Question

Which remarkable childhood experience does the poet remember through this poem?​

Answer 1

Answer: I THINK YOU ARE ASKING FIRST JASMINE

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The First Jasmines

Ah, these jasmines, these white jasmines!  

I seem to remember the first day when I filled my hands with  

these jasmines, these white jasmines.  

I have loved the sunlight, the sky and the green earth;  

I have heard the liquid murmur of the river thorough the  

darkness of midnight;  

Autumn sunsets have come to me at the bend of a road in the  

lonely waste, like a bride raising her veil to accept her lover.  

Yet my memory is still sweet with the first white jasmines  

that I held in my hands when I was a child.  

Many a glad day has come in my life, and I have laughed with  

merrymakers on festival nights.  

On grey mornings of rain I have crooned many an idle song.  

I have worn round my neck the evening wreath of bakulas woven  

by the hand of love.  

Yet my heart is sweet with the memory of the first fresh  

jasmines that filled my hands when I was a child.

by Rabindranath Tagore

Answer 2

To Tagore, “these white jasmines” are reminiscent of his joyous childhood days. They conjure up the old fond memories of the time “when I (the poet) was a child.” Swayed into the thoughts of “Many a glad day”, the poet recalls “the first day when I filled my hands with these jasmines, these white jasmines.”

The sweet-smelling jasmines remind him of the time he would spend in the company of nature’s various forms. The comforting images of the past are evoked at once in his mind, including those of "the sunlight, the sky and the green earth," “the liquid murmur of the river,” “many a glad day,” “festival nights,” and “the evening wreath of bakulas.” He sounds nostalgic but not sad.

The poet's no more a child. In the line quoted below, the poet accepts his present state in a very cheerful way.

“Autumn sunsets have come to me at the bend of a road in the lonely waste, like a bride raising her veil to accept her lover.”

Both the season of autumn and sunset have been traditionally associated with the old age. The poet knows quite well that the prime of his youth has already passed away and that he is growing older. The phrase “Autumn sunsets” stands for his declining years that "have come to me at the bend of a road in the lonely waste.“

Unlike many Romantic and Victorian poets, Tagore doesn't wish to become a child again nor does he lament growing old. Instead, he accepts the inevitable reality in an unexpectedly cheerful way.

He finds “autumn sunsets” of his life as gorgeous as a bride. The comparison of the approaching old age to “a bride raising her veil to accept her lover” is quite unusual and highly innovative. The uncomplaining poet seems to be celebrating his growing old as if it were his wedding ceremony.

This line expresses the poet's unconventional attitude towards ageing. Far from being depressed and mourning, he is in a celebratory mood, eager to embrace his advancing years as a man would embrace his bride