Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore FRAS, also written Ravīndranātha Thākura, sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped Bengali literature and music, as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. In translation his poetry was viewed as spiritual and mercurial; however, his "elegant prose and magical poetry" remain largely unknown...
NationalityIndian
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth7 May 1861
CityKolkata, India
CountryIndia
Thou hast brought the distant near and made a brother of the stranger.
These paper boats of mine are meant to dance on the ripples of hours, and not reach any destination.
A thorn can only be extracted if you know where it is.
I leave no trace of wings in the air, but I am glad I have had my flight.
What you are you do not see, what you see is your shadow.
While God waits for His temple to be built of love, men bring stones.
Truth looks tawdry when she is overdressed.
You smiled and talked to me of nothing and I felt that for this I had been waiting long.
Power said to the world, "You are mine." The world kept it prisoner on her throne. Love said to the world, "I am thine." The world gave it the freedom of her house.
The sparrow is sorry for the peacock at the burden of its tail.
[The poets' role is that of] capturing on their instruments the secret stir of life in the air and giving it voice in the music of prophecy
Perhaps the new dawn will come from this horizon, from the East where the sun rises; and then, unvanquished Man will retrace his path of conquest, despite all barriers, to win back his lost heritage.
Oh my only friend, my best beloved, the gates are open in my house—do not pass by like a dream.
I have on my table a violin string. It is free to move in any direction I like. If I twist one end, it responds; it is free. But it is not free to sing. So I take it and fix it into my violin. I bind it and when it is bound, it is free for the first time to sing.