Text of the Poem
A ricefield clear of grasses
A buffalo
sleeping deeply
Rice
seedlings not yet transplanted
Explication
An instance
of word painting in three lines. There is a landscape with inbuilt contrast.
There is a ricefield clear of grasses. That indicates that seedlings will be
sown there presently.In contrast there is another plot of land where seedlings
are still there. But they are ready to be transplanted. There is the readiness
of a part of the landscape to receive and readiness on another part of
landscape to give. This is a situation dramatic enough.The readers are moved to
experience such a scene. Any situation
where someone is ready to give away and where someone is ready to receive has
Gods plenty . But the ricefield which is
ready to receive will receive the wealth only to multiply the same thousand fold
and distribute the same among countless
hungry men. That is, here is one to receive a gift only to proliferate the same for the well being
of his or her fellowmen. There is a
buffalo sleeping. It speaks of an agriculture where animal energy instead of
machine is used. The buffalo ploughs the top soil of the plot of land that
shall receive the seedlings already
groomed in the nursery to be transplanted.This might refer to the philosophy of
causality.No one event could be the sole cause of another event.To grow paddy,
first seedlings have to be grown and then transplanted to another field clear
of grass. But this is not all. The field ready to receive the seedling must
have its top soil ploughed.And of course the buffalo ploughs it. Thus there are
multiple causes behind an event. And of course the scene of a ricefield clear
of grasses and a plot of land with seedlings and the buffalo –all of them
remind us of a man or a farmer who is
behind all these make- up of Nature.Just as a poet hidden in the privacy of
thought sings hymns unbidden till the world is wrought to sympathy with its
hopes and fears which it heeded not so does the farmer use the resource of
Nature to feed his fellowmen without being seen in the present scene of
cultivated Nature.From another standpoint, the figure of the buffalo fast
asleep in a landscape where seedlings are ready to be transplanted and the
field ready to receive transplantation
evokes in us a mood of abundance
and abandon where rest and work mingle and are identical. A lot of work is
already done. A lot of work is yet to be done.But who complains if some rest is
taken? Rest is itself a part of work and work is itself a part of rest. The
distinction between work and rest is man made. The idyllic scene of the
landscape is a criticism of capitalist way of life and production.But this is
not all. The scene is stamped with Vietnamese characteristics.Wet paddy
cultivation dates back to the Neolithic period. And even today vast tracts of
agricultural land could be perhaps seen in the Red River and Mekong delta Dong lua
thang canh co bay. Vast agricultural lands where storks can fly with stretched
wings. And in the scene depicted in the poem no house building or factory obstructs our eyes and the land is
stretched as far as the eye goes. These paddyscapes are well irrigated by a
network of canals developed and these canals
help the farmers to transport their crops from one part of the land to
another. And surely ploughing is a sacred event in Vietnam. Earlier the king
used to plough the first furrow. And expecting great harvest this first
ploughing occasion is perhaps earmarked
with prayers to Tho Dia or the god of earth
as well as Than Nong or the god of agriculture and Than Lua god of rice plants.
And there is lot of festivity. So the vast landscape ready for cultivation in the poem under perusal is a holy sight full of
potential wealth and prosperity.And the buffalo sleeping in that calm of the
landscape ready to bring forth wealth is not merely the portrait of a water
buffalo.. The buffalo indicates that there is water nearby. And Vietnamese
legends tell us that a water buffalo is a cursed angel. The water buffalo is at least to an extent the image of Vietnam.
The Vietnamese people used it to be Sea Game symbol. Their ancestors engraved
the figure of a buffalo on many a piece of stone. The buffalo is friendly hard
working irrespective of scorching heat or bitter cold. The people of Vietnam
are as hardworking and pleasant. The buffalo sleeping in a landscape where the
nursery is ready to give away the paddy seedlings and a vast land ready for receiving, with a
buffalo enjoying the situation could put in ones mind that Vietnam is at the
door of spectacular economic development
and the present word painting of Mai Van Phans poem could function as the
symbol of a Vietnam growing rich and prosperous.
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