Question

What message is conveyed by Vikram Seth through the poem ‘The Frog and the Nightingale’?

Answer 1

rowseNotessearch

HOMEWORK HELP > VIKRAM SETH

What message does the poem "The Frog and the Nightingale" convey?

print Print

 

document PDF

 

list Cite

EXPERT ANSWERS

ASHLEY KANNAN | CERTIFIED EDUCATOR

Do not trust frogs.  In all seriousness, I would say that the issue of blind trust and faith is one of the messages in Seth's poem.  The fact that the nightingale has real talent and skill, yet placed all of her trust in the frog's supposed "wisdom" is what ends up spelling out her own doom.  She never reflects to consider why the frog is being so "nice" to her, and what his agenda might be.  This brings to light the idea that there might be people with ulterior motives or agendas and this has to be scrutinized and analyzed in dealing with them.  The poem is not saying not to trust, but rather to be vigilant enough to be able to assess why people do what they do.  I think that another message that comes out of the poem is that individuals with talent should be able to hear their own voice and embrace their own vision as opposed to being persuaded and influenced by someone else's.  The nightingale's embrace of her own talent was absent and not clearly defined, which ended up causing her to believe the words of the frog and destroying her own voice.

Answer 2

The poem's teaching is stated by the frog himself in the poem - 

Well, poor bird – she should have known
That your song must be your own.



The frog used the nightingale's stupidity and innocence against her, the nightingale was too prone to influence. If the nightingale believed in herself and that she was a good singer, she would have rejected frog's unwise and harmful influence. The nightingale was too naive and thought of the frog as a great singer even when she hadn't been witness to any of his performances. The frog was very cunning and lead to her demise and later states his intentions in a sarcastic manner -

I tried to teach her,
But she was a stupid creature -
Far too nervous, far too tense.
Far too prone to influence.



The morale of the poem is that we must believe in ourselves and not blindly  follow anyone and heed their advice without conclusive evidence that they have good intentions for us.