Lyric Free Verse
Tagore's "Song VII" can be defined as a lyric poem, written in free verse. Now, what's that mean to you? Read on:
This poem is a lyric because, like many lyric poems, it is written from a first-person point of view, and it gives us a glimpse into the speaker's thoughts and emotions. But the poem isn't written according to any regular meter or rhyme scheme (in fact, Tagore is famous for experimenting with form and meter).
We can see the poem's free verse style in action in the second stanza:
My poet's vanity dies in shame before thy sight.
O master poet, I have sat down at thy feet.
Only let me make my life simple and straight,
like a flute of reed for thee to fill with music (6-9)
Line 6 has thirteen syllables, line 7 has twelve syllables, line 8 has eleven syllables, and line 9 has twelve syllables. So the number of syllables in the lines varies. There's also no rhyme, and the stress on the syllables is irregular. For this reason, we can safely say that this is a poem written in free verse.
So why go this route? Well, in a poem dedicated to doing away with fancy decorations, it would sure be weird if Tagore busted out the iambic pentameter. Nope, this is all about plain speaking, which is exactly what free verse is all about. It cuts through the fancy forms and meters to get to the heart of the matter—which is just what this poem's speaker is trying to do.