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whole sails are weakly yielded to the blind uncertain winds,

and the helm to a hand ever rigid and cold as death.

Freedom from the insult of dwelling in a puppet’s world,

where movements are started through brainless wires,

repeated through mindless habits,

where figures wait with patience and obedience for the

master of show,

mimicry: the action or skill
to be stirred into a mimicry of life. of imitating someone or
something
—Rabindranath Tagore

About the Poet
Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) was a poet, song writer, story writer, dramatist, philosopher and educator. He started
writing in Bengali and began translating his collection of poems, Gitanjali, into English. It was published in September 1912 in
London. In 1913, he received the Nobel Prize for literature for Gitanjali. He wrote over one thousand poems; eight volumes of
short stories; almost two dozen plays and play-lets; eight novels; and many books and essays on philosophy, religion, education
and social topics. He also composed more than two thousand songs, both the music and lyrics. Two of them became the national
anthems of India and Bangladesh. In 1929, he even began painting. He was fondly called Gurudev.

Time to answer

A. Choose the correct option.

1. What is the tone of the poem?

spiritual philosophical patriotic directive

2. What is referred to as ‘the burden of ages’?

old customs colonisation social evils all of these

3. What is the fear mentioned in the first line?

fear of the humiliation of living as a slave

fear of living in poverty and helplessness

fear of living on their own

fear of not being able to control the motherland

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