Read the following lines from Sukumar Ray's poem, 'The Power of Music' and answer the questions that follow: When summer comes, we hear the hums Bhisma Lochan Sharma. You catch his strain on hill and plain from Delhi down to Burma.
Bring out the significance of the title of the poem. Do you feel sympathy for Bhisma Lochan Sharma or for those who listened to him? Give reasons for your response.
Topic: Title and personal response
Answer
The title is deeply ironic. "The Power of Music" normally suggests music’s power to delight, heal and move the heart; here the power is entirely destructive — it makes birds fall from the sky, kills cattle, torments people and even wakes the dead. Ray uses the grand phrase to describe an appalling noise, and the gap between the title and what actually happens is the source of the comedy. Yet the title is also literally true: this singing does have extraordinary power, just not the kind we expect.
Sympathy is more justly felt for the listeners. Reasons: they are entirely innocent, they suffer helplessly, and their pleading is ignored — men, animals and birds alike are tormented without any escape. (A well-argued case for sympathising with the singer is also acceptable: he is sincere in his love of music, unaware of the effect he causes, and is finally silenced by violence — which makes him a comic victim of his own enthusiasm.)
4 marks split roughly 2 + 2. For the title, the word to use is irony, and you must show both sides of it — the expected meaning and the actual one. The second part is an opinion question: either choice earns full marks IF the reasons are drawn from the text. Commit to one side and defend it; hedging between both without argument is what loses marks here.