Is This The End ?

Glossary

 

Unremembered  Forgotten

A form undone End of the body

Little hours Short lived lives

Mocked Made fun of

Yearnings Strong desires of the spirit

Godward climb Attain Godhood

Harp Human body

Shattered Dead

Mute Silent

Unseen Player Spirit

Tree Human body

Bird Spirit

Hush Stop

Remoulds Gives different shapes

 

Objective Type Questions

 

Q1. What is the name of poet of the poem ‘Is This The End?’

A1. Sri Aurobindo Ghose

 

Q2. To what object the human is compared in the poem?

A2. The Human body is compared to the harp in the poem.

 

Q3. What view of life is presented in the poem?

A3. Spiritual view.

 

Q4. What is normally the end of life?

A4. Death is known to be the end of life.

 

Q5. To what object the human soul is compared in this poem?

A5. The human soul is compared to ‘The unseen player’s in the poem’.

 

Q6. What is the thing which never dies?

A6. The Soul of human body never dies.

 

Q7. What is to be sought by man’s soul?

A7. Divine bliss or Param Ananda is to be sought by man’s soul.

 

Q8.What is beyond the reach of death?

A8. Human longings and aspiration’s are beyond the reach of death.

 

Short Answer Type Questions

 

Q1. The poet presents a view of life in the poem. What is it?

A1. The poet presents a spiritual view of life in this poem. He emphatically says that man’s spirit is immortal and divine. A man is generally forgotten soon after his physical death, when his body is buried in a grave or turned to ashes in fire. But, this is not the end of man, because his soul or spirit is divine and lives forever.

 

Q2. Why is the poet not prepared to accept that physical death is the end of life?

A2. The poet is not prepared to accept that the physical death is the end of life. Death can physically end the body only. It cannot destroy the soul, which is immortal and divine. The poet firmly believes that human longings and aspiration are beyond the reach of death.

 

Q3. What is normally the end of life?

A3. Death is normally believed to be the end of life. After death one is either buried or cremated and his physical form comes to an end. He is soon forgotten. This is generally considered the end of life.

 

Q4. What do the ‘harp’ and the ‘tree’ symbolise? Explain in about sixty words.

A4. The harp is a musical instrument, which is played with fingers. But, harp symbolically used for human body. The harp may be broken and may become silent, but its unseen player or musician never dies. Like-wise human body may die, but its soul or spirit is immortal. Similarly, the tree also represents the human body. The tree may fall and die but the bird continue to sing and it never dies.

About the poet Aurobindo Ghose (1872-1950)

 

• He was an Indian philosopher, yogi, guru, poet, and nationalist.

• In 1910, he fled British India and shifted to Pondicherry, where he devoted himself to spiritual pursuits.

• There he wrote several plays, poems, books on philosophy. Life Divine, an excellent philosophical work, is his magnum opus.

 

Summary of the poem

 

• The poet presents a spiritual view of life in this poem. The poet has tried to conclude whether physical death of a person is the end of life or not. The poet thoughtfully says that physical death is not the end of life because the soul or spirit is immortal and divine.

 

• When a man dies, his body is buried in a grave or is cremated or soon forgotten. But the poet says that divine spark in human soul never comes to an end. It passes from one body to another. It is poet’s firm belief that the body may die but the spirit is immortal. The divine spirit in human body appears in different forms. The human spirit advances towards God and a process of spiritual evolution is always in progress in the world. So the poet conveys the message through this poem that physical death is not the end of life, as human soul or spirit goes on living forever.

 

Poem – Is This The End?

 

Is this the end of all that we have been,

And all we did or dreamed,

A name unremembered and a form undone,

Is this the end? (4)

 

A body rotting under a slab of stone

Or turned to ash in fire,

A mind dissolved, lost its forgotten thoughts,

Is this the end? (8)

 

Our little hours that were and are no more,

Our passions once so high

Being mocked by the still earth and calm sunshine,

Is this the end? (12)

 

 

Our yearnings for the human Godward climb

Passing to other hearts

Deceived, while smiles towards death and hell the world,

Is this the end? (16)

 

Fallen is the harp, shattered it lies and mute;

Is the unseen player dead?

Because the tree is felled where the bird sang,

Must the song too hush? (20)

 

One in the mind who planned and willed and thought.

Worked to reshape earth’s fate,

One in the heart who loved and yearned and hoped.

Does he too end? (24)

 

The immortal in the mortal is his Name;

An artist Godhead here

Ever remoulds in dimmer shapes,

Unwilling to case (28)

 

Till all is done for which the stars were made,

Till the heart discovers God

And the soul knows itself. And even then

There is no end. (32)

Reference to context: These lines have been taken from the poem – ‘Is This The End?’ written by the poet Aurobindo Ghose. This poem is of philosophical nature. It conveys the idea that human body is mortal where as human soul is immortal and divine.

Explanation Line (1 to 8)

In these lines, the poet raises a question whether the death is the end of life. After death a person is buried or cremated and soon he is forgotten. If the dead body is buried, it gets rotten under a slab of stone and if it is cremated it turns into ashes in fire. But the poet says that this is not the end of life, it is only the end of body, where as human soul is immortal and goes on living forever.

 

Explanation Line (9 to 16)

 

In these lines, the poet laments that a man’s life in this world is short-lived. There was a time when he had high desires and ambitions. But now, after his death, he has become an object of fun. Even the still earth and calm sunshine laugh at his fate. The poet is confused if it is the way the human life should come to an end. The human spirit desire to attain Godhood and became one with divinity, but the failure of our spiritual longings deceive us and kept us trapped in the minor things of life. The poet suggests that death cannot crush the spiritual longings. Man dies physically but his desires are immortal. They live even after his death. Death becomes an object of laughter for them.

 

Explanation Line (17 to 24)

In these lines the poet has made beautiful comparisons. The human body has been compared to a musical instrument, which is played with fingers, whereas the soul is compared to unseen player of the harp. The harp may die but the player goes on living forever. Then the human is compared to a tree and the soul to the bird that sings in the tree. The tree may fall and die, but the song does not die. Similarly, when the body of a man dies his spirit goes on living in another body, as man’s spirit is immortal and enlightened by divine light.

 

Explanation Line (25 to 32)

In these lines the poet points out that there is immortal divine spirit in this mortal human body. God works like a great artist and the divine spirit appears in different shapes and forms. The divine spirit never ceases till it discovers God and comes to know it’s own reality. Even, after this man’s spirit goes on living and there is no end to it’s life.

 

Central idea of the poem

 

• The poet raises a very important question in this poem whether physical death is the end of life or not. Generally, death is considered the end of life, which is not the reality. It is only the end of body, not soul or spirit. Human soul is immortal and divine, which never comes to an end. So, death is not the end of life. It means the process of evolution is not to stop at intellectual level. It has to continue further till man reaches the stage of divine bliss – param ananda