Particles, Jottings, Sparks: The Collected Brief Poems

by Rabindranath Tagore

Witty, lucid, and profound, Rabindranath Tagore`s (1861-1941) brief poems have not enjoyed the prominence they deserve. Originally published in three separate volumes, they are central to his poetry and personality and span his entire career. The voice of the Bengali poet is always spontaneous, friendly, and accessible in these poems. In this collection William Radice, the leading English-translator of Tagore and himself a poet, brings these pieces together for the first time. He also provides an in-depth introduction and three prose writings by Tagore, translated into English for the first time, relating to poetry and the writing of the brief poems.

Genres: Poetry

202 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2004

About the author

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 "because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West."

Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic strictures. His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to topics political and personal. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced), and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed—or panned—for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and unnatural contemplation. His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India's Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh's Amar Shonar Bangla.

The complete works of Rabindranath Tagore (রবীন্দ্র রচনাবলী) in the original Bengali are now available at these third-party websites:
http://www.tagoreweb.in/
http://www.rabindra-rachanabali.nltr....

Reviews

[Jordan Ulmer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tagore's writings held a plethora of insight in 'tid-bit' formulations. Though again I disagreed with many of his philosophical standpoints his works were not all tainted overarching allowing me to see our world form yet another perspective.