About the author:
Rabindranath Tagore (Born: 7 May 1861– Died: 7 August 1941) was a Bengali poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He reshaped Bengali literature and music as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Author of the "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful" poetry of Gitanjali, he became in 1913 the first non-European and the first lyricist to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. His compositions, namely "Jana Gana Mana" and "Amar Shonar Bangla", were chosen by both India and Bangladesh to serve as their national anthems. Tagore, known as "the Bard of Bengal", had several sobriquets including Gurudeb, Kobiguru, and Biswokobi.
Rabindranath Tagore founded Visva-Bharati University in 1921 at Santiniketan, Bolpur in West Bengal's Birbhum district.
Tagore’s Notable works:
Gitanjali (Song Offerings)
Gora (Fair-Faced)
Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World)
Tagore's Gitanjali: Song Offerings consists of 103 prose poems, all of which are translated into English by the author (from Bengali). And, Tagore received the Nobel Prize for Literature, for its English translation, Song Offerings, making him the first non-European to receive this honor.
"Where the mind is without fear" is the 35th poem of Gitanjali.
Where the Mind is Without Fear
——Rabindranath Tagore
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
Vocabulary:
1. Fragments (टुकड़े टुकड़े, खंड): pieces/Small Parts
2. Head is held high- self respect
3. Narrow (संकीर्ण, संकुचित): small
4. Domestic: pertaining to family
5. Narrow Domestic walls: division based on religion, caste, class and color in societies
6. Striving (प्रयास करना, कोशिश उठाना, चेष्टा करना): try hard, motivated.
7. Tireless: without getting tired
8. Stream: river
9. Dreary (सुनसान, निर्जन): dull
10. Reason: intellect
11. Dead habit: old customs
12. Desert: dry area of land
13. Awake: to get up from sleep
14. Clear stream of reason: logical thinking
15. Thee: you
Multiple-Choice Questions:
1. Rabindranath Tagore is a famous poet from ______.
a) Delhi
b) Bihar
c) Bengal
d) Orissa
Answer: c) Bengal
2. Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize for literature in ______.
a) 1931
b) 1921
c) 1913
d) 1945
Answer: c) 1913
3. Rabindranath Tagore was the first non-European to win which prestigious award?
a) Nobel Prize in Physics
b) Nobel Prize in Literature
c) Nobel Peace Prize
d) Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Answer: b) Nobel Prize in Literature
4. Which works won Rabindranath Tagore the Nobel Prize?
a) The Home and the World
b) Gitanjali
c) The Post Office
d) Gora
Answer: b) Gitanjali
5. What is the original language of the book "Gitanjali"?
a) Hindi
b) Bengali
c) Sanskrit
d) Urdu
Answer: b) Bengali
6. Rabindranath Tagore founded which educational institution?
a) Banaras Hindu University
b) Aligarh Muslim University
c) Visva-Bharati University
d) Jawaharlal Nehru University
Answer: c) Visva-Bharati University
7. Which two countries' national anthems did Rabindranath Tagore write?
a) India and Nepal
b) India and Sri Lanka
c) India and Bangladesh
d) India and Pakistan
Answer: c) India and Bangladesh
8. In which year was Rabindranath Tagore born?
a) 1861
b) 1871
c) 1881
d) 1891
Answer: a) 1861
9. The poem "Where the Mind is Without Fear" is written by______.
a) Rabindranath Tagore
b) R K Narayan
c) M K Gandhi
d) Sarojini Naidu
Answer: a) Rabindranath Tagore
10. “Where the Mind is Without Fear” is ________.
a) a story
b) a play
c) a novel
d) a poem
Answer: d) a poem
11. 'Where the Mind is Without Fear' is addressed to______.
a) God
b) Father
c) Mother
d) None of these
Answer: a) God
12. “Where the mind is without fear and the …….is held high.”
a) hand
b) leg
c) head
d) finger
Answer: c) head
13. The poet wants his countrymen to be without______.
a) fear
b) courage
c) respect
d) awe
Answer: a) fear
14. The poet encourages his countrymen to live with ______.
a) self-respect
b) confidence
c) dignity
d) honour
Answer: a) self-respect
15. In the poem "my father' refers to________.
a) the speaker's father
b) The Almighty
c) Jesus
d) Buddha
Answer: b) The Almighty
16. The expression “tireless striving” refers to:
a) slavery
b) dependence
c) endless efforts
d) liberty
Answer: c) endless efforts
17. “Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow ……….”
a) boundary walls
b) domestic walls
c) public walls
d) private walls
Answer: b) domestic walls
18. "Domestic Walls” refers to
a) narrow binding
b) evil influences
c) narrow mind
(d) narrow thought
Answer. (a) narrow binding.
19. “Domestic walls” are raised because of man’s_____.
a) narrowness
b) selfishness
c) broadness
d) selfishness and narrowness
Answer: d) selfishness and narrowness
20. “Narrow domestic walls” are the wall of discrimination based on___
a) caste
b) creed
c) color
d) all the above
Answer: d) all the above
21. The poet wants the words to from______.
a) the depth of spirit
b) the depth of truth
c) the depth of inner heart
d) none of these
Answer: the depth of truth
22. In the poem reason is compared to a____.
a) pond
b) shower
c) lake
d) clear stream
Answer: d) clear stream
23. The dead habit is compared to a/an_____.
a) sand
b) sound
c) desert
d) mountain
Answer: c) desert
24. “Dead habit” means
a) changing habit
b) unchanging habit
c) good habit
d) bad habit
Answer: b) unchanging habit
25. “Where the mind is led forward by thee”, who is thee here?
a) Heaven
b) God
c) Spirit
d) People
Answer: b) God
26. “The heaven of freedom” refers to the poet’s
a) home land
b) native land
c) father land
d) dream land
Answer: d) dream land
27. The expression. "Knowledge is free” indicates-
a) free from early idea
b) free from scientific idea
c) free from superstition
d) free from corruption
Answer: c) free from superstition
28. What does the poet mean by "clear stream of reason"?
a) Logical thinking
b) Clean rivers
c) Scientific discoveries
d) Unbiased opinions
Answer: a) Logical thinking
29. The poem "Where the Mind is Without Fear" can be described as a...
a) Sonnet
b) Lyric
c) Prayer
d) Ballad
Answer: c) Prayer
30. In the poem "Where the Mind is Without Fear," the country is depicted as _______.
a) heavenly
b) free
c) sleeping
d) awake
Answer: a) heavenly
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