Summary of Wind by Subramania Bharati simple explanation

Chapter 2 of the CBSE Class 9 English book Beehive has a poem called Wind written by Subramania Bharati, a famous Tamil poet known for his patriotic work during the time before India’s independence. The poem was translated into English by A.K. Ramanujan. In this summary, we explain the poem in simple words to help students understand its meaning. They can refer to this wind poem summary while studying or revising this chapter for exams to save time and get the main points easily.

About the Poet

Subramania Bharati is considered as a prominent writer and poet in the Tamil literary world. He was also a journalist and an Independence activist. He was regarded as the Father of the modern Tamil style of writing.

Theme of the Poem Wind

The theme of the poem "Wind" by Subramania Bharati revolves around strength, resilience, and the power of challenges. The poet uses the wind as a symbol of life's difficulties and hardships. The poem emphasizes that while challenges may appear destructive and overpowering, they also have the potential to make us stronger.

The poet contrasts the weak, who crumble under pressure, with the strong, who endure and grow through adversity. He encourages us to face challenges with courage and build mental and physical strength to overcome them. The wind, symbolizing challenges, is portrayed as something that can both destroy and empower, depending on how we respond to it.

Ultimately, the theme highlights the importance of being resilient in the face of difficulties, suggesting that hardships, like the wind, can shape us into stronger and better individuals.

Short Summary of the Poem Wind

The poet talks to the wind as if it is a person. He first asks it to come gently, like a small child. But then, he describes how powerful and destructive the wind can be. It breaks windows, scatters papers, and knocks books off shelves. The wind destroys weak houses, breaks doors, and makes people and things fall. It tears apart anything that is not strong. The poet also says the wind brings rain and causes fear among people.

The poet compares the wind to a God that separates strong people from weak ones, like separating grains from husk. Instead of telling the wind what to do, he advises us to make ourselves strong. We should build strong houses, close doors tightly, and make our bodies and minds strong so we can face challenges. When we become strong, the wind becomes our friend, and we learn to face difficulties with courage.

The message is clear: life will bring problems, but instead of feeling weak, we should see them as chances to grow stronger. Difficulties teach us to overcome challenges and discover our inner strength. The poet encourages us to be brave and strong to face life’s hardships.

Wind Poem Summary (Stanza Wise)

Stanza 1

Wind, come softly. …….. Don’t throw down the books on the shelf.

In the first stanza, the poet requests the wind to blow gently and not destroy anything with its force. He asks the wind not to break the shutters of the windows and scatter the papers here and there. He also requests the wind not to throw the books on the shelf.

At that point, he says to the wind, check out the obliteration that you bring about. You have tossed everybody down and disarranged everything. Inferable from your power, the pages of the books have been destroyed. You have brought the downpour. Further, the poet says that the wind is exceptionally poignant in ridiculing frail individuals.

Stanza 2

There, look what you did – you threw them all down……. You brought rain again.

In these lines of the second stanza, the wind did not pay any attention to the poet’s request of not blowing strongly. The poet says that the wind threw everything down from the shelf and it also tore the pages from the books. The poet gets angry and blames the wind to bring rain along with it.

By this, the writer implies that when a solid wind blows, all delicate, powerless, and weak things break without any problem. At first, when the writer presented the wind, then, at that point, he contrasted its power with a little youngster; that is the reason he requested that the wind come delicately. In any case, later, the wind has become dangerous like an adolescent, ready to go, viciousness and destruction. 

Stanza 3

You’re very clever at poking fun at weaklings…….. the wind god winnows and crushes them all.

Here, the poet says that the wind is entirely strong, to the point that it breaks all that comes in his manner. He says that the powerless houses are falling, the entryways are separating, the bar which was supporting the top of the structure is falling and every one of the things made of wood material are falling.

In this stanza, the poet is sad as well as has a critical tone. The poet calls the wind clever as it makes fun of all weak things. The strong wind in these lines represents all the hardships and the struggles that an individual faces in life. The poet says that the wind destroys all weak things such as houses, doors, rafters, and wood. It even destroys people, their lives and hearts with its mighty power. The wind God continues to destroy or separate weaklings until they become strong to face the challenges.

Stanza 4

He won’t do what you tell him…… Do this and the wind will be friends with us.

In the fourth stanza, the poet addresses the readers and asks them to make themselves strong because the wind will not listen to anybody’s request. The poet asks everyone to build strong houses and the fox the doors tightly so that wind cannot intrude the house and destroy everything. This is a metaphor by which the poet is encouraging his readers to become bold and strong to face all the troubles in life. The poet asks the readers to practice hard to get a firm mind as well as a strong body so that they can face the wind and any challenge in life. If they can do this then the wind will become their friend and will not harm them.

The poet is tending to the wind as God. He has contrasted individuals and wheat and says that as we winnow the wheat to isolate the grain from the waste, comparatively, the Wind God isolates the resilient individuals from the powerless individuals. Because of the weighty and solid wind, every one of the powerless things falls and gets annihilated.

Stanza 5

The wind blows out weak fires……… We praise him every day.

In the last stanza of the poem, the poet describes the wind as both a creator and a destroyer. As a destroyer, it blows out the weak fire and as a creator, it encourages and nurtures strong fire. In other words, wind can destroy all things that are weak and feeble and at the same time, it can also flourish a thing that is strong and determined. If we are strong, then wind becomes our friend. That means strong people will stop fearing wind and not allow harming them. We then praise the wind of God every day for building our strength. Through this poem, the poet says that we should be mentally and physically prepared to accept all challenges.

The poet says that the wind won't pay attention to us and do what we say. Thus, rather than training the wind, we ought to set ourselves up. We should fabricate solid homes and close the entryway firmly so that wind doesn't enter the home. We should make our bodies solid and our hearts firm with the goal that we can confront these troubles and conquer every one of the difficulties. He says that by doing this large number of things, the wind will become companions with us.

Here, the poet implies that issues would come in our lives; we should make ourselves sufficiently to conquer them. Each obstacle in our life makes us more grounded and assists us with investigating our inward strength.