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II SEMESTER BCOM - ENGLISH

"Freedom" by Rabindranath Tagore.

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Tagore (1861-1941) was a Bengali poet and the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in
1913. He supported Indian independence and desired the end of the British Raj, which is the

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subject of the poem "Freedom."

The poem “Freedom” gives a deep insight into the slavery that we Indians live in. The slavery
is created by us and hence suffered by us. The poet says that the reason for our slavery is

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that

 We have made knowledge limited to people.

 We have broken ourselves up in small fragments in the name of cast, creed, race,
skin colour, socio economic groups etc. And divided ourselves into such small
groups that it is affecting our unity.

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 We have stopped reasoning logically whatever we do. We either do it on impulse,
out of laziness or sometimes out of superstitions. The poet wants that to stop.
The poet wants all Indians, his countrymen to attain freedom that is beyond all these narrow
mentalities, where each one of us is educated, strives towards perfection, does his own bit for
the country and where man is not discriminative or racist and it will be then that we would be
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truly united.

The poem “Freedom” by Rabindranath Tagore is a vehement cry for the country’s
independence, which, he believes, can be accomplished through an intellectual awakening.
The speaker, at the very outset, identifies the country as his “motherland”. He then goes on to
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enumerate the manifestations of freedom that he yearns for his country.

“Freedom from fear is the freedom

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I claim for you my motherland!”

In the first two lines of the poem, he refers to India as the "motherland" and states that he
wants India to be free from fear. His use of alliteration, or repetition of the "f" sound in the
words "freedom," "from," "fear," and "freedom" again in the first line, emphasizes the
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urgency of his call for Indian independence. The word "freedom" is repeated throughout the
poem to express the poet's deep wish for his country to be independent.

“Freedom from the burden of the ages, bending your head,

breaking your back, blinding your eyes to the beckoning
call of the future”
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Portraying the nation as an aged mother, the speaker demands for a freedom from “the burden
of the ages” imposed by the British. He builds on the image of India as an aging mother,
and he wants her to be free from the "burden of the ages," which refers to the yoke of English
control of India. The aged woman who represents India bends her head, bends her back, and
blinds her eyes under the burden of colonialism. These lines also use alliteration with the
repetition of the "b" sound. Tagore speaks of the way in which India does not see the future
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or imagine a brighter future for herself by blinding her eyes. He wishes for Motherland’s
blindfold to fall which has been hitherto clouding her hopeful visions of the future.

“Freedom from the shackles of slumber wherewith

you fasten yourself in night's stillness,

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mistrusting the star that speaks of truth's adventurous paths;”

Instead of looking forward, India sleeps with what Tagore calls "shackles of slumber," or

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time spent not thinking of her future. Instead, India is fastening herself "in night's stillness,"
meaning that the country is committed to the past and to the current situation of colonialism.
The country "mistrusts the star that speaks of truth's adventurous paths," meaning that the
country does not look around in its dark time (represented by night) and imagine a brighter
future for itself as independent. The poet longs for the country to rouse and free itself from

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“the shackles of slumber” engendered by the Raj. In praying for a prosperous time, the
speaker demands a freedom from the clutches of the still night that haunts the mental outlook
of the people. He wishes for the country to seek hope in the star and follows its path of truth.

“Freedom from the anarchy of destiny

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whole sails are weakly yielded to the blind uncertain winds,
and the helm to a hand ever rigid and cold as death.”

He craves for a freedom from blind faith in fate. It is “the anarchy of destiny” and helpless
certitude in providence that obstructs the country from achieving its independence. He
employs a metaphor of a boat for the country, stating that this boat blindly following
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uncertain winds and its helm is in incapable hands. His aspiration is to attain independence
from such vulnerability.

“Freedom from the insult of dwelling in a puppet's world,

where movements are started through brainless wires,
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repeated through mindless habits,

where figures wait with patience and obedience for the
master of show to be stirred into a mimicry of life.”
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On the final note, he seeks freedom from the “puppet’s world” created by the British. He
considers it a shame to be controlled like mindless figures by “the master of show” and to be
coordinated by “brainless wires”. In this extended metaphor, India is compared to a puppet
show controlled by the British (the brainless wires) where Indians obediently wait and blindly
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follow the instructions of the English rulers. Thus the Indians live "a mimicry of life,"
meaning an inauthentic life controlled by others.
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