Write the critical appreciation of the poem No. 12 entitled Far Below

Write the critical appreciation of the poem No. 12 entitled Far Below Flowed.

Ans.

The poem entitled Fruit Gathering is number twelve in Tagore’s famous poetical collection Gitanjali. It reveals a different aspect of Tagore’s work. This poem displays the narrative skill of the poet, as in it he tells a story with a moral from the life of the Sikh saint Guru Govind. The moral of the story is that saints do not give any importance to worldly things, however precious they may be for they know that all the worldly things are transitory. They will be destroyed. The religious man give greater importance to the spiritual wealth of a human being.

The teacher indirectly preached Raghunath that he should not be proud of his worldly possession. He cannot buy salvation with materialistic things.

The poem is written in a very simple language. It can be easily understood. The first two lines of the poem portray a beautiful picture of the river bank and its surroundings.

Far below flowed the Jumna, swift and clear, above frowned the jutting bank.

Hills dark with the woods and scarred with the torrents were gathered around.

These lines show Tagore’s skill of drawing beautiful word picture. It also shows his love of nature. The poet’s aim is to tell a story with a moral, but he set the story in the background of nature. On the whole the poem is very interesting and deserves our appreciation.