Rabindranath Tagore

 Introduction-
Rabindranath Tagore famously known as the bard of Bengal, was a Indian polymath - poet,
writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He reshaped Bengali
literature and music as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early
20th centuries. Author of the "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful" poetry of Gitanjali, in
1913 he came the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Tagore's poetic songs
are viewed as spiritual and mercurial; however, his "elegant prose and magical poetry" remain
largely unknown outside Bengal.  A Bengali Brahmin from Calcutta, Tagore started writing poetry
as an eight-year-old. At the age of sixteen, he released his first substantial poems under the
pseudonym Bhānusiṃha ("Sun Lion"), which were seized upon by literary authorities as long-lost
classics. By 1877 he graduated to his first short stories and dramas, published under his real name.
As a humanist, universalist, internationalist, and ardent anti-nationalist, he denounced the British
Raj and advocated independence from Britain. As an exponent of the Bengal Renaissance, he
advanced a vast canon that comprised paintings, sketches and doodles, hundreds of texts, and
some two thousand songs; his legacy also endures in his founding of Visva-Bharati University.

 Contribution to literature-
Rabindranath Tagore made a significant contribution to literature.  He wrote novels, essays, short stories,
travelogues, dramas, poems and thousands of songs. Among all of tagore’s work his short stories the most
regarded. His works have a rhythmic, optimistic, and lyrical nature. Mostly the subject matter for his stories is
derived from the lives of ordinary people.

DRAMAS;

He wrote his first original dramatic piece when he was 20 – Valmiki Pratibha. He wanted his works to
articulate “the play of feeling and not action”. His work usually includes intricate subplots and extended
monologues. He used more philosophical and allegorical themes in his later dramas. Some of his famous
works include Dak Ghar, Chandalika, Raktakarabi, Visarjan. Some of his work got gleaning reviews in Europe
for their borderless appeal and the way he dealth with death describing it as "spiritual freedom" from "the
world of hoarded wealth and certified creeds".

SHORT STORIES;

He wrote his first short story, 'Bhikharini' or The Beggar Woman, when he was 16 years old. He
invented the Bengali language short story genre. From 1891 to 1895, known as Tagore's 'Sadhana'
period, he wrote the three-volume, Galpaguchchha which contains eighty-four stories. These stories
showcase Tagore's reflections about his surroundings, on modern and fashionable ideas, and on
interesting mind puzzles. These stories were connected with the life of Tagore in the common
villages. He examined the villagers lives with a penetrative depth and feeling that was singular in
Indian literature up to that point. Stories like 'Kabuliwallah' - The Fruit seller, 'Kshudita Pashan' - The
Hungry Stones, and 'Atithi - The Runaway, showed this analytic focus on the downtrodden.

Tagore's stories have furnished subject matter for numerous successful films and theatrical plays.
The famous film director Satyajit Ray based his film 'Charulata' - The Lonely Wife, on the story
'Nastanirh' - The Broken Nest. Ray made a memorable film by putting the stories, 'Samapti',
'Postmaster' and 'Monihara' together. The film was named Teen Kanya - 'Three Daughters'. Tapan
Sinha, another noted film director made a film on the story, 'Atithi'.

In the story, 'Haimanti', Tagore takes up the institution of Hindu marriage. The 'Strir Patra' describes
the dismal lifelessness of Bengali women after marriage and how Haimanti, a sensitive young
woman, due to her sensitiveness and free spirit sacrifices her life. In 'Musalmanir golpo' he examines
the Hindu Muslim tensions. 'Darpaharan' describes a young man who has literary ambitions and
wants to curb his wife's literary career. But finally accepts his wife's talents.

Novels :

Chaturanga, Gora, Shesher Kobita, Ghare Baire, Char Odhay, and Noukadubi are some of his novels.

Shesher Kobita was translated twice, once as Last Poem and another time as Farewell Song. It is the most

lyrical and satirical novel.

Poetry :

Tagore's best-known collection of poetry is Gitanjali. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1913 for it. 'Manasi',

'Sonar Tori' - Golden Boat, 'Balaka' - Wild Geese are some other notable works.
 conclusion
Rabindranath Tagore is considered as the pioneer of Bangla literature and culture.

Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic strictures.

His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to topics political and personal.