Introduction of the Poem:
The poem No. 7 entitled “My Song Has Put Off Her Adornments”, is a beautiful poem of the poet's love and devotion for his Lord. In the present poem, the poet stresses the point that the only condition of meeting the Creator is the intense desire and nothing else. The Creator is absolute Love and so love is the only approach to him. As dress and ornaments are impediments in the achievement of perfect love, in the same way vanity and pride are obstacles in meeting God. Simplicity and straightness of feeling and conduct are necessary for achieving perfect love.
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| R.N. Tagore’s Poem 7 My Song Has Put off Her Adornments—Summary and Critical Analysis |
Some Critical Points of the Poem:
1. The poet is aware of this fact that God can be met through simplicity and sincerity.
2. As the dress and ornaments of the bride spoil the pleasure of perfect union with the beloved or her husband similarly the poetical embellishment spoil the purpose of song.
3. The poetical flourishes are like jingling ornaments which render the intimate talk in whispers inaudible and thus spoil the pleasure of union.
4. Beautiful dress and costly ornaments are manifestations of the wearer's vanity and pride.
5. The poet wishes to be simple and humble because he knows that God loves simplicity, purity and sincerity.
Stanza 1:
My song has put off her adornments. She has no pride of dress and decoration.
Ornaments would mar our union; they would come between thee and me; their jingling would drown thy whispers.
Explanatory Word - Meanings:
1. My song ... decoration= the poet will offer his songs to God without any decorations, for adornment produce pride and vanity which stand in the way of union with the Divine. The poet compares his songs, dedicated to God's worship, to a woman or bride who scorns of her ornaments and dress, the symbols of vanity and pride. 2. Put off = get rid of; take away (clothes, ornaments etc.) 3. Adornments = embellishments; decorations etc. 4. She= ‘she’ stands for poet's song. 5. Ornaments ... union = excessive use of poetic devices can create an obstacle in the way of union with God, hence there should be a sort of simplicity, purity and sincerity in his language. 6. Mar = spoil; destroy. 7. Union = coming together. 8. Our = the meeting of the poet and his Creator. 9. They would ... whispers = poetic ornaments are mere rhetorical jingle which drown the soft, gentle whispers in which God speaks to man. 10. Thee and me = God and the poet. 11. Jingling= the tinkling sounds produced by the ornaments. 12. Whispers= low voice.
Paraphrase in English:
It is the normal practice that when a bride goes to meet her beloved husband, she is dressed in her finest dress and decorated with the finest jewellery and ornaments. But the poet feels that these dress and ornaments are encumbrances and manifestations of show and hypocrisy. These are obstacles in the path of perfect union between the bride and her husband. So, the poet tells that he has stripped his song of devotion and love of all the poetic ornaments. He feels that poetic devices are hypocritic. So in order to approach her Lord, the bride of song should discard all show, pride and vanity. As the dress and ornaments are impediments in the path of perfect union between the bride and her Lord so are the literary graces impediments in the expression of pure and intense love of the poet for his Creator. Poetic ornaments are mere rhetorical jingle which drown the soft gentle whispers in which God speaks to man.
Stanza 2:
My poet's vanity dies in shame before the sight. O master poet, I have sat down
at thy feet. Only let me make my life simple and straight, like a flute of reed for thee to fill with music.
Explanatory Word - Meanings:
1. My poet's ... sight= the poet was vain of his song, but all his vanity dies away when he is face to face with God. 2. O master poet, I have sat down at thy feet = God is the master - musician, the inspirer and cause of all melody and the poet is fit only to sit at his feet. 3. Only let ... music= but this singing can be possible only when his life is simple, honest and straight - forward. The poet compares his life to a reed which must be simple and straight, before the Musician can fill it with sweet music.
Paraphrase:
The poet says that the fact of being a poet has made him vain. But when he approaches his Creator all his pride of being talented and superior to others vanishes and he is filled with remorse and shame for being proud. This ennobling realization comes to the poet when he contemplates upon his Lord. He realizes that his Creator is the greatest and most perfect poet and so this pride of the poet is meaningless. The poet prays his Lord to give him wisdom, strength and ability to make his life. He wishes to be simple and humble because he knows that God loves simplicity, purity and sincerity. If he can make himself simple and straight, he will be favoured by his Creator and then divine melody will flow through him like the melody flowing from the flute made of humble reed.
Critical Analysis of the Poem:
Introduction:
The poem No. 7 entitled “My Song Has Put off Her Adornments” is a beautiful poem of the poet's extreme love and devotion for his Lord. In this poem, the poet longs for simplicity and discards pride and vanity which create numerous obstacles in the way of the soul's union with the Divine. He stresses the point that the only condition of meeting the Creator is the intense desire and nothing else. The Creator is absolute Love and so love is the only approach to him. He badly condemns the adornments and embellishments which are the manifestations of pride and vanity. He has, therefore divested his song of all poetic flourishes of figurative language and involved thought. He accepts that the poetic embellishments damage the content. To stress and drive the point home that humility and simplicity are the only conditions to achieve the purpose of meeting the Creator, God, the poet has chosen a very effective image, of the union of the bride with her beloved husband.
Thought - Content:
In the present poem, the poet wishes to offer his songs to God without any decorations, for adornments produce pride and vanity which stand in the way of union with the Divine. He compares his song to a woman, a bride going to meet her husband (the Lord). She is dressed in fine clothes, decorated with precious jewellery and ornaments. All these are symbols of pride and vanity and are encumbrances or hurdles in the perfect union of the bride and her beloved husband. The poet says that it is necessary to get rid of all the ornaments and fineries for the bride for perfect union of love and emotions. The poet compares himself with flute and God with musician. The divine musician produces sweet and melodious music through the flute. The poet means to say that divinity can be realised only by living the life of simplicity, purity, honesty and sincerity. The poet regards God the poet of poets and the musician of musicians, so he wants to sit down before His feet. He prays God to impart him inspiration and strength so that he may be able to pour his emotions in his song and thus may make a true approach to God.
The Poet's Loving God as a Lover:
The poet loves God as a lover. There is a perfect and undying bond of love between God and human soul, and Tagore reveals the soul's urge for complete union with God through erotic imagery:
“My song has put off her adornments. She has no pride of dress and decoration. Ornaments would mar our union; they would come between thee and me; their jingling would drown thy whispers.”
The Use of Imagery:
To stress and drive the point home that humility and simplicity are the only conditions to achieve the purpose of meeting the Creator, God, the poet has chosen a very effective image, of the union of the bride with her beloved, her husband. The adornments of the song are poetic devices employed to embellish the poem but these shift the emphasis from the content to the form. Similarly, the ornaments and costly dress shift the emphasis from the true love between the bride and her husband to the display.
The Moral of the Poem:
The poet expresses his humility and gratitude for being enlightened about the way he should approach his lord. The poet sheds his vanity and feels ashamed for being vain. He learns his lesson from the contemplation of God. The choice of the flute of reed to buttress his argument for the need of simplicity, humility and sincerity is really very apt and effective. The reed is straight, it is humble and simple and the flute made by it is used by Lord Krishna to play his divine music which thrills and enlightens the soul.
Language and Style:
Tagore uses easy, simple and highly suggestive words. He employs apt and simple vocabulary to communicate deep spiritual feelings. Felicity and melodiousness of expression are the cardinal features of his style. The use of archaisms like thee, thy and thou antique flavour to Tagore's diction and reveals the soul's ardent yearning for complete identification with God. For instance:
“...... they would come between thee and me; their jingling would drown thy whispers.”
“My poet's vanity dies in shame before thy sight...... "
“…… Only let me make my life simple and straight , like a flute of reed for thee to fill with music.”