Wind – Class 9 CBSE English Poem Notes

Wind

Class 9 CBSE English Poem Notes

📑 Table of Contents

About the Poet
Summary
Themes
Moral / Message
Important Question-Answers
Quick Revision Points

✍️ About the Poet

Subramania Bharati (1882–1921) was a great Tamil poet and freedom fighter. He is remembered for his patriotic poems and powerful verses on social reform, equality, and human values. A.K. Ramanujan, a Kannada and English poet, translated the poem into English.

📖 Summary

The poem “Wind” by Subramania Bharati uses the wind as a metaphor for life’s challenges. In the beginning, the poet pleads with the wind to be gentle, as it breaks shutters, scatters papers, throws down books, and tears their pages. The destructive power of the wind symbolizes difficulties that crush the weak and fragile.

However, instead of complaining, the poet encourages people to build strong homes, strengthen their bodies, and make their hearts firm. He emphasizes that only those who are strong in spirit and willpower can withstand challenges. For them, the wind becomes a friend rather than an enemy.

The message is clear — hardships destroy the weak but help the strong grow stronger. Just as the wind blows out weak flames but makes strong fires roar, difficulties test our resilience. Through this metaphor, the poet inspires readers to cultivate inner strength and courage.

🌟 Themes

Power of Nature
Strength vs. Weakness
Human Resilience and Courage
Friendship with Challenges

🎯 Moral / Message

The poem teaches us to be strong, courageous, and steadfast. Life is full of challenges, but instead of fearing them, we should face them with resilience. Only then can difficulties become our friends and help us grow stronger.

📌 Important Question-Answers

Q1. What are the things the wind does in the first stanza?
👉 It breaks shutters, scatters papers, throws down books, tears pages, and brings rain.

Q2. What does the poet say the wind god winnows?
👉 He winnows and crushes weak houses, doors, rafters, lives, and hearts, sparing only the strong.

Q3. What should we do to make friends with the wind?
👉 Build strong homes, fix doors firmly, strengthen our bodies, and make our hearts steadfast.

Q4. What do the last four lines of the poem mean?
👉 They mean that difficulties destroy the weak but strengthen the strong, just as wind extinguishes weak fires but makes strong fires flourish.

Q5. How does the poet speak to the wind — in anger or with humour?
👉 He speaks partly in complaint but also with humour. He accepts the reality and urges strength instead of resistance.

✨ Quick Revision Points

Poet: Subramania Bharati (Translated by A.K. Ramanujan)
Central Idea: Wind as a symbol of life’s challenges
Message: Be strong to overcome hardships
Key Lines: “The wind blows out weak fires / He makes strong fires roar and flourish”