The child who is decked with prince's robes
by
Rabindranath Tagore
(Summary)
THE
child who is decked with prince's robes and who has jeweled chains round his
neck loses all pleasure in his play; his dress hampers him at every step.
In
fear that it may be frayed, or stained with dust he keeps himself from the
world, and is afraid even to move.
Mother,
it is no gain, thy bondage of finery, if it keeps one shut off from the
healthful dust of the earth, if it robs one of the rights of entrance to the
great fair of common human life.
Summary
In
this lyric. Tagore says that a child, wearing heavy and ornate dress, that is
fit for a prince, is hampered at playing, similarly his poetry is hampered if
it has too much decoration, like similies, metaphors, personifications,
alliterations, etc. The child also fears of having his dress dusty or torn. He also
does not mingle with other children. He is afraid even to move. Tagore, then says,
that all the ornaments are worthless, if they keep him away from the dust of
the earth, the simple life, or from the nature.
In this
lyric, Tagore uses an imagery of an over-decorated child. The poet wants to
live a simple life, close to Nature and among the common people rather than the
luxurious life. The child, he says, wearing fine, magnificent clothes cannot
play due to his clothes and jewels because they hamper his movements. Similarly,
a poet, who uses luxurious and ornamental elements, cannot compose pure and
simple poetry. In this poem, Tagore has compared the poet to a child, and human
life to fair. He says that a child or the poet who is thus decorated is at a
loss, there is no gain in being bound by finery if it stops the child / man
from living the common life of enjoying all the sights to be found in a fair.
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