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He whom I enclose with my name is weeping in this dungeon. I am ever busy building this wall all around; and as this wall goes up into the sky day by day I lose sight of my true being in its dark shadow.
I take pride in this great wall, and I plaster it with dust and sand lest a least hole should be left in this name; and for all the care I take I lose sight of my true being.
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| Gitanjali Poem no. 29 |
Summary
Here Tagore talks about his soul and how it was being imprisoned within his body. This soul gives him his true nature but in imprisoning deeper and deeper he comes to forget his true nature. He says that his soul, his inner true being was trapped inside the body that is known by his name and his soul was crying in the deep dungeon that the physical body was. Then he says he was busy in building the wall higher that is, he was more and more involved with his worldly considerations and therefore he was losing sight of his true nature.
The poet is most concerned with this wall. He takes extreme care that not a hole appear in this wall. But as much as he takes care of this wall he loses sight of his true self.
Critical Analysis
In the poem Tagore, laments the imprisonment of his soul in favour of worldly power and pride and other worldly attachments such as name and fame. The human body and all such physical and material ties are like a deep dungeon where the soul, the true being of every human is locked and imprisoned. Man forgets his divine basis and builds up his Worldly, possessions, taking pride as it grew and grew. But he doesn't realise that the more he builds on his material, worldly possessions he loses sight of his soul and its true aspirations.
Thus, Tagore preaches that for the attainment of good men should leave his attachments. He doesn't advocate complete renunciation but that man should leave pride and greed.
Annotation
He: the soul, the true inner being. Name: the physical body and worldly name and fame. This wall: material possessions.