CLASS IX

BEEHIVE
POETRY 2
WIND
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• We should make ourselves strong to face the adverse circumstances of life.
• Adversities make us stronger if our hearts are strong but these adversities will shatter us down if we show weakness of
heart and spirit before them.
• Unless we fight with our hardships we cannot expect success.

Born 11 December 1882

Died 11 September 1921 (aged 38)

Nationality Indian

Other names Bharathi, Subbaiah, Sakthi Dasan, Mahakavi

Occupation Journalist, Poet, Novelist, Teacher, patriot,

freedom fighter
Known for Tamilan Independence activist, Poetry, Social
Reformer
Notable works Panchali Sapatham, Pappa Pattu, Kannan
Pattu, Kuyil Pattu, etc.
Subramania Bharati
 INTRODUCTION

The poet treats wind, a natural phenomenon, as a person, a human being. It symbolises
difficulties, obstacles, struggles and menacing power. It however gives a strong moral that one
must have robustness and strength to face the obstacles in life. Otherwise, a the wind destroys
the weak things so will be all those who are weak and not strong. Wind has become a force to
reckon with one’s strength and power. The moral is that one must face obstacles and odds in
life with strength and boldness.
 STANZA – 1
EXPLANATION

Wind, come softly.
Don’t break the shutters of the windows.
Don’t scatter the papers.
Don’t throw down the books on the shelf.
The poet asks the wind to come gently so as not to break the
shutters of the windows, not to scatter the papers on the
shelf. The poet makes a reference to the fact that weak things
like the window panes and papers are susceptible to break
before the power of wind.

STANZA – 2
EXPLANATION

There, look what you did-you threw them all
down.
You tore the pages of the books.
You brought rain again.
You’re very clever at poking fun at weaklings.
The poet expresses his this pleasure at the disturbances
caused by the wind. The gusty wind has thrown down
his things and the pages of his books are torn. It also
brought rain along to make things even worse. The poet
sincerely feels that the wind mocks at those who are
weak and frail.
 STANZA – 3
EXPLANATION
The poet says that anything that is weak and frail is
subjected to destruction by the power of wind. Weak
Frail crumbling houses, crumbling doors,
built houses, doors and beams of buildings shatter
crumbling rafters,
to pieces as they cannot face the power of gusty
Crumbling wood, crumbling bodies, crumbling lives,
wind. A similar effect can be seen on the people
crumbling hearts-
with weak bodies, hearts and souls. Powerful wind
The wind god winnows and crushes them all
does not pity the weak and dashes them all to the
ground.

STANZA – 4
EXPLANATION
He wont do what you tell him.
So, come , let’s build strong houses,
Let’s joint the doors firmly.
Practice to firm the body.
Make the heart steadfast
The wind is merciless and does not yield to our wishes or desires.
It blows with force and tumbles down everything weak that comes
on its way. Therefore we must be ready to face this force and build
ourselves strong enough not to be harmed by the wind. Here the
poet indirectly refers to adverse circumstances of life. These
adversities sometimes break us down physically, mentally and
emotionally. But if we are well prepared then we can brave these
moments and come out of such circumstances without being
harmed much.
 STANZA – 5
EXPLANATION

We should make ourselves strong enough to

Do this, and the wind will be friends with face all kinds of difficulties in life. As wind
us. blows out weak fires but it rather acts as
The wind blows out weak fires. bellows to increase the intensities of flames if
He makes strong fires roar and flourish. the fire is strong, similarly, adversities make us
His friendship is good. stronger if our hearts are strong but these
We praise him every day. adversities shatter us down of we show
weakness of heart and spirit before them.

MESSAGE
The message of the poem is that we must be strong. Even the
nature does not like the weak. The wind blows out small fires but
makes strong fires roar and flourish. We can not change nature we
can learn to protect ourselves when it is furious.
The world of human beings is not much different. It’s the duty of
every person to make himself powerful, mentally as well as
physically. Then all those who seem against us will join to help us.
As the saying goes, even God helps those who help themselves.
 POETIC DEVICES PRACTICE QUESTIONS

• Personification – the wind has been personified and • What should we do to make friends with the
has been addressed as a destructive wind ?
force of weak things.
• What does the wind do when it blows softly ?
• Repetition – the word crumbling has been
repeated. • Explain : ‘You are very clever at poking fun at
weaklings’.
• Metaphor – winnows is a metaphor for separating
the weak from the strong. • How does wind deal differently with the weak
and strong fires respectively ?
• Alliteration – strong fires roar and flourish.
• Whose friendship does the poet talk about?
• Anaphora (This means repetition of a word, phrase or How is the friendship good ?
clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row )
- Repetition of Don’t
Repetition of You
Repetition of Let’s

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