The first meeting – Sujatha Bhatt

THE FIRST MEETING – Sujatha Bhatt

In this poem Sujatha Bhatt, celebrates a rare experience of kinship that the poet happens to have with a snake. The poem describe the gradual acquaintance of the poet and the snake.

In the first stanza the poet describes the exuberance of her youth. sensual imagery is put to use and the poets rapport with nature is also pictured. The girl keep running us she is excited and unstoppable. The image of the breeze circling up her legs actually show her first meeting with cobra. Though the poet is first scared to see the green snake swim up to the surface, the snake later tries her best to keep the poet comfortable at home.

The poet later feels sympathy for the snake as she get to know about it grievances and sufferings.here in the poem the snake can stand for any element of nature. We try to distance ourselves from nature, for our safety, while we fail to realize we are a part of itself.

The snake can also symbolise  our fears, which but awaits to be conquered by us. Its all within us,like how the girl find the snake in her own house.

Snake as the dicted in the Indian culture can also be a symbolisation of sexuality here.Our physical needs,sexuality and bodily changes all come from within us. T he poet is trying to tell us that their is no running away from it, as it is a part of every life.

Thus there are a lot of dimensions to the poem THE FIRST MEETING, and the above stated are only a few.