Two Readings of a Nazm's Closing Couplet: Candle and Moth
In a 40-minute revision period, Mr. S's Class 10 class is divided over the closing couplet of a prescribed nazm. The couplet uses the images of the candle (shama) and the moth (parwana). Eight students read it as a Sufi statement of self-annihilation; seven read it as a patriotic call to sacrifice for the nation. The board examination question is worth 6 marks: 'Explain the central metaphor of the couplet and discuss its effect.' Two students support their reading by citing the poet's biography, which is not printed in the textbook. Mr. S has 25 students, one whiteboard, and no photocopies. He wants students to see that a literary claim needs textual evidence, not just a plausible theme. The pre-board is in ten days.
1. Can both the Sufi and patriotic readings earn full marks? State the criteria you would use and apply them to the two readings.
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Yes, in principle, but not automatically. Full marks require: (1) a named central metaphor, not just a theme; (2) at least two textual signals that fit the whole couplet, not one word; (3) an account of effect on the reader; (4) consistency with the rest of the nazm.
Sufi reading: the candle consumes itself to give light, and the moth enters the flame; the paradox of destruction-as-fulfilment is a textual signal, not a biography. Patriotic reading: the flame can be the nation and the moth the martyr, but the reading needs signals such as an imperative or a national image. The biography is supplementary: it can explain why a reading is possible, but it cannot replace the words. A candidate who asserts 'the poet was a Sufi, therefore...' should lose the evidence mark, not the content mark, if the metaphor is still explained.
2. Draft a 6-mark model answer that uses the Sufi reading and cites two textual signals. Quote no more than ten words.
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The central metaphor compares the speaker to the moth and the beloved to the candle. The moth is drawn to the flame even though the flame will destroy it; the candle gives light only by consuming itself. The couplet's paradox is that destruction and fulfilment are the same act. Two signals support this: the moth's movement is described as willing, not accidental, and the candle is addressed as a source of light rather than a physical object. The effect is not simply resignation. By making the moth choose the flame, the poet turns self-loss into a form of knowledge: the lover understands the beloved only by ceasing to protect himself. Read this way, the closing couplet is an argument about love, not a decorative image.
3. Design a five-minute board activity that tests the rival reading without embarrassing the students who proposed it.
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Draw two columns: 'What the words say' and 'What the reading needs.' Ask each side for one line that the other side cannot easily absorb. Record only textual signals, not biography. Then ask: which column accounts for more of the couplet-not which theme is nobler? Close by naming the test: a reading earns marks when it explains the words, not when it matches the poet's life. This protects the patriotic readers: their reading is not called wrong; it is asked for textual support. The activity takes five minutes because it uses the students' own lines and no photocopies.