Rabindranath Tagore

May 6, 1861, Mr.. - August 7, 1941
The Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore was born in Calcutta and was the youngest of fourteen children in the well-known and wealthy family. His father, Maharishi Debendranat Tagore, was a Brahmin, often make pilgrimages to holy places in India. His mother, Sarada Devi, died when Tagore was 14 years old. Having lost their mother, a young man leads a lonely and secluded life. He began writing poetry in eight years, studying first at home, then in private schools in t. h. Eastern Seminary in Calcutta, in Bengal Teachers' Training College and Academy, where he studied Bengali history and culture. Traveling with his father in 1873,. published epic T. 'History of the poet' ( "Kabikahine '). In the same year he went to England to study law at University College London, but after one year without obtaining a diploma, returning to India for some time lived in Calcutta, where the example of the older brothers started to write. In 1883, Mr.. he married Mrinalini Devi, . the marriage with whom he had two sons and three daughters, . released his first collection of poetry: 'Evening Song' ( "Sandhya Sangeet", . 1882) and 'Morning Song' ( "Prabhat Sangeet", . 1883), . which began his poetic career.,
. In 1890, Mr.
. at the request of his father T. becomes manager of a patrimonial estate in Shelaydeho in East Bengal, where he lives in a mansion and a house on the water in the river Padma. Rural landscapes and customs - the main theme of verses T. 1893 ... 1900., Among which should be allocated collections 'Golden Boat' ( "Sonar Tari", 1894) and 'moment' ( "Khanika, 1900). 'It was the most productive stage of my literary work', - later wrote about this time the poet himself. The image of 'the golden boat', a metaphor of human life in the stream of time, found in subsequent works of T. In the 'Moment' romantically elevated style of his early poems gives way to a more colloquial, a move which angered many Indian critics of the time, which jarred distinctive poetic voice of T.
In 1901, Mr.. T. moved to Shantiniketan, the marital estate at Calcutta, where, together with five other teachers opened the school, for which the wife of T. sold a large piece of jewelry, and the poet himself - copyright for the publication of his works. At this time T. combines the teaching of literary work, writes not only poetry but also novels, stories, books on Indian history, books and articles on pedagogy.
After his wife died in 1902. T. publishes a collection of lyrical poems 'Memory' ( "Sharan"), permeated by dragging sense of loss. In 1903, Mr.. TB kills one of his daughters, and in 1907. Cholera - the youngest son of the poet.
In 1912, Mr.. eldest son sent to study in the United States in the College of Agriculture University of Illinois, . and T., . which goes along with it, . makes a stop in London, . which shows his poems in his own English translation of William Rotenstaynu, . English painter and writer, . whom he met years earlier in India,
. In the same 1912. assisted Rotenstayna in 'Indian society' ( "India Society") go 'Sacrifice Song' ( "Gitanjali"), with a foreword by William Butler Yeats, then T. became known in Britain and the U.S.. Ezra Pound, while unofficial secretary Yeats, praised the verses T. for 'higher wisdom, a reminder of everything that in the chaos of life in the West ... in overcrowded cities, the rattle of commercial literature, in the maelstrom of commercial flying out of head '. However, many fans of T. correctly imagined not only his poetry but the poet himself, whom they perceived as the mystical voice of the people throughout India, while he was writing in Bengali, a language understood by only a fraction of the population.
T. received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. 'a deeply heartfelt, original and beautiful poem, which with great skill expressed his poetic thinking, which became, in his own words, part of the literature of the West'. In his speech, the representative of the Swedish Academy, Harald JцІrn noted that 'the greatest impression on members of the Nobel Committee made a "sacrificial song'. Jernej also mentioned the English translations of others, as poetry and prose, works of T., which were mostly published in 1913. Noticing that the verses T. 'filled with the universal meaning', JцІrn named poet 'figure, uniting the world of East and West'.
. T., who was at that time in the United States, at the ceremony was not present but sent a telegram in which he expressed gratitude 'for open-mindedness, make far - close, but someone else's - the native'
. In the absence of Laureate award was presented to the British Ambassador in Sweden. Cash prize T. sacrificed their school, Vizva-Bharati, which became after the First World War, with free university education.
In 1915, Mr.. T. received a knighthood, but four years later, after the shooting of peaceful demonstrators by British troops in Amritsar, waived. During the next thirty years, the poet travels to Europe, USA, South America and the Middle East. His paintings (T. began to study painting at the age of 68) exhibited in Munich, New York, Paris, Moscow and other cities of the world.
While the West T. better known as a poet, . He was also the author of numerous plays: 'Sacrifice' ( "Visarjan", . 1890), . hero whose, . young man, . busy agonizing search for truth; 'Mail' ( "Dakghar", . 1912) - the sad story of a teenager; 'Red oleanders' ( "Rakta-Karabi", . 1925) - a drama of social and political protest,
. Numerous novel T., mainly from the life of the Bengali peasantry, first appeared in English in 1913. in the collection 'meek stones and other stories' ( "Hungry Stones and Other Stories").
T. was awarded the honorary degree of four universities in India, was an honorary doctorate from Oxford University. He died in Calcutta in 1941, after a long illness.
According to his literary secretary Ami Chakravarty, T. was glad that his works were used in ordinary Bengalis so popular that people perceived as. 'People in remote Indian villages were singing his songs (which the poet has written more than 3 thousand), read aloud his poems, brought his sayings, even without knowing who the author - wrote Chakravarty. - Ox-driver, ferrymen, farm workers took it poetic gift as part of the centuries-old cultural heritage '.
Although T. the end of 20-ies. remained widely known in the West, interest in his work has declined significantly. In his monograph on the T. Mary Leigo explains this for two reasons. First, the majority of English translations of T. (except, of course, authorized) was unable to convey the true meaning and beauty of its lines. Secondly, many of the early poems of the poet, as well as his recent books have never been translated and are available only to readers of Bengal. From the perspective of the Indian scholar Krishna Kripalani, 'the principal value of T. is impulse, which he gave to the development of Indian culture and thought ... He gave his people the faith in his own language in its cultural and moral heritage. "