Rabindranath Tagore Term Paper
World Literature
Rabindranath Tagore: “Gitanjali” The life and times of Rabindranath Tagore greatly influenced his works. Tagore’s birthplace had a great impact on him. He was born in culturally rich area: “The mansion in which Rabindranath was born on 7 May 1861, No. 6 Dwarkanath Tagore’s Lane, Jorasanko, lay in the heart of the Bengali section of Calcutta” (Dutta 34). The place where they lived was diverse as the Tagores were Bengali Hindus. Tagore provides the best description of his family say it is “the product of ‘a confluence of three cultures: Hindu, Mohammedan, and British’” (Sen OL). Tagore was a name known in Calcutta even before Rabindranath existed. His family was prominent: “His father was the Maharishi Debendranath Tagore, the Hindu reformer and mystic and his mother was Sharada Devi” (Harilal OL). Westerners also influenced Tagore’s poetry: “Western influences on Tagore were Romantic: Goethe in Germany; Wordsworth, Keats, and Shelley in England; Whitman and Emerson in America. He refers to these poets time after tie, nor is the attraction surprising. Most of these poets had themselves been influenced by Indian thought and literature” (Palmer OL). Since the romantics used ideas that Tagore grew up with, he could relate to their work: “What Tagore liked in the romantics was essentially what they had gotten from India—their mystical insistence on the closeness, indeed, the unity of the divine, the human, and the natural world in general” (Palmer OL). The variety of influences work themselves into Tagore’s poetry. Tagore’s family and household helped him become a success. The family was already thriving in numbers: “His mother already had 12 living children when Tagore was born, several of whom were married. Her husband was often away on business. Tagore’s support therefore came from his older siblings” (Harilal OL). Fortunately the amount of siblings didn’t hinder Tagore, but actually helped him. Of these
Rabindranath Tagore: “Gitanjali” The life and times of Rabindranath Tagore greatly influenced his works. Tagore’s birthplace had a great impact on him. He was born in culturally rich area: “The mansion in which Rabindranath was born on 7 May 1861, No. 6 Dwarkanath Tagore’s Lane, Jorasanko, lay in the heart of the Bengali section of Calcutta” (Dutta 34). The place where they lived was diverse as the Tagores were Bengali Hindus. Tagore provides the best description of his family say it is “the product of ‘a confluence of three cultures: Hindu, Mohammedan, and British’” (Sen OL). Tagore was a name known in Calcutta even before Rabindranath existed. His family was prominent: “His father was the Maharishi Debendranath Tagore, the Hindu reformer and mystic and his mother was Sharada Devi” (Harilal OL). Westerners also influenced Tagore’s poetry: “Western influences on Tagore were Romantic: Goethe in Germany; Wordsworth, Keats, and Shelley in England; Whitman and Emerson in America. He refers to these poets time after tie, nor is the attraction surprising. Most of these poets had themselves been influenced by Indian thought and literature” (Palmer OL). Since the romantics used ideas that Tagore grew up with, he could relate to their work: “What Tagore liked in the romantics was essentially what they had gotten from India—their mystical insistence on the closeness, indeed, the unity of the divine, the human, and the natural world in general” (Palmer OL). The variety of influences work themselves into Tagore’s poetry. Tagore’s family and household helped him become a success. The family was already thriving in numbers: “His mother already had 12 living children when Tagore was born, several of whom were married. Her husband was often away on business. Tagore’s support therefore came from his older siblings” (Harilal OL). Fortunately the amount of siblings didn’t hinder Tagore, but actually helped him. Of these
Cited: Dutta, Krishna Rabindranath Tagore: The Myriad-minded Man. New York: St. Martin 's, 1996 (DePaul PK1725 .D871996)