Tagore

Bengal writer Rabindranath Tagore was a profoundly influential poet-story teller in the early part of the 20th century (he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913), who is perhaps not as well known in the western world as he should be. Here--accompanied by a preface from esteemed Ravakrishna leader Swami Adiswarananda--are poems collected from Tagore's two most recognized works, GITANJALI and THE GARDENER. Both consist primarily of tales, dialogues, and odes concerning the search for spiritual fulfillment. There is a Kafka-esque element here, as Tagore ably conveys the baffling frustrations of seeking enlightenment. A revered mystical philosopher and poet from a land where (as William Butler Yeats writes in his introduction to the GITANJALI) poetry and religion are the same, Tagore is comparable perhaps only to Shakespeare in the English language. Adventurous readers are urged to check out his work, and will likely find no better place than in this elegant entry in the Mystic Poets series, which includes similarly worthy volumes on Sylvia Plath, Walt Whitman, and others. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.