Have you ever felt that our campus sometimes feels very lonesome or empty? I couldn’t shake that feeling, so I wanted to relate it to a poem to provide a greater reflection.
The poem is ‘Present in Absence’ by John Donne. It’s an example of a metaphysical poem, a movement where the traditional conventions of poetry up till then were broken down, and greater emphasis was laid on aspects like Philosophical themes, complex imagery and clever metaphors (also known as conceits). It’s part of the English (Major) syllabus of B.A Semester 1, and I hope you can see why I hold it in such a high regard and why it got me thinking.
I really like this poem because it takes something so commonly experienced, being distant, in a physical sense, from the people you love, and its effect on people, and turns it into a wonderful exploration of love’s ability to transcend boundaries, both physical and mental, and provide comfort, solace and meaning to those who are in need of it. It details how being distant from the people you love doesn’t deteriorate the bond you have with them, and instead strengthens it. The poem talks of this aspect in a romantic sense, but I like to interpret and see it beyond that, in a more worldly sense.
This theme of being distant got me really intrigued and made me reflect on my experience of being a student in this University. I feel that in the LU Old Campus, everyone feels distant from each other, like there’s no feeling of togetherness present in it. People go here and there, trying to get things done and be a part of the cyclic nature of the University. It feels like they’re just there, a blimp in time. It feels empty even though it’s bustling with life.
I remember feeling so intimidated on my first day by everything, which, to be fair, is a given since it was my first time being a University student. But beyond that, I was also intimidated by how lifeless the campus felt in terms of actual joy and harmony. I saw established groups of people enjoying each other’s company, but I realised that if you can’t fit into those groups or create one of your own, then you’re left to fend for yourself.
You’d think of a University campus as a place teeming and bustling with energy, that adolescent curiosity, excitement for a new life ahead and anticipation for new experiences, but what I mostly saw was people being worried about deadlines, assignments, exams and classes.
The joy of being at such an institution, the hunger for knowledge, the intellectual drive behind being a student, none of it was present, and it made me feel that even though we’re together in physical proximity, we all feel distant from each other. We’re too burdened with our own lives and worries to see beyond that. There are loads of people waiting to be found with similar interests, values, thoughts, perspectives and ideas, but they’re never found by each other because the very nature of this University ensures they’re just within reach but never too close.
The happiness and enjoyment that comes from making new friends, the fun of going to classes with them, having riveting conversations in the canteen, roaming around the campus, all of that plays second fiddle to the robotic nature of the University and being in it makes you feel less like you’re in a place where you’ll learn and grow and more like you’re a part of a factory, it feels hollow.
