SINHGAD SPRING DALE SCHOOL

AND JR COLLEGE
STD: IV
SUBJECT: ENGLISH FIRST
TOPIC: I CANNOT REMEMBER MY MOTHER
By Rabindranath Tagore
About the Poet :

Rabindranath Tagore, popularly known as Gurudev (1861 (1941) was a Bengali poet,
dramatist and novelist. Tagore won the Nobel Prize for literature for his work, Gitanjali.
He founded the Shanthiniketan to promote Indian Culture, Art and Music. Tagore lost
his mother when he was a child.

This poem I cannot remember my mother is about a child who does not remember his
dead mother. But the child perhaps carries some associations of the mother’s image in
his mind.
Words to Know :

Hover : hang about, linger

Rocking : moving gently

Hum : sing with closed lips

Distant : far away

Gaze : look fixedl

 I cannot remember my mother
only sometimes in the midst of my
play
a tune seems to hover over my
playthings,
the tune of some song that she used
to
hum while rocking my cradle.
A child who lost his mother in infancy has only faint recollection
of her now. The poet states that he cannot remember his mother
now. However, he feels her presence pervading into his life,
when he is in the middle of his play with his playthings, he
senses a tune hovering over him. It is the tune of his mother’s
song which she used to hum while rocking his cradle.
 I cannot remember my mother
but when in the early autumn
morning
the smell of the shiuli flowers floats
in the air
the scent of the morning service in
the temple
comes to me as the scent of my
mother.
When it is the early autumn morning, the smell of shiuli
flowers floats in the air. Then the poet smells the scent of the
morning service in the temple. In that smell, he senses the scent
of his mother.
 I cannot remember my mother
only when from my bedroom window I send
my eyes into the blue of the distant sky,
I feel that the stillness of
my mother’s gaze on my face
has spread all over the sky.
When the poet is in his bedroom, he looks out into the blue of the
distant sky. He feels the silent, steady and protective gaze of his
mother being cast down at him from her heavenly abode. Her face
seems to be spread all over the sky.