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On the seashore of endless worlds children meet. The infinite sky is motionless overhead and the restless water is boisterous. On the seashore of endless worlds the children meet with shouts and dances.
They build their houses with sand and they play with empty shells. With withered leaves they weave their boats and smilingly float them on the vast deep. Children have their play on the seashore of worlds.
They know not how to swim, they know not how to cast nets. Pearl fishers dive for pearls, merchants sail in their ships, while children gather pebbles and scatter them again. They seek not for hidden treasures, they know not how to cast nets.
The sea surges up with laughter and pale gleams the smile of the sea beach. Death-dealing waves sing meaningless ballads to the children, even like a mother while rocking her baby's cradle. The sea plays with children, and pale gleams the smile of the sea beach.
On the seashore of endless worlds children meet. Tempest roams in the pathless sky, ships get wrecked in the trackless water, death is abroad and children play. On the seashore of endless worlds is the great meeting of children.
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| Gitanjali Poem no. 60 |
Summary
The poem is slightly different from other lyrics. The lyric celebrates the innocence, simplicity and carefree nature of the children. Tagore has painted a beautiful scenery where children are playing and shouting on the shore of world without end. Above them the sky is vast and motionless. The water in the sea is tempestuous. The Children are playing carelessly and dancing with shouts untroubled by the worries and cares which beset the grown-ups.
Innocently, they build houses of sand, blow empty shells, float boat's made of withered leaves. With an innocent smile on their face they are busy with their games on the seashore of worlds. They are far away from the tensions of the world of adults. They don't know how to swim. They dont know how to cast nets in order to gather pearls. Merchants sail in their ships, while children gather pebbles and scatter them once again. They are not in search of hidden treasures, and they do not know how to throw nets. They are unconcerned towards life's problems and struggle; while men toss on the rough waves and try to make headway children play on the seashore.
Not only the children play on he sea shore but the sea plays with them, too. It produces waves of laughter and its smile shines with a pale colour. Children love the death causing waves which seem to them singing mother. The roar is as sweet as mother's lullaby. The tempests and sea waves are destructive. Ships are wrecked, death is everywhere but children go on with their innocent games on the shore of sea of life.
Critical Analysis
Like romantics, Tagore too, loves the theme of innocence and simplicity which he found in the face and activities of children. Wordsworth in his poem The Ode to Immortality has accepted childhood as a source to get the heavenly glory. He says that child is innocent, carefree, simple, pure minded, without cunning and guile. These traits of his characteristic make him close to the spiritual bliss. The poet repents to be an adult because it makes him away from childhood and far away from that heavenly glory and reminiscences of spiritual bliss. Wordsworth applauds the innocent and carefree nature of child as Tagore celebrates their innocent plays. Both poets are similar in their thoughts. The children are playing on the shore of the sea of life. They are unconcerned with the mystery of life. Their innocence is in sharp contrast with man's cunning, guile, shrewdness, mercenary problems, lust. Their world is not a materialistic world but a world of joy and simplicity they have no discrimination between pebbles and the pearls. The roar for them is as sweet as mother's song. The message of simplicity, innocence and detachment is reflected through the lyric. Here the lines of Wordsworth 'child is the father of man' fulfils the idea of Tagore's lyric.
"They build their houses with sand and they play with empty shells. With withered leaves they weave their boats and smilingly float them on the vast deep. Children have their play on the seashore of the worlds."
The lines sings of the innocence and carefree attitude of the children. They are guileless, loving and with no evil in their heart. They are busy with their games on the seashore of the endless world. They are quiet engaged in building houses of sand and playing with empty shells. They make boats out of withered leaves and smilingly float them on the water of deep sea. There is a sharp contrast with the life of adults. Their life is engaged in selfish plays of hoarding money. The child's innocence is in contrast with grown-ups, shrewd and guile. They are lost in the deep sea of materialism, lust, comforts, greed and hidden treasures and they cast nets for their own purposes. The childhood is idealised here.
Annotations
Boisterous: noisy. Withered: dried. Nets: here refers to the guile of man, cheating, shrewd planning. Surges up: full of waves. Gleams: shines. Ballads: songs. Wrecked : destroyed. Trackless: pathless Abroad: everywhere. Endless worlds : here refers to the life, the cycle of birth.