“The Visitor”, published in The Exact Name is a short and simple lyric which shows Ezekiel's power to create poetry out of “the ordinariness of most events”. The cawing of the crow is an ordinary and common event which is the main theme of this lyric. Life is full of ordinary events which usually pass unnoticed but they turn to beauty and delight when the poet treats them poetically. This lyric also exhibits Ezekiel's power to verbal portraiture and his observation of the feathered creatures. It consists of five stanzas of six lines each.
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| Nissim Ezekiel’s Poem, Visitor, Summary and Critical Appreciation |
The opening stanza refers to the common Indian superstition that the cawing of the crow predicts the arrival of some guest. Sitting on the window, it fixed its baleful eyes on the poet and cawed thrice. It raised its wings slightly in sinister poise. The crow's gesture indicated that something sinister was going to happen. Its body was tense and it stretched out its neck like that of a nagging woman. The room resounds with its voice and its presence is felt there. The description of the crow suggests that Ezekiel has minutely observed the ways and habits of birds. His power of verbal portraiture is par excellence:
“Three times the crow has cawed
At the window, baleful eyes fixed
On mine, wings, slightly raised
In sinister poise, body tense
And neck craned like a nagging woman's,
Filling the room with voice and presence.”
The cawing of the crow, repeated thrice, fills the poet with great expectation. According to Indian superstitious belief the cawing of the crow is the indication of the arrival of some visitor. He is lost in day dreaming and expects the arrival of some extraordinary visitor or the happening of some uncommon event. On the wings of poetic imagination he entered the radiant world of fancy but soon the vision vanished and he was again in the world of reality where he was concerned for all created things. He was anxious “to cope with the visitor / whose terms would compromise my own.”
The poet anxiously waited all the day long for the visitor because according to the common belief “following the crow a visitor would come”. The poet thought he would either be an angel in human guise or he would be a devil in disguise, who would tempt him. Thus, his character would be tested. It would be seen whether he would follow his chosen path of virtue and righteousness or would go astray.
But to the poet's great surprise the visitor was neither an angel nor a devil. He had nothing to offer to the poet. His hands were empty. He was quite an ordinary visitor. He came to the poet “only to kill a little time.” He did not intend any harm to the poet. His intentions were good. The poet too had sympathy with him. They talked and smoked cigarettes. Their conversation was unsubstantial and meaningless, as usually happens on such occasions. The poet ironically remarks that the smoke coming out of their nostrils “was more substantial than our talk.”
The poet realized his mistake. Human life consists of ordinary situations. He should have foreseen that the visit would be an ordinary commonplace event. Miracles do not take place in real world. We may only imagine “the figure in the carpet blazing” but such fanciful happenings are not possible in the real world. The poet nicely and precisely sums up that life consists of
“Ebb - flow of sex and the seasons
The ordinariness of most events.”
The language of this lyric is lucid, simple and clear. What distinguishes its style is precision and economy; for example:
“All day I waited, as befits
The folk belief that following
The crow a visitor would come
An angel in disguise, perhaps,
Or else temptation in unlikely shape
To test my promises, ruin my sleep.”
In the first stanza the simile in “and neck craned like a nagging women's” is highly suggestive. The use of this simile links up man with the lower creatures and suggests that we all, men, birds and beasts, are equally members of God's teeming family. As the crow caws thrice the room is filled or resounds with its voice, as would be that of a nagging woman.