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When the warriors came out first from their master's hall, where had they hid their power? Where were their armour and their arms?
They looked poor and helpless, and the arrows were showered upon them on the day they came out from their master's hall.
When the warriors marched back again to their master's hall where did they hide their power?
They had dropped the sword and dropped the bow and the arrow; peace was on their foreheads, and they had left the fruits of their life behind them on the day they marched back again to their master's hall.
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| Gitanjali Poem no. 85 |
Summary
The life of earth is brief and strugglesome. Eternal peace is everlasting and is regained in God's abode far away from earth. The warriors are the man who are supposed to come from the God's abode, Master's hall. The truth of origin of mankind is being explained in the lyric. The poet says that when they come on earth they seem weak and helpless. The tone is somewhat colloquial like John Donne's poem in which he says: "Where were their armour and their arms?"
The poet calls the earth as a battlefield where the man is a warrior and as soon as he enters the battlefield the struggle starts. He has weapons, and no strength, to defend himself from the countless arrows sorrow, suffering, dangers and difficulties in the life. When their period of earthly life is over they again march back to the master's hall, the heaven with a peace on their countenances. They leave behind them whatever worldly wealth they earned laboriously.
Critical Analysis
The poem is allegorical. The Heaven is the Master's hall, the mankind is the warrior and the arrows are the strikes of suffering and hardships of humanity. The man goes through the hardships, which makes man weak and feeble. He earns corporal wealth with his labours and when comes the messages from the master he leaves everything behind him on this earth with a peaceful countenance and heart. The dramatic lyric stresses the futility of worldly wealth. Death is not to be feared at. Death comes to take the beloved to God. It is the last and peaceful fulfilment of life.
Annotations
Showered: striked. Hid: hidden. Marched back: refers to death.