An Equal Music Summary
Vikram Seth

An Equal Music Summary

The novel's central theme is suggested by its title, which Seth has taken from a sermon by the early seventeenth-century English poet and churchman John Donne.

A passage from the sermon, in which Donne describes the entry of the redeemed Christian soul into heaven, serves as the epigraph to the novel: And into that gate they shall enter, and in that house they shall dwell, where there shall be no cloud nor sun, no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light, no noise nor silence, but one equal music, no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession, no foes nor friends, but one equal communion and identity, no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity.

Unlike Seth, Donne is speaking only indirectly of music. His "one equal music" is a metaphor for perfect peace, contentment, harmony, balance—a state to be attained in the heavenly realm, but...

(read more from the Short Guide)