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LESSON 1, WHERE THE MIND IS WITHOUT FEAR, - By Rabindranath Tagore, , ABOUT THE POEM, “Where the mind is Without Fear” by Rabindranath Tagore is one of his vastly read, and discussed poems. It was originally composed in Bengali possibly in 1900 under, the title “Prarthana”, meaning prayer. The poem was written when India was under, the British Rule and people were eagerly waiting to get their freedom from the British, Rule. The poem is written in the form of a prayer to the God, the Almighty for a true, freedom for his country, India. This is the India that he hopes will be created after its, independence from British rule. Thus, Tagore reveals his own concept of freedom, throughout the poem, “Where the Mind is Without Fear.”, VOCABULARY, LITERARY DEVICES AND PARAPHRASING, The poem „Where the Mind is Without Fear‟ is written in FREE VERSE. Free verse, does not follow a regular rhyme scheme., The poem consists of 11 lines in total. These lines are not divided into stanzas. They, are divided into meaningful segments for the purposes of this summary in order to, make the poem easier to follow and understand., Lines 1 – 4:, 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;, In these lines, the poet refers to the fear inculcated in the minds of Indians under, British rule. It talks about the miserable life led by Indians during British rule. The, poet starts to imagine what he would like his country to be like. He says that no, countrymen of his should live with fear on their minds at all times. Instead, they, should hold their heads up fearlessly and have confidence in themselves. Knowledge, should be available to all citizens. That is, educational institutes should admit, students of all races and classes. All the various regions of India and their people, should be united instead of fighting amongst themselves due to various evils and, superstitions prevailing in India. The British used the divide and rule policy

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successfully by creating rivalry among different sections of society. They should, fight together against a common enemy (British Rule) to determine their common, fate i.e. attaining freedom of India., Fragments: division, Narrow domestic walls: the walls of religion, caste, race and creed created by the, people. It also refers to the various superstitious beliefs that were present in Indian, society during that time., Alliteration- head is held high (repetition of consonant sound of ‘h’), Lines 5 – 8:, 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;, In these lines, the poet says that in the India of his dreams, everyone should speak the, truth. No person should lie for his own advantage. Every man should make an effort, to improve himself and keep trying until he reaches a stage of self-perfection. Next,, he imagines the reason to be a pure stream of water, through which one can progress, easily and without facing too many obstacles. On the other hand, he imagines the old, habit to be a dry desert. The stream of reason seems to him to be lost in the sands of, old habits. This means that the poet wants that the people must not blindly believe, and follow the old superstitious things that they see around but always have logical, approach. They should be logical in taking any steps in attaining freedom of India., Tireless: continuous, Dreary: depressingly dull, , Striving: efforts, Dead habits: old customs, , Alliteration: dreary desert sand of dead habit (repetition of consonant sound of‘d’), Personification: here ‘striving’ has been given the shape of a human being, whose, arms are stretching and trying hard to reach perfection (gain freedom)., Metaphor:, a. ‘the clear stream of reason’ is a metaphor. A logical mind is compared to a, clear stream/ water and refers to pure clear thoughts of people., b. ‘the dreary desert sand of dead habit’ is a metaphor. The poet compares the, old customs to dead habits. The dead habits stops the clarity of reason is, compared to the dreary desert sand. The old customs are not useful for the, welfare of the people. They are like dry sandy land., Lines 9 – 11:, 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., In these lines, the poet prays to the God, the Almighty for guidance and support to his, countrymen so as to fight for independence. Here, „ever-widening thought and

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action‟ means to have broad mindedness and wisdom. The poet wishes his, countrymen to be led forward by their noble thoughts and actions and gain freedom, from the British. He refers to freedom as a heavenly place and addresses God as, Father, asking him to awaken his people and help them reach that glorious place., Thee: you, Apostrophe: Here, ‘my father’ is an apostrophe. The poet addresses God in the poem, and seeks His blessings and guidance., Summary:, Rabindranath Tagore was saddened by the miserable lives of his countrymen under, the British rule and the state of his country in their struggle for independence. In this, poem, he shows his love for his country and prays to God to help them attain, freedom., The poet imagines India as a country where the people live without any kind of fear, or tyranny and hold their head high with pride, dignity and self-reliance. He also says, that knowledge should be attained without any restriction. There should be no, discrimination based on caste, creed, race or religion. India must reach towards its, goal of attaining freedom and being an ideal nation. The countrymen must possess, noble thoughts and do away with all the superstitious beliefs that defy logic and, reason., The poet prays to God, seeking his support and guidance for his countrymen to have, noble thoughts and actions. He asks God to awaken them into this heaven like place, of an independent nation., Theme:, The poem was composed in the early 1900s when India was struggling for, independence from the British rule. It is the poet‟s prayer to the Almighty, seeking, his guidance and support to help the countrymen attain freedom. The poem is, patriotic in nature. The poet expresses his love for his country and speaks about the, vision he has for India and its people. Through his poem he gives us an idea about the, kind of life people were living during the British rule. The stringent (severe) rules,, policies, economical and political uncertainty were some of the factors that caused, fear in the minds of Indians. They could not live a dignified and respectful life in, their own country. Obtaining a proper education was restricted for various classes of, the society, causing illiteracy among people and making them believe in, superstitions. The British used the „divide and rule policy‟ against the Indians to, make them fight among themselves. There was discrimination based on caste, creed,, race and religion., It was during this struggle for independence, the poet says that he envisions a country, where there is no fear in the minds of people and education is attained by all. The, people are enlightened and do not create walls of discrimination. He wants his, countrymen to be honest and thoughtful. He prays to God, seeking his guidance for, attaining independence and awakening his countrymen into that beautiful heaven of, freedom.

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REFERENCE TO CONTEXT, 1. 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;, a. What do the expressions ‘mind is without fear’ and ‘head is held high’, mean?, Ans. „Mind is without fear‟ means one can live fearlessly, not cowed down by, oppression or compulsions. „Head is held high‟ means to stand tall with selfdignity., b. What is the impact when knowledge is not free?, Ans. When knowledge is not free, world gets divided into various sections, based on narrow- mindedness. It also means that education is restricted to the, rich people., c. What breaks the world into fragments?, Ans. Prejudices or division of people on the basis of religion, caste, colour,, etc. breaks the world into fragments and people lose their unity., 2. 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;, a. What does the line ‘Where words come out from the depth of truth’ mean?, Ans. „Where words come out from the depth of truth‟ means that people, should be truthful. The words spoken by them should be honest and must, come from the depth of their heart., b. Why has the poet used the word ‘tireless’ to describe ‘striving’?, Ans. When trying again and again to achieve something or reach one‟s goal,, one tends to get tired and often gives up. However, the poet wants to emphasis, that in order to achieve one‟s goal one must strive without getting tired or, giving up., c. What has the poet compared reason and dead habit with?, Ans. He has compared reason to a „clear stream‟ and dead habit to „dreary, desert sand‟., 3. 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., a. Whom does the poet address as ‘thee’ and ‘my Father’?, Ans. The poet addresses God Almighty as „thee‟ and „my Father‟. It could also, be considered as a reference to the inner goodness within a human being., b. According to the poet, what must be done for achieving ‘ever- widening, thought and action’?, Ans. According to the poet, for achieving ever-widening thought and action, one, must be open minded and be willing to be led by God Almighty.

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c. Describe the poet’s version of ‘heaven of freedom’., Ans. The poet‟s version of „heaven of freedom‟ is a world where man can live, in dignity, without fear. In that heaven, man can speak from the depths of his, true inner self. He is led by truth and honesty to work tirelessly to achieve his, goal. In this process, man is not fettered by narrow thoughts but rather gathers, knowledge freely., LONG QUESTION, Bring out the significance of the title of the poem., Ans. „Where the Mind is Without Fear‟, the title of Tagore‟s poem is merely the first, line of the poem. It refers to the place where people would be fearless, a heaven of, freedom that the poet dreams of. Tagore prays to the God to lift his country to such a, place where people would not only be fearless, but also knowledgeable, truthful,, hard-working, rational and broad-minded enough to enjoy freedom at its best. And, probably, fearlessness was the first condition that came to Tagore‟s mind while, writing about his heaven of freedom. So, the title of the poem very well expresses, what the poet wishes for, making it thematically relevant and apt., , 1., 2., 3., , HOMEWORK, According to the poet, how should knowledge be?, What kind of ‘domestic walls’ is the poet speaking about?, According to the poet, what is ‘dead habit’?