Andhra Pradesh VIII Class english lesson. A dialogue between poet and goblet. God as potter and man as clay

1. The Earthen Goblet
By Harindranath Chattopadhyaya

2. O silent goblet! Red from head to heel,
How did you feel
When you were being twirled
Upon the potter’s wheel
Before the potter gave you to the world!
.
Stanza -1

3. “But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay,
and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your
hand.” – Isaiah 64:8
The poem denotes a secondary meaning where
Chattopadhyay attempts to validate Christian doctrine
where God is regarded as a potter, and man as clay
which is cast by his hands

4. O silent goblet! Red from head to heel,
How did you feel
When you were being twirled
Upon the potter’s wheel
Before the potter gave you to the world!
.

5. The poem is a dialogue between the poet
and the goblet.
The poet asked the silent goblet
why it was red from top to toe and what its
feelings were when the potter kept it on his
wheel and twirled it before giving it to the
world as a goblet.

6. ‘I felt a conscious impulse in my clay
To break away
From the great potter’s hand
That burned so warm,
I felt a vast
Feeling of sorrow to be cast
Into my present form.
Stanza -2

7. ‘I felt a conscious impulse in my clay
To break away
From the great potter’s hand
That burned so warm,
I felt a vast
Feeling of sorrow to be cast
Into my present form.

8. The goblet replied that it felt a
conscious impulse in its clay to break
away from the Great Potter’s warm
hand. It also felt sorrow to be molded
into its present form.

9. ‘Before that fatal hour
That saw me captive on the potter’s
wheel
And cast into his crimson goblet sleep,
I used to feel
The fragrant friendship of a little flower
Whose root was in my bosom buried
deep.’
Stanza -3

10. ‘Before that fatal hour
That saw me captive on the potter’s
wheel
And cast into his crimson goblet sleep,
I used to feel
The fragrant friendship of a little flower
Whose root was in my bosom buried
deep.’

11. ‘Before that fatal hour
That saw me captive on the potter’s
wheel
fatal (adj): causing death
captive (n): prisoner

12. Means Before that dangerous hour., the
goblet was the prisoner on the potter’s
wheel

13. And cast into his crimson goblet sleep,
I used to feel
goblet (n): a cup
cast (v): to shape
crimson (ad): dark red in colour

14. means the clay is molded into the crimson
coloured goblet.

15. The fragrant friendship of a little flower
Whose root was in my bosom buried
deep.’
fragrant (ad): having a pleasant smell
bosom (n): chest

16. The fragrant friendship of a little flower
Whose root was in my bosom buried
deep.’
the Goblets had a beautiful relationship
with the flowers

17. means Before that, it used to feel the
fragrant friendship of a little flower. The
root of the flower was buried deep in its
bosom. The association between clay
and the plant was strong.

18. ‘The potter has drawn out the living breath
of me
And given me a form which is death of me,
My past unshapely natural stage was best
With just one flower flaming through my
breast.’
Stanza -4

19. ‘The potter has drawn out the living breath
of me
And given me a form which is death of me,
My past unshapely natural stage was best
With just one flower flaming through my
breast.’

20. ‘The potter has drawn out the living breath
of me

21. And given me a form which is death of me,

22. My past unshapely natural stage was best

23. With just one flower flaming
through my breast.’

24. means-The potter has taken the living breath of
it. He gave it a form which was its death.
Previously it was natural and shapeless. But
the form of the clay was the best form for it
as a bright flower used to be its companion
near its breast.

25. means- the shape of goblet made
it a prisoner. It did not have
freedom or a friend. When it was
in the form of clay. It had a
friend- a little flower.
Harindranath Chattopadhyaya

26. The Earthen Goblet Glossary
twirl (v): turn something round and round
fatal (adj): causing death
captive (n): prisoner
goblet (n): a cup
heel (n): the back part of the foot below the ankle
impulse (n): a sudden strong wish
about the results cast (v): to shape
crimson (ad)): dark red in colour
fragrant (ad)): having a pleasant smell
bosom (n): chest