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Life of my life, I shall ever try to keep my body pure, knowing
that thy living touch is upon all my limbs.
I shall ever try to keep all untruths out from my thoughts, knowing
that thou art that truth which has kindled the light of reason in my mind.
I shall ever try to drive all evils away from my heart and keep my
love in flower, knowing that thou hast thy seat in the inmost shrine of my heart.
And it shall be my endeavour to reveal thee in my actions, knowing it
is thy power gives me strength to act (Purity by Rabindranath Tagore).
Analysis: Tagore takes on a very spiritual tone. He does this by referencing purity in terms of evil and by using very abstract nouns. Tagore defines these abstract things, whereas normally they are hard to describe. In the poem, he basically is trying to define purity in terms of evil by saying anything away from evil is pure. This poem is essentially a definition essay since it describes purity through the use of personal actions to become more pure. The tone is also very serious since he uses formal diction. In his formal diction, he uses many words starting with th- to indicate formality. In addition, he uses non-colloquial speech.
He was born in Bombay in 1865. At age 5 he was sent back to England to stay with a foster family. Early on in his life, he began to get better and better at literature and even attended a college at age 12. The headmaster, helped him in literature. In 1882, he returned to Lahore and he helped with writing the Civil and Military Gazette and the Pioneer. He also wrote many poems and stories. In 1889, he wrote Barrack-Room Ballads which were a whole series of short stories. He then lived in US for a little while but later returned back to England. For the rest of his life he continued to write more stories despite his suffering from loss of family members (Rudyard Kipling).
To add on to his formal diction, he uses free verse with no rhyme. The main purpose of the poem is to express the idea that you should think about others when thinking about your purity. Others matter much in your heart so therefore, when considering whether to risk your purity, think about all that others have done for you to help in your life. The poem is very short, it has only four stanzas, with two lines each. The first three stanzas show the actions that Tagore is willing to take in order to keep his mind pure for others. All three of the first three stanzas contain a repetition of "I shall ever try to…".
He was educated at home informally, however at age 17, he was sent to England for more formal schooling. He also managed family estates which brought him in touch with humanity and allowed him to get interested in social reforms. In 1901, he took editorial charge of Bangadarshan which was a newspaper in Northern India. He also established Bolpur Bramhacharya ashram at Shantiniketan, a school in the pattern of old Indian Ashrama. He participated in the indian national reform in a non- protesting way. For example, he was knighted by the crown in 1915 (Biography). However, in order to support India and as a mode of protesting against the british ruling, he took away this honor. He left to Japan and even US to give lectures. He had many tours in the US and south India and Europe. He even got a Nobel Prize for Literature. In 1921, he established Viswabharati university. He lectured in a way to promote indian protests and lessen British control (Calcuttaweb - Rabindranath Tagore.). He also wanted to increase education and make education better. Tagore was a poet who wrote in both Bengali and English. His poems were very spiritual. (Biography)
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The last stanza wraps up the whole poem with a summarizing action and it reveals the purpose of his actions in his quest for purity. In the last stanza, he says that he wants to show off qualities of these people in his actions since their power gives him strength.
The qualities of this poem are very spiritual which ties in with the British colonization. Despite the fact that the British are slowly taking over India, Tagore is hopeful in saying that you shouldn't let evil take over you because others depend on you and you depend on others. This poem is very hopeful and tries to instill hope in others who have already been manipulated by the British or have given up their struggle towards the good side of humanity.
The song's name is Vande Mataram. It literally means "Mother, I bow to thee" Bankin Chandra first composed this song during the time of India's colonization. The song pays respect to the land of India. Chandra personified the land of India as a Mother to all Indians since it sprouts life. The song describes all the great qualities of India (Nishtala).