Summary of the poem
The poem ‘Fear Of Life And Death,’ by Sri Aurobindo, is nothing but a portrayal of death, in a beautiful way. Sri Aurobindo asks us not to fear death, but to look at it as a beautiful maiden. He also says that death can be painful initially, but its end-result is everlasting bliss. The poem is magical, and its figurative portrayal of death is wonderful. Sri Aurobindo says that death is like a beautiful bride, with a laughing face, that opens the gates of eternal bliss to mankind. Death does not imitate our timings; rather, it has its own timing and comes from its own will and desire.
The primary significance of the opening lines to Sri Aurobindo’s poem will be that our common conception of life and death as binary opposites must be modified. Sri Aurobindo begins his poem with the conventional conception of life and death as one in which human beings fear “death” as the end of “life.” The.invocation of “our thought and consciousness” along with the concept of “firmly” helps to reinforce this. Sri Aurobindo talks of a place of belief that postulates death as the end of life, one that is regarded with fear and confusion. It is rooted in the attachment of life and the attachment to it as one in which individuals see themselves as being alone in the world.
Sri Aurobindo follows the opening lines with “two opposites” that open his “long- hidden pages opened.” This helps to invoke the concept that life and death are part of a larger phase. It is not one in which we are forlorn, which leads us to fear death. Rather, Sri Aurobindo suggests that we open our minds to completely accept a world in which individuals see themselves as part of a larger configuration. This construction is one in which “liberating truths” emerge, shedding the illusion that death is to be all that fear shrouds. For Sri Aurobindo, the opening lines of his poem indicate that this way of thinking is something that needs to be modified and can be achieved if one has the courage to unravel “long-hidden.”
