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| Sunday, 16 October 2005 |
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A/L English Literature Made Easy - Poetry
The peace game - Yasmine Goonaratne Yasmine Goonaratne is a well-known Sri Lankan
writer and a university teacher. Her poetry carries a calm and serene
tone. She wrote her poem "Big match 1983" highlighting the violence of
1983, which
Her poem, The peacegame is rather satirical. The first verse gives a description of how the game is organised by 'kids'. The two teams of Odds and Evens. "The odds were the children down the street and miscellaneous scraps and strays, the Evens were my brothers and our friends, swell, upright, regular guys." This verse seems to mirror the shadow of discrepancy between the rich and poor how even in a game, the poor lot is cornered by the rich.
The evens being the rich and powerful are on one side, disclosing how even in a game the poor and powerless are humiliated and looked down upon, degrading them. The second verse describes how the "game was fought" to win, when it should be actually 'played'. Peace was the prize the game was fought (or played perhaps I mean) to win. Their object was to keep us out and ours to get, and then stay in... The objectives of the evens were neither pleasant nor just. The parents of the evens, the rich did not like their boys to play and rest in "rough housing near the orchid sheds" so we fought our battles over their parents vegetable beds" The ironic effect of these lines bring to limelight the unjust and selfish characteristics inherent in the majority of the rich. The third verse touches upon the fact that evens were a wellfed lot and how the little, thin, "scrawny odds would never dare to say the teams were not well matched". The odds would never dare to say the teams were not well matched. That was the beauty of the game. The word 'beauty' here may reflect the social dimensions of the game. The odds being powerless staying dumb to the authoritative decisions and actions of the evens. The evens chose the ground and the rules regarding the game was also made by them. The odds failed to argue with the evens or go against them. The odds were destined to be silent. We chose the ground and made the rules, they couldn't really do a thing about it, stunted little fools. Stunted little fools emphasise the fact that the odds were far below the level of the evens, the rich, wellfed lot. The word stunted symbolize the physical weakness as well as the mental weakness of the odds-unable to raise their opinion against the dicisions of the rich lot. The last line of the third verse Stunted little fools could also emphasise the unjustifiable moods and mental attitudes of the children of the rich towards the weaker and the poor and the poor lacking courage to argue with the evens, the elite. The final verse containing four lines carries a tone of irony. The arrogance, the class conflict and the words "stunted little fools" symbolising the children down street, far below the level of the evens the children of the upper class, the sophisticated well to do lot. The class conflict seems to sway to and fro as you read the poem. The word peace itself seems ironic.The last words of the last verse we called the entertainment peace or war. I can't remember which signifying the final judgement of the peace game, supposed to be an entertainment by the name "peace" and the single word 'peace' beginning with a capitol letter shows its significance though used in an ironic manner. The "peace game" is a satirical poem. The title is sarcastically highlighted reflecting the false sense of the word "peace". The poet herself seems to be not sure, not happy about the real proceedings of the game whether to call it a peace game or not because there's the rich using illegal irrelevant power. "We chose the ground and made the rules" The "protoganists" winning the game. The play on the two words Odds and Evens heighten the underlying contrast. The beginning of the game itself is unfair, the evens becoming high handed by birth and nurture and the odds being poor, and scrawny reacting, getting succumbed to the decisions of the evens, the rich lot. There's a reflection of an underlying idea in this poem. "War and Peace" seem to be the creation of a 'privileged group' to suit their needs. the poet seems to presume that some day the 'odds will have their day'.The game seems to be influenced by social dimensions. The evens choosing the ground and making rules is an unaccepted procedure in the field of sports. The language style used by Yasmin Goonaratne is simple and the ironic usage of words bring much effect to the ideas expressed. The single word peace is significant as it symbolizes the nasty deeds disguised as 'peace' taking place in a game. The expressions used in an appropriate manner highlight the ideas conveyed by the poet. The swift flow of the lines and the poem as a whole and the last line creating a blank space for the reader's free conclusion we called the entertainment 'peace' or war- I can't remember which The writer seems to be rather sarcastic in expression when she keeps a blank in the last line. The swift flow of the rhythmic pattern, and the simplicity of diction seem to enhance the theme of the poem "The peace game" with a touch of mild satire. Yasmine Goonaratne has refrained from coming to her own conclusion of the motives of the "peace game". The writer has given the readers the chance to interpret the verdict. Mrs. C. Ekanayake, Retd. Specialist Teacher Eng.Lit., St.Anne's College, Kurunegala. About the poet Novelist, Poet, and critic Yasmine Gooneratne, a graduate of Bishop's college, went on to graduate from the University of Ceylon in 1959 and also received a PhD in English Literature from Cambridge University in 1962. Gooneratne became a resident of Australia in 1972. In 1981 she was the first, and remains until now, the only person to receive the higher doctoral degree of Doctor of Letters ever awarded by Macquarie University. She now holds a Personal Chair in English Literature at Macquarie University, which is located in New South Wales. From 1989-1993 she was the Foundation Director of her Universityˇs Postcolonial Literatures and Languages Research Center. In 1990 Gooneratne became an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to literature and education and in that same year she was also invited to become the Patron of the Jane Austen Society of Australia. Gooneratne also had a place on a committee appointed by the Federal Government to review the Australian system of Honors and Awards from 1994-1995. Since 1995, she has had positions on both the Australia Abroad Council and the Visiting Committee of the Faculty of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong. In 1998, she became a member of Asialink. She has been a visiting professor or specialist at many different places around the world including the following: Edith Cowan University (Western Australia), University of Michigan (USA), Jawarharlal Nehru University (India), and the University of the South Pacific (Fiji). Yasmine Gooneratne is married to Dr. Brendan Gooneratne who is a physician, environmentalist, and historian. They married in 1962 and now have two children, a son and a daughter, and currently live in Sydney, Australia. Achievements and Awards Gooneratne has 16 published books that include critical studies of Jane Austen, Alexander Pope, and contemporary novelist and screen writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. She has also written volumes of literary essays as well as poems, short stories, a family memoir, and two novels. In 1991, she was awarded a Writer's Fellowship at Varuna Writerˇs Center where she edited the final draft of one of her novels, A Change of Skies. This novel later won the Marjorie Barnard Literary Award for Fiction in 1992 and was shortlisted for the 1991 Commonwealth Writers Prize. Her second novel, Pleasures of Conquest, was shortlisted for the 1996 Commonwealth Writers Prize. She has also contributed various articles, poetry, short stories, and other writings to many different anthologies and journals. Many of her works have been presented on television, radio, and at public readings around Australia and many other parts of the world. Her achievements are recorded in Who's Who of Australia 1997 and in The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature. Themes Gooneratne encompasses various themes in her writing. One theme that continually appears in her works is a reflection upon how the past affects the future. She relays many of her own experiences to make her points more personal and more real to the reader. An example of this is Relative Merits, which is a personal memoir that is based on interviews with her family members and on her own memories of her family's life. She takes her family's past and ties in how her well-known family has affected Sri Lanka's history. Another theme includes aspects of immigration and adjustment to new lands. This theme is exemplified in A Change of Skies, which deals with a Sri Lanka family moving to Australia. This novel focuses on the experiences of Asian immigrants and how they adjust to living in the new environment of Australia. Changes in history are also themes of her works. Gooneratne's second novel, The Pleasures of Conquest, deals with relationships between Europe and Asia as Ceylon undergoes a transformation from a British colony to an independent Sri Lanka. |
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darkened the esteem and impression of a majority of Sri Lankans. Yasmine Goonaratne seems to be influenced by poets like Dryden.
