Gitanjali : Song Offerings

Gitanjali

By Rabindranath Tagore

With an Introduction by W. B. Yeats

Gitanjali (song offerings) is a collection of 103 devotional poems written originally in Bengali and first published in 1910. In 1912 a translation into English by the author was published in 1912, and led to his being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913.

The Indian sage, Paramahansa Yogananda, who was a friend and admirer of Tagore, made the following comment on his poetry:

"The beauty of his lines, to me, lies in his art of referring to God in nearly every stanza, yet seldom mentioning the sacred Name. 'Drunk with the bliss of singing,' Tagore writes, 'I forget myself and call thee friend who art my lord.'"