5. VIKRAM SETH - BIBLIOGRAPHY
Novels
• The Golden Gate (1986)
• A suitable boy (1993)
• An equal music (1999)
• A Suitable girl (2013) Poetry
• Mappings (1980)
• The humble administor’s garden (1985)
• All who you sleep tonight (1990)
• Beastly tales (1991)
• Three Chinese poets (1992)
• The frog and the nightingale (1994)
7. Once upon a time a frog
Croaked away in Bingle Bog
Every night from dusk to dawn
He croaked awn and awn and awn.
Other creatures loathed his voice,
But, alas, they had no choice.
And the crass cacophony
Blared out from the sumac tree
At whose foot the frog each night
Minstrelledon till morning night.
Neither stones nor prayers nor sticks,
Insults or complaints or bricks
Stilled the frog's determination
To display his heart's elation.
8. But one night a nightingale
In the moonlight cold and pale
Perched upon the sumac tree
Casting forth her melody.
Dumbstruck sat the gaping frog.
And the whole admiring bog
Stared towards the sumac, rapt,
And, when she had ended, clapped,
Ducks had swum and herons waded
To her as she serenaded
And a solitary loon
Wept, beneath the summer moon.
Toads and teals and tiddlers, captured
By her voice, cheered on, enraptured
"Bravo!" "Too divine!" "Encore!“
9. So the nightingale once more,
Quite unused to such applause,
Sang till dawn without a pause.
Next night when the Nightingale
Shook her head and twitched her tail,
Closed an eye and fluffed a wing
And had cleared her throat to sing
She was startled by a croak.
"Sorry - was that you who spoke?"
She enquired when the frog
Hopped towards her from the bog.
"Yes," the frog replied. "You see,
I'm the frog who owns this tree.
In this bog I've long been known
For my splendid baritone
And, of course, I wield my pen
For Bog Trumpet now and then".
"Did you… did you like my song?"
10. "Not too bad - but far too long.
The technique was fine of course,
But it lacked a certain force".
"Oh!" the nightingale confessed.
Greatly flattered and impressed
That a critic of such note
Had discussed her art and throat:
"I don't think the song's divine.
But - oh, well - at least it's mine".
"That's not much to boast about".
Said the heartless frog. "Without
Proper training such as I
And few others - can supply.
You'll remain a mere beginner.
But with me you'll be a winner".
"Dearest frog", the nightingale
Breathed: "This is a fairy tale -
11. And you're Mozart in disguise
Come to earth before my eyes".
"Well I charge a modest fee.
Oh!... But it won't hurt, you'll see"
Now the nightingale inspired,
Flushed with confidence, and fired
With both art and adoration,
Sang - and was a huge sensation.
Animals for miles around
Flocked towards the magic sound,
And the frog with great precision
Counted heads and charged admission.
Though next morning it was raining,
He began her vocal training.
"But I can't sing in this weather".
"Come my dear - we'll sing together.
Just put on your scarf and sash ,
Koo-oh-ah! ko-ash! ko-ash!"
So the frog and nightingale
Journeyed up and down the scale
12. For six hours, till she was shivering
and her voice was hoarse and quivering.
Though subdued and sleep deprived,
In the night her throat revived,
And the sumac tree was bowed,
With a breathless, titled crowd:
Owl of Sandwich, Duck of Kent,
Mallard and Milady Trent,
Martin Cardinal Mephisto,
And the Coot of Monte Cristo,
Ladies with tiaras21 glittering
In the interval sat twittering -
And the frog observed them glitter
With a joy both sweet and bitter.
Every day the frog who'd sold her
13. Songs for silver tried to scold her:
"You must practice even longer
Till your voice, like mine grows stronger.
In the second song last night
You got nervous in mid-flight.
And, my dear, lay on more trills:
Audiences enjoy such frills.
You must make your public happier:
Give them something sharper, snappier.
We must aim for better billings.
You still owe me sixty shillings."
Day by day the nightingale
Grew more sorrowful and pale.
Night on night her tired song
Zipped and trilled and bounced along,
14. Till the birds and beasts grew tired
At a voice so uninspired
And the ticket office gross
Crashed, and she grew more morose-
For her ears were now addicted
To applause quite unrestricted,
And to sing into the night
All alone gave no delight.
Now the frog puffed up with rage.
"Brainless bird - you're on the stage –
Use your wits and follow fashion.
Puff your lungs out with your passion."
Trembling, terrified to fail,
Blind with tears, the nightingale
Heard him out in silence, tried,
Puffed up, burst a vein, and died.
Said the frog: "I tried to teach her,
But she was a stupid creature -
Far too nervous, far too tense.
Far too prone to influence.
Ha! Ha! At
last She is
dead.
LET’S PARTY
15. Well, poor bird - she should have known
That your song must be your own.
That's why I sing with panache:
"Koo-oh-ah! ko-ash! ko-ash!"
And the foghorn of the frog
Blared unrivalled through the bog.
16. SUMMARY
Once upon a time there lived a frog under a Sumac
tree in a fictional place called the Bingle Bog.
Under the false pretense that he was a
sensational and melodious singer, he “blessed” his
fellow creatures with his voice day after day. His
crass cacophony was despised by others. They
tried very hard to get rid of him, but all the
sticks and the stones failed to shatter the
presumptuous frog’s illusion. He went on singing to
his heart’s content.
One fine moonlit night, a beautiful nightingale came
and perched on the sumac, casting forth her
melody. Every single life form in the Bog, including
the frog, sat flabbergasted, amazed by the sheer
excellence of the bird’s talent.
17. Absolutely entranced by the song, all the creatures
gazed at her. Captivated and enthralled by the
utterly divine melody, they urged her to keep
going on. They moved closer and applauded and
the flattered bird went on until dawn. The
following night, she perched on the sumac tree
once more and was setting up when right
out of nowhere the cunning
frog croaked.
He presented himself to be a
fairly eminent personality. He
rolled his glib-tongue on and
on. He claimed to own the
sumac tree, to be far-famed for his
“splendid baritone” and a music
critic who wrote for the Bog
Trumpet.
18. Blandished to be conversing with such a superior
personality, the nightingale asked him how he had
liked her song. To answer this, the frog put all his
role-playing into effect and started nitpicking.
The simple-minded bird contended with just the
fact that a critic of such a note had discussed
her singing, became flustered and remarked that
at least the song was her own. But the harsh and
envious frog ruthlessly discarded her. He offered
to train her and convinced that without his
guidance, she wouldn’t ever be anything more than
a novice.
Hearing this, the nightingale became ecstatic and
referred to the frog as “Mozart in disguise”. But
in reality, the crafty frog couldn’t have cared less
about her hopes and dreams. He charged her a
high fee for the training too .
19. The gullible nightingale, now flushed with confidence, sang
with all her heart and grew to be a sensation. Many
creatures from the vicinity of the bog constellated
towards the charming sound. The wily frog exploited
her talent and minted money for himself by charging
admission.
The next morning, although the
weather was unfavourable, the
wicked frog slyly convinced the
bird to come out of her house
and made her practice vigorously up and
down the musical scale for six long hours. Though the
nightingale was incredibly fatigued, in the night, her
voice revived. A titled crowd flocked the sumac tree.
The frog watched them, joyously charging them money,
but also with a nagging feeling of envy, wishing that it
was him they appreciated.
20. Even after all this, the frog did not stop depreciating the
helpless bird. He incessantly scolded her harshly and
insisted on making her song fancier, jauntier. He
provided all sorts of destructive criticism and rendered
her helpless by pointing out how he was obliging her by
his exclusive training. The nightingale followed his
words like quotes from the Bible and turned her song
and her singing into something so banal that it could no
longer involve the audience. This led to her meltdown as
she was now addicted
to applause.
The frog went berserk
with rage now. He
lashed out at the poor
bird. He asked her to
renew her song.
Terrified to fail, the nightingale tried her best, but
the training taking a toll on her, burst a vein and died.
21. The evil frog turns out to be more vicious than we
had once thought. Even after the nightingale’s
tragic death, just to throw off the suspicion that
had naturally landed on him, he dismissed her as
“Far too nervous, far too tense, far too prone to
influence”. He sarcastically remarks that she
should have not listened to him and should have
known the power of originality and goes on to
blare his own pain of a voice unrivalled through
the bog.
23. The Nightingale-
The nightingale is shown as an extremely simple-minded,
gullible and docile creature. She had a beautiful voice
that enchanted all the creatures of the Bingle Bog. Her
talent was mesmerizing but she severely lacked self-
confidence. She did not believe in herself and failed to
realize, despite the various accolades she received, the
enormity of her talent. She was easily convinced by
the glib talks of the frog and stupidly let him exploit
her singing for money. She couldn’t see through the
sweet exterior that the frog had put up and was unable
to see the pernicious effect he had on her. Owing to
her this very idiocy and the failure to take a stand for
herself, she lost the melodious and charming quality of
her voice, and eventually, her life.
CHARACTER SKETCHES
24. The Frog-
The frog is shown as a knavish and obdurate
creature. He was under a false impression that
he was a splendid soloist and that every living
soul in the bog raved about his singing. He was an
impervious creature for when the animals hurled
a volley of obscenities at him, he was entirely
unresponsive. He brimmed with confidence.
He was envious of the nightingale, because the
creatures of the bog appreciated her singing. He
wanted to eliminate the bird as he saw her as his
rival. He lured her in with persuasive talks and
pretended to her mentor equivalent of Mozart,
only to turn around and stab her in her back. He
was patronizing, abrasive and constantly
belittled the bird. Even after her demise, he
dismissed her as a brainless creature, who was
“far too prone to influence.”The frog was crafty
and shrewd, who shamelessly capitalized both on
the nightingale’s life and death.
25. In the poem, the nightingale
was a very melodious singer
She was immensely gifted
but severely lacked self-
confidence. She was easily
convinced by the crafty,
manipulative frog. He duped
and exploited her. He was
envious and wanted to
eliminate her. The gullible bird
walked right into the trap and
lost her life.
This poem elegantly presents the bitter reality that in the
modern society, there are more number of snakes in the
grass and less well-wishers. We should not get influenced
and take a stand for ourselves and what we do.
26. Vikram Seth has presented the poem as a satire on
the modern society. He has mocked the so-called
civilized people of the society revealing how simple-
minded people always end up caught in the traps of
silver-tongued people. Satire is a strong vein of
irony, which through plain humor, points out the
follies of a corrupt human behavior .The nightingale
is personified as a naïve, innocent person who is
easily taken in by the seemingly charismatic
personality of the frog, who represents the devious
people in society that stop at nothing to get what
they desire.
The poem, like a fable, leaves us with the message
that in order to succeed in the harsh and uncaring
world, one must always have self- confidence in
their abilities and talents.
27. • ALLITERATION Crass cacophony
Art and adoration
Songs for silver
Brainless bird
Follow fashion
• IRONY You are Mozart in disguise
Your song must be your own
• PERSONIFICATION
With a breathless, titled
crowd:
Owl of Sandwich, Duck of Kent,
Mallard and Milady Trent,
Martin Cardinal Mephisto,
And the Coot of Monte Cristo,
Ladies with tiaras glittering
In the interval sat twittering
28. • REPETITION Not too bad - but far too
long
Far too nervous, far too tense.
far too prone to influence
• METAPHOR Night on night her tired song
You are Mozart in disguise
• RHYME SCHEME A-A-B-B
29. Vikram Seth is an Indian poet, novelist, travel
writer, librettist, children's writer, biographer
and memoirist.
Vikram Seth was born to Leila and Prem Seth in
Calcutta (now Kolkata). His family lived in many
cities including the Bata Shoe Company town of
Batanagar, Danapur near Patna, and in London.
He has received several awards
including Padma Shri, Pravasi
Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith
Literary Award and Crossword
Book Award.
30. •Mappings (1980)
•The Humble Administrator's
Garden (1985)
•All You Who Sleep Tonight
(1990)
•Beastly Tales (1991)
•Three Chinese Poets (1992)
•The Frog and the Nightingale
(1994)
