A Selection of Poems by Rabindranath Tagore

Written by Rabindranath Tagore

Narrated by Shyama Perera

Tagore was a true Renaissance man, distinguishing himself as a gifted philosopher, social and political reformer as well as a popular author in all literary genres. His most famous poem, extracts of which are recorded here, is Gitanjali which earned him the distinction of the first Asian writer to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. His songs include both the Indian and Bangladeshi national anthems. This selection of his poems is read for you by Shyama Perera a gifted journalist, broadcaster and novelist.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Copyright Group
• Release date: Jan 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781780001586

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was an Indian poet, composer, philosopher, and painter from Bengal. Born to a prominent Brahmo Samaj family, Tagore was raised mostly by servants following his mother’s untimely death. His father, a leading philosopher and reformer, hosted countless artists and intellectuals at the family mansion in Calcutta, introducing his children to poets, philosophers, and musicians from a young age. Tagore avoided conventional education, instead reading voraciously and studying astronomy, science, Sanskrit, and classical Indian poetry. As a teenager, he began publishing poems and short stories in Bengali and Maithili. Following his father’s wish for him to become a barrister, Tagore read law for a brief period at University College London, where he soon turned to studying the works of Shakespeare and Thomas Browne. In 1883, Tagore returned to India to marry and manage his ancestral estates. During this time, Tagore published his Manasi (1890) poems and met the folk poet Gagan Harkara, with whom he would work to compose popular songs. In 1901, having written countless poems, plays, and short stories, Tagore founded an ashram, but his work as a spiritual leader was tragically disrupted by the deaths of his wife and two of their children, followed by his father’s death in 1905. In 1913, Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first lyricist and non-European to be awarded the distinction. Over the next several decades, Tagore wrote his influential novel The Home and the World (1916), toured dozens of countries, and advocated on behalf of Dalits and other oppressed peoples.

Reviews for A Selection of Poems by Rabindranath Tagore

[soylentgreen23 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Many of the stories explore similar themes, of a good, hard-working but poor boy being bullied by his richer peers until he dies, and then it is revealed that the rich boy was unknowingly his cousin.

[corinnet-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a beautiful collection of short stories. Although the stories are somewhat driven by fates, the protagonists are original in their actions, and the themes linger in mind long after I put them down. Tagore has great insight in human psyche and behavior.

[starbox_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"Small lives, humble distress, Tales of humdrum grief and pain", November 23, 2014This review is from: Selected Short Stories (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)Containing thirty very short stories, often only about six pages long, yet for all their brevity the author completely wraps you up in the world and the events.Set in and around the River Padma (near Calcutta) in the late 19th century, Tagore writes of the ordinary people: deaths and marriages, children, poverty, the rich, the mean, the avaricious... Plus a couple with a ghostly touch. It's an era where women are definitely second-class-citizens; especially if they fall ill, when their husbands may well seek another wife; where the Hindus live alongside a Moslem population and the English governors....and where the river is a constant backdrop with its luxory houseboats and its monsoon flooding.The collection includes a poem, 'Passing Time in the Rain' (from which I have taken title of this review) and a selection of letters written by Tagore. Also a comprehensive glossary of Hindu terms encountered, a family-tree of family and map of Padma River area.Masterly storytelling, enhanced by a superb translation.

[rrhowell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love India, and I love much that Tagore has written, but I also found a lot of these so depressing that they were not enjoyable.