The lyrical poem, Children, emphasizes the importance of children in ancient Tamil culture. The title alone portrays the idea that the wealth of the world lies within children. In the summary prior to the puram poems, the text describes agriculture as being a huge part of ancient Tamil culture and that the puram poems focus on an “individual’s experiences of his or her public world” (Pg. 857). This clarification explains that the puram poems are focused on the public perception rather than self-perception. The text also gives emphasis to how important children are in families because their agricultural way of life. The children represent the family’s legacy and the ones who will inherent the farm after their parents pass on. Children are viewed
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The poem uses vague descriptions followed by vivid imagery to stress that a man’s legacy, his children, is what matters to the Tamil people, not worldly possessions. In the beginning of the poem the author conceals information about the man’s work and estates, but goes into great detail about children in order to show the children’s importance. The author uses vague words such as, “whatever” and “many” to describe the man’s job, which leaves the reader wanting to know more about his estates and what he does for a living (Pg. 807). The only detail given is that they are great estates. The author never reveals anymore details about his estates because they do not matter. They are worth nothing. On the other hand, the author describes children in great detail using sensory imagery to draw the reader’s attention to the importance of children. The children, “who patter on their little feet” serves as the sense of sound imagery to describe the children (Pg. 870). This allows the reader to hear tiny feet running around the home and gives the reader …show more content…
The shift from the man to the children is a drastic one. The harsh tone in the beginning of the poem is contrasted by the light and airy tone used when the author talks about the children. The shift of tone also shows the writer’s attitude towards wealth and riches. The writer doesn’t value great estates or riches earned by men, instead the value is placed on the children. The writer uses concrete imagery to portray the adoring tone and value placed on children. This shifts serves to jerk the reader from one feeling to another in order to place emphasis on children. The repetition of the word even is significant in the poem as well. The author writes, “even when a man has earned much of whatever can be earned”, and “even when he is master of great estates” to explain that even if the man accomplishes success on the earth and tries to everything to be great in his lifetime, it will not matter if he doesn’t have any children to carry on is legacy. This use of repetition stresses that nothing the man does on earth will matter if he has no one to carry his name and fortunes on. The word even is used to emphasize that nothing he can buy or own will change the fact that his legacy will mean nothing, unless he has children to continue his legacy. In linguistics even can be used as an adjective or an adverb. In this poem even is used as an adverb to emphasize another phrase. The
The poem uses vague descriptions followed by vivid imagery to stress that a man’s legacy, his children, is what matters to the Tamil people, not worldly possessions. In the beginning of the poem the author conceals information about the man’s work and estates, but goes into great detail about children in order to show the children’s importance. The author uses vague words such as, “whatever” and “many” to describe the man’s job, which leaves the reader wanting to know more about his estates and what he does for a living (Pg. 807). The only detail given is that they are great estates. The author never reveals anymore details about his estates because they do not matter. They are worth nothing. On the other hand, the author describes children in great detail using sensory imagery to draw the reader’s attention to the importance of children. The children, “who patter on their little feet” serves as the sense of sound imagery to describe the children (Pg. 870). This allows the reader to hear tiny feet running around the home and gives the reader …show more content…
The shift from the man to the children is a drastic one. The harsh tone in the beginning of the poem is contrasted by the light and airy tone used when the author talks about the children. The shift of tone also shows the writer’s attitude towards wealth and riches. The writer doesn’t value great estates or riches earned by men, instead the value is placed on the children. The writer uses concrete imagery to portray the adoring tone and value placed on children. This shifts serves to jerk the reader from one feeling to another in order to place emphasis on children. The repetition of the word even is significant in the poem as well. The author writes, “even when a man has earned much of whatever can be earned”, and “even when he is master of great estates” to explain that even if the man accomplishes success on the earth and tries to everything to be great in his lifetime, it will not matter if he doesn’t have any children to carry on is legacy. This use of repetition stresses that nothing the man does on earth will matter if he has no one to carry his name and fortunes on. The word even is used to emphasize that nothing he can buy or own will change the fact that his legacy will mean nothing, unless he has children to continue his legacy. In linguistics even can be used as an adjective or an adverb. In this poem even is used as an adverb to emphasize another phrase. The