Preview

Ambani

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
543 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Ambani
WHERE THE MIND IS WITHOUT FEAR – RABINDRANATH TAGORE (1861-1941) A SPECIAL INTRODUCTION
‘Where the Mind is Without Fear ‘is taken from Rabindranath Tagore’s most famous poetical work ‘GITANJALI’ or ‘Song Offerings’. Originally written in Bengali, it appeared in the volume ‘Naivedya’ in July 1901. The English translation of the poem was composed around 1912, when Tagore began to translate some of his works into English after a request from William Rothenstein, a celebrated British painter. The poem appeared as song 35 in the English ‘Gitanjali’ published by the Indian Society, London in 1912, and with a special introduction to Tagore’s work by the famous Irish poet, William Butler Yeats. The following year, in 1913, Tagore became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for Literature for his ‘mellifluous music and vague sweetness’ of his Song Offerings.
Tagore had a religious bent of mind and profound humanism. His spiritualism was not about living a secluded life and attain personal salvation, but it was about doing everything in life with faith in God. Therefore in all his works, especially poems (and in song 35), we see his firm faith in the Almighty and prays to Him for the Upliftment of All. Tagore was a patriot and an internationalist too. As a true patriot, he dreamt of a country, free from the shackles of foreign rule and from all other obstacles like fear, superstition, casteism, regionalism, narrow-mindedness, imperfection and irrationality. As an internationalist and a widely travelled man whom nations had applauded, Tagore saw that the future of humanity lay in the abandonment of narrow patriotism and nationalism and in the growth of an international outlook. He wanted an awakened India to take the lead in the promotion of international goodwill, rising above the narrow bounds set by nations and creeds.
The poem was written when India was under the subjugation of the British. The British rule had robbed

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    It's only rock and roll

    • 366 Words
    • 2 Pages

    11 IB Poetry Project – This assignment is due on designated date. One day late will be penalized 10 points.…

    • 366 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Bryant Huang, Mrs. Sjol, AP Lang, 1 March 2024, 2019 Rhetorical Analysis Rewrite. Before the outbreak of the Second World War in the mid-20th century, India had been subjected to nearly a century of colonial rule by Great Britain leading to the Salt March and eventual Indian independence in 1947. In 1930 Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi, an Indian lawyer often regarded as the father of his country, sent a handwritten letter to the representative of the British crown in India, Viceroy Lord Irwin, which aimed to end Indian oppression through nonviolent means. Through his use of charged language and repetition, Gandhi conveys his desire for peace and justice along with the Indian people’s resentment of British colonial rule and longing for independence.…

    • 1212 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    descrptive writing

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages

    What is the aim of the poem? Does it, for example, describe an experience, describe a place, or protest about something? Try asking yourself why the poet wrote the poem.…

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mohandas Gandhi said “strength doesn’t come from physical capicity. it comes from an indominatble will”. Gandhi’s ideas are as meaningful today as they were during his long and inspiring life. He inspired millions of people through achieving the independance of India, and became a legacy of greatness. He has been playing an unforgettable role. Gandhi should not be considered an opponent of imperialism. To begin, throughout his life, Gahndhi believed in the principals of truth, non-violence and peace. He guided the citizens of india to struggle for freedom, not with weapons, but with following the principal of non-violence. Secondly, Gandhi himself was a product of globalization. He thought that Globslization was not visious but to believe that…

    • 132 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The White Mans Burden

    • 321 Words
    • 2 Pages

    How does the poem reflect the European’s and American’s attitude towards the peoples of Asia and Africa?…

    • 321 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mezzo Cammin Analysis

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The speaker behind this poem has a huge ego. He has not cared once about anyone else besides himself and his future. This might contribute to his careless behavior in the past, he has no drive to do anything because none of the big things to do affected him beneficially. He might of also had no drive because of the things he inspired to be were too outrageous and he didn’t want to put himself under the intensive work to become the next “prime minister” or…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Whereas Mao was influenced primarily by Western ideologies, Ghandi based the Indian revolution within a mix of Hindu and Western influences. First and foremost to Ghandi was the idea of Indian Nationalism and the strong sense of being exclusively Indian, a romantic notion also preached by Henry David Thoreau. When Thoreau speaks of an American government that he wishes was less controlling, he insists, “The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in his way.” Thoreau asserts that the government should not be the end to a means, but rather a means to an end. In other words, the government should work in the interest of the people and should be controlled by the people, rather than controlling the people. In India, Thoreau’s ideas apply to Britain’s efforts in attempting to convert India to capitalism. Britain injects Western clothing and clothing into India, but Ghandi sees this as a downfall and draws upon the romantic notion of Indian nationality, calling for the Indians to preserve their culture: “You…

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Revision Essay

    • 1525 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Wordsworth, W.(2002). The Complain of a forsaken Indian woman. In Richey, W., & Robinson, D. (Eds). Lyrical ballads and related writings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.…

    • 1525 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The White Man's Burden

    • 726 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Kipling’s poem was viewed in the same way as Lord Curzon, the viceroy of India from 1898 to 1905 CITATION Jos \l 1033 (Symes). Kipling urged the British and the Americans to “take up the white man’s burden”. Lord Curzon was concerned about the British position in the world, urging economic investment and warned of the need to fortify India’s borders against Russia. Curzon worried that the British would be worn down by resistance to the raj and that, confronted with their apparent inability to transform Indian culture, they would become cynical, get “lethargic and think only of home.” CITATION Jos \l 1033 (Symes)This poem is seven stanzas and tells that the country’s best will be sent to the darkest, uncivilized places of the earth to capture the natives and work for the white man.…

    • 726 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gandhi and Tagore

    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages

    By the time they came to share in India's public life, Gandhi and Tagore were pioneers and had stamped their calling with the distinct hallmark of sheer genius…

    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first line of the poem is one of the most significant sub clauses which go to build up the poem. The ‘World of Freedom’, which Tagore envisions for his countrymen, can only be attained if we possess a fearless mind. Only a fearless mind can hold its head upright. So attain true freedom one has to have a mind which is ‘Without fear’. Thus, the poet wishes to be awakened to a heaven where the mind can work fearlessly and the spirit can hold its head high and again its knowledge is crystal clear reasoning:…

    • 606 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rabindranath Tagore

    • 150 Words
    • 1 Page

    Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali polymath who reshaped Bengali literature and music, as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. In translation his poetry was viewed as spiritual and mercurial; however, his "elegant prose and magical poetry" remain largely unknown outside Bengal. Tagore introduced new prose and verse forms and the use of colloquial language into Bengali literature, thereby freeing it from traditional models based on classical Sanskrit. He was highly influential in introducing the best of Indian culture to the West and vice versa, and he is generally regarded as the outstanding creative artist of the modern Indian subcontinent, being highly commemorated in India and Bangladesh, as well as in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan.…

    • 150 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Sovia,Nur. Fariha, Inayatul. “The Representation of Indian Nationalism in Rabindranath Tagore’s The Home and the World.” Web.…

    • 1842 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The poem below is a masterpiece - it beautifully captures foundational principles that any nation should adopt - or a concise description of what the constitution of any country should look like. It was written by Nobel prize winner Rabindranath Tagore, before India's independence. A must-read for any senator, politician, public servant, or any dutiful citizen.…

    • 347 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tagore

    • 9637 Words
    • 25 Pages

    * Tagore was born on 7 May 1861. At some time towards the end of the seventeenthcentury, his forefathers had migrated from their native lands to Govindpur, one of the three villageswhich later came to constitute Calcutta. In the course of time, the family came to acquire propertyand considerable business interests through the pursuit of commercial and banking activities. Theyhad particularly benefited from the growing power of the British East India Company.Rabindranath’s grandfather, Dwarkanath Tagore, lived lavishly and broke the Hindu religious banof those times by travelling to Europe, just like his contemporary, Rammohan Roy, the nineteenthcentury social and religious reformer. Roy started a religious reform movement in 1828 that came to be known as the BrahmaSamaj Movement. Rabindranath’s grandfather supported Roy in his attempts at reforming Hindusociety. Dwarkanath’s son, Devendranath Tagore, also became a staunch supporter of the BrahmaSamaj Movement. In order to encourage its spread, in 1863 he established a meditation centre andguest house on some land about 100 miles from Calcutta at a place called ‘Santiniketan’, the Abodeof Peace. Although deeply steeped in Hindu and Islamic traditions, Tagore’s family contributed largesums of money for the introduction of Western education, including colleges for the study ofscience and medicine. This peculiar situation explains the combination of tradition and experimentthat came to characterize Rabindranath Tagore’s attitude to life. Rabindranath’s father was one of the leading figures of the newly awakened phase ofBengali society. He had been educated at one stage in Rammohan Roy’s Anglo-Hindu school andhad been greatly influenced by Roy’s character, ideals and religious devotion. Devendranath Tagorewas well versed in European philosophy and, though deeply religious, did not accept all aspects ofHinduism. He was to have a profound influence on his son’s mental and practical attitudes. Rabindranath was the…

    • 9637 Words
    • 25 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics