HUES AND SHADES OF SOLITUDE
Solitude, loneliness and labyrinths are not new themes to poetry, but when these elements are delineated in the tapestry of feelings and emotions, it will definitely achieve new dimensions. Thematically, these aspects are mostly associated with subjective feelings,but when the very emotion is analysed objectively, it will move, rather, ponder over greater depths of the agony of existence. There it evokes new paradigms since existing paradigms are not adequate to deal with the perplexities and obscurities of the contemporary state of affairs. At present it is very difficult to differentiate the presentable and the unpresentable. In post modernism the attempt has been to draw out unpresenatable from the presentable, but now it tends to identify the presentable in the unpresentable. Then the crucial then question arises, how the unpresentable is presented? Only when something is presented one can filter out presentable or unpresentable. There emerges the relevance of paradigmatic representation of emotions. In the case of Maria Eugiena’s poems collected with the title Matices, the theory of emotional paradigm can be applied more effectively since her writings try to represent the emotions objectively.
As in the case of many other poets, her soul is also in search of solace, but more than personalized, we find some impersonal ways of tracking it. Apparently, readers get aware of the hues and shades of certain recurring images like solitude, loneliness, labyrinth and memories. But these images are enveloped in human miseries at large. To her “memories are accommodated to be transformed”, a transformation that goes beyond its limits. Even liberation felt to her as a “feeling from affliction and impotence as inside a shell”. This kind of locking up could be seen in other poems also. For instance “I need the premeditated times”, “Autumn collects my leaves/ now tanned by ancient suns”, ” I go down the dark winding paths of/ my puzzled soul”, ” my secret labyrinths”, and the like.
Her heart throbes for an ” eternal pilgrimage ” but always she is confronted with “emotional miseries” and “stopped in time”. According to her ” lovers in the mountain” are longing for”eternal happiness”.She finds” wisdom in nature “, but she faces ” painful frustrations”. Thus she hears the ‘still sad music of humanity’ ( Wordsworth) and the culmination of these aspects are in “hues and shades” .The metaphors she used are emotionally correlated and capable of evoking feelings imminent. As Stanly Fish wrote, certain immediacy of meaning and understanding are with them. Considering these poems altogether, one gets the feeling of finding some shades always in her longings. This is why she has the feeling of “premeditated insanity”. In these poems, shades could be read in colours and it is more evident in her usage”blue in peace”. Connotatively, blue always stands with the peaceful state of mind, then the specific statement of blue in peace leads more into depth, perhaps the ‘unfathomed.’ ” I believed in peace” she writes in another poem.
The objective narration of feelings can be found in many other poems in this collection, but her own reflection making her feel ‘levitating’ stands apart as the immanence of her soul is evident there. Thus these poems turn out to be unique in their extraordinary delineation.
Dr. Raju Vallikunnam, a Ph.D in English with specialization in literary theory is a known poet, critic and translator. He writes both in English and Malayalam. He has published eighteen books. At present he is visiting professor in the postgraduate department of English, Kuriakose Elias College Mannanam Kottayam Kerala.