1. THE FROG AND THE
NIGHTINGALE
by Vikram Seth
Presentation
By
K.Parameswari,PGT ( English )
Kendriya Vidyalaya, no 1 , Jalahalli,Bangalore,
Karnataka,India.
2. 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.
4. 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..”
5. 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”
6. 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.
7. 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.
