Poetic Sensibility

23- Enthusiasm For Pessimism

        Rishi loved Romi's house. And by the looks of it, so did everyone else. They all had this certain look of being awed on their faces. He saw Kiara's eyes widen when she saw Romi's bookshelves with all kinds of volumes loaded on them. Her gaze particularly lingered on this section of books on 'Ethics and Etiquette'. Interesting.

        However, his happy mood was soon deflated by a smug Samay who decided to call in on his treat at the Irish House. Rishi had never wanted to bring sever pain to Kabir before. But then he had been told about how Sarah had announced their dinner-date and he knew he had lost the wager. And the fact that Kabir looked so annoyingly self-satisfied didn't help either. He was pleased about the fact that they were now coming together but did they have to look so coy all the bloody time?! He was sure Samay felt the same because he kept giving disgusted looks to Sarah when she was all... coy. He liked it more when his life was simple and Kabir was still pining away.

        Kiara seemed oblivious to the whole thing, Rishi noticed, as she was busy reading the paper that Romi had just distributed around. He could tell that today was going to be fun because Romi looked like she was in a story-telling mood. He loved it when he was right.

"Yeats," Kiara stated. "We're doing Yeats today?"

"Mmhmm," Romi replied. "But just like the last times, we are going to do a little background study before we get down to the actual poem. Yeats wrote in the early 20th century, which, in terms of British Literature is known as the-"

"Modernist era," Kiara finished for her. Rishi could see she immediately shrank back in her seat, petrified at having interrupted Romi. Romi, however, gave her a very encouraging smile and nodded.

"You're familiar with them?" Romi asked her.

Kiara nodded, "A little bit. The modernists are my favorites."

"Why?" Rishi asked. He couldn't help himself. She looked as if she was cowering and he really, really wanted her to be comfortable. This seemed like the only way to get her mind off the terror.

"Well," Kiara slowly began, "Modernists rejected the 'Enlightenment attitude' that had been adopted during the Victorian and Industrial Age. They did not have a holier-than-thou attitude. The disapproved of religious fanaticism and focused on the emergence of a new world. All the concepts of the past, including the Romantics and the Traditionalists, were ill-fitting according to the modernists. They adopted the progression made by the society in terms of economics, art, philosophy and other aspects of everyday life. Also, they were the ones who faced the horrors of the World Wars. Their writing was heavily influenced by all the anarchy. Let's just say they were adept at adopting. There was practically no sugar coating in their work."

        Rishi knew this sounded perfectly like Kiara. She appeared afraid and timid but she'd take the cold-harsh reality any day over the rosy view painted by the Romantics. And why did this not sit right with him? Did he consider himself a romantic? Is that why he was so upset with the notion that Kiara did not believe in the finer qualities of human nature?

Romi nodded with renewed enthusiasm and said, "Yes, that's right. But the modernists weren't aesthetically challenged. They were the first to be conscious of the fact that whatever it is that they were writing or painting or singing, would eventually be compared to everything that was written, painted or sang in the past. They knew that the future generations would judge and evaluate and criticize them. This, by the way, is essentially what is called the 'poet's state of awareness.' It's when a poet knows that he is competing with the poets of the past and the poets of the future. Nice, isn't it? To know that about a century later, a couple of adolescents would be cursing you for writing poetry which will be printed in their textbooks?"

        This brought out a small collective chuckle from everyone. Rishi, however, felt liberated. At first, he thought he was competing with the people sitting right there, in that room. He knew he wasn't half as good as them. That pressure nagged him all the time. But now he knew that he wasn't facing it alone. The others were facing stiff competition from the poets of the past. He turned to Romi when she began explaining about the poem they were about to do.

"Yeats, an Irish modernist was a part of the Literary Revival and played a very active role in politics at the time. This is probably why the First World War has affected him far more severely than some of the other poets of his time. There will always be a sense of pessimism and mysticism surrounding his work. It is that aspect of his work that we will be focusing on when we read this poem," Romi declared.

        Rishi saw everyone turning to the poem. He could sense the excitement bubbling inside Kiara. Once again, he found himself wondering about the ghosts of Kiara's past. Pessimism and mysticism, Romi had said. He wondered if Kiara's view of the world was surrounded by pessimism and mysticism. He distinctly remembered the conversation where she had said it was difficult for two humans to love each other for a long time. Why did she think that way? What had made her think that way? Was it a personal incident or was it because of someone else's influence. He decided that he was looking forward to what Romi would draw out of Kiara in this particular session. He'd finally know whether she was a modernist or not. And he would finally know whether he was one too.