This is a quartet of 2 Petrarchan sonnets and two Shakespearean sonnets which provide a kind of potted history of the Tagore family and their and Tagore’s contribution to the Bengal Renaissance, Tagore’s life, work, philosophy and legacy.
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) is widely recognized as a creative genius produced by the Indian Renaissance. There are not many poets whose works constitute the national anthems of not one but two nations. His song ‘Janaganamana-adhinayaka’ is the national anthem of India, and that of Bangladesh is also his composition. Read more
On returning home from England, Rabindranath became immersed in writing. While in England he began to write his first verse-drama, Bhagna Hriday (The Broken Heart), on the theme of a tormented poet disappointed in love as in his work titled Kabikahini (The Poet’s Story) which he wrote when he was sixteen. It was from a time in his young life when he harboured a fanciful image of himself. There was a great parade of universal love in those writings not surprising from a budding poet. Read more