16
The Broken Wing
From centuries of repression, India has awakened at last, eager to welcome
freedom. The poet asks the intellectuals whether they too will join the
awakening. Will they?
Question:
The great dawn breaks, the mournful1 night is past,
From her deep age-long sleep she wakes at last!
Sweet and long-slumbering2buds of gladness ope3
Fresh lips to the returning winds of hope.
Our eager hearts renew their radiant4 flight
Towards the glory renascent5 light,
Life and our land wait their destined spring
Song-bird why dost thou bear a broken wing?
1. sad 2. sleeping 3. open 4. glowing 5. reviving being reborn
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Answer:
Shall spring that wakes mine ancient land again
Call to my wild suffering heart in vain?
Or fate’s blind arrows still6 the pulsing note
Of my far-reaching frail7 unconquered throat?
Or a weak bleeding pinion daunt8 or tire
My flight to the high realms of my desire?
Behold! I rise to meet the destined spring
And scale10 the stars upon my broken wing!
Sarojini Naidu
About the Poem
The poem portrays a picture of India under the British Raj at a time when the freedom
struggle has just begun. The centuries of dominance that has broken the spirit of the Indian people
had also taken its toll on those who could influence the common people the most, the intellectuals
– the poets, playwrights and other writers. These people are symbolized as the song – bird. Their
voice had been suppressed for a long time. Any resistance on their part was dealt harshly with
brute force and strict censorship. But now the people of India have awakened. The great dawn is
the impending liberation. The mournful night is the period of dominance. The prevalent atmosphere in he country is that of joy of expectation, symbolized by the opening of buds and hope of
independence, symbolized by the returning winds. As the birds at dawn ready themselves to fly
towards the glorious light of a fresh morning, the people of India are ready to walk the splendid
path of liberty. At this point they ask the intellectuals who have borne the brunt of oppression, and
were like a bird with a broken wing, if they too have the strength to join them.
The answer of the song – bird is brave. It says that the call of liberty, which has awakened
the people, could not be ignored by its wild and suffering heart. The centuries of repression may
have weakened the body, it certainly has not exhausted the spirit. Its body may have been constrained yet its voice remains unconquered. It will not let a bleeding wing hamper its long awaited
flight to freedom. Saying that, the wounded bird flies higher and higher, to meet its hearts desire –
freedom…
A.
g words given in the poem, find them and write them down:
There are some rhyming
e.g. past
last
flight
_________
again
_________
ope
_________
spring
_________
note
_________
6. calm, quieten 7. delicate 8. discourage 9. kingdom 10. climb over
The Broken Wing
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B.
How would you pronounce each of the underlined words in the sentences below?
Choose a word with a similar sound given in brackets :
1.
The girl I live with knows a good pub with live music. (dive/give)
2.
They wanted to bathe the children after they had a bath in the sea. (lathe/path)
3.
You sow the seeds while I feed the sow. (cow/glow)
4.
The main house houses a collection of rare stamps. (mouse/rouses)
5.
The violinist in the bow tie took a bow. (allow/flow)
6.
It’s quite hard to wind in the sails in this wind. (find/tinned)
A.
g questions in one or two sentences each:
Answer the following
B.
1.
Who does the poet mean by ‘she’?
2.
What does the poet mean by ‘renascent light’?
3.
What does ‘spring’ stand for?
4.
What made the song-bird’s pinion bleed?
5.
Which two lines in the poem show that the bird has already started its flight?
g questions in two to four sentences each:
Answer the following
1.
What is meant by age-long sleep?
2.
Why is the song-bird’s wing broken?
3.
Why is the song-bird’s heart called wild? What has it been suffering from?
4.
Explain the use of the following adjectives for the son-bird’s throat: far-reaching, unconquered?
5.
What is meant by the ‘realms of the bird’s desire’?
Word Stress
Stress is an important feature of English pronunciation. If a word has more than one syllable, all
the syllables are not equally prominent. One of the syllable is more prominent than the others.
Example: The word English has two syllables. The first syllable Eng is more prominent than the
second syllable lish. So, it is the first syllable that receives the stress or accent i.e. it is pronounced with
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The Broken Wing
more breath force and sounds louder than the second one. While pronouncing the word English we lay
more emphasis on Eng than on lish. In the word divide, the second syllable vide is more prominent than
the first one di.
Stress or Accent is marked with a vertical bar (') above and in front of the syllable that requires
to be stressed as:
'English
di'vide
Now, practise the following words with your teacher:
g two syllables each with the stress on the first syllable:
(a) Words having
'absent
'honest
'question
'feeling
'action
'better
'father
'session
'answer
'morning
'practice
'welcome
'guidance
'language
'college
'thousand
g two syllables each with the stress on the second syllable:
(b) Words having
ab'out
hel'lo
be'fore
to'day
di'vide
re'ceive
de'cide
sur'round
pro'nounce
be'hind
re'late
ex'press
de'sign
se'lect
at'tend
e'xam
cor'rect
a'lone
de'lay
(c) Three syllable words with the stress on the first syllable:
'telephone
'excellent
'beautiful
'gardening
'decorate
'anything
'memory
'coverage
(d) Three syllable words with the stress on the second syllable:
di'rector
pro'fessor
du'ration
ex'pression
com'panion
al'ready
at'tention
di'vision
(e) Three syllable words with the stress on the third syllable:
repro'duce
under'stand
intro'duce
engi'neer
The Broken Wing
137
A dialogue literally means “a talk between two people”. Dialogue – writing is a useful form
of composition. The dialogue should begin in an interesting way and the language should be as
far as possible colloquial. In real conversation one person sometimes interrupts the other, or
breaks in on what he is staying. Sometime people use exclamations, surprise, pleasure and so on.
Keeping these important points in mind your dialogue should be in as natural, interesting
and realistic manner as possible. The whole conversation should be brief.
gue - “Between two friends about their examination preparation”.
Write a short dialog
•
Go to some old men/ women or freedom fig
ghter around you. Ask questions if they feel
broken – wing
ged? What were their expectations before independence and how they feel
after 60 years of Independence.
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The Broken Wing