Back to: Punjab Board Class 7th English Guide and Notes
Table of Contents
Introduction
‘An earthquake’ written by Vandana Lunyal is about an earthquake and the disaster caused by it. The poet through this poem shows the earthquake taking place and the narrator explains as the incidents occur. The readers can feel the emotions flowing through the poet in the poem.
About the poet
Vandana Lunyal is a poet and has been training teachers for more than two decades. Associate professor at the Regional Institute of English-32, Chandigarh, she has worked with teachers, exploring different methodologies in English language teaching.
Theme
The theme of the poem is to make aware of the damages caused by natural calamities such as an earthquake.
Stanza 1
As I lay wide awake My beds began to shake. Was my fear real or fake? The trembling fan confirmed the quake. The houses came crashing down “Oh my God!” cried the whole town!
The poem begins when the narrator wakes up due to the heavy shaking of the bed, he wonders what its cause is. He wasn’t sure if he was imagining or if it was happening. He confirmed that it was an earthquake when he saw the fan trembling. The earthquake was so violent that the houses in the town collapsed. It is not that only the narrator was at loss, the whole town was in shock to see the damages caused by the earthquake.
Stanza 2
A moment ago, the town stood tall Now fragmented, on the ground, it crawls. Turned to rubble, Changed into debris Houses, roads, parks and trees. Everywhere, everything is found Kissing and talking to the ground. People out of their cosy homes Some of which have now become tombs.
A few moments before the earthquake the town stood tall and now most of the houses and buildings had collapsed. The buildings had collapsed in such a way that they cant even be recovered. Houses, roads, parks, everything was destroyed and now people were out of their comfortable homes which have now become burial grounds.
