What is allegory in poetry?
I had gone a-begging from door to door in the village path, when thy golden chariot appeared in the distance like a gorgeous dream and I wondered who was this King of all kings!
My hopes rose high and methought my evil days were at an end, and I stood waiting for alms to be given unasked and for wealth scattered on all sides in the dust.
The chariot stopped where I stood. Thy glance fell on me and thou camest down with a smile. I felt that the luck of my life had come at last. Then of a sudden thou didst hold out thy right hand and say `What hast thou to give to me?'
Ah, what a kingly jest was it to open thy palm to a beggar to beg! I was confused and stood undecided, and then from my wallet I slowly took out the least little grain of corn and gave it to thee.
But how great my surprise when at the day's end I emptied my bag on the floor to find a least little gram of gold among the poor heap. I bitterly wept and wished that I had had the heart to give thee my all.
Can Gitanjali Poem-50 be called an allegorical poem?
Allegorical Poem:
An allegory is a description of one thing under the image of another and in an allegorical poem some deep truth is symbolically expressed through a description of story.
Gitanjali Song 50 by Rabindranath Tagore
My hopes rose high and methought my evil days were at an end, and I stood waiting for alms to be given unasked and for wealth scattered on all sides in the dust.
The chariot stopped where I stood. Thy glance fell on me and thou camest down with a smile. I felt that the luck of my life had come at last. Then of a sudden thou didst hold out thy right hand and say `What hast thou to give to me?'
Ah, what a kingly jest was it to open thy palm to a beggar to beg! I was confused and stood undecided, and then from my wallet I slowly took out the least little grain of corn and gave it to thee.
But how great my surprise when at the day's end I emptied my bag on the floor to find a least little gram of gold among the poor heap. I bitterly wept and wished that I had had the heart to give thee my all.
Allegorical Poem Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore:
The poem Gitanjali is an allegorical poem, because under its surface meaning we can discover another meaning-a deep spiritual significance. Each and every detail here stands for something. Here the beggar is everyman, while the king of all king is God. God is not only the giver, he is also a beggar. What God demands from man is complete self surrender. Man must make the supreme sacrifice of his complete self to God without reservation. Through this complete self-surrender the union between man and God is possible. Through partial sacrifice the beggar enjoys partial bliss and realizes that complete surrender of the self is essential for the union with God. The realization of the beggar is allegorically represented through the poem.
