Page 144 - DENG202_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_III

Unit 10: Beggarly Heart by Rabindranath Tagore

At sixty, Tagore took up drawing and painting; successful exhibitions of his many works— Notes
which made a debut appearance in Paris upon encouragement by artists he met in the
south of France—were held throughout Europe.
Tagore wrote eight novels and four novellas, among them Chaturanga, Shesher Kobita,
Char Odhay, and Noukadubi.

Tagore’s three-volume Galpaguchchha comprises eighty-four stories that reflect upon the
author’s surroundings, on modern and fashionable ideas, and on mind puzzles.

Tagore’s poetic style, which proceeds from a lineage established by 15th- and 16th-century
Vaishnava poets, ranges from classical formalism to the comic, visionary, and ecstatic.
Tagore opposed imperialism and supported Indian nationalists, and these views were
first revealed in Manast, which was mostly composed in his twenties.
In Beggarly Heart, the poet writes that when the grace from the world and life of the human
is lost, he urges the Lord of Peace to fill himself and the world with his eternal peace,
which will make everyone’s life a harmonious one indeed.

10.13 Keywords

Aristocrat: A member of the nobility or the ruling family.

Assassination: To murder someone for political or religious reasons.
Communalism: A principle of political organisation based on federated communes.
Indigenous: Native or originating from a place.
Polymath: A learned person or somebody with a great deal of knowledge.
Recrudescent: to recur or break out again.

Renaissance: The cultural movement spanning 14th to 17th century is responsible for the revival
in European art and literature that spread to other parts of the world.

10.14 Review Questions

1. Write critical analysis of the poem Beggarly Heart.

2. “Tagore was a great poet”. Elaborate your answer.
3. “Tagore’s humanism is visible in his awareness of life’s sufferings and problems.” Do you
agree? Explain.

4. Analyse Tagore and his major works in diverse fields.
5. Do you think that Tagore was deeply influenced by the English Romantic poets? Substantiate
your answer.

6. Discuss Tagore was a nationalist and an ardent patriot.
7. “Tagore was more a poet of Nature, than of man or God.” Analyse the statement.
8. “Tagore’s poetry is about a self-disclosure in the eternal journey of man.” Do you agree?

9. Write a note on the diction used in the poems of Tagore you have read.
10. What are the essential features of his poetry that create “essential music” in his poetry?

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