My Boyhood Days

My Boyhood Days, is Tagore's second memoir of his childhood days, written when he was nearing eighty. He mentions his early days as being under 'servocracy', his word for the reign of servants. He describes, without a trace of self-paty, the Spartan life he had to lead under his father's instruction. He was a lonely boy and his only playmate was his own soul. In this atomosphere he found two of the major motives of his creative life-joy and misery. This sense of wonder and delight in the seemingly commonplace experiences of boyhood helped him become a great poet.