Page 115 - DENG104_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_I

Elective English–I Gowher Ahmad Naik, Lovely Professional University

Notes
Unit 11: Where the Mind is Without Fear
By Rabindranath Tagore

CONTENTS
Objectives

Introduction
11.1 Biography
11.2 Where the Mind Is without Fear

11.3 Central Idea
11.4 Theme

11.5 Critical Appreciation
11.6 Summary
11.7 Keywords

11.8 Review Questions
11.9 Further Readings

Objectives

After reading this unit, you will be able to:
• Know about Rabindranath Tagore;
• Enjoy the rhythm of the poem;

• Discover the special use of language in poetry;
• Use comparisons for effective writing;
• Identify the use of words to create visual images.

Introduction

If you had been schooled in India, you could have possibly read this in some English textbook
or the other. I have always been captivated by the simplicity and economy of this poem; how,
through exquisite imagery, Tagore expresses such profound thoughts. If you find that it reads
more like a prayer chant from a religious book, you won’t be far from the truth: the original
Bengali poem which Tagore himself translated as above, was titled “Prayer”. Though this
poem was chosen because today is the 52nd anniversary of India’s independence, it is really
a plea, not for the political independence that was being sought early this century when it was
written, but for freedom from parochialness and dogma, a prayer that is perhaps as relevant
today as it was then. Maybe human nature itself is such that it always turns once-refreshing
paradigms into stale tradition, forcing a Tagore in every generation to thus complain. This
poem is from Gitanjali, lit. Offering of Songs, published in English in 1910.

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