Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
You walked by the riverside path with the full pitcher upon your hip. Why did you swiftly turn your face and peep at me through your fluttering veil? That gleaming look from the dark came upon me like a breeze that sends a shiver through the rippling water and sweeps away to the shadowy shore. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

the gardener
excellent collection of indian poetry.found it accidently while browsing in a huge 6 story library.quite a lucky find.

Visiting a flower garden in a magic ancient kingdom
"Please, make me the gardener of your flower garden", a lover asks his beloved. He calls himself a servant and his beloved the queen. He dreamsto serve her idle days. He wants to keep fresh the grassy path where she walks in the morning; he wants her feet to be greeted with praise at every step by the flowers.

And what he wants for his reward? He asks to be allowed to hold her little fists like tender lotus-buds and slip flower chains over her wrists; to tinge the soles of her feet with the red juice of flower petals and kiss away the speck of dust that may chance to linger there.

This is the way Rabindranath Tagore, the greatest Indian poet of all times, introduce us to this enchanted collection of poems, poems that touch the most profound strings of our hearts. His poems tell us about love and life - and they are rich with the description of nature and beauty. Anybody that loves or has loved cannot remain indifferent to his poems. Some readers "have smiles, sweet and simple, and some a sly twinkle in their eyes. Some have tears that well up in the daylight, and others tears that are hidden in the gloom." But we all have need for him, the poet, who is "ever as young or as old as the youngest and the oldest of the village".

His poems tell us of impossible love - like the love of the free bird and the cage bird: "Their love is intense with longing, but they never can fly wing to wing. Through the bars of the cage they look, and vain is their wish to know each other. They flutter their wings in yearning, and sing, 'Come closer, my love!' The free bird cries, 'It cannot be, I fear the closed doors of the cage.' The cage bird whispers, 'Alas, my wings are powerless and dead.' "

His poems tell us of secret love: "The young traveler came along the road in the rosy mist of the morning. He stopped before my door and asked me with an eager cry, 'Where is she?' For very shame I could not say, 'She is I, young traveler, she is I.' "

His poems tell us of lovers' emotion: "When my love comes and sits by my side, when my body trembles and my eyelids droop, the night darkens, the wind blows out the lamp, and the clouds draw veils over the stars. It is the jewel at my own breast that shines and gives light. I do not know how to hide it."

His poems tell us of the need for love confidence: "Do not keep to yourself the secret of your heart, my friend! Say it to me, only to me, in secret. You who smile so gently, softly whisper, my heart will hear it, not my ears."

His poems tell us of a love story: "Hands cling to hands and eyes linger on eyes: thus begins the record of our hearts. It is the moonlit night of March; the sweet smell of henna is in the air; my flute lies on the earth neglected and your garland of flowers is unfinished. This love between you and me is simple as a song."

His poems tell us of lovers departing: "An unbelieving smile flits on your eyes when I come to you to take my leave. I have done it so often that you think I will soon return. To tell you the truth I have the same doubt in my mind. For the spring days come again time after time; the full moon takes leave and comes on another visit, the flowers come again and blush upon their branches year after year, and it is likely that I take my leave only to come to you again. But keep the illusion awhile; do not send it away with ungentle haste.When I say I leave you for all time, accept it as true, and let a mist of tears for one moment deepen the dark rim of your eyes. Then smile as archly as you like when I come again."

Reading those poems I felt like visiting a flower garden full of scents and beauty in a magic ancient kingdom. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Rabindranath Tagore, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 13020 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
The river and its waves are one surf: where is the difference between the river and its waves? When the wave rises, it is the water; and when it falls, it is the same water again. Tell me, Sir, where is the distinction? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Profound, but public domain
This is a classic translation of Kabir. So classic that you don't have to pay to read, print or distribute it. So unless you're particularly interested in Andrew Harvey's new introduction, you might want to shop around for a cheaper, or free, copy of this unusually profound text.

Archaic language, often stilted prose
Tagore wrote these translations a century ago. The language is often stilted or archaic.

However, I sense that these translations may be truer to the original than Robert Bly's. Indeed, reading these helped me to understand that some language that I thought was Kabir's was actually Bly's. For instance, I was always impressed with the line in Bly's translation that refers to a place "where those who live are not afraid to die."

But in Tagore's translation, that same reference was something to the effect of a place where there is no fear of death. The contrast between the living and the dead was not Kabir's but Bly's.

If I could only read one translation I would read Bly's. But why read only one?

My favorite book ever
I first found this book when I was young, 16, and exploring religion in my heart. These poems spoke to me. The relationship with god that is described in the poems is the one I wanted for myself. I have since read other versions of Kabir and many poems by Tagore, but this book remains my one and truest "Bible," which I always have closeby, and read in times of trouble or gladness. Whenever I read these poems I feel at peace and at one with my heart. I can't recommend these beautiful poems highly enough.

Kabir's vision was of the unity of the human and divine
Kabir was born about 1440 (probably), and was a contemporary of the founder of the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak (possibly his mentor). A weaver by trade, and a mystic by nature, his spiritual vision accepted no divisionbetween Life and Creator, man and God, as evinced by the followingexcerpts; "I Laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty:You do not see that the Real is in your home, and you wander...listlessly!Here is the truth! Go where you will...if you do not find your soul, theworld is unreal to you." and ..."Kabir says, God is the breath ofall breath". Many of these songs contain criticism, not of"worldly" people who lived materialistically, but of renunciateswho sought God outside of life and relationships; "The infinitedwelling of the Infinite Being is everywhere: in earth, water, sky, andair...He who is within is without; I see Him and none else". Thistranslation by Tagore also contains allusions to Kabirs' cosmology andessential spiritual practice (absorbtion into the Divine Word or creativepower) missing in the naturalistic and minimalistic interpretatations ofRobert Bly. The poems, or songs, themselves are remarkably fresh, as ifthey contained the living inspiration which gave them form, and remain, asit were, untouched by time. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
Song Offerings A collection of prose translations made by the author from the original Bengali. Please Note:This book has been reformatted to be easy to read in true text, not scanned images that can sometimes be difficult to decipher.The Microsoft eBook has a contents page linked to the chapter headings for easy navigation. The Adobe eBook has bookmarks at chapter headings and is printable up to two full copies per year.Both versions are text searchable. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (28)

Extraordinary
The shipment and the condition of the book were perfect, and the poems convey unparalleled feelings.

Gitanjali
Simply one of the best books I have ever read. Very moving, and more importantly gives you a real perspective on life.

What a master of words
I don't think I am qualified enough (in Literature) to even comprehend the full meaning of every poem, but his gift is apparent from the first one's. He had an amazing eye for things in life most people will never care to even notice, and he had the talent to put forth those images and feelings in writing. No wonder he is hailed has one of the greatest literary minds in India. for people who want to explore more about Tagore, poetry wasn't his talent..he was a writer (plays and novels), a composer, an artist, and a Humanitarian.

Gitanjali
Extremely disappointing to find that the verses of Gitanjali are not numbered in this edition.Important that numbers be included for referencing in communication with others with whom one is discussing this classic.

Great Indian Poet
I gave this book to an friend of mine who lives in India and she just raves about it.Tagore is a great poet and this is in my opinion his best colletion. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
WE, the rustling leaves, have a voice that answers the storms, but who are you so silent? "I am a mere flower." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

just like the music, picture, idea, how to love and live mix
good books always let you enjoy all your life. who do not want a beautiful around you? even sometimes the spirit of the book could make you defence the difficult situation of the life and refresh you when feel very tire and disappointed for what happened in your life. I just like it and will read it again and again to rich myself. thank you for reading my writing and hope this world become better and better with the help of good books, good poems like what Tagore did here. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
Now when the sun has set and the darkened sky draws upon the sea like drooping lashes upon a weary eye it is time to take away his pen, and let his thoughts sink into the bottom of the deep amid the eternal secret of that silence. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
The name she called me by, like a flourishing jasmine, covered the whole seventeen years of our love. With its sound mingled the quiver of the light through the leaves, the scent of the grass in the rainy night, and the sad silence of the last hour of many an idle day. ... Read more

Book Description
The brilliant and immensely prolific Indian writer Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) is known the world over for his accomplished works in an astoundingly wide range of genres: fiction, short stories, poetry, drama, and essays. During the final year of his life, while suffering from the painful illness that would eventually end in his death, Tagore completed four volumes of poetry that expressed the emotional turmoil of facing one's own imminent extinction. Appearing here for the first time in English is a selection of these extraordinary poems that captures as closely as possible the beauty and subtlety of Tagore's original Bengali verses. A marked departure from Tagore's earlier work, these poems are, as the translators say, "so compact that it is almost as if [he]...were going beyond words, as if language no longer suffices, and yet, of course, the language radiates meaning." Poised between life and death, Tagore is awed by the beauty of this world and glimpses in it the presence of the infinite ("Such splendor illuminates a deathlessness/ hidden in the everyday by our senses' limits"). At other times, "alone by sorrow's last window," he is gripped by the sheer terror of experiencing the relentless approach of death. Tagore was so weak at the end that he had to dictate his poems. Although the pain was often excruciating and the fear and anger overwhelming, he still exulted in life. In these poems, from his deathbed, he conveys the intense joy of living and his ultimate triumph over death. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Final poems by Tagore
I cannot recommend a book more than this one. I have read and re read this book so many times.This man's insight, joy, acceptance and fear of his impending death comes forth brilliantly in the Last Poems.Please read them, and read them again.I believe I will get his other poetry as well.WOWand Wendy Barker's translation captures the spirit of the author's work.She has to be commended as well.

No rage against the dying of light
Inheriting a famous family name means nothing unless the bearer of this burden strives to achieve things that are extra-ordinary. I salute & congratulate Saranindranath (Tagore) and the co-author Wendy Barker for taking up the immense challenge of translating Rabindranath's Final Poems. Authors successfully carry the sacred torch of translating Bengali Literature to reach out to the world body in the new millenium that was once ignited by Tagore himself. It is interesting to rediscover this "mystic" poet from India who once became the sensation of America. In 1912, the famous Chicago based "Poetry" magazine ran an issue on Tagore before his visit to the Americas. Tagore became the Poet's Poet and Writer's Writer of many literary protagonists of west such as W B Yeats, Robert Frost and Ezra Pound. It is all the more befitting to publish this book in a time when the world is discovering the great literary genre of Indian English through the works of Rushdie, Roy and Naipaul.

It is a bit unusual to have a 40-page preface (by Wendy Barker) and introduction (by Saranindranath) in poetry book that contains only 59 pages of poems. But after reading these prologues I am convinced that they were necessary. Particularly Saranindranath's lucid explanation of Rabindranath's complex religious philosophy is very interesting. Before his death, Tagore wrote the Final Poems from his sick bed during 1940 and 1941. Through these poems, we understand and feel the maturity of a great genius of all times who explored the human inquiry through thousands of songs & poems, hundreds of essays, short stories, numerous novels & paintings. The Final Poems are divided into three sections: Sickbed, Birthday and Last poems. Being a serious reader of world literature, I completely appreciate the difficulties the translators were subjected to. However one can still smell the aroma original rose in many simple verses such as...Words of emptiness rise, compassion-filled, a meaning beyond understanding...Please read the rest, you will be enlightened. ... Read more

Book Description
The poems of Rabindranath Tagore are among the most haunting and tender in Indian and world literature, expressing a profound and passionate human yearning. His ceaselessly inventive works deal with such subjects as the interplay between God and mortals, the eternal and the transient, and the paradox of an endlessly changing universe that is in tune with unchanging harmonies. Poems such as “Earth” and “In the Eyes of a Peacock” present a picture of natural processes unaffected by human concerns, while others, as in “Recovery—14,” convey the poet’s bewilderment about his place in the world. And exuberant works such as “New Rain” and “Grandfather’s Holiday” describe Tagore’s sheer joy at the glories of nature or simply in watching a grandchild play. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Disappointing
Radice's translations do injustice to Tagore and books such as this one (along with Tagore's own inadequate transations of his work) might end up misleading Western critics. The strength of his poetry is in his command on language, the musicality of his verse and, in general, the formal perfection of his work. Although some of his later work was in free verse, Tagore was undoubtedly a formalist. He took the metrical and rhythmic patterns of classical Sanskrit poetry and also traditional narrative Bengali verse and either retained them or experimented with them by splitting whole units into shorter lines (consider, for example, Balaka) as dictated by needs of movement and development. One of the almost insurmountable difficulties of translating formal poetry is that meter (along with sonic devices) is inextricably linked to meaning and the translator, somehow, has to convey both.

This is where Radice fails miserably. Let me simply cite the opening two lines of his translation of "Golden Boat" (Shonar Tari) along with the original.
Translation:
Clouds rumbling in the sky; teeming rain.
I sit on the river bank, sad and alone.
Original:
gagane garaje megh ghana barasha
kule eka boshe achhi, nahi bharasha

In Bengali, unlike in English, it is the consonant count (note that joint consonants are counted as one) and not the syllable count that defines a given meter. Here, we have a truncated fourteen-beat meter with a caesura after the eigth beat. The "ga" sounds are onomatopoeic, after the roaring of the clouds. Subsequently, the use of softer consonants indicates a draining of tension and reflects the loss of hope on the part of the narrator. Radice's version lacks any discernible meter and most importantly, the cohesion of sound and sense. The only device he uses is a slant rhyme and this, by itself, falls short of conveying the music of Tagore's verse. Other weaknesses include the unhappy gerund and the prosaic modifiers.

Although the loss of formalism remains the primary failing of Radice's translations, there are other drawbacks. Reading Tagore aloud is always a pleasure because language in his hands is not only expression but can be read for sound alone. Those long polysyllabic compounds,the internal rhymes, the effortless alliteration are always a delight, no matter what the content, be it some his later abstruse works (of which I am not particularly fond) or his purely narrative poems. Radice's translations lack this linguistic richness and are bland for the most part. Worse, he has a penchant for cliches ("bright as a million suns", "sea of joy surges through his heart" etc.).One might as well ask, "What is the point?"

Submitted incognito, these poems would be rejected by even middling journals. I can only guess what impressions critics unfamiliar with Bengali might form of Tagore's work, particularly in relation to his contemporaries, Yeats, Pounds and Stevens. I would refer them to selected translations by Radice's wife, Ketaki Kushari Dyson. "I won't let you go" (Jete nahi dibo), in particular, is well rendered.

An Excellent Overview of Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), the outstanding Bengali poet, literateur and humanist (and Asia's first Nobel Laureate in 1913), is scarcely read outside his native Bengal because only a small fraction of his works havebeen translated from Bengali into English or indeed into other languages.English translations were those done by Tagore himself and by a few Bengaliliterary scholars well-versed in English. The arrival of Dr William Radiceon the scene of Bengali scholarship in the early eighties brought in acurrent of fresh air. Here was an Englishman admiring Tagore andtranslating him! In this book, Radice applies his deep perception of Tagorein putting together a bouquet, as it were, redolent with the exoticfragrance of Tagoreana. No single collection can ever do justice to Tagore,and this one doesn't either. However, it does give the English-knowingreader a vivid glimpse of Tagore's amazing creativity. Radice has done agood job of choosing competent translators who have applied their hearts tothe task -- Tagore is so subtle that it is enormously difficult totranslate him! This book is strongly recommended for readers of allnationalities. ... Read more

Book Description
Interest in the life and work of the Nobel-Prize-winning writer, Rabindranath Tagore, is now enjoying a revival after many years of neglect outside India. This selection of some 350 letters spanning Tagore's entire life is the first to be available to English readers. The letters are intended to show as many facets of his experience, interests and ideas as possible, and will be a valuable source of information, not only for the understanding of the complexity of Tagore's personality, but also of the times in which he lived. ... Read more