Introduction of the Poem:
"Breaded Fish" is a poem written by A.K.Ramanujan. In this poem, he recollects how the sight of a fish, brought back his dreadful memories of a woman's dead body on the beach. The poet was served with a fish, sprinkled with bread crumbs, which was specially made for him by a lady. But the poet was unable to eat it. It was because when he looked at the fish, his memories recoiled like a cobra. He recollects seeing a woman’s dead body on beach. Like the breaded fish, the woman’s body was covered with sand particles and a piece of cloth. It was a sight of horror and dismay.
This short poem describes an experience of the speaker (who may very well be Ramanujan himself) whose desire to eat roasted fish was on one occasion completely crushed and frustrated. The housekeeper, who might have been the poet's mother, had prepared some breaded fish for him, and had even thrust one piece into his mouth with the very rod on which it had been roasted . But the speaker pushed the breaded fish back because he found himself unable to eat it. The reason for his feeling of revulsion was that a certain memory had suddenly risen in his mind. It was the memory of a half - naked, dead woman lying on the beach. The dead body was partially covered with a piece of cloth about a yard in length. It had then occurred to him that the woman's dead body had been breaded by “the grained indifference of sand”. The sight of that dead body had made him imagine that the dead body was being eaten by the fish; and this idea had greatly upset and agitated him. Now, when the housekeeper (or the mother) had thrust some breaded fish into his mouth, he found it impossible either to eat it or even to continue sitting there. That memory had risen in his mind like a coiled snake raising its hood on a piece of land overgrown with grass and shrubs.
Critical Analysis of the Poem:
“Breaded Fish” is a fine lyric in The Striders. Paul Verghese writes : “In “Breaded Fish” the poet speaks not only of his inability to cat breaded fish on “a blunt headed / smelt” thrust into his mouth but also of the memory it evokes in him ….. The poem is apparently autobiographical and mingles memory with desire - desire to eat the fish thwarted by the snake of deeply rooted memory, ready to sting him.”
The poet evokes certain memories which horrify him with the help of vivid pictorial images. The memory is nauseating and disgusting. So he is unable to eat the breaded fish and turns away from it in utter disgust. How graphically Ramanujan conjures up the picture of his utter disgust and horror!
Specially for me, she had some breaded
fish; even thrust a blunt headed
smelt into my mouth;
and looked hurt when I could
neither sit nor cat ….
The poet is invited to eat the breaded fish but the appearance of the fish at once reminds him of certain memories of the past. The poet finds himself unable to eat the breaded fish; even though it is thrust into his mouth. The recollection of a past memory is described through a striking simile: “....... as a hood / of memory like a coil on a heath / opened in my eyes.”
The memory that filled him with disgust is described lucidly, precisely, clearly and spontaneously through scintillating image:
a dark half naked
length of woman, dead
on the beach in a yard of cloth,
dry, rolled by the ebb, breaded
by the grained indifference of sand. I headed for
the shore, my heart beating in my mouth.
Deft use of language, precision, succinctness, clarity of expression, vividness and suggestiveness of imagery make “Breaded Fish” a memorable lyric.