A short life of the author
Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) was born on 7 May 1861 in Calcutta (now Kolkata) into the prominent Tagore family. He was a polymath of extraordinary range: poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright, essayist, composer of over 2,000 songs (Rabindra Sangeet), painter, and educator. He founded Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan.
Life and Career
Tagore wrote primarily in Bengali. Gitanjali (Song Offerings, 1912) — a collection of 103 prose poems that he translated into English — was introduced by W.B. Yeats and won the Nobel Prize in 1913. The poems are devotional, lyrical, and deeply personal.
His novels — Gora (1910), about Indian identity and nationalism, and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World, 1916), about a woman caught between her traditional husband and a charismatic revolutionary — are among the most important in Bengali literature. He composed “Jana Gana Mana” (India’s national anthem) and “Amar Shonar Bangla” (Bangladesh’s national anthem).
Major Works and Themes
Tagore wrote about devotion, nature, love, nationalism, and the relationship between individual freedom and social responsibility. He is the towering figure of modern Bengali literature and Indian cultural life.
Key Works
- Gitanjali (1912)
- The Home and the World (1916)
Collecting Tagore
English-language first editions (Macmillan, India Society) are the primary collected form for Western collectors. Gitanjali (India Society, 1912) — the limited first edition of 750 copies — brings $2,000–$5,000. Bengali originals are separately collected. Tagore died in 1941.