5.1 Give me Strength
Complete textbook exercise solutions — Maharashtra State Board (Balbharati), Grade Six English.
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About the poem
This poem by Rabindranath Tagore is a prayer to God. The poet does not ask for wealth or comfort. He asks for inner strength to live a good life. He wants to serve the poor and never bow before proud and rude power.
Key points
- Poet: Rabindranath Tagore.
- Form: a prayer.
- The poet asks for strength to bear joys and sorrows lightly.
- He wants to make his love fruitful in service.
- He wants to raise his mind high above daily trifles.
- Figure of speech: metaphor (“strike at the root of penury in my heart”).
Words to remember
- penury – great poverty; here, meanness of heart
- insolent – rude and proud
- trifles – things of little importance
- disown – to refuse to accept as one’s own
- surrender – to give up oneself to someone
- (i) What does the poet ask God to strike at? — (b) penury in his heart
- (ii) What kind of strength does the poet ask for first? — (c) strength to bear joys and sorrows lightly
- (iii) The poem is mainly in the form of — (c) a prayer
- (iv) In the last line, the poet asks for strength to — (c) surrender his strength to God’s will
(i) Why is the poet asking for strength?
The poet wants to live a good life. He asks for strength to bear joys and sorrows lightly. He wants to serve others and never disown the poor. He does not want to bow before rude power. He wants to rise above small matters and surrender to God’s will.
(ii) What do you mean by the word ‘service’ in the context of the poem?
Here ‘service’ means helping others, especially the poor and needy. The poet feels that true love must be shown through such service.
(iii) How does the poet want to make his love fruitful?
The poet wants to make his love fruitful in service. He wants to show his love by helping others.
(iv) What are ‘daily trifles’? Why does the poet want to rise above them?
Daily trifles are the small, unimportant matters of everyday life, like little quarrels and worries. They waste our time and energy. So the poet wants to raise his mind above them and think about important things.
- (i) Cake – make (example) — I make a cake.
- (ii) Light – might — With all his might, he lifted the light box.
- (iii) Dove – love — The dove is a symbol of peace and love.
- (iv) Tender – surrender — The tender kitten would not surrender its ball.
Students should list the trifles in their own life. Sample answers are given below.
| Trifles in my life | Solutions I found |
|---|---|
| A fight with a friend (given) | Talk calmly and say sorry first. |
| Nobody is talking to me (given) | Start a talk myself or keep myself busy. |
| My friends are teasing me (given) | Laugh it off, or tell them clearly that I don’t like it. |
| Someone got better marks than me | Work harder and improve my own study habits. |
This is a personal-response activity. Students should make their own list.
Format to follow, with the given example: “I would like to ask for — happiness. Reason — brings joy.” Other ideas students may consider: good health for my family, clean water for every village, education for every child, forests full of trees, a library in my village, courage to speak in front of people.
This is a personal-response question. Students should write about their own experience.
Points that may help: When and where did it happen? · Who needed help? · What made you afraid or hesitant? · What did you actually do? · What happened afterwards, and how did you feel?
- Birth: 7 May 1861, in Kolkata (Calcutta).
- Types of literary work: poems, songs, short stories, novels, plays and essays. He was also a painter.
- Books written by him: Gitanjali, Gora, Ghare Baire, The Post Office, The Crescent Moon.
- Two more poems: “Where the Mind is Without Fear” and “Leave This Chanting”.
- Notable work: He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 for Gitanjali. He was the first Asian to win it. He wrote India’s national anthem, Jana Gana Mana. He founded Visva-Bharati at Santiniketan.
A metaphor compares two things without using like or as.
- “strike at the root of penury in my heart” (given) — penury is compared to a plant with roots.
- “make my love fruitful in service” — love is compared to a tree that bears fruit.
- “raise my mind high above daily trifles” — the mind is compared to something that can be lifted up.