need help with poem?

Question

can you please kindly explain what the author is trying to say in this poem.

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 wars;
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.

the author is a nobel prize winner from india, his name is RABINDRANATH TAGORE.

Answer 1

I think the poet is talking about a country coming out of an oppressive state into a democracy, and supposedly into freedom!

Answer 2

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high..

That's the first line of the famous poem by Rabindranath Tagore where he talks of his Motherland (India).
In it, he describes his vision of what India should and could become as a nation. He hopes that his country will achieve this.

But here's an Indian's recent comment on the poem:

"And to think of it today. Its really a sad commentry on the way India have not progressed as a nation.The law-makers are the law-breakers. The policemen are a terror. The common people are afraid to speak up.The younger generation don't care about most matters.The very few who have an urge to make a difference a fast brow-beaten into submission. Who will bell the cat! That's the big question."

It would seem the vision remains unfulfilled.

Answer 3

This poem is by Rabindranath Tagore - Let My Country
Awake
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Asia’s first Nobel Laureate, was born into a prominent Calcutta family known for its socio-religious and cultural innovations during the 19th Bengal Renaissance. The profound social and cultural involvement of his family would later play a strong role in the formulation of Rabindranath’s educational priorities. His grandfather Dwarkanath was involved in supporting medical facilities, educational institutions and the arts, and he fought for religious and social reform and the establishment of a free press. His father was also a leader in social and religious reform, who encouraged a multi-cultural exchange in the family mansion Jorasanko. Within the joint family, Rabindranath’s thirteen brothers and sisters were mathematicians, journalists, novelists, musicians, artists. His cousins, who shared the family mansion, were leaders in theatre, science and a new art movement.

The tremendous excitement and cultural richness of his extended family permitted young Rabindranath to absorb and learn subconsciously at his own pace, giving him a dynamic open model of education, which he later tried to recreate in his school at Santiniketan. Not surprisingly, he found his outside formal schooling to be inferior and boring and, after a brief exposure to several schools, he refused to attend school. The only degrees he ever received were honorary ones bestowed late in life.

His experiences at Jorasanko provided him with a lifelong conviction concerning the importance of freedom in education. He also realized in a profound manner the importance of the arts for developing empathy and sensitivity, and the necessity for an intimate relationship with one’s cultural and natural environment. In participating in the cosmopolitan activities of the family, he came to reject narrowness in general, and in particular, any form of narrowness that separated human being from human being. He saw education as a vehicle for appreciating the richest aspects of other cultures, while maintaining one’s own cultural specificity.

Answer 4

Basically hes trying to say that this world sucks, for him at least.

The trechery, wars, famine, disrespect which is evermore plaguing the world such that it has become a pandemic. It is morals and true freedom which the poet desires and is trying to portray that it simply is not the case in this world of hypocracy.

Answer 5

He's saying that he would like to see the world wake into a good hearted honest world without fear and have people use their minds and not lose them and not be empty.

Answer 6

Basically just another flowery pot of hopeless dreams which denies the very fundemental nature of mankind.

Idealistic toss I'm afraid.

Answer 7

Idealism.

Answer 8

Sounds like Heaven to me.
A country free of trouble and hardship......
Is this from a south african author?

Answer 9

If you follow this link: http://www.bookrags.com/Rabindranath_Tagore?gclid=CKOnxrSM64oCFQv1YAodZE-qmg
you will have access to the author's biography, poetry, summaries and more. I believe you'll find it very helpful.

Answer 10

Freedom from life's bondage.