The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner
W.B Yeats
The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner” is a philosophical poem
composed by W.B. Yeats, a famous 20th century modern Irish poet. In
the poem, the poet has proven that time is supreme and nothing can stand before
time. The poet also suggests that everybody likes to be young and nobody likes
to be old. But it is time that makes us old one day. So, the poet presents his
reminiscences of the past events and experiences of his young life. He becomes
very sad when he compares and contrasts his time of youth with the present old
age. He finds old age more painful and lonely than his young life.
According
to the poem, the poet has now become old. He takes shelter under a broken tree
because he has not got any other places for shelter. He remembers his good old
unforgettable days with friends. In the past while he was young, he used to
talk about love and politics among his friends. Many beautiful women loved him.
So, his past was romantic and unforgettable. Now, he laments over his life
because not a single woman comes near to him to talk about love. Nobody likes
him and lives near him. At the present moment, he has become a matter of
hatred. Therefore, he is sad and dissatisfied with his old age. His bygones
days are like a dream to him.
At
present people are busy to make weapons to fulfill their treacherous plan. They
are busy to do some conspiracy. They are raising their voices against human
tyranny. But the mind of the old man is filled with the experiences of the
unforgettable past. When he compares present life with the past life he
realizes that ‘Time has transfigured him from strong, energetic, vigorous and
high spirited youth to a helpless, lonely and weak creature. Now, he has
completely changed due to the course of ‘Time’ because it has the power to
change us from young to old. At the present moment, his condition is miserable.
He realizes that everything is changed because of time. So, he becomes angry to
the time and wants to spit into the face of ‘Time’. He says, “I want to spit
into the face of time/that has transfigured me”.
Though
the cruel time reduces a person from young to old one, it cannot seize one’s
memories. So, at this point the poet feels superior to the time and does not
want to surrender in front of the time – rather wants to spit into the face of
the time.
Thus,
the poem makes us aware that we all become old one day and lament like the old
pensioner due to the nature of ‘Time’. But we should not lament over the old
age rather we should try to celibate it.
Two Long term Problems
Moti Nissani
Moti Nissani says that the two long term problems are the problems of and deforestation. At the present time these problems have become the great challenge to the whole humanity. Now, the population of the world is increasing rapidly due to the nutrition, modern medicine, lower death rate, modernization and sanitation. Every year, in fact, the world's population grows by more than 80 million people. In every one hour 10,000 people are added to our total population. More people will need more food. To produce more food, we have to cut down the trees. Both town and villages will be over crowed and the quality of life will fall down. The land, water and air will be polluted. The environment will be polluted. At the present time, due to the overpopulation humans have been facing different kinds of diseases like cancer, asthma, hearing loss problem, contract epidemics and so many others. On the other hand, due to deforestation the world is losing creatures such as salamanders, species of frogs, penguins, dodo etc. Similarly, the deforestation will bring the frightening problems as desertification, depletion of nonrenewable resources (e.g.: petrol, natural gas, helium), acid rain, loss of wild species and plant, ozone layer depletion and green house effects.
Moti Nissani brings the issue of 1500 world's scientists' World's Scientists Warning to Humanity and the joint statement of U.S. National Academy and Royal Society of London regarding the condition of the present world. They are worried about the present condition of the world. According to the essay, Moti Nissani says that growth rate of population of Nepal is 2.5% because the average Nepali women gives birth to 5 children. In 1951 the population of Nepal was 9 million but less than a half century later the population rose to 21 millions. If this rate is not checked, the total population of Nepal will be doubled in just 28 years. With the overpopulation, Nepal has to face all kinds of problems. Therefore, the future of Nepal seems to be very dark if the population is not controlled in time.
However, there are many remedies to solve these long term problems. We can save our forests by controlling the population and our appetite. Each person should be conscious about the environmental and ecological change. The people should be given education on deforestation and overpopulation. The government should invests lot of money for effective family planning to control the over population. There should be media campaigns to create awareness about the effects of overpopulation and deforestation. The conserver should be awarded. There should be greater efficiency in the use of wood - products and recycling. Reforestation and massive tree plantation can be done in the bare lands. People should smokeless Chulo that needs less fire woods. Moreover, Nissani states that we have to be conscious ourselves. He says that we know how and why to control overpopulation and deforestation but still we are lacking this knowledge to convert in to the reality.
Comments
Post a Comment