Gitanjali: Song Offerings

Even though the English translation of Gitanjali bears the same name as the original Bengali edition, the poems featured in the two editions are neither identical nor the same in number. The original Bengali edition had 157 poems as against the 103 prose pieces in the English edition. These 103 ‘verses’ are again translations of 104 poems in Bengali. This is because one English verse (verse 103) is a combined translation of two Bengali poems. On the left hand pages are featured the manuscripts of the original Bengali poems. The English translations done by the poet himself appear on the right hand pages. Wherever the original Bengali manuscript is not available the Bengali version of the poem has been reproduced. This edition features: Introduction to Gitanjali by W.B. Yeats, The English translation of the introduction to the French edition of Gitanjali by Andre Gide, Photographs of the medal and citation of the Nobel Prize awarded to Rabindranath Tagore, A selection of newspaper clippings reporting the award of the Nobel Prize for literature to Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Excerpts from introductions to Gitanjali translated in several languages will give readers a taste of the impact of the work across the world, The English translations have been set against a backdrop of photographs that will bring readers closer to the ambience of the place that was the cradle to this creative mind.