In his poem A River, A.K. Ramanujan argues that the new poets who imitate their old counterparts still quote the words and deeds of the ancient poets faithfully in their verses but they never bother to speak about the sufferings of the people. These poets could do nothing practical or effective to prevent people’s misery resulting from the floods in the river. As in the case of their predecessors, the river inspires them only once a year, when there is flood in the rainy season. They also repeat the way in which it carries three village houses, two cows named Gopi and Brinda and a pregnant woman who of course has twins in her, but these unborn children do not have moles to tell them apart and the different coloured diapers are used to identify them. A.K. Ramanujan sarcastically states that these new poets make their poems scientific and original superficially because they rearrange the items/persons carried away by the flood in the numerically proper order, displaying their knowledge of mathematics and refer to the physical feature of the absence of moles in the bodies of the children exposing their advanced knowledge of anatomical science. Further, the use of the napkins suggests how the modern poets are very particular about the description of the sophisticated life of the pregnant woman instead of the sufferings of hers as well as her unborn children while dying. These modern poets would have really displayed their creativity and originality in the content, style and language of their subject matters. But they have miserably failed to do so, as they are overawed by the poetic traditions of their forefathers.
Also read: Summary and Critical appreciation of the poem “A River” by A.K.Ramanujan