Where the mind is without fear

The theme of "Where the Mind is Without Fear" by Tagore lived in India during British Crown rule of the country. According to the BBC, Britain ruled India from 1858 until 1947. Tagore was born in 1861 and died in 1941. He never lived in an India that wasn't ruled by the British—and yet dreams of what his country could be if it was free, as described in "Where the Mind is Without Fear." The British rule of India created a system that prevented many Indian people from gaining education or positions of power in the country. Tagore speaks to that when he says: 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 He's aware that his own people are being kept from knowledge—and not because it's the right thing to do. Instead, it's caused by the "dreary desert sand of dead habit" that British rule became in India. Tagore believes that education, working together, and "ever-widening thought and action" can change things. That's why he says that the world he describes is "that heaven of freedom" and asks "[his] Father [to] let [his] country awake." The entire poem functions as a prayer. He's addressing his father, but not the one he was born to. Rather, it appears that he's addressing God and asking that India, his nation, be released into the world he describes. See eNotes Ad-Free

Rabindranath Tagore’s “Where the Mind Is Without Fear” is composed entirely in free verse, consisting of a single sentence enjambed across eight lines. The poem rejects traditional rhyme schemes and meter, though it finds a comforting sense of rhythmic consistency in the repetition of “where,” the opening word of the first seven lines. Tagore uses apostrophe—a poetic device that addresses an absent subject as if they were present—to evoke a divine figure and plead for their assistance. Through apostrophe, the repetition of “where” takes on a religious undertone, and the similar formulations of each line resemble a pious litany read in worshipful admiration. Writing in free verse, too, allows the poem to more closely resemble a prayer. Repetition provides a sense of urgency, and the discordant, unrelated forms of each unmetered, unrhymed line seem less posed and formal, akin to a single voice crying out in desperation to their God. The speaker and their nation of origin are never explicitly indicated. The author’s context, however, clarifies the poem’s implied perspective. Tagore, a native of Bengal, India—at the time, the capital of the British Raj—speaks of his experiences and desires in loose, unspecific terms readily applied to other national contexts. Reading “Where the Mind Is Without Fear” in conversation with its author’s specific context reveals a deeper dimension to the poem. It is critical not only of the harsh British rule in India but also of the deeply entrenc...

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Brief Introduction: Where the mind is without fear is a poem that is taken from Tagore’s English Poetry Collection, Gitanjali, number 35. This is one of the most famous poems ever composed by an Indian poet writing in English. In this article, Ravi Kumar, one of the English Literature Education experts, will critically analyse, summarise and paraphrase the poem for students and otherwise interested people in this poem. Please read the article till the end so that you can understand the poem completely. If you have any further questions, you can put those for a conversation in the comments section. Know the Poet: Tagore The only Indian Nobel Laureate in Literature, Rabindranath Tagore is and must be considered one of the greatest Indian writers. Primarily, he used to write in Bengali. Later on, he himself translated most of his works into English. He used the shreds of Indian history, philosophy, religiosity, and above all patriotism in most of his literary outputs. His home, family members, and natural scenery were the most artistic inspiration for his poetry. Flowing of river water, lingering clouds over hills and mountains, the rising of the sun, farmers working in the field, and green patches of land are the poetic inspirations. He has also composed poems addressing children. He has immense affection for the children and their world. He has produced a series of poems dealing with the world of children, their relations with God, interactions with different embodiments of...

“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 toward 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.” ― Rabindranath Tagore,

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