Poem No. 5 - In the street of the fruit stall

HSSC - 1 English Book - 3, Part: Poetry

Title of the poem

In the street of the fruit stall 

Wicks balance flame, a dark dew falls

In the street of the fruit stalls, 

Melon, guava, mandarin, 

Pyramid-piled like cannon balls, 

Glow red-hot, gold-hot, from within. 

Dark children with a coin to spend, 

Enter the lantern’s orbit; find 

Melon, guava, mandarin, 

The moon compacted to a rind, 

The sun in a pitted skin, 

They take it, break it open, let. 

A gold or silver fountain wet, 

Mouth, fingers, cheek , nose chin, 

Radiant as lanterns, they forget, 

The dark street I am standing in.

Words' Meanings: 

Guava: Fruit of a tropical tree with a light yellow skin and pink or white edible flesh.

Mandarin: A type of small orange with a loose skin

Rind: The hard outer skin of certain fruits

Wick: A piece of cord or tape in candle, oil lamp etc.

Pyramid: A large stone structured with a flat square or triangular base and sloping sides that meet in a point at the top
Glow: Shine brightly and warmly in the bright light of lantern
Gold-hot: Shining golden colour
From within: From the inside of fruits the brightness appears to be coming out

The Main Idea of The Poem

In this poem we are told that fruitsellers different fruits in stalls at night. They candles or lanterns to have light. Poor black children buy fruits from them. This shows the social and racial problems of inequality in the Western society. Perhaps the white people and their children are mostly better financially and racially than the poverty stricken people. The piled fruits look like cannonballs in the dim light. They thus become the symbol of war. We spend too much money on warfares and war preparation at the time when so many people are living the life of poverty.

Theme of the Poem ( In the street of the fruit stall)

In the street of the fruit stall is a symbolic poem. The world is threatened with war, misery and poverty. But all these failed to crush man's love for pleasure. Children enjoy the sweet spray of the juice forgetting all about the misery they live in.

Explanation of the Poem 

(In the street of the fruit stall)

As said above, In the street of the fruit stall This is a symbolic poem. The poet shows the main threats of war such as misery and poverty to the war-mongering people of the world. He also makes mention of the innocence of children who are nor aware as to what is going on. He tries to tell us that even the threats of war, misery and poverty cannot crush the human joys, love and innocence. In spite of the impending danger. the children enjoy the sweet juice of fruit being unaware of the dark picture of the world.

The poet depicts the the scene of a fruit street. It is evening time and it is wet and dark. Candles are burning and a dark dew falls there. Many fruits like guava, melon and mandarin are lying there in a conical form. They look like heaps of cannonballs which reflect golden and red colour in the light of lantern. In the second stanza, the poet actually creates a scene of war by comparing the fruit stalls to the different kinds of weapon. 

The poet shows a situation of the threat of war. The words like "burning candles" and "dark dew" create mysterious atmosphere.The sun in a pitted skin. Innocent children enjoy the flavour of fruits without any awareness of what is going on around them. The number of children seems very small. They are so poverty that they all have only one coin to spend. They want to take melon, guava and mandarin. The sun has already set in and the moon is reduced to an arc. The children symbolizes innocence, misery and poverty at the same time. The natural objects like sun and moon also reflect a gloomy effect. The poet brings to light the two major human sufferings of misery and poverty.