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Home » ICSE » Analysis of The Professor by Nissim Ezekiel

Analysis of The Professor by Nissim Ezekiel 29

Trisha 
July 21, 2013 
ICSE, ICSE Poems, ICSE/ISCE, IX - X, Nissim Ezekiel, Poem IX-X

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The Professor is noted for its expression of the Indian attitude. Indians are proud of their proficiency
in English but they are never bothered about the fact that their Indian English is far from the Native
English.
STYLE AND FORM: The Professor is both a conversational poem as well as a satirical poem. The
Professor is in a conversational form, it is about a conversation between two people, a professor and
his former student. The professor is the narrator in this poem and he talks about himself, his family
and children. The poem is in free verse style without having any regular metrical form. This form
helps the poet to freely describe the thoughts and feelings of a retired professor. He speaks about
his sons and daughters, his health, changing times and changing values, talks that are typical of a
middle aged man. Thus, we can say the poet Nissim Ezekiel has used a informal style to convey the
thoughts of the old man.

A satire is a way of criticizing a person, an idea or anything else. In a satire, the human follies are
attacked by using humour, irony and exaggeration. The Professor is a satirical poem where the
professor is the object of satire and is ridiculed by the poet. Through the character of the professor,
Ezekiel has satirized the educated class, living in the cities. Like an old father-figure, the professor
speaks about his eleven grandchildren and then boasts about the material wealth of his sons.
Moreover, the poem is a blow to the Indians who use English language, making mistakes of syntax,
grammar, tense etc but still they would speak in English(they find it prestigious) rather than in their
mother tongue.

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Use of Hyperbole: Hyperbole means exaggerating something. Ezekiel has shown that Indians have
the habit of exaggerating for emphasis. The use of hyperbole is quite apparent in the professor’s
speech. The examples are listed below-

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The Making of a Poem

1 Poem

*Our progress is progressing.

*Everything is happening with leaps and bounds.
*This year I am sixty nine
*You were so thin, like stick.

Use of Irony: The narrator being a professor should have a well command not only over the subject
he teaches but also the language he uses. But the poem is full of grammatical errors. He talks like a
boastful father, as he speaks of his sons-
“By God’s grace, all my children
Are well settled in life
One is Sales Manager,
One is Bank Manager,
Both have cars.”

THEME:
Urban Thinking Pattern: The Professor revolves around the typical urban mentality of people in
India. The speaker here is a professor whose academic excellence is far above from that of a
common man. Instead of having a broad thinking, the professor has a narrow, stereotyped thinking.
His views are confined to his family, children and their material achievements in life. He talks about
his daughters who are happily married and about his two sons who are sales and bank managers
respectively. Like a typical urban mentality, he thinks women should be happily married and
confined to their homes only.

The poet has ridiculed the typical Indian mentality which measures a person’s success based on
monetary gains. Ezekiel has intertwined satire, irony, humor with Indianism, urbanity and academic
excellence to draw the picture of a bereaved professor who meets one of his former students.

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Trisha


I have done my M.A in English andI love reading good books and sharing knowledge with
others. Thanks for appreciating.

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29 Comments

 Reply

AMELIA SAXCENA
October 25, 2014 at 4:12 am

how is ” this year i am sixty nine ” a hyperbole ????

  Reply

JOSEPH
February 27, 2016 at 9:23 am

I have the same question

 Reply

NITAL JAIN
June 11, 2016 at 3:06 pm

it is a hyperbole because the correct english would be i will turn 69 this year instead he said this year i
am sixty nine which is not correct.

ATHWAITH VP
February 22, 2017 at 5:02 pm

Thanks a lot

 Reply

JOIETA BANERJI
November 30, 2014 at 5:32 pm

gud information..it helped me

 Reply

SUMBUL FARID
December 10, 2014 at 6:12 am

Very nice It helprd me during my tests and exams.Thankyou so much!

 Reply

SAMRAT SAHA
 January 12, 2015 at 12:59 pm

Good

 Reply

SAMRAT SAHA
January 12, 2015 at 1:00 pm

Good but thing about u.

 Reply

PRADEEP
January 20, 2015 at 1:44 pm

this is one of the most boooring poems i have read….and this poem is a great insult to us….”INDIANS”!

 Reply

RETHIKA
May 7, 2016 at 6:18 am

yesssssssssssss pradeep INSULT

 Reply

BIPASHA PAUL
February 23, 2015 at 8:11 am

Yup…nice informaation…thhank u.

 Reply

LAKSHMI
February 25, 2015 at 4:14 pm
how is this year i am 69 is an hyperbole

 Reply

RIDDHITH BANERJEE
August 9, 2015 at 1:42 am

Well.Carry on!

 Reply

ARUNDHATI SEN
October 23, 2015 at 9:26 am

Well written. It is helpful.

 Reply

ARUNDHATI SEN
October 23, 2015 at 9:28 am

Well written.It is helpful.

 Reply

KUMAR SHIVAM
November 2, 2015 at 4:19 pm

it helped me during my class revesions ……….

thank u so much sir ezekiel for wring such a marvellous poem

 Reply

MITALI
November 25, 2015 at 9:33 am

what does he mean when he says now u r a man of weight and consequence?
  Reply

UJWAL
January 21, 2017 at 8:58 am

He means that now his student has grown physically healthier and of some social standing in the society

 Reply

SOUMYADEEP
August 16, 2016 at 1:34 pm

Here, the poet means that, now his former student is full of liabilities as he is adult now and also has three
issues(as mentioned in the poem). So he is full of duties and he should be consequence about those.

 Reply

ASRA
December 4, 2015 at 11:37 am

good it helped me in doing my project

 Reply

PRITZ
December 16, 2015 at 2:10 pm

its a hyperbole cuz it is one u bitch

 Reply

RIMJHIM DUBEY
January 8, 2016 at 4:00 am

My search completes here!! just what i was looking for!! Thanks

 Reply

SHASHWAT
 March 1, 2016 at 3:14 pm

not enough explanation………….and the irony section is irrelevent considering the examples used…its
more or less wrong

 Reply

LALITH
April 5, 2016 at 7:16 am

Accurate and amazing information given !! Very helpfull to the student ! As am a student it helped me in
many ways ! Nice job guys

 Reply

SANTOSH
June 12, 2016 at 6:21 am

The hyperbole section is erroneous.

How can”Our progress is progressing” be a hyperbole.It indicates deeper meaning and other figure of
speech.
“This year I am sixty nine” is also not an example of hyperbole

 Reply

HARISH
February 6, 2017 at 4:19 am

The common Indian man can say that India is Progressing, but the progress of India is progressing? Is
there a specific meaning to it or is it some kind of an anecdotal reference?
If you look at it in a simple manner he is just exaggerating the rate at which our country, it’s Ethics, it’s
values etc. are progressing.

 Reply

RONITA
July 27, 2016 at 1:24 am

Gud….but i ddnt find the point i was looking for

  Reply

AARON ANISH
August 29, 2016 at 5:04 pm

This summary is helpfull for my projects.

 Reply

HARSH
October 25, 2016 at 2:15 am

This summary helped me … THANK YOU

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