For the world he became the voice of India's spiritual heritage;

and for India, especially for Bengal, he became a great living institution. He was knighted by the ruling British

Government in 1915, but within a few years he resigned the honour as a protest against British policies in India.

RABINDRA NATH TAGORE

 ONE OF THE FIRST OF OUR PLANET TO COMBINE EAST AND WEST, AND ANCIENT AND MODERN KNOWLEDGE. 

He wrote over one thousand poems; eight volumes of short stories; almost two dozen plays and play-lets; eight novels; and many books and essays on

philosophy, religion, education and social topics

HE DIED ON AUGUST 7, 1941. Although he wrote successfully in all literary

genres, he was first of all a poet. Among his fifty and odd volumes of poetry

are Manasi (1890) [The Ideal One],  Sonar Tari (1894) [The Golden Boat} Gitanjali (1910) [Song Offerings],  Gitimalya(1914) [Wreath of Songs], And Balaka (1916) [The Flight of Cranes]. The English renderings of his poetry, which

include The Gardener (1913),  Fruit-Gathering (1916), and The

Fugitive(1921),

Where The Mind Is Without Fear 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 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 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 

The poem Where the Mind is Without Fear is a prayer to a universal father-figure, that is, the God Almighty. The poem, with its inspiring lines, elaborates Tagore's vision of a new, enlightened India.

BACKGROUND OF THE POETRY The poem, written originally in Bengali, was composed before India’s independence

most probably in the year 1900. The original poem titled Prarthana was

included in an anthology named Naibedya and the poem was translated into English by Tagore himself around 1911.

The poem is Poem 35 in the English Gitanjali published in 1912.

The poem had a special place in Tagore’s heart and he recited its English version at the Indian National Congress session in Calcutta, 1917.

THEME

The poet, Rabindranath Tagore, envisages an ideal nation; liberal in outlook, united in strength, dynamic in progress.

The poet is totally devoted to God and entreats Him that He must direct the poet’s fellow countrymen to be industrious, truthful and rational

so as to advance the country towards the most ideal stature.

The poet desires peace and prosperity among his countrymen and prays that his country might attain overall welfare and self-reliance.

STRUCTURE

The poem is written in free verse and consists of just one sentence.

The poem can be considered to consist of two sections:

the first seven lines with a series of adverbial clauses

and the principal clause coming at the end.

The first seven lines refer a circumstance presented by a setting, “where the mind is without fear, “where knowledge is free,” and so on.

 We do not know the exact setting or scene which these lines refer to until we come to the concluding line of the poem.

However, we can envisage that the place referred to is an awe-inspiring, almost an ideal, place.

It is almost a utopian realm where all the sublime features- such as valour, knowledge, harmony, truth, intellect, and advancement- prevail.

In the principal clause of the sentence the poet identifies that circumstance, that metaphorical scenario as “that heaven of freedom” and requests the “Father,” the God Almighty, to let his country to reach there or his country to realise that that she ought to endeavour to accomplish the capability to establish all these marvellous lineaments.

A free mind is creative and know the depth of imagination and deliver s the best.

We fear to lose and thus, let ourselves be captivated

 Think of a number of questions: Do we feel the weight of our family values and upbringing standing in the way of our true nature?

Do we feel free to express all of our views?

Do we feel hindered by public opinion or social formalities?

Do we worry that

our

teachers/friends

might be unhappy

with what we

really feel and

what we really

think?