05-08-2005, 10:58 AM
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Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) poet, prose writer, composer, painter, essayist, philosopher, educationist, social reformer. It is basically as a poet that he gained fame all over the world. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1913, the first Asian writer to have been awarded this distinction.
Rabindranath Tagore was the youngest son of Debendranath Tagore, a leader of the Brahmo Samaj, which was a new religious sect in nineteenth-century Bengal and which attempted a revival of the ultimate monistic basis of Hinduism as laid down in the Upanishads....He was educated at home; and although at seventeen he was sent to England for formal schooling, he did not finish his studies there...In his mature years, in addition to his many-sided literary activities, he managed the family estates, a project which brought him into close touch with common humanity and increased his interest in social reforms...He also started an experimental school at Shantiniketan where he tried his Upanishadic ideals of education....From time to time he participated in the Indian nationalist movement, though in his own non-sentimental and visionary way; and Gandhi, the political father of modern India, was his devoted friend....Tagore was knighted by the ruling British Government in 1915, but within a few years he resigned the honour as a protest against British policies in India.Rabindranath's achievement as a writer can only be viewed correctly in the context of his whole life since his philosophy and his poetics changed as he moved from one phase of his life to another. Through constant study and ceaseless experimentation he mastered the transformations that had taken place in world literature, culture, civilization, philosophy and knowledge over the ages. Consequently, one can trace the content and form of his art evolving ceaselessly. The result can be seen in his countless poems, songs, short stories, novels, essays, plays, musical dramas, DANCE DRAMAs, travel narratives, letters, and the innumerable speeches that he delivered at home and abroad. Nevertheless, Rabindranath's philosophy of life itself lay on solid foundations that were built on his own ideas despite his openness to changes coming from the outside world. Remarkably, his creativity always tended to flow into ever-new channels. He was a poet not only of his age but also for all ages. Certainly, his genius was a transcendent one. His arrival in Bangla literature heralded a new era."...Tagore had early success as a writer in his native Bengal....With his translations of some of his poems he became rapidly known in the West....In fact his fame attained a luminous height, taking him across continents on lecture tours and tours of friendship....For the world he became the voice of India's spiritual heritage; and for India, especially for Bengal, he became a great living institution...."
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Although Tagore wrote successfully in all literary genres, he was first of all a poet....Among his fifty and odd volumes of poetry are Manasi (1890) [The Ideal One], Sonar Tari (1894) [The Golden Boat], Gitanjali (1910) [Song Offerings], Gitimalya (1914) [Wreath of Songs], and Balaka (1916) [The Flight of Cranes]....
The English renderings of his poetry, which include The Gardener (1913), Fruit-Gathering (1916), and The Fugitive (1921), do not generally correspond to particular volumes in the original Bengali; and in spite of its title, Gitanjali: Song Offerings (1912), the most acclaimed of them, contains poems from other works besides its namesake...
Tagore's major plays are Raja (1910) [The King of the Dark Chamber], Dakghar (1912) [The Post Office], Achalayatan (1912) [The Immovable], Muktadhara (1922) [The Waterfall], and Raktakaravi (1926) [Red Oleanders]....He is the author of several volumes of short stories and a number of novels, among them Gora (1910), Ghare-Baire (1916) [The Home and the World], and Yogayog (1929) [Crosscurrents]. Besides these, he wrote musical dramas, dance dramas, essays of all types, travel diaries, and two autobiographies, one in his middle years and the other shortly before his death in 1941....Tagore also left numerous drawings and paintings, and songs for which he wrote the music himself.
"I am building my mind all by myself
And growing worthier for the tasks ahead
Who knows when shall I be able to declare with all my heart:
I have reached my Realisation,
Come all, follow me,
The Master is calling you all,
May my life bring forth new life in you all,
And thus may my country awake"
Rabindranath was a poet of inexhaustible vitality, immense humanism, and a writer enthralled by nature's timeless beauty. He saw death as a stopping station on the way to eternity. Life and death and the world itself were manifested to him as one. That is why he had composed the following lines in a song that encapsulates his philosophy of life:
"Full of sorrow, full of death, and the pain of separation
Still bliss, happiness, and delight keep emerging within usSource: banglapedia.com
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) poet, prose writer, composer, painter, essayist, philosopher, educationist, social reformer. It is basically as a poet that he gained fame all over the world. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1913, the first Asian writer to have been awarded this distinction.
Rabindranath Tagore was the youngest son of Debendranath Tagore, a leader of the Brahmo Samaj, which was a new religious sect in nineteenth-century Bengal and which attempted a revival of the ultimate monistic basis of Hinduism as laid down in the Upanishads....He was educated at home; and although at seventeen he was sent to England for formal schooling, he did not finish his studies there...In his mature years, in addition to his many-sided literary activities, he managed the family estates, a project which brought him into close touch with common humanity and increased his interest in social reforms...He also started an experimental school at Shantiniketan where he tried his Upanishadic ideals of education....From time to time he participated in the Indian nationalist movement, though in his own non-sentimental and visionary way; and Gandhi, the political father of modern India, was his devoted friend....Tagore was knighted by the ruling British Government in 1915, but within a few years he resigned the honour as a protest against British policies in India.Rabindranath's achievement as a writer can only be viewed correctly in the context of his whole life since his philosophy and his poetics changed as he moved from one phase of his life to another. Through constant study and ceaseless experimentation he mastered the transformations that had taken place in world literature, culture, civilization, philosophy and knowledge over the ages. Consequently, one can trace the content and form of his art evolving ceaselessly. The result can be seen in his countless poems, songs, short stories, novels, essays, plays, musical dramas, DANCE DRAMAs, travel narratives, letters, and the innumerable speeches that he delivered at home and abroad. Nevertheless, Rabindranath's philosophy of life itself lay on solid foundations that were built on his own ideas despite his openness to changes coming from the outside world. Remarkably, his creativity always tended to flow into ever-new channels. He was a poet not only of his age but also for all ages. Certainly, his genius was a transcendent one. His arrival in Bangla literature heralded a new era."...Tagore had early success as a writer in his native Bengal....With his translations of some of his poems he became rapidly known in the West....In fact his fame attained a luminous height, taking him across continents on lecture tours and tours of friendship....For the world he became the voice of India's spiritual heritage; and for India, especially for Bengal, he became a great living institution...."
[attachment=249]
Although Tagore wrote successfully in all literary genres, he was first of all a poet....Among his fifty and odd volumes of poetry are Manasi (1890) [The Ideal One], Sonar Tari (1894) [The Golden Boat], Gitanjali (1910) [Song Offerings], Gitimalya (1914) [Wreath of Songs], and Balaka (1916) [The Flight of Cranes]....
The English renderings of his poetry, which include The Gardener (1913), Fruit-Gathering (1916), and The Fugitive (1921), do not generally correspond to particular volumes in the original Bengali; and in spite of its title, Gitanjali: Song Offerings (1912), the most acclaimed of them, contains poems from other works besides its namesake...
Tagore's major plays are Raja (1910) [The King of the Dark Chamber], Dakghar (1912) [The Post Office], Achalayatan (1912) [The Immovable], Muktadhara (1922) [The Waterfall], and Raktakaravi (1926) [Red Oleanders]....He is the author of several volumes of short stories and a number of novels, among them Gora (1910), Ghare-Baire (1916) [The Home and the World], and Yogayog (1929) [Crosscurrents]. Besides these, he wrote musical dramas, dance dramas, essays of all types, travel diaries, and two autobiographies, one in his middle years and the other shortly before his death in 1941....Tagore also left numerous drawings and paintings, and songs for which he wrote the music himself.
"I am building my mind all by myself
And growing worthier for the tasks ahead
Who knows when shall I be able to declare with all my heart:
I have reached my Realisation,
Come all, follow me,
The Master is calling you all,
May my life bring forth new life in you all,
And thus may my country awake"
Rabindranath was a poet of inexhaustible vitality, immense humanism, and a writer enthralled by nature's timeless beauty. He saw death as a stopping station on the way to eternity. Life and death and the world itself were manifested to him as one. That is why he had composed the following lines in a song that encapsulates his philosophy of life:
"Full of sorrow, full of death, and the pain of separation
Still bliss, happiness, and delight keep emerging within usSource: banglapedia.com
