Publisher's Synopsis
Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore A Bengali poet and mystic, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) had long been loved and admired in India, but it was not until the publication of his own English translation of more than a hundred of his Bengali poems in 1913 that he achieved international fame - and a Nobel Prize. Comprised of moving, heartfelt prose poems reminiscent of Blake and Gibran - many almost biblical in their rhythms, phrasings, and images - Gitanjali (Song Offerings) was inspired by medieval Indian lyrics of devotion in which the principal subject is love, through some poems detail the internal conflict between spiritual longings and earthly desires, and others depict images drawn from nature. In his introduction to this translation, William Butler Yeats writes: "I have carried the manuscript of these translations about with me for days and I have often had to close it lest some stranger would see how much it moved me." This new edition is sure to earn Tagore a broad new following. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.