Ruskin Bond Poem: At the Grave of John Mildenhall in Agra

There are many understated themes in this poem, which is about a traveller called John Mildenhall. He comes from England, and via Lahore and Ajmer reaches Agra, where the king Akbar sits.

When he is brought face-to-face with the king, the king being curios about his country begins asking him questions about his Queen and the Poet Shakespeare and the British navy which is famous for ships and strength.

Subtly, this poem draws a comparison between India and England. John liked our county so much that he didn’t opt to go back to his country. He lived and died here. But thankfully the British Raj that came after him left the country in 1947. There is also a comparison drawn between Shakespeare and Indian poets like Fazl or Faiz, and it is stated that the former is not as good as Indian poets.

In the year 1594,

Visiting first Lahore

And then the garden city of Ajmer,

Came a merchant adventurer

John Mildenhall by name

From London by the river Thame.

To Agra’s mart he bought

His goods and baggage; then sought

Audience with the great

Moghul, who sat in state

In vast red sandstone audience-hall.

We are pleased, Mr. Mildenhall,

‘To have you at our court,’ great Akbar said;

‘Your Queen is known to have an astute head’,

Your country many ships, and I hear

Of a poet called Shakespeare –

Who though not as good as Fazl or Faiz,

Writes a pretty line and does play on the side.

But tell us –when will you be on your way?

Most gracious King, I would like to stay –

With your permission – for a while

Said the traveller with the Elizabethan smile.

To this request the Emperor complied.

John stayed, and settled down, and died.

Over three hundred years had passed

When those who followed, left at last

By Ruskin Bond

Comments

Poem Summary: Where The Mind Is Without Fear by Rabindranath Tagore

Poem by Rabindranath Tagore: Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls Where words come out from the depth of truth Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. Short Summary: This poem is written by Rabindranath Tagore during pre-independence days, when India was a colony of the British. The underlying theme of the poem is absolute freedom; the poet wants the citizens of his country to be living in a free state. According to the poem, we see that the poet is expressing his views there should be a country, like where people live without any sort of fear and with pure dignity…they should

Book Review: The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond

Among all Ruskin Bond books, The Blue Umbrella has, so far, gathered immense applaud from readers and critics alike. This is a short novel, but the kind of moral lessons it teaches to us are simply overwhelming. This is a story of Binya, a poor little girl living with her mother and an elder brother, Bijju, in a small hilly village of Garhwal. One day while herding her two cows back home, she stumbles upon some city people enjoying the picnic in the valley. She is enthralled to see them well-groomed and rich. She craves to be one like them and among many other things of their, a blue frilly umbrella catches her attention. She begins craving for it. On the other hand, the city people get attracted by her innocent beauty and the pendant in her neck. The pendant consists of leopard’s claw – which is considered a mascot widely in the hills. Binya trades her pendant off with the blue umbrella. The blue umbrella is so much beautiful that soon it becomes a topic of conversation fo

Poem Summary: Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Ozymandias is a short poem of fourteen lines written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The concurrent theme of the poem is that nothing remains intact and same forever in this world. Even the brightest of metal, one day decays with passage of time. The throne name of Egyptian King Ramesses is Ozymandias. It was his dearest desire to preserve himself forever by building a huge statue that he thought would never tumble down. Stanza 1: I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; Summary: The poet narrates the poem through the eyes of a traveler who seems to have come back from a remote and far-away land, referring to Egypt. The traveler r

Kevein Books and Reviews

Search This Blog