Summary and Analysis of the Poem 'In The Country Cottage' by Nissim Ezekiel

 Introduction to the Author

Nissin Ezekiel (1924-2004) is a pioneer in modern Indian English poetry. His role as translator, editor, playwright and reviewer has contributed significantly in shaping modernist poetry in India. The modernist movement of the 1950s and 60s was known for its precise use of language, well crafted images, ironic stance, treatment of sexuality and male-female relationship. Ezekiel is often described as the father of the modernist movement and he writes introspective, ironic and humorous poems of self exploration and self formation. He has brought out seven collections of poetry; they are A Time to Change and Other Poems (1952), Sixty Poems (1953), The Unfinished Man (1960), The Exact Name (1965), Hymns in Darkness (1976), and the Sahitya Akademy award-winning Latter-day Psalms (1982).

Text of the Poem

The night the lizard came

our indolence was great; 

we went to bed before

our eyes were heavy, limbs

prepared to stretch or love.

Immobile, tense and grey,

he taught us patience as 

he waited for the dark.

From time to time we could

not help but glance at him

and learn again that he 

was more alive than us

in silent energy,

though his aim was only 

the death of cockroaches.

When we awoke the next

morning we found as we

expected that the job

was done, clean and complete,

and the stout lizard gone.

Outline of the Poem

The speaker of the poem comments that their idleness was great on the day the lizard came out. They went to bed early even though they were not physically exhausted. A sense of purposelessness keeps them inert and passive. In the second stanza, the speaker offers a detailed description of the lizard. It is described as ’immobile’, ‘tense’ and ‘grey’ and its patient waiting for the dark is highlighted. It seems that it explicitly resembles the humans in the poem as they are also immobile. Later on, the humans in the cottage realise that the lizard is far more alive than them. It possesses silent energy which humans lack, though its aim is only the death of cockroaches. The next day, they wake up to realise that the lizard has eaten up all the cockroaches neatly and disappeared. 

Analysis of the Poem

In the poem, the poet contrasts animal and human worlds. The humans in the poem are idle and purposeless and they seek refuge from the toils of existence. It is common in modernist literature to have characters who fail to identify the meaning of their lives and resort to inactivity. The humans in the poem do not have any noble notions on the greatness of man and also fail to connect with their animal instincts. Cut off from the roots of tradition, modern man is caught between purposelessness of modern life and absence of instincts. These render humans helpless and passive and they resemble the Lotos-Eaters.

Interestingly, the lizard is presented in similar terms in the second stanza. It is described as ‘immobile’ like the humans, ‘tense’, ‘grey’ and ‘patient’. It waits for the prey in the dark and teaches humans patience. Though the lizard resembles the humans in its immobility and patient waiting, the humans gradually realise that its movements are directed by instincts. The ‘silent energy’ refers to the animal instincts the lizard possesses and its actions emerge from the primal forces whereas humans are separated from their instincts. Though the poet acknowledges the limits of instincts to ‘the death of cockroaches’, the humans in the poem grope in the dark and fail to perform any task neatly. The poem underscores the utter lack of convictions human beings are endowed with and the resultant inactivity. This is contrasted with neat and complete actions carried out by the lizard. In short, the poem contrasts  the instinctive and energetic life of the lizard with  that of the inactive lives of the humans.

Nissim Ezekiel has effectively featured many animals and birds such as scorpion, crows, cats, squirrels, monkeys, crocodiles etc.. in his poems. The introduction of Indian flora and fauna has strengthened his articulations of Indian life with an exquisite indian idiom. The comparison of a lizard with a human is also very striking as both the animals can leave their tails and survive!. It is also interesting that lizards are associated with somany superstitious stories in India.