Page 117 - DENG104_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_I

Elective English–I

Notes In 1919, following the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Tagore renounced his Knighthood. He was
a supporter of Gandhiji but he stayed out of politics. He was opposed to nationalism and
militarism as a matter of principle, and instead promoted spiritual values and the creation of
a new world culture founded in multi-culturalism, diversity and tolerance. Unable to gain
ideological support to his views, he retired into relative solitude. Between the years 1916 and
1934 he travelled widely.
1n 1921, Rabindranath Tagore established Viswabharati University. He gave all his money
from Nobel Prize and royalty from his books to this University. Tagore was not only a creative
genius, but also quite knowledgeable of Western culture, especially Western poetry and science.
Tagore had a good grasp of modern - post-Newtonian - physics, and was well able to hold his
own in a debate with Einstein in 1930 on the newly emerging principles of quantum mechanics
and chaos. His meetings and tape recorded conversations with his contemporaries such Albert
Einstein and H.G. Wells, epitomize his brilliance.
In 1940 Oxford University arranged a special ceremony in Santiniketan and awarded Rabindranath
Tagore with Doctorate Of Literature. Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore passed away on August
7, 1941 in his ancestral home in Calcutta.

11.2 Where the Mind is Without Fear

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.

Explanations

This poem was written when the British ruled our country. We were slaves to a foreign power.
Rabindranath Tagore, the great Indian nationalist and visionary wanted India to awaken to a
bright dawn of freedom—freedom from slavery and our own mental chains. These lines have
been taken from the poem “Where the Mind is without Fear” by “Rabindranath Tagore”.
The poet prays to God that his country India should be a heaven of freedom. The poet prays
to God that there should be an atmosphere of fearlessness.
Knowledge should be free for all. The country men should not be divided over caste and
creed. People of the country should speak the truth and be God blessed to have a perfect
life. They should not get tired of working. The poet prays to God that Indians should be
logical & progressive in thoughts & actions. They should have the power to reason out the bad
and useless customs. Only God can help by guiding the people. God should make India a
paradise on earth.

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