Kakatiya University- UG English, Semester-V
Where the Mind is Without Fear- By Rabindranath Tagore
Poem
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been
broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the
depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches
its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason
has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by
thee into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my
Father, let my country awake.
Explanation:
About the
poet: Rabindranath Tagore was renowned Bengali poet, novelist,
educationist and playwright, popularly known as “Kabiguru”. His writings convey
sympathy for the poor and uphold universal human values. He wrote many Poems
and plays. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced) and Ghare-Baire (The
Home and the World) are his best-known works. He is the first Non-European to
win Noble Prize in the year 1913. He penned two national anthems: India's “Jana
Gana Mana…” and Bangladesh's “Amar Shonar Bangla...”. Our National Anthem was
taken from his collection of Poems Gitanjali.
Background: “Where
the mind is Without Fear (often called as poem 35)” by Rabindranath
Tagore is one of his vastly read and discussed poems. It was originally
composed in Bengali possibly in 1900 under the title "Prarthana",
meaning prayer. It appeared in the volume called 'Naibedya' in 1901. Later in
1911 Tagore himself translated the Bengali poem into English and that
translation appeared as poem 35 in his Nobel winning anthology
"Gitanjali" (Song Offerings) published by the Indian Society, London
in 1912.
Introduction: The
poem was written by Tagore during the time when India was under the British
Rule and people were eagerly waiting to get their freedom. It is a prayer to
the Almighty (god) for a nation free from any kind of manipulative or corrupt
powers. This poem is a reflection of the poet's good and ideal
nature. It is the vision of the poet. He wanted to see his country
free.
He has
utmost faith in God. He prays to God with all his heart that he should guide
the countrymen to work hard, speak the truth, and move forward and logical in
approach. Rabindranath Tagore aspires to see his country and people in peace
and prosper. He loves his country a lot and wishes for its welfare.
“Where the
Mind is Without Fear” turns from a religious to a
patriotic theme. Tagore prays for the freedom of the country and that too an
ideal freedom. He prays that his country become a place where man can go with
his mind, free of any fear and where he can hold his head high with self-respect
and dignity. A country where everybody has free access to knowledge and where
narrow boundaries set up between man due to caste, creed, region and religion,
do not exist and the country is therefore not broken up into small pieces. The
poet pray God that he wants to see a new and free India where people speak with
the conviction of truth and man earnestly endeavors and endlessly tries to
achieve perfection,
A
country where man's power of determining right and wrong is not forced to
stagnate and die like a desert stream dies in the sand, where his power of
reasoning would not be choked by old, orthodox and outdated customs, habits and
traditions. Where man's mind is always inspired by God to go forward and
progress and achieve better thought and action. Finally, he prays to God that
his country be changed from the darkness of ignorance and slavery into a
heaven. "Let our country awake a free country, a heaven, a paradise."
Conclusion:
Finally, in the poem the poet's message is very clear. If all the people of a
nation are not wise enough to lead a happy and peaceful life free from all
evils, they cannot enjoy their freedom well. So to the poet, only political
freedom is not so important unless you are fearless self-dignified,
knowledgeable, truthful, hard-working and broad minded enough to enjoy it
fully.
Here, the
poet wanted to see his country free from all clutches. Even after 75 years of
independence we are still facing the issues of racism and we are separated by
caste, creed, gender and religion. The poet is wishing to see his country free
from all social evils and discrimination. All Indians must get the knowledge
freely and live happily.
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