Optimal Use of the Sixth Sense in Devkota’s Poem “The Lunatic”

Abstract

“The Lunatic” is one of Devkota’s widely read and intensely discussed poems by critics, teachers and university level students in Nepal. It has already been studied from structural, thematic and contextual perspectives by other writers, but this article writer attempts to pinpoint the poet’s optimal use of the sixth sense to perceive the people and society mentioned in the poem. The article writer underscores some poetic lines that reflect the utilization of the sixth sense which implies an extra-sensory perception beyond ordinary senses of seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting. These five natural senses are not sufficient to grasp the meanings and messages of the poem. This poem will be better understood if readers are capable of examining the poet’s sixth sense with which he perceives the persons and their deeds in society.