Friday, September 21, 2018

How is the theme of patriotism conveyed in Tagore's poem "Freedom"?

Tagore shows in the poem "Freedom" that he would like his country, India, to be free from colonial rule. He does this by addressing his poem to his "motherland." He speaks to the Indian nation as a whole. It is the entire country he wants to free, not an individual or small group. He is patriotic in attempting to express to his fellow Indians the mindset that they need to develop.
He tells his audience the attributes that they, the Indian people, must nurture to become free. His fellow countrymen have to create conditions within themselves that will lay the foundations for a free state. This mindset include freeing themselves from fear. It means having a clear vision rather than being "blind" about the "call of the future." It means his countrymen must awaken and start trusting the adventure of pursuing freedom. It also means giving up "brainless" living in which the colonial masters are in control.


The poem "Freedom," by Rabindranath Tagore, is concerned specifically with freedom "for you, my motherland." From the opening lines of the poem, Tagore's patriotism is clear: he allies himself with the personified land of his birth, India, defining it as his mother and himself as its son. This choice of language, personifying the oppressed land, heightens the effect of the imagery that follows. The motherland is described "breaking its back," struggling under the burden of this oppression; the language makes the poem feel heavy, and this helps the reader to understand the sheer weight of colonization from which Tagore seeks to save his beloved country. If patriotism is love of the country, and of its independence, then Tagore's patriotism permeates this poem as he decries the "master" beneath whom his "motherland" serves as a "puppet"—but, in truth, as a slave.

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