Introduction
Hiroshima is a war poem written by famous writer of Hindi Literature ‘Agyeya’. It depicts the scene of nuclear bomb blast in Hiroshima. Poem is highlighting issues like misuse of science, human are destroying themselves etc.
Central Idea
The main idea of the poem is to show how disastrous nuclear war can be. The scenes in Hiroshima when bomb strike was full of horror. It made human realise that his existence is extremely vulnerable against such wars. It also shows human is destroying itself through misuse of science. Poem is an indirect message for disarmament.
Themes
- Destruction of human life – Poet went to the bomb sight after this incident and he saw horrific picture. Poem has recreated that scene of blast and destruction it caused to both man and matter. ‘Human shadows, dazed and lost, pitched in every direction’. And ‘men suddenly became as mist, then gone’.
- Ferocity of war – Poem highlights how ferocious war can be in general and nuclear war in particular. In the poem poet has described picture of destruction by presenting an image of ‘An immense wheel of death’s swart suncar spinning down and about in every direction’. This wheel of fire and death was killing people everywhere.
- Ephemeral nature of human life – Human life can be so vulnerable that it becomes shadow in an instant. Poem showed that how weak we are against a nuclear bomb. We can destroy ourselves in a blink of eye.
Figure of speech
- Alliteration – ‘Swart suncar’ has repetition of consonant sound /s/ at the starting of words hence it’s a case of alliteration.
- Metaphor – ‘The sun’, ‘this blaze’, ‘An immense wheel of death’ are metaphors for bomb.
- Assonance – ‘Burnt on rocks, stones of these’ has repetition of vowel sound /o/ hence it’s a case of assonance.
Imagery
Poem has very evocative and realistic image of blast. The blast happened at the centre of the city and suddenly ‘vision annihilating flare one compressed afternoon’. How beautiful poet described heat of that blast that heat of an afternoon is compressed in a moment. Similarly the blast swept through the city is presented in the form of ‘an immense wheel’. The people who died instantly can be identified from the shadows on rocks. This shows how ferocious the blast was.
Misuse of science
Poem gives message by using terms like ‘shadows’ which reflects dark intensions of human. Men is misusing science and can become cause of it’s destruction.
Writing style
The writing style of the Agyeya is very simple, narrative and picturesque. He has told the poem as a story and created beautiful images. His style leaves strong impression on the heart of the readers as blast seems to have happened in front of them.
Structure and rhyme scheme
Poem don’t have any particular structure or rhyme scheme. hence it can be said that it is written in free verse.
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