need the summary of poem River in pathway book
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'A River’ by A.K. Ramanujan is a four stanza poem that is separated into uneven sets of lines. The first stanza contains sixteen lines, the second: eleven, the third: seven, and the fourth: fifteen. They do not follow a specific rhyme scheme, but there are moments of repetition which help create rhythm.
Most clearly, there is a refrain that is used in the second stanza and the fourth and is only slightly changed. The speaker describes what happened during this particular flood, and then restates the same thing. This works in two ways, first to emphasize the loss. But, at the same time, it also desensitizing the reader. One comes to expect tragedy, as those who reside in the city do, and see it as another aspect of the flood/drought.
The poem begins with the speaker stating that every year, every poet sings the same songs about the sometimes flooding, and sometimes empty riverbed. When it is empty, all its hidden items are exposed. The poets have always sung about this period and the other in which the flood happens. But, they don’t get into the details of who is impacted.
In the next stanzas, the speaker relays the words of the citizens of this area as they describe what happened this year. Houses were washed away, as were two cows and a woman who thought she was pregnant with twins. The speaker derides the old and new poets for not caring enough to look deeper into their environments.