A GRAIN OF SAND

Note down the explanation given below, in your fair English Literature notebook.

Summary and Analysis

The poet's children came up to him to show him what they had found. Their fingers were folded into fists, with something
hidden in them. They opened their fists and showed their father what they had there. These gifts were nothing but corks,
pins, a pretty pebble or a bit of something. The poet thought they were precious items. This to the poet was proof that
when you love someone, your eyesight gets stronger. So, you can look through common sand, looking for precious
objects hidden there.

He thinks these objects are as precious as gold. As we grow older, we lose the ability to recognize and find these
treasures in common silt. We begin to put a price on everything we find. You give each object different tags, depending
on their monetary value. Once you start doing that, then you cannot appreciate a gift for the thoughts and emotions that
are attached to it. Once this happens, then you are only full of a great anger if something of monetary value is lost. There
is no room for anything else. The poet assures his daughter and son that he keeps all the things that they have found
safe. The poet's children have found several treasures and have always brought them to him, laying each of them on his
desk. They have then told him what each of these treasures is. The poet says he has all of them with him. This naming of
the gifts is one way of claiming the world, that is, of making the world your own. We cannot own the world simply by
finding it and holding it, we need to hoard it and name every part of it. Owning the world is another way of saying that
one can fulfil all ambitions, provided they’re not merely material in nature, because material things never give
satisfaction. Our ambition instead, should be to earn and retain the love and trust of the people in our lives.

We also need to appreciate each gift as if it were made of gold. This imagination, the poet says, can only happen when
you love the person who gave you the gift. Or if you trust them completely. Both love or faith, the poet says, are
emotions which require a leap of trust. That is, you should be willing to accept whatever your loved one tells you. If you
don't have this trust, then you will find that everything that you like in your life will seem to have fallen on hard,
unwelcome ground. The hard ground is a metaphor for a life that lacks love and trust. Just as a seed dies if it falls on
hard ground because it doesn’t get care and suitable soil to grow, the poet implies that relationships die if they do not get
the fertile soil of trust and the care of love. That is, without faith there is nothing to keep this life beautiful. Without love
or faith everything you believe in seems to fall on the hard ground, break and become useless. When this happens, we
are in a situation where we know the price of every single object in our lives but have no idea of what they cost to be in
our life. The poet differentiates between price and cost. The price is the amount of money the objects were sold for. The
cost refers to all the factors that made that object special. If you become money minded and see only things from the
point of view of their price, then you can never find any treasures nor can you appreciate them.

POETIC DEVICES

Alliteration – The repetition of the same sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.
For example:
‘Look what we found…’
‘Of cork, pin, caption, pebble, shred’
‘As price is tagged, the story told’
‘It’s love or faith; it is a leap’
‘Without which all is dropped and lost’

Metaphor – Comparison between two things that aren't alike but do have something in common. The comparison is
used without using words such as ‘like’, ‘such’, ‘as’ etc.
For example:
‘The common silt for hidden gold’
This line can be interpreted to mean that love can make us treasure even small things like expensive things. Hence,
‘common silt’ is a metaphor for inexpensive things that are not valued by most people and ‘hidden gold’ is a metaphor for
their emotional value.

Simile – Comparison between two things using words such as ‘like’, ‘such’, ‘as’ etc.
For example:
‘What is found as if it was gold’
Here, things found by the poet’s children are being compared to gold, using the hypothetical construction ‘as if’.
Write down the following questions and answers in your fair English Literature notebook:

Q1. What happens to our ability to find gold as we grow old?

A1. As we grow old, our ability to find gold diminishes, i.e., we forget to value small things and gestures. We become
too materialistic and don't value little things or the hidden value of relationships.

Q2. What does the poet do with the treasures that his children find?
A2. The poet stores the objects gathered by his children. The things his children gather might be as trivial as a pin or
a pebble, yet for the poet, they are as valuable as treasures of gold simply because they are associated with his
children.

Q3. What happens if we don't have faith?

A3. If we lose faith, we will not be able to treasure the small things in life. We will not be able to find happiness in
what is around us. Faith and trust are what help sustain a relationship. If they are lost, relationships are lost.

Q4. What does the poet mean by 'hard inhospitable grounds?

A4. Hard, inhospitable ground would symbolize a place devoid of love and faith. The metaphor is of infertile land
where a seed, if dropped, will die due to lack of nourishment. Similarly, relationships without love, trust and care,
would die.

Q5. Why do you think the poet hoards the objects his children brought for him?
A5. Every little thing that his children find is precious to the poet. They are not only objects but things associated with
love and affection, and are treasures to be hoarded. It is obvious that the poet’s children are very important for
him, therefore even trivial things that were important for them, are now important for the poet.

Q6. What are the differences that the poet notices between youth and old age?
A6. Children are able to discover pleasure in little things of life. Their view is not overshadowed by materialistic
concerns. But with age, man likes to judge things as attributes of the material world. As a result, a lot is lost in
life, and adults tend to measure loss and gain in terms of money.

Q7. Which do you think is a better stage of life? Why?

A7. Childhood is a better stage in life. Life is simpler, more pleasurable without the burden of the material world.
Children value little things, are not constantly worried about money and are innocent.
OR
Adulthood is a better stage of life because one gains independence and confidence to live life according to one’s
own terms. They are not easily misled and can make calculated decisions. Though some people see it as a loss of
innocence, this period can also be seen as the dawn of intelligence and perception.