THE FROG AND THE NIGHTINGALE by Vikram Seth

Presentation

By

Kiran Tiwari

TGT English

The Poet Vikram Seth was born in

Calcutta in 1952. He left India to study at Oxford His first novel, The Golden

Gate, is written entirely in tetrameter sonnets,

He won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1986and the Sahitya Academy award in 1988.

The poem is about a contest between the frog and the nightingale.The nightingale is simple minded whereas the frog is cunning and clever.The frog claims that he is the best singer.

The Frog The bog

1. The frog feels proud of his singing from evening till morning.

2.One day he is surprised to hear the sweet melody of the nightingale who was singing on the sumac tree.

3.He fears that his position as the only singer of the bog will be threatened by the song of the nightingale

4. His fear comes true . All the birds listen to the song of the nightingale and praise her very much . This makes the frog sad.5. The frog feels jealous of the popularity of the nightingale.6.He introduces himself to the nightingale as the owner of the tree.7.He takes the nightingale into confidence and makes an evil plan to get rid of her.8. He makes her sing excessively for long hours . He starts pointing out her mistakes and drawbacks .

9. The result is that the nightingale has to bear scolding and exploitation at the hands of the frog.10.She loses the beauty of the voice . The other creatures stop coming to hear her songs at the concerts arranged by the cunning frog.11. Ultimately , the nightingale dies after she has burst one of her veins.12.The frog continues to sing in a loud , unpleasant way, now unchallenged.

The Nightingale Polite, soft, timorous. –

“sorry was that you who spoke”

Nervous and shy- “Did you, did you like my song”

Timid and polite – “This is a fairy tale. And you are Mozart in disguise..”

The Frog Territorial and boastful – I’m

the frog who owns the tree. Technique was fine, But it lacked certain force

Patronising – Without proper training …You’ll remain a begnner.

Possessive, greedy – “We must aim for better billings…..”

Arrogant and condescending – “I tried to teach her… a stupid creature”

This story is about a frog and a nightingale who lived in the Bingle Bog. This poem by Vikram Seth is a musical parody where

the Frog and the Nightingale represent two contrasting characters.

The frog is the boastful, domineering character, whereas the nightingale has been portrayed as a meek, nervous, polite bird who is afraid of the frog. She submits to him without any protest.

The poem has been told in the style of a story. Starts “ Once upon a time … then the poem progresses in a definite direction and finally concludes with the death of the bird.

Some point to be noted are …. The use of the rhyming scheme makes the poem

rhythmic and musical. The poet employs interesting comparison like –

the nightingale called the frog, Mozart. The manner in which the frog trains the

nightingale has been beautifully described. The irony is that the creature which doesn’t even

know what music is tries to teach music to a bird like nightingale who possesses a melodious voice.

Q1. ‘BINGLE BOG’ REFERS TO A PLACE THAT IS (A) WET AND SLIPPERY (B) MUDDY (C) WET AND MUDDYQ2. THE WORD ‘AWN’ MEANS (A) ON, BUT SPELT AS AWN (B) OWN (C) MEANINGLESSQ3. OTHER CREATURES IN THE FOREST DISLIKE THE FROG’S SONG. WHAT DO THEY DO TO PROTEST AGAINST IT? CONTINUED

(A) GAVE STONES AND STICKS (B) PRAY (C) ALL OF THE ABOVEQ4. THE NIGHTINGALE’S SONG MAKES THE FROG GAPE. WHAT DOES IT MEAN. (A) THE FROG IS ELATED (B) THE FROG IS AMAZED (C) THE FROG GETS ANGRY

Q5. The world ‘encore’ implies (a) sing some more (b) bravo (c) well doneQ6. The frog claims: ‘in this bog I’ve long been known/ for my splendid baritone’. Is this (a) a false claim? (b) a truth? (c) self –praise?Q7.The frog offered to train the nightingale (a) for a fee (b) for free (c) for foodQ8. In which weather did the nightingale refuse to sing? (a) clear (b) rainy (c) dry and humid