Where the Mind is without Fear
Rabindranath Tagore
1. What kind of freedom does Rabindranath Tagore want for his countrymen?
Ans: Rabindranath wants spiritual, intellectual and political freedom for his country. Intellectual freedom enables his countrymen to think freely and enter into new worlds of thought. Spiritual freedom will make them fearless, truthful noble and free from all narrow prejudices.
2. How does Rabindranath Tagore describe the domestic wall? What do they do to the world?
Ans: Rabindranath Tagore describes the domestic wall as ‘narrow’. The small concerns of home prevent us from taking part in the broader concerns of the world. It makes us narrow minded. So they are like walls.
OR,
Ans: Rabindranath describes the domestic walls as ‘narrow’. These walls are now broken in fragments. These fragments indicate many small groups in a country, separated from each other by prejudices, castes, religion etc.
The walls break the world into fragments. They are at the root of narrowness
3. What is meant by “heaven of freedom’’ in the poem “Where the mind is without Fear”?
Ans: The words ‘heaven of freedom’ indicates an ideal world of freedom. There people will be fearless, dignified and truthful. They will also be free from all narrow prejudices.
OR,
Ans: According to Rabindranath, ‘heaven of freedom’ means freedom from ignorance, narrowness, prejudices, fear, foreign rule etc. This state of freedom inspires us to acquire free knowledge, to achieve dignity, to try continually for perfection. In such a state of freedom mind is guided by God. Rabindranath wishes his countrymen to achieve this kind of freedom.
4. “Where the clear stream of reason has not lost
its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit.’’
--- Explain the comparison made in the lines.
Ans: Rabindranath here compares reason to a clear stream that flows smoothly in its own way. Reason is an intellectual power in man that helps him to move forward and get at perfection. On the other hand, he compares ‘dead habit’ to a sandy desert. Just as a flowing river loses its way in a sandy desert, dead customs also harm all the good intellectual qualities of man.
5. “Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”
--- Who is addressed as ‘my father’? Why does the poet want to let his country awake?
Ans: Here ‘my father’ refers to God, the divine Father.
Under the foreign rule, the Indians are in a state of spiritual slumber. The poet wants that under the guidance of God his countrymen will awake from that slumber and achieve perfection through tireless efforts.
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