Marvell’s ‘On a Drop of Dew” and Hybridity

Our class discussions have focused on the place of art in the novel. How art attempts a universal narrative that is all encompassing yet it captures particularities of the moment. Like paintings, the insertion of poetry in the novel offers a distinct insight into history. This blog post will explore the place of poetry within the novel by primarily focusing on the insertion of Marvell’s ‘On a Drop of Dew’.

The poem in its complete form begins with “See how the orient dew”- It is my contention that this metaphor of the dew is appropriated by Rushdie, perhaps to reflect the nature of the hybrid identity of the colonized in the British Empire.

The metaphor of the dew captures the palpable sense of displacement of the migrant Portuguese family in India.  “Shed from the bossom of the morn”- here the poem draws a distinction between physical earth and heaven. In the context of the novel, the physical earth represents the existence on Cabral Island and heaven symbolizes the place of origin. The driving idea being that the physical beauty of earth (Cabral Island) will not satisfy the soul because it constantly year to return to the place of its origin.

Rushdie encloses a very small section of the overall poem: 

So the soul, that drop, that ray

Of the clear fountain of eternal day,

Could it within the human flow’r be seen,

Remembering still its former height,

Shuns the sweet leaves and blossoms green,

And recollecting its own light,

Does, in its pure and circling thoughts, express

The greater heaven in an heaven less.

These verses question whether the dew is able to recollect its purity in an otherwise polluted heaven-less surroundings. Once descended on Earth (i.e. Cabral Island), the dew undergoes a metamorphosis- it is neither able to retain its original purity nor is it able to completely absorb itself in its surroundings. Instead it emerges as a hybrid an acquires a new identity. Hybridity refers to a blending process whereby a new form of culture or third space is created which incorporated dual cultural values (Homi Bhabha).

This complexity of identity is apparent in the character of Portuguese Fracisco Cameon- he is determined to end the rule of the British Empire but at the same time loves English literature and can recite the the whole of Marvell’s ‘On a drop of dew ’ with deep sentiment. With his occupation in India he has become Indianized (this can be seen from his sense of nationalism and support for a secular India).

Moreover, this notion of hybridity is problematic within the scope of the novel because it leads to varying forms of dual cultures - each based on individual inclinations or preferences (For Example, Epifina, Fancisco’s mother and a Portuguese herself is in favour of British rule in the Empire). And this in turn leads to the creation of visible boundaries and divisions and eventually cultural hegemony.