Page 47 - New Medley 3 Semester 1

ABOUT THE POET

Rabindranath Tagore (7 May 1861–7 August 1941) was a Bengali
poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and
painter. He reshaped Bengali literature and music as well as Indian
art in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1913, he became
the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He is
also referred to as ‘the Bard of Bengal’.
'Gitanjali' (Song Offerings), 'Gora' (Fair-Faced) and 'Ghare-Baire' (The Home and
the World) are some his best-known works.
His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India’s ‘Jana
Gana Mana’ and Bangladesh’s ‘Amar Shonar Bangla’.

Read and Understand

A. Complete the summary of the poem by adding suitable words.

The , as a little boy, imagines changing himself into a
just for fun, high up in the . He happily watches his mother. When

she would out for him, he would keep and not say
anything. He would secretly watch her during the day do her . After
her , when she would walk in the shadow of the and say

her in the court, the of the flower would reach her. But
she would not know it came from her , who was a champa flower. After
the midday meal when the poet’s mother read ‘Ramayana’, the tree’s

would fall on her. She would also not guess that it was her little .

In the evening, when she would take a lighted to the , the poet
would suddenly appear as her own . He would ask her to tell him a
. Then, the mother would ask where her had been.

(Note: In the end, the child wants to listen to a story. So, he changes back from a
champa flower to a again.)

B. Read these lines and answer the questions that follow. • Reference to context

1. I would slyly open my petals and watch you work.
a. Who is ‘I’ in this line?

b. Who is meant by ‘you’ here?

c. Mention the ‘work’ (any one) that is spoken about in the poem.

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