Mohammad Shalauddin1, Mohammed Shamsul Hoque2 & Touhid Bhuiyan3
1Human Resource Development Institute (HRDI), Daffodil International University (DIU),Bangladesh. Email: salauddin@hrdinstitute.org
2Department of English, Daffodil International University (DIU), Bangladesh.
3Department of Software Engineering (SWE), Daffodil International University (DIU), Bangladesh.
Volume 9, Number 2, 2017 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v9n2.31
Received May 31, 2017; Revised July 10, 2017; Accepted July 15, 2017; Published August 18, 2017.
Abstract
This study aims at analyzing image schemas (Johnson, 1987) and stages of grief (Kubler-Ross, 1969) in Tagore’s near-death experience (NDE) poems written in the last ninety days before his death. Selected verses of the period in question are analyzed using benchmarks set by Johnson and Kubler-Ross. Relation between the schemas and some linguistic forms, themes and moods of these poems are also analyzed. Findings include Dying-mind is centered to self and influences the type and frequency of all the schemas within it. Similar mental stages of grief—Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance — are also found in the NDE poems. Though death is depicted by Tagore even to the stature of “Shyam” in his earlier poems, it is presented as “A moving screen of varied fears” in the end, which is supported by the theory of Kubler-Ross.
Keywords: Cognitive Linguistics, Image Schema, Kubler-Ross model, NDE poems, Tagore.
