The Lover of GodCopper Canyon Press, 2013 M12 15 - 90 pages Tagore's supressed book now available in an English-Bengali edition For the first time in English, here is the sequence of poems Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) worked on his entire life—the erotic and emotionally powerful dialogue about Lord Krishna and his young lover Radha. These "song offerings" are the first poems Tagore ever published, though he passed them off as those of an unknown Bengali religious poet. As the first and last poems Tagore wrote and revised, they represent the entrance and exit to one of the most prolific literary lives of our contemporary world. The translation rights to Tagore’s poetry were tightly guarded until 2001, when they entered the public domain, making publication of this book possible. These English versions are the result of a five-year collaboration between Bengali scholar Tony K. Stewart, who provided richly associative literal translations, and the celebrated poet Chase Twichell, who shaped the poems into English. This bilingual Bengali-English edition also includes the "biography" Tagore wrote of the unknown religious poet who supposedly authored these poems. Rabindranath Tagore was born in Bengal, the youngest son of a religious reformer and scholar. He wrote successfully in all literary genres and is the author of the national anthems for both India and Bangladesh. In his mature years he managed the family estates, which brought him into close touch with common humanity and increased his interest in social reforms. He participated in the Indian nationalist movement, and was a devoted friend of Mahatma Gandhi. Tagore received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913; he was knighted in 1915 by the British Government, but later resigned the honor as a protest against British policies in India. |
Contents
On Translating Bhānu | |
The Poems of Sun Lion | |
1 Spring at last The amuyas flare | |
2 You innocent | |
3 He never came to me | |
4 That jeweldark blue becomes you Lord | |
5 Shake off that sadness Rādhā | |
14 When were together nights like this delight me | |
15 Dont talk about love to me Mādhava | |
16 When pitiless Mādhava left for Mathurā City | |
17 So many times Lord I have implored you | |
18 How long must I go on waiting | |
19 You resemble my Dark Lord Śyāma | |
20 Who are You who keeps my heart awake? | |
21 Who wants to hear the long miserable | |
6 Come to me with a mouth full of words | |
7 Listen can you hear it? | |
8 Hes there among the scented trees | |
9 A warm breeze frets through the woods | |
10 Your flute plays the exact notes of my pain | |
11 High in the blossoming canopy | |
12 I know who visits your dream Dark One | |
13 Not only is it dark but clouds roar | |
22 Ive fallen from my life friend | |
Postscript | |
The Life of Bhānusiṃha Ṭhākura | |
About the Translators | |
Acknowledgments | |
Copyright | |
Pressmark | |
Special Thanks | |