(1861-1941) poet, novelist, dramatist, essayist
Rabindranath Tagore was born in Calcutta, India, into an affluent family that was also very invested in Indian politics. His great-grandfather Dwar-kanath Tagore was a businessman; Tagore’s father, Debendranath Tagore, however, was more involved in religion than in politics and revived an old religious movement called the Brahmo Samaj. Ra-bindranath Tagore combined his grandfather’s visions for the country with his father’s religious asceticism, and his works, therefore, represent a unique synthesis of powerful national politics and spiritual poeticism. Tagore is the author and composer of India’s national anthem, as well as the lyrical composer of a song by Bankim chattopadhyay called “Vande Materam” (Hail Motherland), which was adopted as India’s unofficial national anthem during its problems before independence from British rule.
In his memoir My Reminiscences (1911), Tagore calls his memory a “picture-chamber … a series of pictures [which] correspond, but are not identical.” A pioneer in integrating East-West poetic, political, and even scientific structures, Tagore is one of the key figures in the intellectual movement called the Bengal renaissance. The Bengal renaissance consisted of a group of writers who took advantage of colonial education and Western culture while at the same time contributing to Indian literature for an Indian audience.
This attitude reflected Tagore’s own belief that education is interdisciplinary, bringing together science with humanism and politics with spirituality, and it was realized in the foundation of Shan-tiniketan (Abode of Peace), a school on the outskirts of Calcutta. This place, under the guidance of Tagore, who also taught there, grew into a meeting place for national and international scholars of music, painting, singing, and languages. Today, it thrives as one of West Bengal’s prominent educational institutions.
In 1921, Tagore also founded Shriniketan (Abode of Plenty), a school that sought to bring Western scientific progress to India. At the same time, the preservation of nature was very important to Tagore, and this was enhanced by the foundation of Shriniketan, whose objective was to bring agricultural progress to the countryside. Tagore’s works reflect his deep concern and respect for nature, and the need to bridge the gap between human and natural existence. In one of his letters he says that “I feel …I was one with the rest of the earth, that grass grew green upon me, that the autumn sun fell on me and its rays … wafted from every pore of my far-flung evergreen body.” This is one of the most important themes in his poetry.
Tagore translated many of his own works into English. With the aid of W. B. Yeats and Thomas Sturge Moore, he brought out a translation of his religious and spiritual poetry called GitanjalT (Offering of Songs, 1910). They were a huge success, and their publication caught the attention of renowned figures such as Albert Einstein, Ezra Pound, and Andre gide, with whom Tagore kept up regular correspondences. Their admiration of his work secured Tagore’s position as an international poet. GitanjalT borrows from India’s ancient and traditional religious poetry. Written from a modern perspective, these poems take a new look at the conventional understanding of the relationships between nature, God, and spirituality. In these poems, the search for human spirituality goes beyond traditional religion.
Tagore’s most famous novel, The Home and the World (1915-16), is about rural politics, though its tone is extremely nonpolitical. As the title suggests, the novel delves into how the domestic and political realms of power overlap. In this story, the woman protagonist defies social norm by coming out of the inner rooms of the house to join the men in their discussion of politics in the living room. She also allows herself to act on the gallant advances made to her by her husband’s friend. The change in friendship between the two men is complicated through the female protagonist’s fluctuating romantic attachment to both men. As the two male friends become increasingly estranged due to politics, it is the woman of the home who reveals the true meaning of faithfulness, loyalty, and commitment. Her honesty and open curiosity humanizes the novel’s ruthless description of rural politics, and her story stresses the importance of domestic issues in the political struggles of the outside world.
By the time of his death, Tagore was idolized as one of India’s leading political figures, a national poet, a painter, and an educational visionary. He experimented with almost all literary genres and left behind a prodigious assortment of novels, short stories, songs, poetry, plays, essays, as well as correspondence with friends, family, and international contemporaries such as W. B. Yeats and Ezra Pound. In 1913, Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature for his translation of GitanTjalTi . In 1919, he refused England’s offer of knighthood in protest against human-rights violations under British rule.
Other Works by Rabindranath Tagore
Nationalism. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1917.
Selected Poems. Translated by William Radice. London: Penguin, 1985.
The Broken Nest. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1971.
The Hungry Stones and Other Stories. New York: Macmillan, 1916.
A Work about Rabindranath Tagore
Kipalani, Krishan. Rabindranath Tagore: A Biography. London: Oxford University Press, 1962.
