Playthings By Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) wrote short stories, poems, novels, songs, plays and essays. His contributions to art and literature are vast and invaluable. He was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature for his Gitanjali. The national anthems of India and Bangladesh are his works.

Child, how happy you are sitting in the dust, playing with a broken twig all the morning.

I smile at your play with that little bit of a broken twig.

I am busy with my accounts, adding up figures by the hour.

Perhaps you glance at me and think, 'What a stupid game to spoil your morning with!'

Child, I have forgotten the art of being absorbed in sticks and mud-pies.

I seek out costly playthings, and gather lumps of gold and silver.

With whatever you find you create your glad games, I spend both my time and my strength over things I never can obtain.

In my frail canoe I struggle to cross the sea of desire, and forget that I too am playing a game.

−Rabindranath Tagore

1.
Tick (√) the correct answer.
1. The speaker of this poem is
  1. a third person watching the father working and the child playing.
  2. the father of the child who is playing in the dust.
2. Although in different ways, both the speaker and the child are
  1. busy and occupied.
  2. happy and satisfied.
3. 'What a stupid game to spoil your morning with!' the speaker thinks
  1. this about the child.
  2. that the child may feel this way about his work.
4. The speaker feel feels sorry because he has forgotten how to
  1. play with sticks and mud-pies.
  2. be happy playing with sticks and mud-pies.
5. In my frail canoe I struggle to cross the sea of desire... Here, the canoe and the sea represent the speaker's
  1. way of life and all the things he wants
  2. house and the distances he has to travel
6. The speaker sounds like he is
  1. almost jealous of the child's ability to be happy.
  2. making fun of the child's simple games.
2.
Child, how happy you are sitting in the dust, playing with a broken twig all the morning. / I smile at your play with that little bit of a broken twig.
Which words have been repeated in these lines? Why do you think they have been repeated?
3.
I seek out costly playthings, and gather lumps of gold and silver.
1. What could the speaker mean by 'costly playthings'?
2. Why do you think he mentions 'lumps' of gold and silver? Would he really gather gold and silver in 'lumps'?
4.
With whatever you find you create your glad games, I spend both my time and my strength over things I never can obtain. What kind of contrast does this line create? Who sounds wiser here?
5.
...I too am playing a game. What kind of 'game' do you think the speaker is referring to?
6.
This poem is a study of the simplicity of childhood in comparison with the anxiety caused by the demands of adulthood. What message do you think the speaker wishes to convey to readers through this poem?

1 more answer(s) available.

New Magnolia English Reader 8

Orient BlackSwan

Chapters

Playthings

Rabindranath Tagore

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