e Learning Material for, The Sower by Victor Hugo

The Sower-Victor Marie Hugo

CONTENT 1.      Introduction 2.      Objectives 3.      Content 3.1-First Stanza 3.2-Second Stanza 3.3-Third Stanza 3.4-Fourt Stanza 3.5-Fifth Stanza        4.   Literary aspects of the poem              4.1-Rhyming Scheme              4.2-Word Pictures       5.    Conclusion       6.    Glossary       7.    FAQ       8.    Exercise and Activities       9.   Reference

Sitting in a porchway cool,
Fades the ruddy sunlight fast,
Twilight hastens on to rule--
Working hours are well night past

Shadows shoot across the lands;
But one sower lingers still,
Old, in rags, he patient stands,--
Looking on, I feel a thrill.

Black and high his silhouette
Dominates the furrows deep!
Now to sow the task is set,
soon shall come a time to reap.

Marches he along the plain,
To and fro, and scatters wide
from his hands the precious grain;
Moody, I, to see him stride.

Darkness deepens. Gone the light.
Now his gestures to mine eyes
Are august; and strange--his height
seems to touch the starry skies.

The poem 'THE SOWER' is written by the famous French writer, Victor Hugo. He is well known for his poetry, drawing, novels and also famous journalist. He is famous among the Romanic writers. Notable works of Victor Hugo are; Cromwell (1827), Herani (1830), The Hunch Back of Notre-Dame(1831), Ruy Blas, Les Miserables (1862), Toilers of the Sea(1827), He was one of the Rationalist writer among the Russian writers. He was a passionate supporter of republicanism. He was honored in many ways, including his portrait being placed in French currency. He was buried in Pantheon in Paris.

Romantic features was one of the major factors which made Victor Hugo famous among his contemporaries. He proposed to deal with materials from common life in a selection of language used by the men. The poem titled The Sower is one among such works. According to the poet and the translator of the poem (Toru Dutt) poetry is not primarily a mirror of men in action, it is the poets own feelings while processing the composition. Poems come out of the real life situations that touched the poet’s heart. The remarkable use of landscapes, together with flora and fauna become the major theme of romantic poets.

2.      THE OBJECTIVES

Ø  Analyses the poem from a critical point of view.

Ø  Understands the theme and setting of the poem.

Ø  Develop awareness about the word picture, rhyming schemes and alliteration.

Ø  Learner will get exposure to the poet and his work.

Ø  Comprehends the main ideas in the poem.

Ø  Develops interest in the poem.

3.      CONTENT

The Farming and the life of a farmer is the major theme of the poem and the poet describes his feelings for the farmer along with the detailed description about the nature around the farmer. The poet goes directly into the description from the very first line itself.

3.1  First Stanza:

“Sitting in a porchway……………………………working hours are well night past.”

The poet is sitting leisurely in a porchway enjoying the sunset and reddish sky. Poet describes the twilight sky. ‘The twilight hastens on to rule’ the line suggest the over power of the twilight sky over the day time because it is a time between the day and soon it will become the night sky. ‘Working hours are well night past’ this line suggest the time of work in the fields are over and the farmers and other workers can’t be seen anywhere. Soon it is going to be night and dark all around.

3.2  Second Stanza:

“Shadow shoots…………………………………………………….. I feel a thrill”

SILHOUETTE

The twilight sky beautifies the place. An over shadows and dark images are spreading all around the nature. All of a sudden the attention of the poet is struck on a farmer who is standing alone in the fields. From this stanza onwards the major attention is taken over by the farmer who is standing alone in the fields. ‘Old in rags, he patient stands’ this line says about the old sower and his cloths, how tattered and muddy, but the poet is so much thrilled to see his calm and peaceful in the field.

3.3  Third Stanza:

“Black and high……………………………………………….a time to reap”

FURROW 

Since it is a twilight time everything appears to be blackish and reddish in colour. ‘Silhouette’ the term used by Victor Hugo in the poem which is a word of French origin, an illustrated outline filled with solid colour usually black. The black shadows of the sower is dominating the deep furrows in the fields. Since the sun is setting the silhouette gradually becomes bigger and bigger thus even the deep furrows seems to be small in front of the sower. Here the human aspects is shown powerful and dominating over the nature. In the next line of the poem Victor Hugo describes about the mindset of the sower in detail ‘now to sow……………..a time to reap’ the farmer is hoping for a good harvest that will have to do in future because today he will sow some seeds, later it will be watered, the seeds will grow and soon the grains will appear and all his wishes will be fulfilled. Just like hard work ultimately results in a fruitful joy the farmer also dreams about the time of the harvest.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

3.4  Fourth Stanza:

“Marches he along the plain…………………………to see him stride”

The stanza deals with the movement of the farmer and about his actions in the field. The poet describes the farmer as marching rather than just saying walking this might be because of his strong determination and positive attitude towards a better future. The farmer was all alone in the field because he was the only person so fond of farming. Just like us when we face our problems in life individually with courage he also stands alone in the field. The farmer moves forward and backward scattering the precious grains which are both a symbol of prosperity and wealth of future. The grain is called ‘precious grains’ because each and every grain is important in the life of a farmer, he collects each one of them carefully so that he could have a harvest of better crops from his fields. The poet becomes dodgy and gloomy to see the sowers painful efforts.

SCATTERING SEEDS

                                          

3.5  Fifth Stanza:

“Darkness deepens………………………………………..touch the starry skies”

STARRY SKY

The last stanza concludes with the description of the night sky. The twilight sky gradually turns to night sky. The light are all out and everywhere the darkness appears. Now the sower is invisible to the poet even then the poet speaks about the gestures of the sower which will be continuing in the field because he may not go back to his house. Now the poet feels the majestic and awe-inspiring image of the sower. The gradual and progressive growth of the shadow of the sower now reached the top of the sky and the world appears to be the reflection of his shadow. The starry skies are nothing but the reflection of the seeds thrown out from the hand of the sower.

 Video: 

      4. LITERARY ASPECTS OF THE POEM

     4.1 Rhyming Scheme: Rhyming words are standard rhymes consist of the repetition, in the rhythm words of the last stressed vowel and of all the speech sounds of the following vowel.

           Rhymes in the poem are; cool-rule, fast-past, lands-stands, still-thrill, silhouette-set, deep-reap, plain- grain, wide- stride, light- height, eyes- skies.

     4.2 Word pictures in the poem:

Ruddy sunlight= the reddish colour of the evening sunlight.

Twilight hastens= the soft light in the sky seen after the setting of the sun, the illumination of the earth’s atmosphere by the direct rays of the sun and its reflection on the earth.

Furrow deep= the deep trench cut in the soil as when ploughed in order to plant a crop.

Starry skies= having stars visible. The night sky full of stars.

5.      CONCLUSION

The poem titled ‘The Sower’ written by Victor Hugo is a magnificent poem dealing with both nature and humanistic features. The words are carefully selected and have detailed description of each and every events happened in front of the poet. The poem was translated by the famous writer from India, Toru Dutt. She is well known Indian writer, this poem was translated by her. This translation is considered as most appreciated among all the other translations of the poem.

6.      GLOSSARY

Difficult words;

Porchway = a covered and enclosed entrance to a building, whether taken from the interior, and forming a sort of main wall or projection without the separated roof.

Hasten = to move in a quick fashion.

Linger = to stay or remain in a place or situation.

Silhouette = an illustrated outline filled in with a solid colour usually black, intended to represent the shape of an object without revealing any other visual details.

Furrow = a trench cut in the soil, as when ploughed in order to plant a crop.

Stride = to walk with long steps.

Gesture = a motion of the body especially one made to emphasize speech.

August = noble, majestic, awe inspiring.

7.      FAQ

1)      “But one sower linger still” why does the sower linger?

2)      Why does the speaker feel thrilled on seeing the sower?

3)      Why does the poet say “precious grains” rather than just grains?

4)      Why the poet does becomes moody in the fourth stanza?

5)      Bring of some comparisons between the poet and the sower?

8.      EXERCISE & ACTIVITIES:

1)      Collect other poems of Victor Hugo and write appreciation?

2)      Collect some farming songs similar in theme from Malayalam or English language?

3)      Make comparison of the poet and the sower?

4)      List out the words showing emotions in the poem?

9.      REFERENCE:

SCERT course book of standard Eight part-1