Explain the given lines from the poem "Ode to Intimations of Immortality" by William Wordsworth- Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting,The Soul that rises with us, our life Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home: Heaven lies about us in our infancy! Shades of the prison-house begin to close Upon the growing Boy, But He beholds the light, and whence it flows, He sees it in his joy (lines 58-70)
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The magic of childhood can be matched by no other phase of one’s life.For there is a touch of the divine in it. All that we do as children is without any particular aim or objective — it is all done in innocence and that is what makes it so different from our actions at other stages of our lives. The great Romantic poet William Wordsworth has described this divine aspect very beautifully in his Ode to Intimations of Immortality where he tells us how a child is close to God and then moves gradually away as he grows up.
“Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home: Heaven lies about us in our infancy!” It is about these heavenly days of mine that I would like to talk. My earliest memories are from the time when I was around three years old, just before I went to Kindergarten, in the beautiful Doon valley. We lived in a sprawling green area known as Race Course (it is still regarded as one of the best parts of the valley). My father was on deputation with the ONGC and I was admitted, along with my elder brother, into a school called Cambrian Hall located in Dehra Dun cantonment. Incidentally, the school was also close to my father’s office (Tel Bhavan — the heritage building which is still the headquarters of the ONGC). This gave rise to some problematic situations .
During our break-time in school, my father thought he would just walk across and check on me for the first few days of my KG. With each passing day, it became more and more difficult for the teacher to separate me from my father’s arms. I would hug him tightly and cry with all the strength I had. It became embarrassing for him and my brother too, who was in Class IV and would come home and complain that his friends teased him about this. But I was little and did not know anything about what embarrassment was or why I must leave Papa’s hand and go to a strange place where I knew nobody.
In the mornings, as my brother and I stood with our mother outside the house, waiting for the quaint looking bus no. 1 of the school, I would suddenly (as I watched the bus approaching) run at great speed and once inside the house, I would lock myself into the bathroom. This became a cause of great chaos and trouble and many a time, I managed to escape going to school in those early years. I do not remember how we all got past this stage! I remember very well, though, how I used to weep if I was made to go away from my parents.
On a hot summer day in June, when I was down with high fever, the kind old Dr Joshi from the ONGC Hospital was called home. When I heard some talk about an injection, I again ran out of the house (while the parents and the doctor were talking to each other), without slippers, and reached quite far. I cannot forget till now, how the burning road hurt my little feet. But anything to escape the injection! Soon I saw Hari Shanker, who ran errands for us, coming towards me on his cycle .He just picked me up and back I was, facing
Dr Joshi and the injection. The horror of that moment is still fresh in my mind. Memories of many other incidents of later life may have faded or even have been completely wiped away. But these memories of those lovely times in Race Course are etched very clearly on my heart and mind. Those were days when I was close to the arms of God and my parents. They would all hold me close ,secure and safe.I was truly blessed. Till now, I derive strength from the memories of that security and innocent joy. I may have found so much more in life after that glorious period but nothing can match the beauty and warmth of that divine childhood, when we are spiritual without even knowing the word or its meaning.