MULIEBRITY - Sujata Bhatt

MULIEBRITY - Sujata Bhatt

"Muliebrity" by Indian poet Sujata Bhatt revolves around the poet’s own childhood
memories about a young girl she once saw gathering cow dung near a
. It is written in free verse and allows the speaker to have an authentic and intimate
tone. Themes of womanhood, femininity, the nature of memories and social injustice
are explored. The poet conveys in a reverential manner how much impact the young
girl has had on her life. The formlessness of the poem also subtly reflects the speaker's
determination not to oversimplify the figure of the young girl and her own
individuality. It is written in first person and is set in the Gujarat region of India, and
more specifically near a Hindu temple in the neighbourhood of Maninagar in the city
of Ahmedabad. .......(THESIS STATEMENT)

The most striking aspect of the poem in relation to time, is to note how the passing of
time and growing older has not dulled the memory of the speaker, as she recalls seeing
a girl collecting cow-dung in the streets of Maninagar, in India. This image of a street
scene in her local village has in fact remained an extremely vivid and clear memory,
which has remained with her for a very long time. As readers we are made aware of
the importance of this memory from the very first line of the poem “I have thought so
much about the girl.” This opening line sets the scene and the tone for the reader, as it
highlights the significance of this memory. We are made to feel that the poet has
thought about the girl for some time, and it reiterates the feeling that time has in no
way diminished her memory of the events she witnessed in Maninagar. It also creates
a sense of space and distance, as we feel the speaker is no longer in Maninagar, time
has evolved and moved on since she saw the little girl, yet she can recall being there in
a very clear and exact memory.The fact that the speaker evokes such a vivid sense of
place from such a distance speaks to the power of her memory, and to the immense
impact this young girl had on her.

The same line from the opening of the poem is repeated once again on-line five, “I
have thought so much,” but this time to detail “the way she moved her hands and her
waist.” This notion of thinking about the girl in such detail highlights to the reader that
the Indian girl has had a considerable and lasting impact on the speaker. We are drawn
into Bhatt’s world, as she recounts “the smell of cow-dung and road-dust and wet
canna lilies.” These memories transport us back in time, to that village in India; we
start to build a picture in our mind of the many sights, colours and smells that make up
the very fabric of daily life there. It’s obvious to readers that this sensory overload is
what captivates the poet and has embedded and etched these memories upon her mind.
The childhood memories are so evocative, that even with the passing of time; they
have never been dulled or diluted.
“Muliebrity” subtly explores the nature of memory, revealing how even a single,
fleeting experience can stick with people well into the future. The poem also speaks to
the way that sensory details—things like those intense smells that surrounded the
young girl collecting cow dung—can trigger a flood of recollection, and make the past
seem vividly alive in the present.
The poem is based on a scene from Bhatt’s own childhood, which has clearly stuck
with the poet for years. She seems totally fixated on this moment, saying—not once,
but three times—that she has “thought so much” about the young girl collecting dung
off the street, which reveals the enduring hold that this memory has on her. Even
small, quiet moments, the poem suggests, can profoundly affect people throughout
their lives.
The memory hasn't grown any less vivid over the years, either. As the speaker dives
deeper into her memory of the young girl, sensory details come thick and fast. The
speaker notes not just the girl's graceful movements—"the way she / moved her hands
and her waist"—but also:
the smell of cow-dung and road-dust and wet canna lilies,the smell of monkey breath
and freshly washed clothesand the dust from crows’ wings which smells different —

These evocative, often contradictory, smells bring the speaker's memory to life on the
page. One scent seems to lead to another and another and another, mirroring the way
that one memory may trigger a surge of disparate yet linked recollections. It's like the
floodgates have been opened, and the past comes swirling into focus. All these smells
create an intensely vivid and specific sense of time and place that "surround[s]" the
speaker "separately / and simultaneously" in the present. Sensory memory, here, has
the power to bring the past back to life.

There, the speaker saw a young girl collecting cow dung (a.k.a. manure) in a big
basket. The speaker doesn't say why the girl was collecting the dung, but she was
probably planning to sell it on for a small amount of money; manure has various
purposes, including fuel. That said, this still doesn't seem like the most fun of
professions, and there's no escaping the fact that the young girl seems to have had a
tough, impoverished life.
There is also a subtle juxtaposition at work here between the sacredness of the temple
and the seeming lowliness of collecting animal waste. But that's the point: the poem
sets up this contrast in part because it aims to find the holiness and beauty within this
young girl herself.
This opening section is pretty light on poetic devices, instead feeling like the speaker
is simply having a conversation with the reader. That said, the consonance of the
dull /d/ sounds is noticeable is it runs through lines 2 and 3, subtly imbuing the girl's
labor with a sense of heaviness:
who gathered cow-dung in a wide, round basketalong the main road passing by our
house
Finally, it's worth noting how the opening four lines are all enjambed. This suggests
the clarity and intensity of the speaker's memory, which is about to be recreated on the
page in full technicolor and smell-o-vision!
The poem uses alliteration to bring the speaker's memory to life on the page. Much of
this alliteration is subtle, in keeping with the poem's thoughtful, free-flowing tone. But
some alliteration rings out quite clearly, adding intensity to the speaker's imagery and
calling attention to how different all the sights and smells surrounding the girl are.
Take lines 7-9, where the shared /c/ and /d/ sounds of "cow-dung," "road-dust,"
"canna lillies," "clothes," and "crows' wings" highlight the
sharp juxtaposition between these scents, which nevertheless all swirl together in the
speaker's memory. These are also both relatively loud consonant sounds, which makes
the imagery feel all the more striking and inescapable.
In lines 11 and 12, alliteration again evokes the rush of memory:
it up, all these smells surrounding me separatelyand simultaneously-
The sibilance here nearly overwhelms the reader, reflecting the seemingly
unstoppable swirl of sensory memories flickering through the speaker's mind.
Alliteration can also be used to suggest aesthetic beauty; it can be a poetic form
of decoration. This is the case when the speaker describes how the girl lights up when
she finds a "particularly promising / mound of dung." Those sharp /p sounds call
readers' attention to the girl's excitement; it feels almost as though she's stumbled upon
buried treasure.
Where alliteration appears in the poem:
• • Line 1: “girl”
• • Line 2: “gathered”
• • Line 6: “her hands”
• • Line 7: “cow,” “dung,” “dust,” “canna”
• • Line 8: “clothes”
• • Line 9: “crows,” “wings which”
• • Line 10: “scoops”
• • Line 11: “smells surrounding,” “separately”
• • Line 12: “simultaneously”
• • Line 15: “greatness”
• • Line 16: “glistening”
• • Line 17: “particularly promising”

The descriptions of “the smell of monkey breath and freshly washed clothes” show us
that time is intertwined with memory and demonstrates how senses can trigger
emotions and place us in an exact period and moment in time, in this case back
to Bhatt’s childhood, in India. In line eleven of the poem, she describes the sensual
nature of memory beautifully, as she states how “these smells surrounding me
separately and simultaneously,” here Bhatt is confirming that each element of the
memory is made up if individual aspects, but they ultimately merge, to make up a
collective memory and to help capture and encapsulate a specific moment in time. All
of these sights and smells help contribute to maintaining and harnessing this childhood
memory, they are very important to the speaker, as they are required to help keep the
memory alive over the passing of time.
It is important to note how the grandiose sounding name and purpose of this temple
contrast with the young girl whose only source of money is made by gathering cow
dung. The poet has already crafted a powerful, thought-provoking setting for her
narrative

for a nice image – but most of all unwilling(…)mound of dung –

In the final section, the speaker comes to the main point of ‘Muliebrity’ and describes
why it is that she has spent all this time thinking about one poor girl she sees on the
street. She had been unwilling, and still is unwilling, to utilize this girl as a
“metaphor” in an effort to craft a “nice image.” The speaker does not wish to take
advantage of the beauty that she sees in this young woman to advance her own words.
Above all else, the speaker has been “unwilling / To forget her” or to take the time to
“explain to anyone” why the girl is “great.” This is a topic that is not up for debate.
The speaker does not see the girl as being great, she knows she is. She can see in this
young person a quality that she cannot find anywhere else

“I have thought so much about the girlwho gathered

cow-dung in a wide, round basketalong the main
road passing by our houseand the Radhavallabh
temple in Maninagar.I have thought so much about
the way shemoved her hands and her waistand the
smell of cow-dung and road-dust and wet canna
lilies,the smell of monkey breath and freshly washed
clothesand the dust from crows’ wings which smells
different –and again the smell of cow-dung as the
girl scoopsit up, all these smells surrounding me
separatelyand simultaneously – I have thought so
muchbut have been unwilling to use her for a
metaphor,for a nice image – but most of all
unwillingto forget her or to explain to anyone the
greatnessand the power glistening through her
cheekboneseach time she found a particularly
promisingmound of dung –“