[Stanza 1
Stammer is no handicap
It is a mode of speech.
The poet begins by challenging the common belief that stammering is a weakness or disability. He considers it a natural and different way of speaking. These lines encourage society to accept people who stammer instead of treating them as inferior.
Stanza 2
Stammer is the silence that falls
between the word and its meaning,
just as lameness is the
silence that falls between
the word and the deed.
The poet gives stammering a philosophical meaning. It is the pause or gap between a spoken word and the meaning it is meant to communicate. Words cannot always express our thoughts and feelings perfectly.
Stammer is compared to lameness. Just as stammer creates a gap between words and meanings, lameness represents the gap between words and actions. People often fail to practise what they say. Therefore, stammering is not limited to people with a speech difficulty; in a broader sense, everyone stammers.
Stanza 3
Did stammer precede language
or succeed it?
Is it only a dialect or
a language itself?
These questions make
the linguists stammer.
The poet asks whether stammering existed before language or appeared only after language developed. He also wonders whether stammer is a variety of language or a complete language in itself.
These questions are difficult even for linguists, who are experts in language. When they cannot provide definite answers, they also “stammer.” The stanza is humorous and ironic because even specialists in language struggle to explain stammering.
Stanza 4
Each time we stammer
we are offering a sacrifice
to the God of meanings.
The poet suggests that every time people stammer, some part of the intended meaning is lost. This lost meaning is metaphorically presented as a sacrifice offered to the “God of meanings.”
The expression indicates the limitations of language. Human thoughts and emotions are complex, but words cannot always express them fully. Therefore, everyone sacrifices a part of the intended meaning while communicating.
Stanza 5
When a whole people stammer
Stammer becomes their mother tongue;
just as it is with us now.
Here, stammering becomes a social and political symbol. When an entire community remains silent, hesitant or unable to speak openly against injustice, stammer becomes its “mother tongue.”
The phrase “just as it is with us now” refers to contemporary society. People often hesitate to respond to discrimination, violence, corruption and other serious social problems. Their fear and silence become a collective form of stammering. The poet indirectly criticises society for its failure to speak and act courageously.
Stanza 6
God too must have stammered
when He created man.
That is why all the words of man
carry different meanings.
The poet humorously imagines that God might have stammered while creating human beings. This divine stammer may explain why human beings are imperfect and why their words carry several meanings.
Language is rarely simple or exact. The same word may convey different meanings in different situations. Misunderstandings and disagreements arise because people interpret words differently.
Stanza 7
That is why everything he utters
from his prayers to his commands
stammers,
like poetry.
Everything spoken by human beings—from humble prayers to powerful commands—contains uncertainty and ambiguity. No human utterance can communicate a single, perfectly clear meaning.
The poet finally compares human speech to poetry. Poetry often contains pauses, suggestions, symbols and multiple meanings. In this sense, poetry also “stammers.” However, this is not a weakness; it is what gives poetry its richness and beauty.
Central Idea
The poem expands the meaning of stammering from a speech difficulty to a universal human condition. It represents:
The limitations of language
The gap between words and meanings
The gap between words and actions
Society’s silence towards injustice
The ambiguity and richness of poetry
The poem teaches us not to consider stammering a handicap. Instead, it should be understood as another form of human expression and as a symbol of the complexity of language, society and life.]
[ Note Summary Capsule Notes Storyboards Essays Paragraph Questions Malayalam Summary Stanza-wise Analysis]
[Prepared by Sindhu P,HSST English,GGHSS Kallai]