TyroCity: English I Notes

Summary of the poem Where the Mind Is Without Fear

English I Notes — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:41:42 +0000

‘Where the Mind Is Without Fear’ is a beautiful poem written by Rabindranath Tagore in the form of prayer. The poem was written during the time when India was struggling against British rulers for their freedom. He expresses his love for his nation, praying for its well-being with the almighty (God) in the poem. He also prayed asking for India to be a free country where people could hold their head high with respect and dignity instead of living under fear.

He also prays for the freedom of the nation and to awaken the society to only have noble thoughts and actions once the nation is free. All in all, Tagore reveals his own concept of freedom throughout the poem.

Summary of the poem Great Scott! Gadzooks!

English I Notes — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:41:42 +0000

In the poem, ‘Great Scott! Gadzooks!’ the poet highlights the pros and cons of watching a television (TV) for a child. As per the poet, TV makes the mind of a child dull if they watch it for long hours. Children often don’t do any physical activities like playing, running or other forms of exercise if they find interesting series, ads or cartoons to watch. They rather stick like a glue infront of the TV sets making them unable to think creatively and brainstorm to learn something new. TV might act as an addiction to a child making them want to do nothing else.
In contrary to that, if a child is busy watching TV, parents can freely work on other things in the home as the child won’t be engaged with other activities which need their attention like when the child is climbing on the window, quarreling or other similar kinds of bad activities.

Weighing both pros and cons, it’s not worth letting the child watch TV for long hours as per the poet. The mind of a child is very delicate and watching TV may rust the brain. TV makes them blind as they can’t imagine the fantasy world which can only be inspired by reading books.

It can be confidently said that the children born during the time when the TV didn’t exist were happy as well. Without TV, a child during those days would invest their time reading or listening to books like a fantasy story, drama, poems or other genres which in-turn boost their imagination and creativity. They would also play indoor and outdoor games. The poet asks the parents to do their part now and rather throw away TV to free up space to keep a bookshelf filled with interesting books for their children.

However, a child addicted to TV mightn’t be able to bear not being able to watch TV so the parents must be aware of that. The poet believes that regardless of how difficult it might be but in a few weeks’ time, the child will adjust to new settings and be more involved in reading books. Addiction to books will make them forget about the television and parents now can also involve their child into beautiful arts, reading, singing, dancing, playing as other activities.

Critical Thinking of the poem Where the Mind Is Without Fear

English I Notes — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:41:42 +0000

The poem stands on patriotic front and shows a mirror of the society, nation and the world where people think, work and live. The poet imagines an ideal place without injustice, corruption, violence, inequality, and discrimination. Rather he wants to see the place with complete freedom, justice, spiritualism, and humanity.

The poet seems to distance himself from the reality while doing so and tried to image a place which would be perfect as per him. Is it even possible to make the present world anyway close to what the poet wants to in the poem? Do gods exist? And, if they do, do they have the authority or power to change the world in accordance to the poet’s desire? Is it possible to even transform the current real world into ideal one in a blink of an eye? Can injustice, violence and other forms of crimes be swept out completely?

Assimilation of the poem Piano

English I Notes — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:41:42 +0000

I never gave much importance to the music before reading this poem but the poem made me realize that it can function as a medium for entertainment, relief and spellbound people of all ages. Music has the power to make us feel refreshed both physically and mentally as we enjoy the tone forgetting about this busy life for a moment.

Interpretation of the poem Great Scott! Gadzooks!

English I Notes — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:41:42 +0000

The message in the poem is that the books which can have an important role to play in child’s growth is often forgotten over television in the modern society. The poem asks the parents to change the way they educate their children by replacing television with books.

The feeling of anger, worry and strong tone of uneasiness towards the existence of TV in the modern society as part of child’s growth can be found in the poem with a negative attitude towards television. This is expressed with the use of negative connotation in an ironic way.

Soft, gratifying and cheerful tone is used to present books as the best offering for a child’s growth and development. This shows the positive and favorable attitude towards books by the poet.

Interpretation of the poem On the Eve of His Execution

English I Notes — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:41:42 +0000

The poem is an elegy and uses paradox and antithesis to present the tragedy of poet’s situation clearly. Antithesis means setting opposites against each other: prime of youth / frost of cares (from the first line). While paradox is self-contradictory statements, yet true which can be found in every line of every stanza in this poem.

The poet’s metaphorical skill is coupled with a clever use of tense to suggest the blurring of past and present. The repetition of “now” in the last line of each stanza has the effect of suggesting a passage of time so swift that past and present are telescoped: “And now I live, and now my life is done.”

The poem is expressing the feeling of a young person awaiting his death and what goes on the person’s mind. Along the message that no one wants to die young. The executing order soon to be implemented makes him recall his short life and makes him evaluate what life has given to him. Like the execution, the poet considers that everything in life is unexpected and unnatural.

Critical Thinking of the poem Piano

English I Notes — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:41:42 +0000

Although I agree with the moral of this poem that music has potentiality to entertain the people of all ages, I found some parts of the poem unconvincing. Do all people get fully entertained by the music as poet in the poem does? Do all people have happy memorable childhood that they want to recall? Does any responsible person want to go back in the childhood memory? Isn’t it somewhat shameful for one grown up person to weep like a small child recalling his past and wanting to forget his present?

Background of the poem On the Eve of His Execution

English I Notes — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:41:42 +0000

Written just before its author’s execution for treason, the strength of this poem has as much do with its language as its distressing context. In fact, the poet was probably 28 at the time. The poem is truthful but it is also a performance, dramatizing the actual situation into a dance of life with death.

The poem gains a distressing authenticity from the biographical context, and no doubt this helps account for its popularity. It seems to come from the heart, the “I” of the poem at one with that of the condemned man writing it. Yet it would be no less fine a technical achievement if it had been framed as a dramatic monologue. The weaving of opposing statements into paradox is masterly: the effect is neither playful nor literary but reveals the profound contradictions implicit in the human condition.

Assimilation of the poem Where the Mind Is Without Fear

English I Notes — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:41:42 +0000

The idea Rabindranath Tagore expressed with the poem impressed me a lot. The poem inspires people to live a life fearlessly while ensuring the society is peaceful, unified and justice is served. Fearing something stops us to think properly and act as an obstacle to our own progress. If all the people in the nation realize the importance of the knowledge that is free, self-respect, love, work and a feeling of unity than a nation can be in a better place – a place where there is freedom, peace, equality, and justice.

Summary of the poem On the Eve of His Execution

English I Notes — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:41:42 +0000

The poet in his late-20s is young but unhappy. There is no sign of happiness instead its filled with pain and sufferings. He relates his corn field (life) with tares (an injurious weed resembling to corn when young). He hopes for a better future but all those are in vain as days pass by without him being able to move freely. And, he still finds himself trapped in the jail. He thinks life has ended even though he’s still alive for he is waiting his execution order to be carried out.

The poet continues as he says that the story he says is heard but not passed on forward – nobody has spoken on his behalf. He is to lose everything including his life due to the execution order despite he being in his youth and having a lot to live for. He has seen the world but the world didn’t see him as he’s left ignored and not cared for. His story is familiar to everyone but no one dare speak for him or stand next to him. He emphases on his feeling that the life is now over.

The poet found his death in the womb itself when he looked for it. And, when looking for life, he finds it was just a shade. As he walks in the ground, he believes it is his tomb underneath the soil. He thinks there is lot more he could do, a lot of wishes he could work towards but he doesn’t have any time for those. He says that his life is destroyed and now he’s just waiting for his execution.

Critical Thinking of the poem On the Eve of His Execution

English I Notes — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:41:42 +0000

Beautifully composed by Chidiock Tichborne, “On the Eve of His Execution” is a poem which provides a dark look at a life cut short. Natural, skillful presentation of the poem gathered sympathy for the condemned of the poet and is still favorable among scholars.

Thinking or knowing about death ignites fear in anyone/everyone and the mind filled with depressive thoughts can’t think about creative things. I found some contradictory thoughts even though the poem is presented nicely. The poet joined Babington Plot to kill the queen which in itself is a crime. He should be ready to face even the worse consequence of it which is capital punishment if the plan fails. The worse happened when the plan failed, he is caught and ordered for execution. Why is he fearing the death now? If he knew death is to be painful and full of fear, why did he take part in the crime plot? He should rather accept death with dignity accepting truth and face it for the plot he involved himself in instead of crying about it.

Interpretation of the poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

English I Notes — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:41:42 +0000

The poem deals with the contemplation of nature. There’s a debate on whether the poem is calm or dark and depressing. The answer varies as per the person view. So, here we take a look at both the aspects of interpretation.

Calm Interpretation
The speaker wants to take a pause in a quiet spot to watch the snow falling, maybe to calm his mind and enjoy nature. That might just be due to the decoy of being free of responsibilities and a solitude of being alone.

It may also suggest the adventure the speaker seeks and his attraction to danger of ‘darkness’ and ‘depth’ of the woods alone in the snowy evening. His responsibilities towards his work, family and his community might be stopping the speaker from experiencing new places and things and stopping him from going into dangerous adventures.

A simple interpretation would be that work always comes first before play which in the poem is reminded by the horse shaking his harness bell reminding the speaker that there are places to go and we can’t pause and watch the snow falling. There is lot of works to be done.

Dark Interpretation

The darker interpretation of the poem addresses longing for death for the tiredness of life. The speaker mentions that it’s the darkest evening of the year. He also goes on to include isolated spot, cold, frozen lake and the darkness none of which are an inviting place to stop and commune one’s thoughts at. Winter is a season when animals hibernate, plants die and the speaker might be associating the death with the use of this season.

The poet with ‘The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.’ to end the poem is often interpreted as attraction towards death. Furthermore, his emphasize on the line ‘miles to go before I sleep’ refers to long journey of his life and the ‘sleep’ there, the speaker refers represent death.

We can’t be certain where the speaker is travelling to but as it’s at the end of the day, we can simply assume that he is making his way back to home. ‘Home’ can be interpreted as the end of the road or a journey.

Whatever his thoughts may be, the speaker realizing his responsibility towards his family who depend upon him finds the strength to continue his journey towards home pressing his feelings. At the same time, he also his journey with life.