I HAD GONE A- BEGGING

About the poet: Rabindranath Tagore (7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali poet of

India born in the city of KOLKATA (formerly known as Calcutta). His name is written as

Rabindranath Thakur in Indian languages. Tagore had early success as a writer in his native

Bengal. With his translations of some of his poems he became rapidly known in the West. In fact

his fame attained a luminous height, taking him across continents on lecture tours and tours of

friendship. For the world he became the voice of India’s spiritual heritage; and for India,

especially for Bengal, he became a great living institution. A native of Calcutta, India, who wrote

in Bengali and often translated his own work into English, Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel

Prize for Literature in 1913 — the first Asian to receive the honor. He wrote poetry, fiction,

drama, essays, and songs; promoted reforms in education, aesthetics and religion; and in his late

sixties he even turned to the visual arts, producing 2,500 paintings and drawings before his death.

Although Tagore wrote successfully in all literary genres, he was first of all a poet.

About the poem: The 50th poem from his Nobel Prize winning collection, Gitanjali, I Had Gone

a-begging is a poem that imparts a moral value through the narration of an incident. Written in

first person, this poem is directly addressed to the second character in the poem, that is, the man

on the chariot. The poem is in the form of the Beggar’s monologue as he narrates how due to his

own miserly nature he suffered the greatest loss of his life and couldn’t recognize God even as he

was standing right in front of him.

Mood, Setting of the poem:

The poem is set in the pathways of a village, which we can gather from the phrase, “I had gone

a-begging from door to door in the village path”. Since the poem is actually the narration of an

incident, and that it has been narrated on a first person account, the mood of the poem varies.

When he discovers the golden chariot riding towards him, he is excited and ecstatic. The king of

king’s asking for alms surprises him so that he calls it a “kingly jest”. Finally, when his day is

concluding and he checks his bag, realisation hits him and he is filled with remorse for his

selfishness and greed.

 I Had Gone a- Begging (Stanza wise explanation)
I had gone a-begging from door to door in the village path,

when thy golden chariot appeared in the distance

like a gorgeous dream and I wondered

who was this King of all kings!

The poet begins with a continuation from the title of the poem. We gather from the first line itself

that the poet is a beggar. He was on his rounds, collecting alms, going from door to door in the

village path. That is when he first sighted the golden chariot in the distance. The splendour of the

chariot was such that the poet couldn’t help but wonder to whom such a grand chariot could

belong. He must be a man of immense wealth and power, a man who is above all kings. He

refers to him as the king of kings because of these above mentioned reasons and the usage of this

phrase shows how affluent the man looked, on the first sight itself.

My hopes rose high and methought

my evil days were at an end,

and I stood waiting for alms to be given unasked

and for wealth scattered on all sides in the dust.

The incoming man’s wealth overwhelmed the poet and his hopes rose that a man with such

riches would surely aid him and give him enough money in charity to end his poverty. The

beggar stood waiting for the man to get down from his chariot and shower him with riches.

Because the man was so powerful, he assumed that he would not even have to beg him, but

would be generously rewarded without even having to ask for it. He imagined a scenario with

wealth overflowing such that it would be scattered all over the ground.

The chariot stopped where I stood.

Thy glance fell on me

and thou camest down with a smile.

I felt that the luck of my life had come at last.

Then of a sudden thou didst hold out thy right hand

and say `What hast thou to give to me?’

The poet’s wishes came true when the man’s gorgeous chariot halted right next to him. The king

of king’s glance fell on the beggar and he acknowledged him by descending down from his

chariot and bestowing upon him a smile. The poet refers to that moment as the luck of his life

because he felt that with such wealth, the man was bound to be generous and do enough charity

to him to end his pitiable condition for forever. But, to the poet’s surprise, the man held out his

right hand to the poet and asked him what he had to give to him. This came as a shock to the

beggar as the situation that he had imagined, got completely reversed. He had envisaged a

scenario where the man would shower him with wealth, but instead the tables completely turned

and the man ended up asking the beggar what he could give him.

Ah, what a kingly jest was it

to open thy palm to a beggar to beg!

I was confused and stood undecided,

and then from my wallet I slowly took out

the least little grain of corn

and gave it to thee.

The beggar calls the whole scene a ‘kingly jest’. This brings out the irony of the situation as the

man who was of the stature of a king, actually asked a beggar for alms. A wealthy man has

actually opened up his palm to a beggar to beg! This baffles the beggar and stands dumbly

without any definite idea as to what course of action he should resort to. Then, he reluctantly

retrieved a little grain of corn from his wallet and gave it to the wealthy man from the chariot.

The use of the word “slowly”, is indicative towards the fact that the beggar was miserly and it

was with great hesitance that he parted with that small grain of corn. It might also be that he

could not gauge as to why a man this rich would ask a poor beggar for aid.

But how great my surprise when at the day’s end

I emptied my bag on the floor to find

a least little gram of gold among the poor heap.

I bitterly wept and wished

that I had had the heart to give thee my all.

The concluding stanza captures the poet’s initial surprise and then regret when he finds, while

emptying his sack, that a little gram of gold amongst the heap of his day’s collection. And then

he realises that it was no wealthy man, but God himself who had approached him and he was so

selfish and miserly that his concern lay only with his own needs. He was reluctant to part with

his grain of corn, but still in return God repaid him with gold. The beggar wishes that he too had

a heart as big as God's and he could have gotten himself to part with all of his belongings and

completely surrender to God. He achieves a spiritual awakening and realises the importance of

the act of giving unconditionally.

I Had Gone a- Begging- Analysis by Tagore

I Had Gone a Begging by Rabindranath Tagore is the fiftieth poem from his Nobel Prize winning

collection, Gitanjali. Written in blank verse, this poem is the story of a beggar, who is the poet

himself. Narrated in a first person account, the poet has directly addressed the poem to the King

of King’s. He begins by giving voice to his initial selfish and greedy thoughts on seeing the

arrival of the golden chariot and then moves on to describing his utter shock when the man

alights from the chariot and spreads his hand in front of the beggar, asking him for alms. The

irony of the situation both amuses and confuses the beggar, but gathering his wits, he gives one

little grain of corn to the man.

When he goes back and sees that the little grain of corn has been replaced by an equivalent

amount of gold, he is filled with remorse. He laments that had he had a heart as big as the man’s,

he would have given away all his belongings to him. This is also when he realises that the man in

the chariot was no commoner, but God himself. This incident incites a spiritual awakening
within the poet as he realises that materialistic things lose all their value, when compared to the

real riches, which are kindness, generosity and empathy.

Through this poem Tagore has brought into focus the increase in the importance that is endowed

upon materialistic goods and how man is driven, not by love and compassion, but by miserly

approach, greed and never ending demands. The beggar wished for all his problems to be solved

by the charity of the man in the chariot, but without any consideration for the man in the chariot.

He is willing to accept the man’s riches, but when it comes to giving him something, he is

reluctant and miserly. Man has become such that he puts self above everything else.

Poetic Devices in I Had Gone a- Begging

Hyperbole

The golden chariot has been described as a “gorgeous dream”. This exaggeration gives the reader

an idea of the extent of the chariot’s glamour and beauty. The wealth of the man on the chariot

can also be deduced from this phrase.

The man on the chariot is referred to as the “King of kings”. This is done to bring the reader’s

attention to his stature, power and wealth. It is not that the man literally was the king of kings,

but the reference works in creating a mental image of his position in the mind of the readers.

Metaphor

The golden chariot is a metaphor for riches and wealth. Gold is always a symbol of prosperity.

Hence, the chariot being of golden colour indicates that the man to whom it belonged to was

immensely wealthy.

The poet’s miserly nature is symbolised by the small grain of corn that he gave to the king of all

kings. The small grain of corm acts as a metaphor for the greedy and selfish nature of man; his

urge to own everything and give nothing in return. On the other hand, the small grain of gold

represents the exact opposite. It is representative of generosity, kindness and magnanimity that is

beyond normal human nature.

Rhyme Scheme

Split into five stanzas, each stanza is not an arrangement of lines, but the entire poem is in the

form of a monologue. There is no definitive rhyme scheme and the poem is a blank verse.

Imagery

The imagery in this poem, though not elaborative, but is descriptive. The first line itself, “I had

gone a-begging from door to door in the village path” gives the reader a fair idea that the setting

is that of a village pathway and that the poet is an impoverished beggar. “Golden chariot

appeared in the distance like a gorgeous dream” describes the wealth of the man in the chariot

and gives a sense to the reader that it was like a dream come true for the beggar. The vocabulary

used throughout the poem elucidates the poet’s emotions and enables the reader to picture his

facial expressions and reactions.

Central Idea of the poem I Had Gone a- Begging

I had gone a-begging by Rabindranath Tagore is based on the idea of the act of giving. Humans

by nature are selfish. Thus, when the Beggar poet sees the golden chariot the first thoughts in his

head are of how the alms given by the king of king’s would eradicate his poverty for forever.

But, when the man himself asks the beggar for something, he is baffled and very reluctantly parts

with one small grain of corn. When he realises the return for that small grain of corn, which is

when it strikes to him that when man is able to see beyond the materialistic pleasures of life,

which is when he acquires true spiritual awakening.

Theme

Rabindranath Tagore’s I had Gone a-begging is a poem whose central theme revolves around

man’s lust for materialistic objects, and his subsequent realisation that actual satisfaction lies in

the act of giving, not in the collection of returns. There is an underlying theme of spiritual

awakening as when the poet realises that it was God who had spread his palms in front of him,

asking for alms, his conscience awakens and he realises how greedy he was and deeply regrets

not giving his all to God. A human’s miserly attitude, greed and putting self above service are

other sub-themes in the poet.

Tone

Since the poem is actually an incident, the tone of the poet is narrative. There are tones of delight

and surprise when the poet describes the arrival of the golden chariot and what difference it

might make to his life. The poet’s shock is evident when the King of kings spreads his hands in

front of him. Also, his remorse in the end is shown when he mentions how he wept bitterly. The

phrase “wished that I had had the heart to give thee my all”, is indicative of the poet’s regret.