The Rebel By D.J. Enright

The Rebel

When everybody has short hair,

The rebel lets his hair grow long.

When everybody has long hair,

The rebel cuts his hair short.

When everybody talks during the lesson ,

The rebel does’ n say a word.

When nobody talks during the lesson ,

The rebel creates a disturbance.

When everybody wears a uniform ,

The rebel dresses in fantastic clothes.

When everybody wears fantastic clothes

The rebel dresses soberly.

In the company of dog lovers ,

The rebel expresses a preference for cats.

In the company of cat lovers ,

The rebel puts in a good word for dogs.

When everybody is praising the sun ,

The rebel remarks on the need for rain.

When everybody is greeting the rain ,

The rebel regrets the absence of sun.

When everybody goes to the meeting

The rebel stays at home and reads a book.

When everybody stays at home and reads a book ,

The rebel goes to the meeting.

When everybody says , yes please!

The rebel says , No thank you.

When everybody says: No thank you ,

The rebel says , yes please!

It is very good that we have rebels

You may not find it very good to be one.

BY (D.J. Enright)

Enright, D.j.

English poet born Leamington 1920

Enright taught English in universities of Alexandria and Singapore; then returned to England to work in publishing. He built up a considerable British reputation by avoiding rhetorical gestures and putting strict limits on language so that his verbal tone is restrained even when his subjects are interesting. His is a poetry that values irony above passion and keeps an emotional distance from the reader. He projects an aloof and pedagogic personality in poems that gently mock philistinism, as in Buy one Now ‘: “This new poem does not work for you. / just drop your mind into it / and leave it to soak/while you relax with the telly / or Go out to the pub. ‘

Note:

The poem is remarkable for its amusing hum our devoid of malice or bitterness. The poet successfully persuades us to develop tolerance for rebels and bear with their eccentric attitude and desire to be different from regimented crowd governed by a mass and mind. 
The poet has a sensible appreciation for the complex and contradictory attitude of rebels and non-conformists. Every adolescent action is motivates by self-assertion, exhibitionism, and individualistic show of defiance and an unstructured urge to be different an indifferent world. He is therefore, a pseudo rebel. D.J. Enright's portrait of a rebel is keen, subtle and witty. Neither vicious nor dangerous, the rebel-role play-acting is harmlessly motivated by either a sense of inferiority, insecurity or self exhibition. Serious and solemn in themselves, and funny to their peers, but unfunny to their superiors. A passing phase in a person's growth towards maturity. Questioning his readers to ponder, the poem remains open-ended, though it closes on a cautionary muted note.
The poem is remarkable for its amusing humour devoid of malice or bitterness. The poet successfully persuades us to develop tolerance for rebels and bear with their eccentric attitude and desire to be different from regimented crowd governed by a mass mind.
Introduction:
D.j Enright is a famous and modern poet. He has a forceful style of narration. He portrays the rebellious nature of man. He observes that a man becomes a rebel only when things go against his desires. He makes use of convincing words to arouse sympathy, for the rebel.
D.J. Enright is a famous English poet. In this poem, the poet has depicted that a rebel in a society is one who wishes to be different from others and believes in self-assertion. He tries to maintain his uniqueness in all fields of life. The rebel only needs attention of people and to get that he stupid things. Element of humour and satire is present in this poem. 

Critical appreciation:

D.J Enright in this simple and humorous poem criticizes the behavior of young rebellious persons. This is an interesting poem which is also a satirical one. This poem depicts the poet’s knowledge abcut human nature. In fact this is story of a man who wants to live with his own individuality. It shows the actions of immaturity of rebels. The behaviour of rebels is contradictory. He wants change. He does not want to sink in the crowd of people. He always acts against the normal behavior. May be he has complex of inferiority and insecurity so he acts in this manner to get the attention of other people. He is always eager to show off his rebellious nature. According to chasterfield .The central idea of this poem is that a dull and same life is boring. Rebels provide coloures and variety to this dull life.

"A little rebellion now and then is a medicine

necessary for the sount health of government."