The poem “Where the mind is without fear” is written by Ravindranath Tagore.
This poem is one of his vastly read and discussed poem. It was originally composed in Bengali and later he himself translated it into English. This poem is from his Nobel Prize-winning anthology ‘Gitanjali’.
Tagore lived during the time when India was ruled by the British. In this poem , Tagore express his love for our country and wishes that in our country knowledge should be made available to all, his countrymen should not live in fear and always speak truth with honesty. He further wishes that people of his country must always try to eradicate the evils from the society.
Watch this video to understand the poem. Go through the word meanings, Appreciation, Figures of speech and questions and answers. It covers everything that you need for board exams. If you like the video, subscribe to our youtube channel for more such videos of other subjects also.
Word meaning
Narrow Domestic walls : division on the basis of religion, caste, class and colour in societies
Tireless striving : continuous efforts and struggle
Perfection : faultless
stretches its arm : aims at achieving a goal
clear stream of reason : logical thinking
Depth of truth : honesty
Dead habit : Old traditional rituals
Dreary : Dull
Thee : God
Ever-widening : Forever broadening
Fragments : Small Parts
Heaven of freedom : condition of total freedom of good thoughts, good words and good deeds, while respecting those of others
Appreciation
The poem ’Where the mind is without fear’ by Rabindranath Tagore is a prayer to God.
The poem is written in free verse without any rhyme scheme.There are many figures of speech e.g Repetition, Metaphor, Alliteration, etc. An important figure of speech is Personification-* ‘Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection’*. Here, we can actually visualize ‘tireless striving stretching its arms to reach its goal.
In the poem, Tagore addresses God as ‘my Father’ and asks Him to awaken his country into heaven of freedom, where there is total freedom of good thoughts, good words and good actions. He wishes for a country where people are free from fear, where knowledge is free to all individuals and people from all castes and religions are united.
Figures of speech
- Where the mind is without fear and head is held high
Figures of Speech : Alliteration
Explanation : The sound of ‘w’ and ‘h’ is repeated for poetic effect - . Where the world has not been broken up into fragments.
Figures of Speech: Alliteration
Explanation : The sound of ‘w’ and ‘b’ is repeated for poetic effect. - Narrow domestic walls
Figures of Speech : Metaphor
Explanation : Narrow domestic walls are indirectly compared to narrow minded divisions in the society. - Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Figures of Speech : Personification
Explanation : Non-living object striving is given human qualities of being tireless and stretching. - Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Figures of speech : Metaphor
Explanation : The figure of speech is metaphor because reason has been compared to ‘a clear stream’. - Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Figures of Speech : Alliteration
Explanation : The sound of letter d is repeated for poetic effect. - Where the mind is led forward by thee
Figures of Speech : Synecdoche
Explanation : Here mind(part) stands for citizen(full). - Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
Figures of Speech : Apostrophe
Explanation : A direct address has been made to the Father(god) who is not present there)
Questions & Answers
- What does the poet pray to the Almighty for?
Ans : The poet prays to the Almighty for a ‘heaven of freedom’ for his country where people would be fearless, knowledgeable, truthful, dignified, hard-working, logical and broad-minded. - What are ‘reason’ and ‘dead habit’ compared to?
Ans: The poet compares ‘reason’ to a clear stream and ‘dead habit’ to harmful old customs and rituals. - What does the poet wish for?
Ans: He wishes people to be open-minded , progressive and use their thinking abilities so that they can taste freedom in true sense. Answer: The poet wishes that his country awakens into heaven of freedom, where the people are all truly free and total freedom of good thoughts, good words and good actions exists. - How is the world broken into fragments?
Ans : The narrow domestic walls which caused barriers of caste, creed, religion, language, communalism and gender discrimination made the world broken into fragments. - Explain what the ‘tireless striving’ should, be for.
Ans : The poet wants his countrymen to strive without getting tired to achieve perfection leaving behind prejudices and old traditions. This will help to achieve our goals and gain success - Where come out from the depth of truth.’ Explain in your own words.
Ans : The poet wished that in his country or rather in the world, People must not lie and they should be honest in their thoughts and action. The words spoken by them must come from the very core of the heart.
- Who is ‘Thee’ in the poem ? What does the poet appeal to ‘Thee’ to do ?
Ans: Thee’ refers to the almighty God. The poet appeals to the almighty God that his country should win such freedom in which the people live fearlessly and their head is held high with pride. He also wants freedom from illogical and impractical things, superstitious, blind faith, narrow-mindedness, caste, class, gender differences etc. - What qualities does the poet wish to inculcate in his countrymen ?
Ans : The poet wished that his countrymen must be fearless, broad-minded, to be not divided by religion, caste, class and colour. He wants his countrymen to be honest with logical thinking and not to be lost in old traditional habits,superstitions, blind-faith. Poet wants his countrymen to forever broaden their outlook.
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Other poems from the textbook of SSC Maharashtra Board
1.1 Where the mind is without fear | Explanation and appreciation | English Medium | Maharashtra Board
1.3 All the World’s a Stage | Explanation and appreciation | SSC Board | English Medium | Maharashtra Board
2.1 Animals | Explanation and appreciation | English Medium | Maharashtra Board
2.4 The pulley | Explanation and appreciation | English Medium | Maharashtra Board
3.1 Night of the scorpion | Explanation and appreciation | SSC English Medium | Maharashtra Board
4.4 The Height of the Ridiculous | Explanation and appreciation | SSC English Medium | Maharashtra Board
