Gitanjali

"The progress of our soul is like a perfect poem. It has an infinite idea which once realised makes all movements full of meaning and joy. But if we detach its movements from that ultimate idea, if we do not see the infinite rest and only see the infinite motion, then existence appears to us a monstrous evil, impetuously rushing towards an unending aimlessness." Gitanjali, Tagore’s Nobel winning masterpiece was first published in 1912. These immensely touching verses were written in Bengali in 1910, after he lost his father, wife, second daughter and youngest son. Later he translated these verses when he set sail for England a third time. He showed the translations to his friend William Rothenstein after much persuasion. Rothenstein subsequently showed it to William Butler Yeats, who went on to write the Introduction for the book. Renowned for its lyrical beauty and spiritual poignancy, Gitanjali is a classic in its own right, which won Tagore the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913.