A Flight of Swans: Poems from Balākā
by Rabindranath Tagore, Aurobindo Bose (Translator)
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I first read "A Flight of Swans" five years ago, when I rated it 3.5/5 🌟 because I'm an idiot who doesn't recognise transcendent poetry when he reads it. Perhaps that's too harshly self-critical, as I did recognise that I wanted to keep this collection to read again, and it's beautifully 5🌟💖
Tagore writes about love, life, death, god, and the universality of human experience. There's an everpresent sense of spirituality and communion with the divine in people, nature and the Universe. I still can't understand or appreciate it all, but that's the mark of genius, I suppose, that you return to the work again and again, finding new treasures each time.
Tagore writes about love, life, death, god, and the universality of human experience. There's an everpresent sense of spirituality and communion with the divine in people, nature and the Universe. I still can't understand or appreciate it all, but that's the mark of genius, I suppose, that you return to the work again and again, finding new treasures each time.
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Rabindranath Tagore was born on May 7, 1861 in Calcutta, India. He attended University College, at London for one year before being called back to India by his father in 1880. During the first 51 years of his life, he achieved some success in the Calcutta area of India with his many stories, songs, and plays. His short stories were published show more monthly in a friend's magazine and he played the lead role in a few of the public performances of his plays. While returning to England in 1912, he began translating his latest selections of poems, Gitanjali, into English. It was published in September 1912 in a limited edition by the India Society in London. In 1913, he received the Nobel Prize for literature. He was the first non-westerner to receive the honor. In 1915, he was knighted by King George V, but Tagore renounced his knighthood in 1919 following the Amritsar massacre of 400 Indian demonstrators by British troops. He primarily worked in Bengali, but after his success with Gitanjali, he translated many of his other works into English. He wrote over one thousand poems; eight volumes of short stories; almost two dozen plays and play-lets; eight novels; and many books and essays on philosophy, religion, education and social topics. He also composed more than two thousand songs, both the music and lyrics. Two of them became the national anthems of India and Bangladesh. He died on August 7, 1941 at the age of 80. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- A Flight of Swans: Poems from Balākā
- People/Characters
- Shah Jahan; Mumtaz Mahal
- Important places
- Bengal, India; Taj Mahal, Agra, India
- Dedication
- To the Scared Memory
of GURUDEV
Who lives in our hearts. - First words
- SRI AUROBINDO BOSE has brought out in his small book a readable English translation of some of Rabindranath Tagore's poems. (Foreword)
The object of the Editor of this series is a very definite one. (Editorial Note)
IT is with some diffidence that I publish these translations, for I have been a student of science all my life, and made no study of literature at college. (Translator's Preface)
THE meandering current of the Jhelum,
Like a curved sword, glistening in the twilight,
into darkness. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Tarry not, but come you all,
To anoint the Mother,
On the shores of Bhārat,
Where men of all races have come together.
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- Fiction and Literature, Poetry
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