THE SOUL'S PRAYER (Summary)
BY - SAROJINI NAIDU
The poet refers to herself as the innocent child of God in the first stanza and expresses pride in being born from His breath. The two greatest mysteries of life and death become her two greatest obsessions at that point. She believes that if God revealed to her the rules and the mysteries of life and death, she could prepare herself for the difficult emotions that come with living, such as joys and sorrows.
In the 2nd stanza, She requests God to provide her with both joy and suffering because she wants to fully experience both. She desires to feel both feelings in her lifetime. The poetess asks God to grant her the ability to feel everything intensely, including all of life's joys and pains. Although she yearns for happiness, she is also willing to endure all of life's hardships.
In the 3rd stanza, she begs God not to withhold any of the joys or sorrows. She yearns for the joy of love and living, which improve our lives, but she also longs to learn the dark secrets of the afterlife. She is happy about it because she is aware that the soul might not have to return to address the wanderer's problems. The knowledge of the grave is mystical since what occurs there is not visible to the naked eye.
In the 4th stanza, God hears the child's prayers and responds in a hushed, solemn voice. He assures the poet that he would consider her demands and that he will endow her soul with knowledge of rapture and despair at their heights. In spite of all these complex feelings, the poet will maintain discipline.
In the 5th stanza, God says that the poetess will experience profound and intense moments of happiness and recognition in her life. Love will have a passionate and consuming effect on her. "And pain shall cleanse thee like a flame" suggests that pain and suffering have a purifying effect on her. Just as a flame purges impurities, the pain endured will cleanse and purify her desires, freeing her from any negative or superficial aspects. "To purge the dross from thy desire" means that pain acts as a catalyst to remove any impurities or superficialities from one's desires. It suggests that going through difficult experiences can refine one's desires, separating what is truly important from what is superficial or insincere. By enduring pain, a person can gain clarity and a deeper understanding of their true desires and aspirations.
In the 6th stanza, God informs her that after experiencing all the joys and sorrows, love and comfort, highs and lows of life, her soul will not be satisfied and will want to be freed from the bonds of blind prayer. Her spirit will then beg to learn about peace rather than passion. It will want to know how to feel calm and quietness without the fire and flame, the burning and purging. The soul will wish to achieve salvation or eternal peace.
In the last stanza, God says that He will guide her by descending from the heavens and unveiling for her the significance of His grace—that even in places where the sun has never shone, there is light—His light. The poet finally finds comfort in the realization that life and death are only the two manifestations of God—His light and shadow. Thus, the poem ends with the belief that life and death are mutually dependent and interlinked with one another.
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Watch the full explanation here: https://youtu.be/vLlbhKuWino
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