short questions on the poem Superior by Rabindranath tagore
Answers
VIKASH LATACERTIFIED EDUCATOR
The title is ironical and suits well to the content of the poem. The narrator is a teacher who is rather bemused by the activities of the child and finds her “silly” and “absurdly childish.” However, we find that the child with her unsullied imagination and innocence, stands on a far higher pedestal than that of her teacher.
The “schoolmaster” doesn't approve of the way the child perceives the world around herself. He wants to teach the child that it’s foolish to believe stars and streets lights are same things.
He finds it ludicrous when the child puts the pebbles into her mouth believing them to be some edible stuff. He is piqued when the child bursts out laughing after tearing the pages of her book. He complains to the child’s mother,
“she tears the leaves with her hands and roars for joy at
nothing; this is your baby's way of doing her lesson.”
He’s not able to understand why “she laughs and thinks it great fun” when he scolds her for tearing the pages of her book.
The child believes she can touch and hold the moon. The teacher, however, finds her imagination “funny” and absurd.
What the poet wants to bring home is the point that the child’s innocence and angelic imagination enable her to experience the joys that the teacher is completely deprived of.
As a person with knowledge and experience, the teacher is expected to be much “superior” to the child in every respect. However, his bookish knowledge and so-called experience constrict his thoughts and imagination.
The use of dramatic irony permeates the poem throughout. We pity the peevish teacher who’d never know that how greatly he falls short of the pristine and unrestricted imagination that lights up the child’s mind.