Best Poetry by Tagore We Love
Rabindranath Tagore is one of the best literary scholars and artists India has had. He gave new life to Bengali literature, music and art, in terms of modernizing them. In 1913, Tagore became the first Indian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature for his “profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse” of ‘Gitanjali’.
In his work, he circumvented rigid classical forms and resisted linguistic strictures. His novels, stories, songs, dramas and essays spoke about topics ranging from political to social and personal. They are deeply contemplative in nature, sparking fresh perspectives in the readers.
On Rabindranath Tagore’s birth anniversary, let us revisit some of the lyrical poems he has written, that reflect unbounded faith, joy and sensitivity.
“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Gitanjali 35
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”
“Keep me fully glad with nothing. Only take my hand in your hand.
Keep Me Fully Glad…
In the gloom of the deepening night take up my heart and play with it as you list. Bind me close to you with nothing.
I will spread myself out at your feet and lie still. Under this clouded sky I will meet silence with silence. I will become one with the night clasping the earth in my breast.
Make my life glad with nothing.”
Child, how happy you are sitting in the dust, playing with a broken twig all the morning.
Playthings
I smile at your play with that little bit of a broken twig.
I am busy with my accounts, adding up figures by the hour.
Perhaps you glance at me and think, “What a stupid game to spoil your morning with!”
Child, I have forgotten the art of being absorbed in sticks and mud-pies.
I seek out costly playthings, and gather lumps of gold and silver.
With whatever you find you create your glad games, I spend both my time and my strength over things I never can obtain.
In my frail canoe I struggle to cross the sea of desire, and forget that I too am playing a game.
If you want to write for BeStorified, read the submission guidelines and reach out to us.
