Poetry (Kavitha): Bhava, Rasa, Alankaram and Chandassu
What Kavitha questions test
Poetry items test whether you can read a prescribed poem as kavya, not as a paragraph: bhava, rasa, alankaram, chandassu and the kavi's sandesam. Expect 'bhavam vishadeekarikkuka', 'alankaram ethu, enthu kond?' and 'kavithayude pothu aashayam'.
Core rules
- Separate the kavi from the speaker inside the poem. The poet's life belongs in the answer only when the question asks for background.
- Scan the metre: count aksharam (syllables) in one pada, mark prasa (repetition at the start of padas) and yati (the caesura). A fixed syllable pattern signals a vruttam; a looser, song-like line signals a jati or folk metre.
- Name an alankaram only with evidence. Upama needs pole/ennu/pole-ulla; roopaka states the metaphor with no comparison word; utpreksha is an imagined possibility; atishayokti exaggerates for effect; vyatireka contrasts to heighten.
- Rasa follows the dominant bhava: shringara, karuna, veera, hasya, raudra, bhayanaka, beebhatsa, adbhuta, shanta.
Worked example
If the line says the beloved's face is a full moon, do not write upama - there is no comparison word, so it is roopaka. If it says the face shines like the moon, it is upama. Quote the phrase in both cases.
Traps
Naming an alankaram without quoting; retelling the poem's situation but never naming the bhava; writing 'very beautiful poem' as appreciation; confusing prasa with end-rhyme.