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1. Poem - WIND
By SUBRAMANIA BHARATI
(TRANSLATED FROM TAMIL BY
A.K.RAMANUJAN)

2. About the Poet :
– (11 December 1882 – 11
September 1921),
– Also known as Bharathiyar , he was
a Tamil writer, poet, journalist,
Indian independence activist , a
social reformer and a polyglot.
Popularly known as "Mahakavi
Bharathi", he was a pioneer of
modern Tamil poetry and is
considered one of the greatest
Tamil literary figures of all time.

3. Friendly images of wind:

4. Theme of the Poem :
The poem “Wind” inspires us to face the challenges and hardship with courage, and firm determination.
Wind is a symbol of problems and obstacles which are to be dealt without fear. We must be friends with
the wind to cope with hardship.
The poet suggests everyone to be strong enough both, mentally and physically, to face all the hardships of
life with courage. Wind symbolizes problems and obstacles that we all face and go through at some point
of time in our lives

5. 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.
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.
Frail crumbling houses, crumbling doors,
crumbling rafters,
crumbling wood, crumbling bodies, crumbling
lives,
crumbling hearts —
the wind god winnows and crushes them all.
He won’t do what you tell him.
So, come, let’s build strong homes,
Let’s joint the doors firmly.
Practise to firm the body.
Make the heart steadfast.
Do this, and the wind will be friends with us.
The wind blows out weak fires.
He makes strong fires roar and flourish.
His friendship is good.
We praise him every day.
LET US READ THE
POEM

6. GLOSSARY
poking fun: making fun of
rafters: sloping beams supporting a roof
winnow: blow grain free of chaff; separate grain from husk
by blowing on it

7. 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.
– There, look what you did — you
threw them all down.
– You tore the pages of the books.
– You brought rain again.
The poet starts the poem by humbly
requesting the wind not to break
shutters of windows, scatter papers or
even throw down books.
He blames wind for doing all this
destruction and for bringing rain to
create double chaos. The wind did not
even spare the pages of books which
it tore.

8. Explanation
– You’re very clever at poking fun at
weaklings.
– Frail crumbling houses, crumbling
doors, crumbling rafters,
– crumbling wood, crumbling bodies,
crumbling lives,
– crumbling hearts —
– the wind god winnows and crushes
them all.
He gives wind an evil quality as it
makes fun of weak things and even
weak people who cannot stand it.
The god of the wind winnows
everything down like husk when it
starts on its way , crushing everything
in its path.

9. Explanation
– He won’t do what you tell him.
– So, come, let’s build strong homes,
– Let’s joint the doors firmly.
– Practise to firm the body.
– Make the heart steadfast.
– Do this, and the wind will be friends
with us.
– The wind blows out weak fires.
– He makes strong fires roar and
flourish.
– His friendship is good.
– We praise him every day.
Instead of wind , poet now addresses
the people . He asks them to rebuild
again . This time they have to
construct not only strong homes and
doors but also, strong lives which can
withstand the force of wind.
Only when we will be strong , wind
will befriend us . As we know strong
wires are strengthened by wind .
Similarly , friendship can exist
between equals. His friendship is good
and thus , we should praise it
everyday and thank it.

10. POETIC DEVICES
1. PERSONIFICATION – wind has been personified as poet addresses it as “you”
2. REPETITION – “crumbling” word is repeated
3. SYMBOLISM – wind is symbolic for the challenges/adversities in life
4. ALLITERATION – “wind winnows”