Tagore Resources Online
PDF Link for Gitanjali (Song Offerings)
Complete Works of Tagore (online)
Tagore Song in Western notation
Tagore – A Versatile Genius
“Considered a genius, the great versatility of Tagore makes him an outstanding figure in the world today. He has reached heights of excellence in every department of literature — poetry, drama, essays, short stories, and novels…showing creative genius and great originality. He is remarkable in that he combines in himself the traits of the East and the West in a super-degree. He is a contemplative philosopher, a mystic poet, and yet he is … an organizer who can make his dreams come true…”
Announcement in the Thresher, Rice Institute, on the eve of Tagore’s visit to Houston on February 13, 1921.
“… his writings run into a hundred thousand pages of print, covering every form and aspect of literature … he is a source, a waterfall, flowing out in a hundred streams, a hundred rhythms, incessantly.”
Buddhadev Bose, a noted Bengali Poet , wrote:
Tagore created nearly 3,500 poems, short stories, essays, articles, novels, novellas plays, and musical dance dramas. There have been over 40 film and stage adaptations of his works.
Following are selected links to examples of Tagore’s voluminous creativity:
#nobelprize #photocollections #gitanjali_story #biographysketch #rothenstein #life&achievements #tagore_links #sample_quotes #sample_poems #rabindra_sangeet #paintings #testimonials #tagore_stamps #tagore_statues #cultural_ambassador
Nobel Prize
Ultimate honor was given to Tagore in 1913 when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for Gitanjali (Song Offerings), a collection of mystical poems, becoming the first non-European to receive this prize. The exquisite beauty of the poems startled readers all around the world. Following is an excerpt from the Nobel Prize Proclamation:
“…because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West.”
W.B. Yeat’s Introduction to Gitanjali:
“… these prose translations … have stirred my blood as nothing has for years … I have carried the manuscript of these translations about with me for days, reading it in railway trains, or on the top of omnibuses and in restaurants, and I have often had to close it lest some stranger would see how much it moved me.”
Gitanjali Lost & Found: Tagore had begun to translate Gitanjali into English in 1912, in anticipation of a visit to London. He ultimately was able to make the trip in 1913 carrying the notebooks of his translations with him on the journey by ship. Unfortunately, a few days after his arrival, Tagore lost the manuscripts in the London Tube. In an extraordinarily fortunate twist of fate, the manuscripts were found by a good samaritan and deposited in the ‘Lost Property’ office from where they were recovered.
The story of the publication of Gitanjali, its inception and its world wide reception, is captured beautifully in this accompanying video by Dr. Reba Som.
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)
A Biographical Sketch
By: Uma Das Gupta
The Renaissance man of modern India, Rabindranath Tagore put his country on the literary map of the world when he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. Though known primarily as a poet and writer, Tagore was also a painter, musical composer and radical thinker, an educationist and rural reformer. This paper is a brief biographical sketch which hopes to connect with Tagore’s life and his work.
Rabindranath_Tagore_1861_1941_A_Biograph
Tagore and Rothenstein
It is a well known fact that in 1912, when he went to England, Tagore had carried a diary containing his own English translation of his Bangla poems. It was this diary that he presented to William Rothenstein, who was so impressed with it that he circulated the contents to Yeats and other friends. It was from this manuscript that most of the poems of ‘Gitanjali: Song Offerings’ were taken and for which Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1913. The attached paper studies the ‘behind the scenes’ story and history of this manuscript and tries to find answers to some questions about which there might have been curiosity and/or confusion and perhaps, misconception.
Rothenstein_Manuscript_of_English_Gitanj.docTagore’s Life & Achievements
(a brief biography in 9 slides)
The-Arc-of-Tagore-Life-Achievements-in-8-panels
Tagore touched on every aspect of human emotions and social contexts. Following are some examples of his brilliant mind:
Tagore Works
His major works include Gitanjali (Song Offerings), a world-famous poetry book; Gora (Fair-Faced); Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World); and many other works of literature and art. Tagore was also a cultural reformer and modernized Bengali art. He made it possible to make art using different forms and styles.
Tagore Quotes
“I slept and dreamt that life was joy,
I awoke and found the life was Service
I acted and found that Service was Joy”
Tagore Poems
“Where the mind is without fear
and the head is held high,
where knowledge is free.
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls.
Where words come out from the depth of truth,
where tireless striving stretches its arms toward perfection.
Rabindra Sangeet
Tagore’s poetry often took the form of songs in an innovative style of lyrical singing, called Rabindra Sangeet, which transformed Bengali music. Rabindra Sangeet, as much as his poetry, has become the bedrock of Bengali Culture.
“The speech of my heart will be carried on in murmurings of a song”
“The world speaks to me in colors, my soul answers in music…”
Tagore penned almost 2,200 lyrics of songs. His compositions reflect the ethos and experience of every human soul and reverence towards every aspect of creation. Patriots have mounted the gallows with his songs on their lips, as also young lovers when they are unable to express the depth of their feelings.
“Music fills the infinite between two souls”
“You will find eternal traveller, the marks of your footsteps on my songs”
Paintings By Tagore
Relatively late, in his sixties, Tagore began painting. He made over 2000 beautiful paintings and, in 1930, was the first Indian artist to have his works exhibited worldwide. His painting style was extraordinarily different with bold strikes, which later inspired many modern Indian artists.
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“Art is the expression of the universal through the individual”
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“In Art, man reveals himself and not his objects”
Timeline of Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore was the youngest of thirteen surviving children. He was born in the Jorasanko mansion in Calcutta, India to parents Debendranath Tagore (1817–1905) and Sarada Devi (1830–1875). View on timeline 1868 Rabindranath’s Schooling Rabindranath Tagore is first taught at home. He starts going to school when he is seven years old.
Tagore Photos
Memories in Frame
Fans & Testimonials
“Rabindranath Tagore‘s philosophical and spiritual thoughts transcend all limits of language, culture, and nationality. In his writings, the poet and mystic takes us on a spiritual quest and gives us a glimpse of the infinite in the midst of the finite, unity at the heart of all diversity, and the Divine in all beings and things of the universe.”
Tagore Stamps
Indian Postal Stamps Released from 1952 – 1954 Indian Saints and Poets (Released: 1st Oct 1952) Rabindranath Tagore Ghalib Surdas Meera Tulsidas Kabir Railway Centenary .
Tagore Statues
There are many Tagore statues around the world
A Cultural Ambassador
“We must glory in the illumination lamp lit anywhere in the world”
“The traveler has to knock at every alien door to come to his own, and one has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach the innermost shrine at the end”
Tagore traveled to every corner of the globe to not only spread his message of Universal Humanism but also imbibe the best from every culture.