Question

What does the poet mean by foreign lands in the poem ?

Answer 1

I Believe by Brucellish K Sangma is quite inspiring a poem. But students often want to know about the poet. And there is a dearth of information about Sangma even on the internet.

Brucellish K Sangma is an Indian woman poet. She hails from the state of Meghalaya. She represents the Garo tribe, indigenous people living in the Garo hills in the state of Meghalaya, India. So the poem I Believe was originally written in the Garo language. The poet herself translated it from Garo to English, which she did for several of her poems. The ‘K’ in her name stands for ‘Koksi’, seemingly her clan name. Sangma is a prominent figure among the well-known Garo woman poets, and an educationist and great thinker. Sangma also served as the Director of State Educational Research and Training, Government of Meghalaya. Her famous poems include “A Pair of Spectacles”, “I Believe”, “The Lord’s Burden”, “The Tripper”, “The Query” and “My Window Seat”.

I Believe: Structure, Style and Theme

Before we go to a line-by-line analysis of the poem, we should note some crucial points about the structure, style and the theme of the poem.

Structure: The poem I Believe is a very simple poem of some 18 lines, consisting of six stanzas of three lines each.

Style: The poem is written in Free Verse with no particular rhyme or metre followed in writing the poem. The poem is also full of imagery and symbolic expressions, metaphors and alliteration.

The Theme: The poem is about the limitless possibility in a man – the things that the poet think or rather believe, we human beings can do, can achieve, can dream of and can aspire for. Hence, the title of the poem is “I Believe”.

Since the poetess is coming from a primitive tribe and is a woman, this also indicates to the theme of women-empowerment, especially of those coming from her tribe or the likes. A woman is trying to get rid of the typical role of a cook and the sole aim of getting married. She wishes that the women take inspiration from the other women who have already achieved success.

The Message: The poem is a very inspiring poem. All the first five stanzas of the poem begin with the expression “I believe” and the last stanza with “But I firmly believe”. This very expression strikes the positive keynote of the poem. The poet Sangma motivates the readers with her ideas, and makes us believe that we really can do wonders, if we wish to. So, the message? Believe in yourself; you can do wonders.