Poetry (Kavita): Speaker, Imagery and Figures of Speech
Poetry (Kavita) tests stanza-level comprehension of prescribed Nepali poems: speaker, situation, theme, tone, imagery, and figures of speech. Questions often ask you to explain a line, identify a device and its effect, or relate the poem’s closing turn to its opening. The exam values effect, not a device inventory.
Core concepts
- Speaker ≠ poet: identify who is speaking and to whom.
- Paraphrase each stanza in one sentence before interpreting.
- Map images to emotion: mountain, river, lamp, plough, mother, dust.
- Name devices with Nepali terms where appropriate: उपमा (simile), रूपक (metaphor), अनुप्रास (alliteration), उत्प्रेक्षा (poetic fancy), यमक (pun/repetition with different sense). Always add what the device does.
- Watch rhythm and repetition: refrain often signals theme.
Worked example
Line: “हिमाल झैँ अडिग” (“steadfast like the Himalaya”). Device: उपमा. Reasoning: comparison with झैँ; tenor = steadfast person/nation; vehicle = Himalaya; effect = permanence, moral strength. A full answer says: “The simile lends the subject the Himalaya’s immovability, making steadfastness seem natural and monumental.” Merely writing “simile” earns partial credit.
Traps
Literalising metaphor; calling the speaker the poet; listing devices without effect; ignoring the question’s “how” or “why”; misreading negation; and forcing a patriotic reading onto every poem. If the poem’s tone is ironic, a solemn paraphrase will lose marks.
Answer pattern
State the device or meaning, quote two or three words, explain the effect, link to theme. For stanza explanation, move line by line but finish with the stanza’s overall point.