Summary of the poem “Corona Says”
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| Vishnu S. Rai |
About the poet
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He was educated in India, Nepal, and the UK. He taught English at Tribhuvan University for three decades and retired as Professor of English Language Education. He writes both in English and Nepali. He has written stories Martyrs and Others (English), play Realities (English), travelogues Nau Dandapari (Nepali) and a novel Paheli (Nepali)
Summary
He was educated in India, Nepal, and the UK. He taught English at Tribhuvan University for three decades and retired as Professor of English Language Education. He writes both in English and Nepali. He has written stories Martyrs and Others (English), play Realities (English), travelogues Nau Dandapari (Nepali) and a novel Paheli (Nepali)
The poem ‘Corona Says’ has been written by retired Professor of English Language Education Vishnu S Rai. It is written on the theme of the present world crisis Corona and its devastating impact on human life. It is a bitter satire on man’s conduct and attitude. It views Covid 19 as the byproduct of man’s ill treatment to nature. The speaker, i.e., Corona is making humans realize their mistake for polluting the world. Humans have created such environment which invites diseases like corona.
The speaker of the poem is Corona virus who is asking humans not to cry and stop cursing him. He claims that he has not visited the earth of his own free will but he was invited. He asks humans to count people killed due to their wars and died because of him. The indication is that number of people killed in the war exceeds the number died due to Corona.
According to the speaker, humans are so stupid that they are destroying the source of oxygen. Humans consider other creatures their slaves who can be killed and sold at their will. The speaker wants to show humans how clean the blue sky looks when their activities come to stop and to realise how caged animals feel in a zoo. The mother earth could have a little rest for corona pushes humans into their houses (lockdown).
Corona speaks from the perspective of non-human creatures as well while saying “The earth is not your property alone, it’s as much ours as yours”. The earth is created with all the lives but humans’ selfishness and their inflated ego has put them on the verge of extinction. Many of them declined too. The last stanza is more promising and fuller of warning or threat. Considering humans’ present terror, corona informs that he will depart one day but it is not an end. Several unknown fatal diseases like corona will visit the earth because humans have already turned the beautiful world into fertile land for such pandemic. If not checked on time, humans will be back to cave time. Cave time stands for Stone Age when humans’ ancestors used to live in caves. Humans have only two choices; either to get rid of inflated ego or to accept the collapse of civilization.
Understanding the text
Answer the following questions
a. Who is the speaker in the poem?
The speaker in the poem is Corona. It is talking to humans about the cause and effect of present world crisis. The speaker attempts to make humans realize their mistake for exploitation of nature. He blames humans as the host who have invited Covid 19 to the earth. He also reminds humans that unless they give up their ego horrors like Corona will visit the earth constantly.
b. Who claim that they are superior to all?
According to the speaker, humans claims that they are superior to all the creatures. He blames that human think themselves as “the crown of creation”. They are destroying the source of oxygen and causing animals and birds being declined. This is because humans think they are masters and remaining all are their slaves.
c. Why has the speaker come to the earth?
The speaker has come to the earth as he has been invited. ‘Invitation’ refers to humans’ ill treatment to nature. Humans caused pollution and imbalance in nature compels disease like corona to come to the earth. The speaker argues that he has not come to the mother earth at his own will.
d. What positive changes have occurred on Earth after the speaker’s visit?
After the speaker’s visit, one can notice some positive changes on the earth such as dustless and smokeless blue sky, human activities have come to stop and humans are pushed into the house like caged animals. The speaker has claimed that the Mother Earth is at rest.
Reference to the context
a. What does the speaker mean when he says:
But have you ever counted
How many have died so far
Because of you and your wars?
The lines “But have ………………
………………………………………………
……………………… and your wars?” have been taken from the poem, “Corona Says” written by Vishnu S Rai. The speaker, here, is corona and ‘you’ stands for humans. Corona is asking humans to count people killed by him and the number of people killed each other. The indication is that number of people who lost life in the wars exceeds the number died due to Corona pandemic. He blames humans as the one who are not aware of the horrors deliberately caused by themselves. Instead, they are wailing for the lives lost due to pandemic.
b. Explain the following:
I will depart one day.
But remember
There’re many others like me.
They’ll come too.
If you don’t get rid of your inflated ego,
You’ll be to your cave time
That you endured
Long’ long, long ago ……...
The above lines have been extracted from the poem “Corona Says” composed by retired professor Vishnu S Rai. The first person ‘I’ refers to Corona who is conveying a message that corona pandemic will come to an end sooner or later but there may emerge other diseases with devastating effect on humans. Corona is not an end but it is just the continuation of horror foolishly invited by humans. The present world crisis corona is caused due to the inflated ego of humans. Humans’ steps are going wrong. They have to be able to come out of jealously, envy, resentment and greed to sustain for long time on the earth. Humans’ activities are pushing them back to Stone Age when their ancestors used to live in the cave.
Pollution is the main cause behind the outbreak of diseases like corona. Humans are responsible for all kinds of pollution. Departure of one doesn’t mean eradication of all types of diseases. One goes another comes with its own features and effect. Every disease is byproduct of humans’ treatment to nature.
c. What does the speaker mean in the following lines? Explain.
The earth is not your property alone-
It’s as much ours as yours.
These lines have been taken from the poem “Corona Says”. The speaker, Corona is speaking from the perspective of creatures who are not humans. He is making humans realize that they are indiscriminately destroying the habitat of all creatures. They are exploiting nature as if the earth is their property alone. Nature has created all living beings for ecological balance. Every creature is equally important for the ecosystem. But humans have failed to understand the fact that they are only a part of the system.
The speaker is claiming that the earth is common house to all creatures such as animals, birds, insects and all types of living beings. The earth is to be shared with humans. But humans have crossed the broader. They are so selfish that they want to occupy the whole world alone. They act as if the earth is their property alone.
Reference Beyond the Text
a. What human behaviours are responsible for the suffering in people’s lives?
Humans’ inflated ego and greed are basically responsible for the suffering in people’s lives. The first is concerned with the sense of one’s own value and importance and the second one refers to a strong desire for more wealth, possessions, power, etc. than a person needs. It is concerned with a desire for more food or drink when he/she is not hungry or thirsty.
Humans are so selfish that they want to occupy the world themselves. They forget how important trees are for their survival. They undermine all other creatures those who live in water, fly in the sky and crawl on the ground. Humans lack tolerance with each other or within their race as well. They are not deserving to rule over the world. Their ego leads them to declare the wars to be killed each other. Humans lack power to share the world with non-human creatures. Many kinds of birds and animals on the verge of extinction due to their shelter, food and system to sustain. Humans are responsible for the environmental degradation. Disappearance of animals and birds is the indication of the decline of human race as well. But humans are unaware of this fact. They want to exploit nature as if the world is their property alone but they do not understand how lives sustain on the common earth. Human’ greed starts from killing his/her own biological father/mother for the inheritance and extends to destroying natural system to sustain life. That is to say humans are knowingly or unknowingly inviting horrors in their own lives.
It is human’s ego that causes him to be killed in the self-declared wars. It is their greed that throws them away from satisfaction. The problem is human’s intra-personal issue. Every suffering is byproduct of human’s own behaviours. Humans must accept co-existence and interdependency to avoid sufferings. There are two types of sufferings; one being human caused and other being disease caused. Human caused suffering refers to wars and dissatisfaction and melancholy leading him/her to depression and/or trauma. Outbreak of diseases also caused due to humans’ unmindful deeds. Indiscriminate cutting down of tress has resulted into destruction of system that sustain lives. It causes natural disasters. Man-made disaster is more devastating than natural calamities.
b. How does an epidemic differ from pandemic? Briefly Explain the impact of Corona Virus on human life and environment.
An epidemic refers to a large number of cases of a particular disease happening at the same time in a particular community or area. In other words, epidemic is a case of disease that affects a large number of people within a community or region. A pandemic simply refers to a disease that spreads over a whole country or the whole world. It is an epidemic that spreads over multiple countries or continents in a rapid succession. A pandemic is an epidemic that travels. An epidemic is limited to a region but the number of infected ones is significantly higher than normal. An epidemic is a case of specific location. Few years ago, people in Dharan suffered Dengue fever. It is an example of epidemic. Malaria is epidemic to parts of Africa and so is the case of Nepal in the past.
Corona became pandemic after it crossed geographical boarder of Wuhan. It travelled almost all the countries in the world and created devastating effect in the lives of people. When it was limited to Wuhan, it was an epidemic. Corona took the form of world crisis immediately after it spread in Europe and other parts of the world.
Impact of Corona Virus on human life is worse than it was estimated to be. Most of the countries declared lock-down as the method to be safe from infection. Lives suffered in multiple angles. Suffered infection and some became victim of psychological terror. Vehicular smoke and industrial exhaust reduced due to lock-down. People were limited to their houses. Human activities paused for several months. Schools, colleges and universities were closed. As a result, pollution significantly reduced. On the other hand, most people became victim of trauma. During lock-down, there had been massive deforestation. Illegal trade of timber and hunting significantly increased. Cutting down of trees has very bad impact on environment.
