Peer Webinar: Chapter 8, The Department of English

The Department of English, The Bhawanipur Education Society College organized Peer Webinar: Chapter 8 on 13th June, 2022 at 7 pm. The speaker was Dr. Souraja Tagore; her paper was entitled Child, Play and Games in Tagore’s The Crescent Moon. The webinar was held on Google Meet; it was attended by faculty members and the PG Semester IV students of the Department of English.

Figure 1: Poster for Peer Webinar, Chapter VIII

The Peer Webinars are a unique monthly endeavour by the Department of English, The Bhawanipur Education Society College that has facilitated an amiable atmosphere for the exchange of research ideas. In the eighth chapter of this series of webinars, Dr. Tagore brought out the multiple nuances associated with children’s play as represented in The Crescent Moon. This is an anthology of poetry compiled by Tagore which consists of his English translations of some of his poems from his Bengali poetry-anthologies, namely Kari o Komol, Kanika and Gitanjali. These poems were chosen and arranged keeping in mind a Western audience. On its publication in 1913, The Crescent Moon was appreciated by London periodicals for the portrayal of a vision of childhood which could only be paralleled by that of William Blake.

Figure 2: A moment during the Peer Webinar

Dr. Tagore began her presentation by delineating multiple critical approaches to the activity of play and how it inculcates adult values in children through the principles of simulation and role-play. Play may be considered as a mode of communication of basic human principles. Children learn how to interact and cooperate with each other through a “play-based pedagogy”. Children will undergo significant changes in their respective cognitive structures to establish a degree of communion with nature and reality. On the whole, play may be understood as a many-sided phenomenon which is peculiar to time, society and culture; it is an activity where both children and adults participate for various cognitive, behavioural and intellectual purposes.
The speaker read out excerpts from some of the poems in The Crescent Moon. “On the Seashore” brings out the “unrealistic optimism” in children (Sutton)—children play amidst adversity represented by the turbulent waves on the seashore; they are not perturbed by the possibility of danger. Children will often explore social, material and imaginary worlds which in turn, will set examples for adults. “Paperboats” portrays once more the carefree play of a child; Zoe Benjamin remarks that if we wish to understand children, we must observe them while they are at play.

Figure 3: Dr. Souraja Tagore during the Peer Webinar

\The paper was rounded off with observations on Tagore’s childhood experiences of the classroom and his subsequent vision of education. Sections of Tagore’s autobiography My Reminiscences reveal how he found traditional methods of education ineffective and constricting, but derived a greater degree of pleasure from pretending to be a teacher to his railing-students of the verandah. While being aware of Western notion of childhood viz. Rousseau’s opinions Emile, Tagore developed his unique ideas of education while establishing his school at Shantiniketan. His educational policy ensured a liberal approach to children’s education which achieved a fruitful communion of work and play, and play as simulation of work, principles and ethics. Tagore dispenses with traditional ideas of discipline and regimentation of children, and envisages parents as not taskmasters, but sympathetic and understanding individuals who concentrate on nurturing the unique, innate characteristics of their children.
Peer Webinar has enabled scholars with varying research interests, temperaments and thrust-areas to present their ideas on this platform, thus enriching the listeners through an exposure to diverse academic areas and possible greener pastures.