“Stammer" by Satchidanandan (Detailed Summary)

“Stammer”

Satchidanandan

Detailed Summary

          “Stammer” is a poem which is written by Satchidanandan. In this poem the poet

says that the way we see the world makes how we approach the life, people or things

the poem begins by telling the readers that stammer and “handicap” are different.

But most of the people have a tendency to assume that stammer is a disability.

For the poet, it is a kind of speech.

          Stammer is a kind of gap that comes between word and its meaning. Then the poet compares stammering in speech to lameness in walking. Those people who have lameness could not do need when they talk about some actions or deed. Thus the poet says that most of the people talk a lot. But when it comes to action a very few will do.

          The poet asks a few confusing questions to the readers. He has a confusion whether ''stammer'' comes before or after language. Another confusion which he tells to the readers is whether “stammer” is a “dialect” or a “language”. The poet believes that even these questions could not be answered by the “linguists” themselves.

          When a person stammers, he is creating different meanings. For instance, if a stammering person utters “hello”, he will utter it as “he-he-hello”. The word “he” is a pronoun and has a different meaning.  The word “hello” is a noun and is used as a greeting. When all people stammer, stammer becomes “mother tongue”. Through this, the poet says that everyone stammers. Most of the people think and tell something. Hence it is very difficult to understand what is inside a person. No one can understand a human being through his words.

          The poet opens the last stanza in an ironic way. He tells his readers that when God had created man, he must have stammered. Through this, the poet tries to tell that since human beings are not perfect, the God, who is the creator of them, will also be an imperfect one. Since humans are imperfect, they utter words which have different meanings. That is why whatever he is telling from prayer to command have so many meanings like poetry. According to the poet, a poem evokes so many meanings. When a critic deconstructs a poem, he gets different layers of meaning from a single poem. Likewise, if one deconstructs a person's talk, one will get different layers of meaning. Though the poem, Stammer, Satchidanandan tells his readers to develop a multiple perspective nature for everything.