Book Review of Gitanjali - Copy

8/4/2019 Book Review of Gitanjali - Copy

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NAME OF THE BOOK- GITANJALIAUTHOR RABINDRANATH TAGOREPUBLISHED IN -2004NUMBER OF PAGES 128

PRICE 200BINDIG PAPER BACKLANGUAGE ENGLISHNUMBER OF WORDS 14853

GENRE POETRYPUBLICATION BY FULL CIRCLEPUBLISHING LTD [2004]


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Gitanjali (Bengali: ) is a collection of103 English poems, largely translations, by

the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore. This volumebecame very famous in the West, and was widelytranslated.Gitanjali(Gitanjoli) is alsothe title of an earlier Bengali volume (1910) of 157 mostly

devotional songs. Thewordgitanjoli is composed from"git", song, and "anjoli", offering, and thus means - "Anoffering of songs"; but the word for offering, anjoli, has astrong devotional connotation, so the title may also be

interpreted as "prayer offering of song

INTRODUCTION


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The poems of Gitanjali express a largely metaphysical outlook,

talking about a union with the "supreme"; but like much westernpoetry that explores similar themes, the language suggests the unionof two earthly lovers. This type of anthropomorphic depiction ofcelestial love is quite common in theVaishnava literature of Indiasince the 12th century(seeVidyapati orJayadeva). RabindranathTagore encountered it also in his interactions withthe Baul community in rural Bengal. For example, poem 7 in theEnglish volume renders poem 125 from the Bengali gItanjali, Amar e

gan chheechhe tar shkol longkar


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This is the vision that the poet had for the India of his

dreamsGitanjali is a song of offering to the motherland (India), and to

the deity that reigns upon the land. At times, it seems the

poet has personalized the divinity in the form of a person; at

other times he refers to the divinity in the abstract. Thoughthe poetry is beautiful and evocative of nature, it is at times

disjointed. The common thread that binds the poem is the

relationship between the singer and the object of his

adoration. Like most poetry, this song too is introspective asthe poet seeks to come to terms with his dreams. This song is

more akin to a mosaic than a painting - the key to

understanding this song is that the poet has interwoven

number of related themes together.


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THE BEST THING I LIKE


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Last but not least - Rabindranath Tagore was also an

educationist, and founded the famous school

at Shantiniketan (or abode of peace). The school waslater expanded into a University. Rabindranath Tagore

believed that learning should best be imparted in a

natural environment. Some of the leading laureates of

the school include Indira Gandhi, Satyajit

Ray and Amartya Sen.There pictures are also -


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Tagore's poetrywhich is varied in style from classicalformalism to the comic, visionary, and ecstaticproceedsfrom a lineage established by 15th- and 16th-centuryVaishnava poets. Tagore was awed by the mysticism of

the rishi-authors whoincludingVyasawrotethe Upanishads, theBhakti-Sufi mystic Kabir,and Ramprasad Sen. Yet Tagore's poetry became mostinnovative and mature after his exposure to rural Bengal's

folk music, which included Baul balladsespecially thoseof bard Lalon. Theserediscovered and popularised byTagoreresemble 19th-century Kartbhaj hymns thatemphasize inward divinity and rebellion against religious

and social orthodoxy


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. Tagore used such techniques in his Bhnusiha poems (whichchronicle the romance between Radha and Krishna), which herepeatedly revised over the course of seventy years.Tagore

responded to the mostly crude emergence of modernism andrealism in Bengali literature by writing experimental works inthe 1930s.Examples works includeAfrica and Camalia, whichare among the better known of his later poems. He occasionally

wrote poems using Shadhu Bhasha (a Sanskritised dialect ofBengali); later, he began using Cholti Bhasha (a more populardialect). Other notable works includeManasi, SonarTori (Golden Boat), Balaka (Wild Geesethe title being a

metaphor for migrating souls)

and Purobi. Sonar Tori's mostfamous poemdealing with the ephemeral nature of life andachievementgoes by the same name;, Gitanjali () is Tagore's best-known collection,

winning him his Nobel Prize. Song VII ( 127)

ofGitanjali:


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Gitanjali is a song of offering to the motherland (India), and

to the deity that reigns upon the land. At times, it seems the

poet has personalised the divinity in the form of a person; at

other times he refers to the divinity in the abstract. Thoughthe poetry is beautiful and evocative of nature, it is at times

disjointed. The common thread that binds the poem is the

relationship between the singer and the object of his

adoration. Like most poetry, this song too is introspective asthe poet seeks to come to terms with his dreams. This song is

more akin to a mosaic than a painting - the key to

understanding this song is that the poet has interwoven

number of related themes together.


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Book Review of Gitanjali - Copy