Tagore Poem Analysis

For Tagore anything that is beautiful in nature, the poet feels shuddering of his own self in it and the we see him trying to write down his feeling with the help of the nature. His happiness in the midst of the nature’s beauty is obvious when he writes:

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 (Gitanjali-VI,p.20)

The poet seems to be very religious and God fearing person. He is the true follower

I will keep still and wait like the night with starry vigil and its head bent low with patience.

The morning will surely come, the darkness will vanish, and thy voice pour down in golden streams breaking though the sky.

Then thy words will take wing in songs from every one of my birds nests, and thy melodies will break forth in flowers in all (Gitanjali-XIX, p. 27

According to Tagore, freedom from all the oppressions of the world would enable everyone to live in life full of contentment. This freedom leads to a total whole that is Infinite, which is the consolidation of the best in the finites. This perfect freedom is the key that leads Man from the state of finiteness to identify with the Infinite. The poet says:

Obstinate are the trammels, but my heart aches when I try to break them.

Freedom is all I want, but to hope for it I feel ashamed. I am certain that priceless wealth is in thee, and that thou art my best brined, but I have not the heart to sweep away the tinsel that fills my room

The shroud that covers me is a shroud of dust and death;

I hate it, yet hug it in

All desires that distract me, day and night, are false and empty to the core.

As the night keeps hidden in its gloom the petition for light, even thus in the depth of my unconsciousness rings the cry – ‘I want thee, only thee.’ As the storm still seeks its end in peace when it strikes against peace with all its might, even thus my rebellion strikes against thy love and still its cry is – ‘I want thee, only thee’ (Gitanjali-XXXVIII,p.37-38)

The poet further writes that when the grace from the world and life of the human is lost, he urges the Lord of Peace to fill himself and the world with his eternal peace which will make everyone’s life a harmonious one indeed. So the poet says:

When the herd and parched up,come upon me with a shower of mercy.

When tumultuous work raises its din on all sides shutting out from beyond, come to me, my lord of silence, with thy peace and rest.

When my beggarly heart sits crouched, shut up in a corner, break open the door, my king, and come with the ceremony of a king.

When desire blinds the mind with delusion and dust, O thou holy one, thou wakeful, come with thy light and thy thunder.