The poem, "The Child"
by Rabindranath Tagore, chronicles a journey from darkness and chaos through
doubt, murder, repentance, and eventual spiritual revelation.
I. The Setting of Darkness
and Chaos
The environment is
"deliriously wild", filled with noise, groans, and words that are
"smothered out of shape and sense". The physical world is
characterized by ruins, fragments, "fruitless failures of life," and
"godless shrines that shelter reptiles". Tumults and fanatic storms
rise in the sky, mingling with a "stealthy hum" of sinister whispers,
rumours, slanders, and derision.
The people gathered are
vague, and their torchlight creates terrifying patterns on their faces. They
are violent, with maniacs striking neighbours, leading to indiscriminate
fights. Women weep, fearing their children are lost in a "wilderness of
contrary paths". Conversely, others defiantly shake their "lascivious
limbs," laughing raucously because they believe "nothing matters".
II. The Man of Faith and
Doubt
Amidst this tumult, the
"Man of faith" stands on a hill crest in "snow-white
silence". He scans the sky for light, and when the night is worst, he
cries, "Brothers, despair not, for Man is great". The people do not
listen, convinced that the "elemental brute is eternal" and goodness
is merely deceptive.
Though beaten, they cry out
for a brother, and the answer, "I am by your side," comes, but they
cannot see the speaker in the dark. They dismiss this voice as merely their own
desperate desire, arguing that they are perpetually condemned to fight for
phantoms in a desert of mutual menace.
III. The Call to Pilgrimage
The clouds eventually part,
revealing the morning star. A "breath of rebel" rises from the earth,
accompanied by the murmur of leaves and the song of an early bird. The Man of
faith proclaims, "The time has come... For the pilgrimage".
The people, though initially
confused, begin to understand according to their individual desires. A small,
anonymous voice whispers, "To the pilgrimage of fulfilment," which
the crowd amplifies into a powerful meaning. The early sun shines like a
"golden garland" on the leader’s forehead, and they salute him.
IV. The Gathering of
Pilgrims
The pilgrims gather from all
corners of the world, including the Nile, the Ganges, Thibet, high-walled
cities, and savage wilderness. They arrive by various means: walking, riding
camels, horses, and elephants, and in chariots.
The crowd is incredibly
diverse, encompassing priests burning incense, monarchs leading armies, ragged
beggars, decorated courtiers, young scholars, and aged teachers. Women—mothers,
maidens, and brides—bring offerings, accompanied by the shrill, gaudy harlot.
Also present are the gossip, the maimed, the cripple, the blind, the sick, the
dissolute, the thief, and the man who mimics the saint for profit.
While they speak publicly of
"The fulfilment!" their private desires are darker: they magnify
their greed and dream of "boundless power," unlimited impunity for
"pilfering and plunder," and an "eternity of feast for their
unclean gluttonous flesh".
V. Weariness and Rising
Anger
The Man of faith leads them
along difficult, "pitiless paths" strewn with flints, over scorching
sands and steep mountainous tracks. The diverse following grows weary,
suspicious, and angry. They repeatedly ask, "How much further is the end?".
The leader only "sings in answer". Though they scowl, the sheer
pressure of the moving mass and "indefinite hope" push them forward.
They shorten their rest and
vie with each other, afraid of missing their chance. The days pass, and the
"ever-receding horizon" makes them sick, causing their faces to
harden and their curses to grow louder.
VI. The Murder
The journey culminates one
night under a banyan tree. After a gust of wind extinguishes the lamp,
deepening the darkness, someone points a "merciless finger" at the
leader and cries, "False prophet, thou hast deceived us!". The crowd
echoes the sentiment, with women hissing and men growling.
One person strikes a blow,
leading the others to fall upon him in a "fury of destruction,"
beating him until he lies dead and "his life extinct". The night is
then still, broken only by the muffled sound of a distant waterfall and the
scent of jasmine.
VII. Acceptance of the
Victim
The pilgrims are immediately
seized by fear and wretchedness. They begin to wrangle about who was to blame.
Just as they are about to fight again, the morning light appears, and they gasp
as they gaze at the dead figure. Their crime keeps them "chained to their
victim".
Bewildered, they ask,
"Who will show us the path?". An "old man from the East"
replies simply: "The Victim". He explains that they rejected him in
doubt and killed him in anger, but must now accept him in love, "for in
his death he lives in the life of us all, the great Victim". The pilgrims
stand up and sing, "Victory to the Victim".
VIII. The Renewed Journey
The young call for the
pilgrimage to continue—to "love, to power, to knowledge, to wealth
overflowing". They cry out to conquer the world and the world beyond.
Though the "meaning is not the same to them all," the unified impulse
pushes them on.
They are no longer burdened
by doubts or weariness. The spirit of the Leader, who has surpassed death, is
now within and beyond them. They travel through varied landscapes, including
fertile fields, granaries, barren soil where famine dwells, populous cities,
desolation, and hovels for the homeless.
When evening comes, they ask
the man who reads the sky if a distant tower is their "final hope and
peace". The wise man replies that it is only "the last vanishing
cloud of the sunset". Exhorted by the young, they continue through the
dark toward the "Kingdom of living light". The road seems to know its
own meaning, and the dust speaks direction, while the stars sing, "Move
on, comrades!". The Leader’s voice assures them, "The goal is
nigh".
IX. Arrival and Search
The pilgrimage ends as dawn
breaks. The sky reader proclaims, "Friends, we have come". They look
around and see ripe corn stretching to the horizon—the earth's "glad
golden answer". They see the quiet, daily life of the surrounding villages:
the potter's wheel turning, the woodcutter bringing fuel, the cow-herd, and the
woman walking to the well.
The pilgrims search for the
physical rewards they expected: the King’s castle, the mine of gold, the book
of magic, or the sage of love’s wisdom. The star reader, certain the signal
cannot be wrong, points to a wayside spring. He walks reverently toward it,
watching water well up like a "liquid light," resembling morning
melting into tears and laughter. He sings, "Mother, open the gate!".
X. The Revelation
A ray of morning sun strikes
the door, and the assembled crowd feels the "primaeval chant of
creation". The gate opens, revealing the mother seated on a straw bed with
the babe on her lap, described as "the dawn with the morning star".
The waiting sun’s ray falls upon the head of the child.
The poet strikes his lute
and sings, "Victory to Man, the new-born, the ever-living.". All
kneel—the king, the beggar, the saint, and the sinner—and echo the cry. The old
man from the East murmurs, "I have seen!".
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Glossary of Key Terms
The Child
The newborn babe revealed at
the end of the pilgrimage, seated on his mother's lap. He is the ultimate
symbol of fulfilment, representing the "new-born, the ever-living"
potential of humanity and renewal.
The Man of faith
The initial leader of the
pilgrimage. He stands apart from the despairing crowd, preaches that "Man
is great," and guides the people until they turn on him and kill him.
The Victim
The title given to the Man
of faith after his death by the old man from the East. In this role, his spirit
becomes the inner guide for the pilgrims, as his death allows him to live on
"in the life of us all."
The old man from the East
A wise figure among the
pilgrims who provides a new spiritual interpretation of events. He recasts the
murdered leader as "the great Victim" and is the first to understand
the final revelation, murmuring, "I have seen!"
The reader of the sky
A wise man among the
pilgrims who interprets celestial signs to navigate the journey. He confirms
their arrival at the correct destination and leads the call for the
"Mother" to open the gate.
Pilgrimage
The central journey of the
poem. It begins as a desperate escape from a chaotic world, fuelled by selfish
desires for power and wealth, but transforms into a spiritual quest that
culminates in a collective reverence for new life.
Fulfilment
The stated goal of the
pilgrimage. Initially misinterpreted by the crowd as material gain
("boundless power," "unlimited impunity for pilfering"), it
is ultimately revealed to be the spiritual renewal symbolized by The Child.
Elemental brute
The force that the cynical
crowd believes is eternal and true. They see the Man of faith's message of
goodness as a "darkly cunning" deception that hides the reality of
this brute force.
Godless shrines
An image from the poem's
opening that represents spiritual decay and corruption in the world before the
pilgrimage. These ruined shrines are described as places that now "shelter
reptiles."
Deliriously wild
A phrase used to describe the state of the world at the poem's outset. It signifies a condition of absolute chaos, confusion, and senselessness where "words [are] smothered out of shape and sense."
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