Poetry (Padyam): Alankara, Rasa and Appreciation
What the poetry section asks
Padyam questions test recognition of vrutta/chandas (metre), alankara (figure of speech), rasa and bhava, and appreciation - a short paragraph on how sound and image work together. Most verses are bhakti pieces or modern khanda-kavitha; the answer must name the device and explain its effect, not merely label it.
Core rules
- Upama (simile): carries a comparator - പോലെ, പോലുള്ള, സമം, ഒപ്പം.
- Roopaka (metaphor): the comparison is asserted; no comparator; the upameya is described as the upamana.
- Uthpreksha: the poet imagines a possibility.
- Rasa is the lasting aesthetic flavour; bhava is the transient emotion feeding it. The nine rasas: shringara, hasya, karuna, raudra, veera, bhayanaka, bheebhatsa, adbhutha, shantha. One sad line does not make a whole poem karuna.
Worked example
"അവളുടെ മുഖം ചന്ദ്രിക പോലെ വിളങ്ങി" → upama: two distinct subjects joined by an explicit comparator. Were it "അവളുടെ മുഖം ചന്ദ്രികയാണ്", the device becomes roopaka, since moon and face are superimposed. What to write: name the device, quote the marker word, then state the effect - the moon's coolness and borrowed light suggest a gentle, reflected beauty.
Traps
Calling every comparison a roopaka; using rasa and bhava interchangeably; paraphrasing the verse and calling it appreciation; forgetting that a four-mark appreciation needs one point on sound (alliteration, metre) and one on sense.