other is sales manager. This shows the typical view of an Indian about success. He begins with ‘remember me?” signifying that the professor remembers him and not his student remembers him.
When he says “Both have cars”, he shows his narrow thinking about success. Money and wealth is what the learned professor thinks as success. When he says about eleven grand children we become aware of a person whose thinking is orthodox, though he is a Professor. When he says ‘no blood pressure’ we feel to giggle for a man cannot be without blood pressure.
Typical Narrow Thinking
Here the speaker is the professor, a learned person with typical stereotype thinking. His sons are settled in life as Sales manager and Bank manager. To him this is only success. His daughters are happily married and having many children. To him his daughters are meant for only marriage and having children and not anything of their own, something worthwhile in life. Having cars is a symbol of being of the modern class and being wealthy. His one son is not doing well and he thinks that it is important to have someone in the family like him, ‘a black sheep. The names of his daughters ‘ Sarala and Tarala’ both are typical Indian way of name giving reflecting’ his way of thinking. Throughout the poem he does not allow his listener to speak much. He is boastful of himself, family and all achievements. A professor with this thinking shows his narrowness.
Mock To Indian English
‘The poem ‘‘The professor” is remarkable for its mocking of the use of Indian English. Like most other Indians, we find the professor to use present continuous tense more to express himself. We find him using ‘issue’ as plural which is odd. Then he says ‘progress is progressing’ which is odd and funny to hear. We find him saying ‘‘old values are going, new values are coming” reflecting the awkward habit of speaking. Then he says, ‘Everything is happening with ‘leaps and bounds’. The use of “leaps and bounds” reflect the unusual way of expression. We find extensive use of present continuous to reflect his feelings. He uses ‘price of the old age’ reflecting an awkward dual meaning. Then we find him stating ‘O.K.’ which is informal and only used in conversation. Then he states about ‘aches and pains which, though an example of Tautology is awkwardly used. After that, he states ‘no blood pressure’ meaning ridiculous. No one can live without blood pressure. Actually, he meant that his blood pressure is normal. His statement ‘no heart attack’ is also humorous as it is not a disease rather it is an occurrence. We find him with the instances of Indian English when we come across statements like ‘How is your health keeping?”, “man of weight and consequence”, “humble residence”, “opposite houses backside”.
A Poem Of Boasting
This poem from the alpha to omega talks about the boasting comments of the professor. The professor goes on to state how well her sons are successful and established and how the two daughters are married with good boys (!) and how he is happy about having eleven grandchildren. Then he goes on to talk about how he supports modern thinking and in support of family planning. He goes on boasting about this sound health and well being.
A Poem Of Monologue
A monologue is presented by a single speaker to express their thoughts and sometimes to address directly another character or a group of audience. Here in “The Professor” too we find a single speaker, the professor delivering his own thoughts about family, children, profession and health to another character and listener, his former student.
Structure Of The Poem
The poem is written in free verse and is a perfect piece of monologue. The poem is of 36 lines and devoid of any proper metrical pattern and rhyme scheme. The poem is a satire and evokes humour in readers.
Poetic Devices In Use
I) Anaphora – “one is ………………….
One is …………….”
ii) Alliteration – “whole world”, “In India”.
iii) Simile – “You were so this, like stick”
iv) Repetition – “No diabetes, no blood presume, no heart attack:, “other also doing well, though not so well
v) Antithesis – Old values are going, new values are coming”, “now and then”.
Questions And Answers
What type of poem The professor is?
The poem “The Professor” by Nissim Ezekiel is a satire on typical Professors of India. In this poem which is a Dramatic Monologue, a Professor namely Professor Seth meets a person who was once his student. The professor begins boasting about himself and about his sons and sons-in-law.
What is the message of the poem the professor by Nissim Ezekiel?
Nissim Ezekiel through his poem ” The Professor” explores the Urban thinking pattern of the Indians and is a satire on the typical Indian mentality, where success is measured on the basis of a person’s materialistic wealth, the age-old inequality of gender prevails, son’s success is measured by his managerial jobs.
What was the name of the professor in the poem the professor?
The poem begins with the professor’s question: “Remember me?” Then he himself gives the identity that he is Professor Sheth. It is clear from his speech that he is talking to one of his past students whom he taught geography.
Who is the black sheep in Professor family?
The term ‘black sheep’ refers to an odd member of a group who is generally regarded as a misfit, disgrace or cause of shame. The professor uses the term to talk about his third son who according to him has not been as successful as the other two sons.