Corona Says

Vishnu S. Rai(1951)

Education India, Nepal, and the United Kingdom. He retired as

Professor of English Language Education after teaching English TU
 Rai is a bilingual writer who works in both English and Nepali.
Some of his works are:
 Martyrs and Other Stories (English), Realities (English), Nau
Dandapari (Nepali), and Paheli (Nepali) are (Nepali).
 Sudama (a semi-epic in Nepali), Jeevan (a collection of poetry in
Nepali),
 Corona Says that the poem was composed on the issue of the
current global crisis. Corona and its destructive influence on human
existence is a subtly satirical look at human behavior and attitude.
Covid 19 is viewed as a consequence of man's handling of nature.
 Short Summary
Corona is communicating to mankind in this brief poem. It rejects any wrongdoing
and denies being responsible for the deaths of thousands of people (corona positive)
and the collapse of the global economy.

It didn't appear on its own. This is the outcome of illogical and irresponsible human
behavior in nature. Humans believe they own the entire world, including all living
and non-living objects. They constantly utilize it as they see fit. They fail to see that
the world is a shared environment for all living beings.

During the lockdown, when all human activity was halted, nature returned to its
former glory: blue sky, a pollution-free environment, and so on. It also demonstrates
that we are to blame for natural disasters and human sorrow in homeland.

Finally, Corona cautions that if we do not progress, more deadly pandemics will
occur, resulting in much more death and damage.
 Summary
Since the title of the poem makes it clear, Corona is referring to humans here. Corona is a
name that requires no introduction. It's so well-known that even a youngster has heard of
it. Hundreds of thousands of people have died as a result of this pandemic.

This poem expresses the speaker's perspective (point of view) on the entire incident. The
speaker (corona) refuses the blame, claiming that it is not his fault, but that humans are to
blame for such widespread devastation. It did not arrive on its own but was brought here
by people.

It was, in fact, invited. Corona, like previous pandemics, is the result of human behavior
and actions that are not in the best interests of nature.

In this case, the speaker displays humans as a mirror. Humans think they are the creators'
monarchs and rulers of the whole planet. They believe that all of creation and other
components of nature are their slaves to be used as they see fit. But it isn't all.
The poet then depicts another side of the event. Almost all human
activity have ceased during the lengthy lockdown. Motherland took a
little break. And nature has returned to its former state, with a clear sky
and a clean atmosphere. That is a benefit of the corona period. It also
demonstrates that if we (people) do not abuse nature, it will settle
down. The Earth does not only belong to us. All living creatures must
share it equitably.

Finally, the speaker issued a warning to humanity. Without a sure, if

we do not modify our reckless attitudes and behavior toward the
environment, Corona will return one day, and additional pandemics of
its sort will invade Earth.

Furthermore, such behavior would eventually transport us back to

prehistoric times when humans lived in caves and had to search for
food.
 LINE BY LINE EXPLANATION
The poem 'Corona Says’ begins with the imperative tone of the speaker, Corona. It
commands human beings to stop crying. The reference of ‘crying’ implies the miserable
condition of human beings caused by Corona. Though human beings are in miserable
condition and cursing Corona for their misery, Corona rejects such blame and clarifies
that it has not come to the world of its free will, rather it came to the world after an
invitation. Here a question is likely to arise; who has invited Corona? In fact, Corona
has been invited to the world by the irrational and harmful activities of human beings. In
other words, Coronavirus is the byproduct of man's ill-treatment to nature.
The speaker Corona has a tone of rage against men. It severely criticizes men for their
irrational activities throughout the poem. Towards the end of the second stanza, Corona
raises two questions. Men count the death caused by Corona but what about the death
caused by men's war? Men are silent to this question. In fact, men’s war has caused
more death than Corona but men ignore this fact. The question, ‘Have you ever counted
how many have died so far because of you and your wars?’ is an example of a rhetorical
question with the implication of the answer that men have never counted such death.
Corona is critical of men's nature of finding faults in others rather than seeing their own
faults.
The criticism of man continues in the third stanza too in which Corona once again
criticizes men for their superiority. Men think of themselves as the most superior creature
of the universe or what Corona says ‘The Crown of creation’. Men have no feeling for
birds/aerial (those who fly in the sky), fish/aquatic (those who live in the ocean),
terrestrial animals (those who crawl on the earth), and for trees/forest (the sources of your
oxygen). Evoking master-slave imagery, Corona blames that men consider themselves as
‘masters’ and others as their ‘slaves’ whom they can kill and sell at their own will. In fact,
Corona is critical of ‘anthropocentrism’ or ‘men at the centre of the universe belief’.
Corona also shows its bright aspects in the fourth and fifth stanza of the poem. It has not
only affected all aspects of human life but also has brought some positive changes. Since
all the human activities came to a halt after the Coronavirus outbreak, the environment
turned out to be clean and green as suggested by the reference of the clean blue sky
without dust and smoke. Likewise, Corona forced the people to remain at home restricting
their freedom and mobility which has made people realise how caged animals feel.
Similarly, Corona has provided the mother earth a little rest.
In the sixth stanza, Corona once again attacks human beings for their claim of boundless
knowledge. Though human beings make the claim of their extensive knowledge,
Coronavirus has made them realise how limited their knowledge is. Corona advocates the
theme of universalism/cosmopolitanism suggesting that the Earth is the shared home of
all creatures. Therefore, men are wrong when they claim the earth is their property only.
At the end of the poem, Coronavirus comes up with a
warning for human beings. It says that it will go away from
the world one day for sure but if human beings continue the
ill-treatment of nature with their ‘Inflated Ego’, then many
other viruses are sure to attack the world. The continuation
of irrational and harmful activities of human beings
would stop the progress of human civilization and would
push human civilization to the primitive age in which men
would be once again living their life in caves.