Public Butchery by Jagjit Singh

Read the poem below and attempt the practice questions given at the bottom.

Some people fear death,
others must face it before a crowd
specially invited
to witness the ceremony to their last breath

Coups have succeeded elsewhere
and heads have rolled,
and blood has flown,
quite indiscriminately

But oh! Condemned conspirators,
your fate is martyred while you watch,
heads and hearts held high,
dead defiance lurking still
in eyeballs bathed in sweat.
as the judge performs the abortion

for your baby hatched in haste,
before the mother was fully pregnant.

Once you were greeted
and treated
as VIPs.
Now there is a blank silence
as a crowd watches
four hooded ministers
hanging in the air

Practice Questions and Answers

a) Briefly describe what the poem is about.
The poem is about four ministers who have faced trials. This is because of trying to carry out a coup. They have been sentenced to hanging a punishment that is given in public.

b) Explain what you think the statement: “Your fate is martyred while you watch.” means.
The ministers listen as the judge passes the judgment they are to hang for attempting a coup; they are political martyrs who die for their beliefs – that there is need for change of political leadership.

c) Why are the eyeballs bathed in sweat?
The men are in pain because they are facing death.

d) Explain the image used in “as the judge performs the abortion / for your baby hatched in haste / before the mother is fully pregnant.
There is use of metaphors. Abortion means killing life of a human being before the right time. According to the poem the baby who is hatched in haste aborted means the plans to carry out the coup are thwarted by the judge, before they happen.

e) Discuss the contrast in the last stanza.
The ministers who are now hanging in the air were once treated with a lot of reverence and pomp but now they receive no such treatment as they have been sentenced to hang.

f) Describe two character traits of the conspirators.
 They are proud: Despite the harsh sentence they are given, they have their heads and hearts held high.
 They are defiant – ‘dead defiant lurking still’.

g) Discuss the suitability of the poem’s title.
The title is appropriate since the ministers are sentenced to hang in public. The crowd watches as their bodies hang in the air.

h) “Once you were greeted and treated as VIPs.” Rewrite by beginning with: Were…
Were you once greeted and treated as VIPs?