The Feed

Holding a grain of millet in her beak,

The mother sparrow has come to feed,

The young ones are so tiny and small;

from head to toe they are beaks,

When they cry.

One grain to be fed to the ten young ones,

to whom the mother sparrow should feed?

Conjoining beak with beak,

with whom should she solace?

Fissuring the atom,

you have learnt to weep and wall in a loud tone.

Splitting the grain,

You have learnt to set life on foot ,

Could you split the grain?

One grain to be fed to the ten young ones.
Aqib Ashraf
Roll No. 19-10421
ENG 217

Introduction: “The Feed” has been written by Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi who is a
well known poet of Pakistan. He was born in 1916 in a small town of India and
after the partition he became a Pakistani. He has written several poems and some
of his publications have been translated into foreign languages and gathered
admiration from all over the world.

In this poem the writer has described love of a mother for her children by giving
the example of a sparrow and her ten young chicks. The mother has only one
small piece of grain to feed her 10 chicks who are crying with hunger. The mother
has only one grain to feed her ten young chicks. She has equal love for all her
chicks. All her pleasures and sorrows are connected with her young ones. The
poem is very simple and depicts love of a mother for her children. More so, the
writer has used complex sentences in order to gain the attention of the readers.

Purpose & Objectives: The writer has used small sentences and the example
of sparrow for the following purposes.

 To show beautiful relationship between mothers and her children. Mother

is the only one who can sacrifice her needs for the wishes of her children,
 To highlight the sense of responsibility, love and concern for her children.
 To draw the attention of the readers.
 To highlight and appreciate the efforts of a mother to feed her chicks
equally.

Audience: It is a general poem that has been written to show readers the love
of a mother. Its audience is all such as students, teachers, and especially mothers.
Format: It is a small narrative poem which is telling us about a mother sparrow
and her ten young chicks. A narrative poem always tells us a story or any
particular incident. It has repetitions and rhymes are different combinations.

Rhyme & Repetition: Rhythm is quite literally the heartbeat of a poem and
serves as backdrop from which the ideas can flow. If the readers see repetition in
the poem they should decide why certain information seems to deserve
repetition.

Opening & Closing Lines: Opening and closing lines of most of the poems
contain any moral lesson, question or condition. In this poem mother sparrow is
asking her chicks that can you split the grain into small pieces because her chicks
are continuously crying.

Form of sentences: The writer has used following types of sentences in this
poem.

 Interrogative Sentences: In this type of sentences questions are asked. In

this poem following interrogative sentences have been used.

To whom the mother sparrow should feed?

With whom should she solace?

Could you split the grain?

 Complex Sentences: These types of sentences contain dependent and

independent clauses. It means that one sentence depends on other
sentence e.g.

“Holding a grain of millet in her beak,

the mother sparrow has come to feed.”
Metaphors: Metaphor is a word that gives reflection to another thing. It
relates one thing with another. In other words a resemblance of two
different objects is based on a single or some common characteristics.
Metaphor used in this poem is given below

Fissuring the atom

This line literally means an atomic reaction in which an atom is broken into
small particles but in this poem atom means a piece of grain which is difficult to
break into small pieces.

Thesis Statement: Feeding her chicks and satisfying each of the chicks
equally is only possible by a mother.

Thank You