KAKATIYA UNIVERSITY, WARNAGAL
ENGLISH FOR EXCELLENCE
UG CBCS SEMESTER-4 TEXTS
Unit-1: The Tame Bird was in a Cage
(poem)- RABINDRANATH TAGORE
ABOUT THE POET:
Rabindranath
Tagore (1861-1941) was a renowned Bengali poet, musician and playwright. The
first Asian to win the Nobel Prize, he is widely known to have modernised
Bengali literature by liberating it from rigid classical structures. He is best
known for his collections of poetry, Gitanjali in particular. Ghare Baire,
Jogajog and Gora are some of his famous novels focusing on issues that range
from Indian nationalism and religious zeal to enslavement of women and the
bondage of tradition and custom. Most of his work was originally written in
Bengali although he later translated some of it to English and made it more
accessible to an international audience. His writing conveys sympathy for the
poor and upholds universal human values. Tagore also wrote musical dramas and
two autobiographies, one in his middle age and the other in 1941, close to his
death. He also started an experimental school at Santiniketan, where he tried
his Upanishadic ideals of education.
POEM:
The tame bird was
in a cage, the free bird was in the forest.
They met when the
time came, it was a decree of fate.
The free bird
cries, 'O my love, let us fly to wood."
The cage bird
whispers, 'Come hither, let us both live in the cage."
Says the free
bird, 'Among bars, where is there room to spread one's wings?
'Alas,' cries the
cage bird, 'I should not know where to sit perched in the sky.
The free bird
cries, 'My darling, sing the songs of the woodlands."
The cage bird
says, 'Sit by my side, I'll teach you the speech of learned."
The forest bird
cries, 'No, ah no! songs can never be taught."
The cage bird
says, 'Alas for me, I know not the songs of the woodlands."
Their love is
intense with longing, but they never can fly wing to wing.
Through the bars
of the cage they look, and vain is their wish to know each other.
They flutter
their wings in yearning, and sing. 'Come closer, my love!"
The free bird
cries, 'It cannot be, I fear the closed doors of the cage.
The cage bird
whispers, 'Alas, my wings are powerless and dead."
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