In the world somewhere, there is a group of people who only know to sing tirelessly day by day. This is the impression of the public left by the Indian bard and also is a memorable scene in Tagore’s poems from Gitanjali. Gitanjali is the most famous poetry collection written by Rabindranath Tagore, which won the Nobel Prize in 1913. Gitanjali literally means “song offsprings”, and the poems in Gitanjali are based on devotional songs from India in the Middle Ages. We picked the second piece in the collection and attempt to analyze the purpose and imagery of the poem. It can be clearly seen that Gitanjali has a strong sense of mysticism without losing its love for nature and caring for the humanities.

In the beginning, the uniqueness of mysticism in Tagore’s poem is that he combines sensory pleasure with praise for the gods. Initially, the general concept of mysticism, “emphasizes an immediate awareness of relation with god, which is direct and intimate” (Bagthariya 41). Besides, generally, mystics deny the external stimulations sensed by the ears and eyes. On the contrary, Tagore believes in the combination of realism and mysticism. The last line of the poem is that “drunk with the joy of singing I forget myself and call thee friend who art my lord”(Tagore, line 5). “My lord” indicates the delivery of divine message, which echos the mysticism mentioned above. More importantly, the line expresses the happiness, shared by human beings and the god. Hence, the mysticism of Tagore in Gitanjali tries to build a connection with the god with the acknowledgment of individuals' feelings. Nonetheless, the doubt is that the god that Tagore believes in has to be related to unpacking the natural imagery and the core of Tagore’s humanism.

On the one hand, the beauty of the natural world in Gitanjali is not limited to the scenery itself but also extends to the meaning of what it represents. In the poem, “All that is harsh and dissonant in my life melts into one sweet harmony—and my adoration spreads wings like a glad bird on its flight across the sea”(Tagore, line 2). The line portrays a scene in that “a glad bird” flies across the sea hearing the harmony melody on the shore. Specifically, the wide sea represents that there’s no edge for freedom. Moreover, the unknown bird stands for the spiritual goodness that people are calling for. According to SarKar, “objects of nature are not self-accomplished but related poetically with the moods and thoughts in the poem” (SarKar 1), which indicates that the use of imagery in Gitanjali is intended to serve the purpose, not to depict the beauty of the scenery ultimately. In other words, the poet uses blunt language connecting the imagery of nature with goodwill. Therefore, the affection for the natural world is demonstrated on two levels, including the beauty of the imagination itself and the extended meaning of the features.

On the other hand, the key purpose of Gitanjali is to convey the great love for humanity. It is known that the poem was created based on the song sung by Indian Bard, and both they and Tagore believed that “the limited bound human heart expands into limitless joy and thus poetry is created out of divine inspiration” (Sharma 2), which embodies that the truth of freedom exists inside human beings. In Gitanjali 2, the line “I touch by the edge of the far-spreading wing of my song thy feet which I could never aspire to reach” (Tagore, line 4) manifests this core value. In detail, it depicts the limit of the human self because there is the “edge. Nevertheless, “with the wing of my song” I can reach the side. As previously mentioned, the message for praising is not aiming to ask for help from outside or a specific god but to try to seek the truth inside oneself. To sum up, the poetry embodies a belief in humanism by describing the path to getting free.

In conclusion, Gitanjali is a work that celebrates humanity and nature in the guise of mysticism by using diverse imagery like an unknown bird leading to freedom, a group of people singing at the coast, and a sea with an edge. Not only the combination of poetic language with cultural connotations and philosophy of life has granted this poem collection a high reputation in the world, but the secret and liberal spiritual realm found in his poems is also a source of fascination for brave and optimistic people.

Reference

“Gitanjali 2 by Rabindranath Tagore - Poems | Academy of American Poets.” Poets.Org, poets.org/poem/gitanjali-2. Accessed 23 May 2023.

Bagthariya, Rohit. “Mysticism in Rabindranath Tagore’s GITANJALI.” International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research 1.5 (2014).

Sarkar, Somnath. “Gitanjali as a Nature Poem: Treatment of Nature in Gitanjali.” All About English Literature, 20 Sept. 2021, www.eng-literature.com/2021/09/gitanjali-as-a-nature-poem.html.

Sharma, Priyanka. "Gitanjali, a Religious Expression of Cosmogony and Devotional Quest." International Journal of Innovative Research and Development 5.5 (2016).