1. Welcome Rayat Shikshan Sanstha’s Chhatrapati ShivajiCollege, Satara.
B. A. II
Semester IV- English Optional
Paper VI (Indian English Literature)
Presentation on
Shiv . K. Kumar’s To An Unborn Child By
Dr.Mrs.U. V. Patil ( )

2. Life and Works of Shiv. K. Kumar
Birth- 16th August, 1921.
Birth place- Lahore, British India.
India’s renowned poet, playwright, novelist and short-story writer.
Matriculated from Dayanand Anglo Vedic High School in 1937.
B.A. at Government College ,Lahore and his M.A. at Forman Christian College , Lahore (1943).
In 1943, he joined D.A.V. College Lahore as a lecturer. After brief stints as lecturer at Hansraj College, Delhi, and as programme officer at the All India Radio, Delhi he left India to join Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge in 1950.

3. In 1956 he received his PhD in English Literature from the University of Cambridge. The topic of his dissertation was 'Bergson and the Stream of Consciousness Novel'. His research supervisor was Professor David Daiches. He was also tutored by the influential British critic F.R. Leavis during his stay in Cambridge.
 Taught English literature at Osmania University, Hyderabad, and the University of Hyderabad. UGC National Lecturer in English. Founder Head of the Department of English and the first Dean of the School of Humanities at the University of Hyderabad.
Retired as the Vice-Chancellor (I/c) of the University of Hyderabad in A Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Universities of Oklahoma and Northern Iowa, and Visiting Professor at the Universities of Drake, Hofstra, Marshall, etc. A Visiting Fulbright Fellow at Yale University. Was nominated as a member of the Jury for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature (USA, 1981).

4. Works and Achievements
Several of his poems and short stories have been broadcast over the BBC—and published in Indian, British, American, Canadian and Australian journals and magazines. They have also been translated into several Indian and foreign languages.
In 1978, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, London during his stay in England as Commonwealth Visiting Professor of English at the University of Kent at Canterbury. Received the Sahitya Akademi Award in for his collection of poems Trapfalls in the Sky . In 2001 he was awarded the Padma Bhushan for his contribution to literature.
Currently lives in Hyderabad.

5. Kumar has published three collections of English poems, namely,
Articulate Silences(1970)
Cobwebs in the Sun(1974)
The Last Wedding Anniversary(1975)
Subterfuges(1976)
Play- The Bone’s Prayer(Play,1979)
Novel- Woodpeckers(1979).

6. Introduction- To An Unborn Child
The poem ‘To An Unborn Child’ is addressed to the child.
Of bitter reality.
Welcome address.
It suggests that it is good not to come in the world. The child will find the world as a disenchanting place.

7. Central Idea of To An Unborn Child
The idea that runs through the poem is that the world into which the child is to arrive is a hopeless place, dull and dark where one has to wait in a state of uncertainty and despair.

8. Explanation of the poem- To An Unborn Child
It matters little whether you dismount
from lightning’s warhead
or a grizzled cloud’s belly
you’ll land only on this uncarpeted
reef whence tired seagulls
read prophecies in the water’s sunglasses.
I’m sorry you’ll inherit
This subfsc earth.
We’ve just moved into this limbo
Whose walls are papered with unpaid bills.
And on each day of reckoning
I play truant while your mother
Feigns hysteria.
Come in on-
We’re waiting

9. Critical Appreciation- To An Unborn Child.
The poem ‘To An Unborn Child’ by Shiv. K. Kumar is divided into three stanzas.
The first stanza comprises of six lines, the second of seven and third and the last stanza has two lines.
Being a form of modern poetry, this poem lacks rhythm and so the rhyme scheme is absent and this poem is an example of free verse.
The poem is short but meaningful.
The poem deals with harsh realities of life on this earth.
The poem has figures of speech imagery, symbolism, irony and antithesis.

10. Glossary grizzled cloud’s belly: from the bosom of a greyish cloud
uncarpeted reef: a shelf of rock or sand off the seashore; an image of barrenness.
Note the image of a reef where the tired seagulls seem to wait for their feed.
water’s sunglass: water acting as a sunglass
subfusc: dark or dull in colour
limbo: The word literally means a region or condition between heaven and hell to which the souls of unbaptized infants are believed to pass at death. The suggestion here is that the world into which the child is to come is no better than a dreadful limbo.
The lines picture the uncertain and precarious conditions in which people live.
Note the irony of the parents still waiting for the arrival of the child though they know very well what is in store for the newcomer.

11. Dismount-climb down, descend,
Papered-covered with paper
Warhead-exclusive missile
Day of reckoning-day of judgement
Grizzled-hairy, with grey hair,
Play truant-to skip school, be absent
Belly-stomach
Faign-pretend
Uncarpeted-undecorated
Hysteria-fits,seizures
Reef-rock
Prophecies-foretelling
Inherit-get in legacy, get by birth
Subfusc-uniform
Limbo-uncertain, tight situation

12. Thank You