In this stanza from the poem, "Our Casuarina" by Toru
Dutt, my sense is that the speaker is missing home. "He" speaks of distant lands and
many sheltered bays, so perhaps he has been a sailor, away at sea for a long time. As
the waves "kissed" the shores of places like Italy and France, they are much the same as
waves anywhere else, especially under a moon—when the world seems almost asleep,
suspended, fainting ("swoon").
The rising music could be a
metaphor for any sound: perhaps it is the sound of the ocean, or
perhaps more insistently, it could be the call of the ocean that drags the sailor once
more out onto the boundless seas—though in his mind, he recalls a tree. Perhaps he
refers to a specific tree, or simply a variety of tree that is only found at home, but
in his dreams or thoughts, he thinks of younger days
when...
…I saw
thee, in my own loved native
clime.
On the other
hand, the poem is written by a young woman from India
who...
...traveled to France, Italy and
then England.
In this case,
though it is impossible to tell from what I have read, she may simply be homesick for
the land of her birth. However, in light of the accomplished writer she was, it occurs
to me that she could well sympathize with a career sailor, separated for so long from
the things of home, as Toru Dutt was, and may well have written the poem from that
standpoint.
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