Roland E.T Mhasvi The Flowers of Yesterday. An Anthology of Poems

NO CAUSE TO STIR

Sleep, dear Heart, there’s little cause to stir,
Pulse gently through the brave hours of your waking,
Cuddied softly in the bosomed fortress of nature.
Rest quietly midst the deep-sheltered valleys of home.
Reck not what cares prowl the darkness without;
Puzzle not what strange the darkness without;
Puzzle not what strange thoughts move the world,
What monstrous-men-gods raise castles
Upon chumming graveyards –
With mighty wings and trumpet voice rule the roost,
Or who in the slummed backyard of smaller men
Calls the tune;
Here with sacred grace cut off this pound of flesh,
There with sword fingers carve out historic blood courses.
Breath gently, little one,
The world without watches and waits

The shadows dodge through the brooding silent gloom,
As now the sleeping host stir in the waking day,
Twitching in the gray light of dawn the summons to obey:
The echoing call flashes through bruiting grass
And weeping streams,
Mirrored through jewelled dew drops
And soughing winds:
The message ripples through a thousand jangling lines,
Till the deep-dozing root and the soil-sleeping seed,
The bed ridden bulb and the deep-sleeping seed,
Begin to throb and stir to the muted music of time,
Bursting through mud huts of thatch
With pennants green,
To mark with joy the costumed pageantry of the season.

But not for you, dear Heart. Sieep the sleep of peace.
Pulse gently through the nights and days of your sojourn.
Beware the gentle rustlings of love’s flighty wings,
That flutter on the thrilling threshold of a dream.
Not different are they from Woes’s mighty wings
That smash and beat on the carking anvil
Of a fateful forge.
Our love is a broken-winged bird tumbling through
The dark emptiness of our spinning cerebral worlds,
Wobbling on a swan song towards plasmic flames
To be born again the flight of broken wings to endure.

The sun swirls in the smoking flames of liquid fire;
The wind howls and shrieks in violent jaded streams;
The world unreels and wobbles in wild and giddy circles:
deep in the conyoned mountains
The rampant riotous rivers
Rush headlong, stumbling
And smashing down rock-shattered courses.
Whilst in the great lakes, the mighty waves roar and rear,
Of the world’s remains

Everywhere the toothed army of love and woe,
Bites and gnaws and blights and sews in ancient lore.
Hark the fiery rumble of fate
Vomit boiling rock at Pompeii’s feet!
Mark with what contempt does Nature spit
At our pride of sculptured feats!
To wreck with Age and crumpled brow
Our Venus shrine of dreams and woe!

Yet sleep on, sweet Heart,
Through the war of gods ‘gainst men,
For the world, for all its grandeur

No Cause to Stir Poem analysis

Titling Analysis (Linked to meaning)

“No cause to stir” by Mhasvi presents a mingled melancholic world that is rampant with warfare, violence, darkness and turmoil yet he urges the heart to sleep on and not to worry of the outside world. The persona narrates of the violent turbulence that rages the world but yet urges the love to take no heed of the suffering and pain. These concerns resonate in “The Flowers of Yesterday”, “Uncle Ben” and “Menstors at play” which further elaborate the thematic concerns of destruction and turmoil that reigns.

Thematic Concerns

1. Retrogressive nature of the human race

2. Overarching hatred that exists between humanity

3. Disillusionment

4. Dominance of violence

5. Debilitating nature of warfare

6. Hopelessness

7. Pain and suffering

8. Despondency

9. Natural turbulence

Styles Used

●. Allusion

●. Irony

●. Deep seated satire

●. Symbolism

●. Refrain

●. Allegory

●. Auditory imagery

●. Personification

●. Juxtaposition

●. Capitalization

●. Alliteration

●. Paradox

Nuances/Phrases/Diction (showing plunder and destruction)

■. Personification is depicted as the persona as Fate is characterized as “vomiting boiling rock at Pompeii’s feet!” Further portraying the inevitable fate of humanity magnified by the allusion of “Pompeii” which is synonymous to the Italian city that was swept over by lava.

■. The poet efficiently makes use of paradox to present the retrogressive nature of the human race that dangers them as the persona calms the heart which is symbolic to humanity as he proposes that “there’s little cause to stir” which is juxtaposed to the turmoil that exists in the world.

■.The refrain of the title “No cause to stir” is symbolic to the disillusionment that humanity faces as they realise there is a need for change yet do nothing about it.

■.Plunder and warfare radiates in the poem as the persona portrays nunaces which are connotative to battle such like “blood-drenched fields”, “blood-storms”, “plunging knife and blundering shot” amongst other as to emphasis warfare that runs rampant in the world.

■.The repetition of “Men-Gods” emphasises how men have taken the place of gods as they made the “woeful world” their own.

■.The persona presents the overarching hatred that exists in humanity as the “Venus shrine of dreams” has been “wreck with age and crumpled brow” depicting how men have forsaken love and let hatred rule over them.

■.The poet ridicules men for his foolishness as he refuses to let go of the corrupted knowledge of destruction he possesses as his love is characterized as a “broken-winged bird tumbling through” showing his helpless stupidity

■. Nuances of natural turbulence is depicted as the “sun swirls”, “wind howls and shrieks” and “the world unreels and wobbles” in response to humanity’s plunder and exploitation of the land further portraying land degradation.

First the persona make use of paralinguistic devices – comma “sleep dear heart ” to create a gloomy atmosphere as he is using euphemism ” Sleep ” rather than harsh language death . he personifies the heart with human qualities , asking it not to care about the outside world which is rapacious and violentin nature.

The poet efficiently make use of paradox to present the retrogressive nature of the human race that dangers them as the persona calms the heart which is symbolic to humanity as he propose that “there is little cause to stir” which is juxtaposed to the turmoil that exists in the outside world.

In the first line the refrain ” no cause to stir” is symbolic to the disillusionment that humanity
faces as they realize there is need for change yet they do nothing.

He makes use of geographical language” sheltered valleys of home” the father embraces his child with affectionate as suggested by the word cuddle and bury him close to his home were there is peace as suggested by the word valley

Then in the first stanza Mhasvi is bringing out the debilitating nature of warfare . The use of word like sabred sword fingers and historic blood courses maybe suggesting how political leaders monstrous men gods are aggressively killing each other for power and authority and building castles on top of graves.

Considering such pain , suffering and dominance of violence the persona still urge the heart to sleep in peace .

In stanza 2 the persona speaks about the awakening of the new day which is full of distress ,
turbulence ,great anxiety , uncertainty of events. He brings out the theme of natural turbulence and hopelessness. In the first line “the shadow dodge the brooding silent gloom ” Mhasvi unsnarls the painful memories , thoughts and thwarted dreams full of possibilities can now only be mirrored in dew drops.

Mornings and Dawn are associated with life full of hope but in this case people have been shuttered and deserted their homes during war time and plants have started growing up in their thatched huts ( afro centric perspective) . They have surrendered their homes and everything they owe ,forced to live everything so as to meet with war demands.

The mother reminds again her daughter that the problems ,evil forces , uncertainties and struggle of the world are not meant for her innocent soul (no cause to stir or to worry or to be sad), she believes that in her immortal state there is eternal sleep .

stanza 3 is a warning against love . The poet ridicules men for his foolishness as he refuses to let go of corrupted knowledge of destruction he possesses as his love is characterized as a “broken winged bird tumbling through ” showing his helpless stupidity. Men are enduring pain in the name of love .

Mhasvi deploys the theme of Disillusionment that humanity faces as they realize there is need for change yet do nothing about it.

In the third stanza he use alliteration “Of a frateful forge ” to insinuate the fabricated , falsified and fake love among humanity