Summary of Where the Mind is Without Fear
- Rabindranath Tagore
Literal Comprehension
"Where the mind is without fear" is a patriotic poem, composed by Rabindra Nath Tagore. The poet is inspired by the feeling of patriotism. Tagore has expressed his deep patriotic feeling in this poem. He wished his country to be taken into the heaven of freedom where one feels fearlessness and honoured. He wants to make his country the place where truth exists and people get perfection of work, where all people are reasonable with ever-ending thoughts.
Lastly, the poet prays the god to take his country to the heaven of freedom. This is a patriotic poem. The poet wishes that his mind would be fearless of anything else. He can hold his head high if there is no fear. According to him, knowledge should be free and the country should not be broken into fragments by the unseen domestic walls. He wishes that the people of his country would not lie to each other. They should be laborious to lead the nation towards the way of development. He wants his people to use their reason and creative thoughts to solve the problem. Thus he prays the god to make his countries like heaven where there is only peace and freedom.
The poem "Where the Mind Is Without Fear" is a pleading poem in which the speaker is requesting the god almighty to guide his people and his country to the world of eternity where everything is free to everyone. The speaker wishes every freedom to his people and to the whole of humanity. He wants to take his people to such land where people don't need to have any fear, where education to every people is free, where people live happily together without being divided into groups, where the people always head to perfection. To get such Promised Land, the speaker pleads the god
Interpretation
The poet may be trying to tell us that fearlessness, knowledge, honour, wide mindedness, truth and reason are supremely important to take the country to the climax of prosperity. The poet has lost himself in the dream of the heavenly country. He still finds his country fallen into slumber and prays the god to let his country awake in such heaven of freedom.
The poem is a patriotic poem considering the freedom and eternal happiness of life of the people as the most important factor. If people are deprived of such basic requirements, then there remains no place to feel the life. As a result, society is full of social unjust and discrimination. Thus the poem asserts the fact that society must be free from all such social evils. For this, the speaker requests the god to create a very ideal and heavenly society.
Critical Thinking
It is the most admirable thought of a citizen to lead his county towards prosperity. But can people create such a heavenly county in reality? Do all people have the same feelings as the poet? Can a single man take his country to such ideality if other people don't take it seriously? Can one really enjoy freedom in such a threatened world by bombs? Is heaven a real place? So, I don't totally agree with the poet.
The poem with a nationalistic feeling is successful to impress the reader. So far his point in the poem is concerned; we may not easily accept him. The country naturally consists of people of various castes and creeds, and in such a situation, there arises various thoughts and ideas. So it is useless to talk about one nation.
Similarly, the poet seems too spiritual and believes in the mercy of God. It, in no way, is acceptable in the case of ruling the country as well as imposing the rule over the people. On the other hand, he pleads the divine power but up to now, no man is blessed by him.
Assimilation
Freedom is lovelier than life. People want to fight for freedom if their rights are grabbed. This poem took me back to the movement of 2007 B.S in Nepal. Before democracy came to Nepal, people were spending their sorrowful days in the darkness of the autocracy Panchayat system. People could not speak and work freely. The corrupted leaders of that time tortured people without reason. Many people lost their lives for the sake of democracy.
But conscious people began to struggle in all respect. They challenged the autocracy system and its rulers and the king was compelled to declare a multiparty system. Thus, people could breathe in freedom. But democracy is still in danger due to the selfishness of the leaders of different political parties. Let's see what will happen in the future.
As I read the poem, it has brought me back to the condition of Nepalese people under the rule of Ranas. During this period, Nepalese people couldn't get a chance to read and write. Education had been too precious and expensive to them. People were too much suppressed by the rule that they were under the great fear of the Rana rule. They could do nothing except plead the god for their freedom from such rule.