ISBN: 9780143068945    Publisher: Penguin Year of publishing: 2010     Format:  Paperback No of Pages: 144        Language: English

To celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the Indian Republic, the Words of Freedom series showcases the landmark speeches and writings of fourteen visionary leaders whose thought animated the Indian struggle for Independence and whose revolutionary ideas and actions forged the Republic of India as we know it today.
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Rabindranath Tagore was one of the key figures of the Bengal Renaissance. In 1913, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and his verse collection Gitanjali came to be known internationally. Tagore was a pioneering literary figure, known for his ceaseless innovations in art and literature. His works include some sixty collections of verse, like Manasi (The Ideal One), Sonar Tari (The Golden Boat), Gitimalya (Wreath of Songs), and Balaka (The Flight of Cranes). He also wrote novels, plays, dance dramas, nearly a hundred short stories, essays on religious, social and literary topics, and over 2500 songs (words and music), including the national anthems of India and Bangladesh. As a painter, he has a unique place in modern Indian art. He died in 1941. William Radice has pursued a double career as a poet and as a scholar and translator of Bengali. He is well known for his translations of the poems, stories and plays of Tagore, of which Selected Poems and Selected Short Stories were reprinted several times. In 2009, he was awarded the title of 'Rabindra Tattwacharya' by the Tagore Research Institute, Kolkata. He has also published nine books of his own poems and has been teaching Bengali at SOAS, University of London, since 1988. His literary work in recent years has included opera libretti, and his many books include Myths and Legends of India and Teach Yourself Bengali. He has recently translated The Poem of the Killing of Meghn d by Michael Madhusudan Dutt and Gitanjali by Tagore, both for Penguin India.
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