Gautham Udayashankar
Ms. Kam
ENG3U1
November 10, 2008
Poetry Application assignment
The words fate, ordinary and transformation exist in every individual’s life because we choose for their existence, as it helps us develop our fundamental character and how they view the world and the things around them. In the poems “Go to the ant” by Irving Layton and “An Ordinary Person” by Rabindranath Tagore, we see, parallels are drawn between the concepts of ordinary, transformation and fate, by both speakers. The words ordinary, transformation and fate are all words and ideas molded in conjunction to the wills and whims of each and every individual.
The word ordinary can be a deceptive cloak of illusion, as its appearance often makes us overlook many of the extraordinary qualities in a person or an entity. In the poem “An Ordinary Person”, as societies, cultures and times change, an ordinary inconsequential farmer, changes into an extravagant being that commands great interest from modern society. The speaker refers to a man, who “today”, leads a “life” that people would find repetitive, boring and “ordinary”, but as time passes, and ideals change, the people in the future would view “those days” as times “charged with poetry” (13 - 14). The speaker conveys to the reader that there are many extraordinary things happening in every individuals life but we fail to recognize those extraordinary moments because to us they seem mundane and a part of our everyday existence, but when we see it from another persons point of view, then only do we truly appreciate how extraordinary our lives can be. Conversely, in “Go to the Ant”, the speaker talks about a seemingly insignificant ant who is able to make an extraordinary difference. The ant to the speaker, is a minute and trivial being that manages to command the speakers attention with its display of “determination” and “tenaciousness” (6-7) and was furthermore able to convey with its “sober virtues” (12) to the speaker...