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Rabindranath Tagore-Gitanjali
Rabindranath Tagore-Gitanjali
Pluck this little flower and take it, delay not! I fear
lest it droop and drop into the dust.
I may not find a place in thy garland, but honour it
with a touch of pain from thy hand and pluck it.
I fear lest the day end before I am aware, and the
time of offering go by.
Though its colour be not deep and its smell be faint,
use this flower in thy service and pluck it while there
is time.
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My song has put off her adornments.
She has no pride of dress and decoration.
Ornaments would mar our union; they would come between
thee and me; their jingling would drown thy whispers.
My poet's vanity dies in shame before thy sight.
O master poet, I have sat down at thy feet.
Only let me make my life simple and straight, like a flute of
reed for thee to fill with music.
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The child who is decked with prince's robes and who has jewelled chains
round his neck loses all pleasure in his play; his dress hampers him at every
step.
In fear that it may be frayed, or stained with dust he keeps himself from the
world, and is afraid even to move.
Mother, it is no gain, thy bondage of finery, if it keep one shut off from the
healthful dust of the earth, if it rob one of the right of entrance to the great
fair of common human life.
Dr. RS SVMC (A) UTHANGARAI Page 3
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Gitanjali is a collection of poems that were collected and translated from Bengali into
English by their author, the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, for which he won a Nobel
Prize. Once published, this volume made Tagore into an international celebrity. Perhaps the
first modern Indian work to be recognized by readers of another language, Gitanjali also
brought recognition to an older tradition of Indian poetry that preceded Tagore and influenced
much of his work.
Religion
In his introduction to the first version of Gitanjali published in 1913, the Irish poet W.
B. Yeats enthused over the religious nature of the work. In the tradition of Indian poetry,
there was no real difference between writing poetry and engaging in religious practice. As
Yeats wrote, it was "a tradition where poetry and religion are the same thing." In the work,
Tagore gives accounts of everyday life a greater spiritual significance.
Love
Many of the poems in Gitanjali are love poems. When talking about the love between
two people, Tagore always expands it so that the love takes on a greater meaning, having to do
with the nature of the universe. He does this not to diminish the everyday love that can exist
between two people, but to show how this kind of love is more deeply woven into the very
nature of the world and reality.
Sensualism
Following both poets within the Indian tradition, and also western poets such as Walt
Whitman, Tagore writes very emphatically about sensuality and the enjoyment of the material
world. As with Whitman, Tagore does this while at the same time attempting to show how
this very enjoyment of physical sensations has a greater spiritual meaning and depth. By doing
this, he bridges the gap that is often placed between spiritual enjoyments and more carnal
material ones.
Modernism
Tagore was greatly influenced by both an ancient tradition of Indian poetry
and a more modern one that was existing at the time internationally and in the
West. Tagore was personal friends with poets such as W.B. Yeats and was a quick
study of many modern poets, such as Walt Whitman. Part of the intention of
Gitanjali was to introduce these two separate traditions and influences to one
another, and then combine the best of both.
Theme of Gitanjali
Gitanjali is a blend of a number of themes and ideas. Its hundred and odd lyrics explore the
relationship between God and Man, individual and humanity. It justifies the ways of man to God
and vice versa. It “expresses in perfect language permanent human impulses”, and thus passes
the test of great poetry as laid down by T. S. Eliot. Here poetry has become a revelation, and
incantation, like Vedic mantras and the poem as a whole opens the closed petals our lotus heart.
It is an X’ray of inner reality.
In the words of Dr. Radhakrishnan, “The poems of Gitanjali are the offerings of the finite
to the infinite.” Gitanjali is Tagore’s autobiography. But at the same time it is the voice of our
own soul. Its central theme is the relalization of God through selfpurification, love, constant
prayer, bhakti, dedication and surrender before God, through service to humanity and through
‘Karma Yoga’ and detachment from the worldly pleasures and desires without re-nouncing the
world.
The central theme of Gitanjali despite the lack of a logical structural succession of a
continuous theme is devotional : it expresses the yearning of the devotee for re-union with the
divine. The poet is a singer and he seeks the relization of God through his songs. He considers
himself to be a living musical instrument in the hands of God, the Master Musician. But he must
remove his imperfections before he can be a fit instrument. The entire Sadhna of his life is
elevated to removing the imperfections and the impurities of his mind and heart, to overcoming
all obstacles in the path of his relalization of God. A few of the song-offerings shall convince us
about our claim :-
1. Ever in my life have I sought thee with my songs.
2. In our salutation to thee, My God, let allme senses spread out and touch this world at thy feet
......
In his love for God, Gurudev Tagore never ingnored man. Tagore always sang to the glory
of man. Man was the hero of all his songs. Not God alone, but man also is the main theme of
Gitanjali. With mysticism is clubbed humanism, which is vioced forecefully in a number of
lyrics. God is not to be found in the temple but with the lowliest of low. Idolatry and blind
worship are castigated : Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! Whome dost thou
worship in this lonely corner of a temple with doors all shut? Open thine eyes and see thy God is
not before thee!
Questions
1) Write an essay on Rabindranath Tagore’s spiritual beliefs as presented in Gitanjali.
2) Discuss Tagore’s concepts of art and poetry.
3) “Tagore’s humanism is visible in his awareness of life’s sufferings and problems.” Do
you agree?
4) Do you think that Tagore was deeply influenced by the English Romantic poets?
Substantiate your answer.
5) Write a note Tagore’s Imagery.
6) What are the essential features of his poetry that create “essential music” in his poetry?
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) Discuss briefly Tagore as a mystic poet. Illustrate your answer.