Gitanjali

Tagore, Rabindranath, 1861-1941Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.7

Word count: 76K words
Chapters: 8

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Gitanjali by Rabindranath TagoreAuthor: Tagore, Rabindranath, 1861-1941,Language: English, Class: PK: Language and Literatures: Indo-Iranian literatures, Release Date: Dec 1, 2004

Editor's review

Gitanjali is a collection of devotional lyric poems that Tagore translated into English himself, and a key work in earning him worldwide renown. The poems speak in the first person to God, blending the Indian bhakti tradition with Western Romantic vocabulary; their themes include offering, waiting, death, and the sacredness of everyday life. The language is clear and rhythmic, the imagery plain yet rewarding, with both prayerful whispers and reflections on life's finitude. The Project Gutenberg edition is a public-domain English e-text, convenient for repeated reading and excerpting, but it lacks a translator's preface and notes, so readers must supply background themselves. It suits slow reading in a quiet setting, one or two poems at a time, to appreciate the musicality; it can also serve as an introduction to English poetry, showing how short lines and repetition create emotional tension.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy lyric poetry and meditative reading
Learners who want to understand Tagore's English poetic style
Those who need a quiet text for morning or bedtime reading
Readers interested in the intersection of religion and literature

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting plot-driven narrative or character stories
Researchers who need detailed notes and scholarly interpretation
Readers who prefer modern colloquial poetry

Reading tips

Read two or three poems a day, pausing briefly before continuing.
Read aloud and pay attention to the rhythm and repetition of the lines.
Keep a notebook to copy images and lines that move you.
After finishing, look up Tagore's biography for background.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Did Tagore translate Gitanjali himself?

Yes. Tagore translated some of the poems from his Bengali original into English himself and published them as a collection. The English version is not a literal translation but has the nature of re-creation, so its style and imagery differ from the Bengali original. Readers can regard the English version as a poetic text shaped by Tagore himself.

Can I understand it without a religious background?

Yes. The religious vocabulary in the poems mostly points to a transcendent love and devotion and does not require any particular faith. Tagore uses everyday images such as nature, light, journey, and gifts, so ordinary readers can feel the emotion. For a deeper understanding of the bhakti tradition, consult materials on Indian religious culture separately.

Is this edition suitable for English learning?

It works as supplementary reading for English poetry. The lines are short and vocabulary repeats often, making it easy to build expressions. But poetic language deliberately departs from everyday usage and is not a model for spoken or practical writing. Focus on appreciating rhythm and imagery; guess unfamiliar words from context rather than looking up every one.

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About the author

Tagore, Rabindranath, 1861-1941 Author

Tagore, Rabindranath (1861-1941) was a renowned Indian poet and writer whose work spans poetry, fiction, drama, and essays. The library holds thirty-three of his works, including the poetry collections Gitanjali, The Gardener, and Stray Birds, the novel The Home and the World, as well as Sadhana: The Realisation of Life and My Reminiscences. His poetry is known for its clear, melodious language and often explores nature, love, and the divine, combining philosophical reflection with lyricism; his fiction attends to social realities and inner lives, portraying the clash between tradition and modernity. Public information is limited and his full biography remains unclear, yet these works reveal a concise and moving style that has had a profound influence on later literature, inviting readers to encounter Eastern philosophical thought and humanistic care through his verse and prose.