Rabindranath
Tagore (1861-1941) is considered to be the greatest Bengali writer ever
born. Although a 'myriad-minded man', he was not much confident of his
English language skills. He made a clear confession of this to Ezra
Pound, William Rothenstein, Ramananda Chatterjee, and his daughter Bella
and niece Indira. He thought his English was not good enough to suit
him fine. But the success of the English versions of his Gitanjali poems
and that of his speeches in the American lecture circuit even before he
had risen to prominence by winning the Nobel Prize must have proved
that his fears were groundless. Researchers have explored many qualities
of permanence in his English writings.
Rabindranath was not a
writer in English as such. He took to writing in English owing to
pressure from his admirers at home and abroad. Nevertheless, the corpus
of his writings in English is pretty large and manifold. It generally
falls into two major categoriesoriginals and translations. Although he
began this part of his career in his early fifties as a translator of
his own writings, he did a considerable amount of original writing and
translation of others' works. In addition, he used the language to write
scores of letters, and to give numerous lectures, talks, speeches, and
addresses across the globe.
With the growing cultural awareness in
this postcolonial era, the Bengali-speaking people, especially the
younger generation, have developed a tremendous interest in Rabindranath
Tagore, the quintessence of our literary and cultural identity. The
150th anniversary of his birth has been celebrated throughout the world
with boundless enthusiasm. UNESCO has declared 2011 as the year of
Tagore, along with some other literary luminaries. World attention is
being hugely focused on this great Eastern literary icon.
The
English version of Gitanjali (Song Offerings) was first published by
India Society, London, in 1912, and was dedicated to William
Rothenstein. It includes 103 poems, of which 53 are taken from the
Bengali version of Gitanjali published in 1910. The rest are extracted
from his other works: 16 from Gitimalya (1914), 16 from Naivedya (1901),
11 from Kheya (1906) 3 from Sisu(1903), one each from Kalpana (1900),
Smaran (1903), Gitali (1896), and Utsarga (1914), and one song from the
play Acalayatan (1912). All the 103 poems, however, are translated by
the author himself, and can be considered as an anthology of his poems
written over a period of ten years.
The Gardener was first
published by Macmillan, London, in October 1913, and was dedicated to W.
B. Yeats. It contains translations of 85 Bengali poems written earlier
than the Gitanjali period. Twenty six poems have been taken from
Ksanika (1900) alone. It also picks up poems of some much earlier works
like Kadi o Komal (1886) Manasi (1890) and Mayar Khela (1888). Published
by Macmillan, London, in 1930, The Crescent Moon is the only work of
Tagore in English where all the poems have titles. The book contains 40
poems of which 35 are selected from the Bengali work Sisu (1903).The
rest of the poems are taken from Kadi o Komal (1886), Sonar Tari (1894),
Ksanika (1900) and Gitimalya (1914).
Fruit-Gathering, published
by Macmillan first in 1916 and then in 1918, together with Gitanjali
under the title Gitanjali and Fruit-Gathering, includes 86 poems of
which more than 50 are from Gitimalya, Gitali, Utsarga, Kheya,
Naivedya and Gitanjali, and the rest are from Katha and Balaka.
First
published by Macmillan in 1918, Lover's Gift and Crossing is divided
into two parts. The 60 poems in 'Lover's Gift' are mostly from Balaka
and Ksanika and the rest from Chitra, Smaran, Kalpana, Kheya and several
other sources while the 74 poems in 'Crossing' come from Naivedya,
Kheya, Gitanjali, Gitimalya, and Gitali. There are, however, four poems
in 'Lover's Gift', which are not Tagore's in the original. They are
translated by Tagore from three other Bengali poets.
The Fugitive
was first published by Macmillan in 1921. Other than the English
translations of his own Bengali poems, Tagore has included here
translations of 17 religious lyrics composed by others under three
heads: 'Vaishnava Songs', 'Baul Songs' and 'Hindi Songs of Jnanadas'.
Poems, posthumously published by Visva-Bharati in 1942, was translated
into English by the poet himself and edited by Krishna Kripalani in
collaboration with Amiya Chakravarty, Nirmal Chandra Chattopadhyay and
Pulinbihari Sen. The book contains 130 poems, excluding the introductory
one. It is the first attempt to present Tagore's poems in the
translation in chronological order. There are, however, 12 poems in
this collection translated by Amiya Chakravarty.
Stray Birds is a
collection of epigrams and short verses first published by Macmillan,
New York, in 1916, and dedicated to T. Hara of Yokohama, the author's
host in Japan during his visit in 1916. The poems included in this book
were, in the first instance, taken from Kanika. The rest were written in
Japan. Some scholars have found the possibility of the influence of
Japanese Haiku on these poems.
First published by Macmillan, New
York, in 1928, Fireflies contains 256 epigrams and short verses some of
which are translations from the Bengali and some are written originally
in English.
First published by Allen and Unwin, London in 1931,
The Child is the only major poem by Tagore written directly in English.
The poem was written in July 1930 when Tagore visited the village of
Oberammergau in Munich, Germany, to watch the traditional passion play.
He later translated it into Bengali under the title Sisu Tirtha.
One Hundred Poems of Kabir is a selection of the songs of Kabir, one of
the greatest saint-poets of medieval India. Being translated by Tagore,
and published by India Society, London, in 1914 and reprinted by
Macmillan, London and Macmillan, New York in 1917, the mystic songs of
Kabir were offered to English readers for the first time. Evelyn
Underhill assisted Tagore in this great work, and wrote a long
introduction to it. The source of this translation work was the most
authoritative book on the subject entitled Kabir by Kshitimohan Sen.
The
probable date of the publication of the Bolpur edition of The Fugitive
is 1919. However, in 1921, Macmillan published it after considerable
modifications presumably done by Tagore himself.
Lekhan was first
printed in 1926 at Balatonfured, Hungary in Tagore's handwriting. It
contained 420 short verses of which 72 were in English, 48 in Bengali,
and 150 had both Bengali and English versions. The pieces in English
(72+150=222) were later included in Fireflies in 1928 with some changes
in punctuation, diction and syntax.
Apart from the above-published
works of poetry, there are some other isolated poems written and
translated by Tagore on different occasions. To Shakespeare is the
poet's own translation of the 16-line Bengali poem written in 1915 at
the request of Shakespeare Tercentenary Celebration Committee. 'A Weary
Pilgrim' was written by Tagore on his way to Japan on 3 May 1929. Appeal
for Relief is Tagore's own translation of the poem which he wrote as
the President of the Bengal Congress Flood and Famine Relief Committee.
The Cleanser is Tagore's translation of the Bengali poem 'Methar'
written by Satyendranath Datta. 'Freedom from Fear' was written on the
death anniversary of Raja Rammohun Roy. Deshabandhu Chittaranjan Das is
the English translation of a Bengali poem written on the inauguration
ceremony of Deshabandhu Memorial. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was written on
centenary celebration of the 19th century Hindu religious leader
Ramakrishna. 'Speak to Me, My Friend' is the translation of a Bengali
song. My Prayer for India was published in The Modern Review, August
1930. Two Poems Written in Iran are the poems presented to the Shah of
Iran by Tagore during his visit there in 1902. You have Come to Me is
the translation of a Bengali song.
The fullest corpus of Tagore's
poetry in English has yet to be explored. Many of his published and
unpublished poems are still untraceable. However, the process of
exploration is on. We look forward to fresh inquiries and investigations
in this regard.
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