INTRODUCTION

[...moved] me; they are full of rhythmic subtlety, of untranslatable delicacies of color, and of metrical invention The creation of new rhythmic patterns and structures in poetry.. In their thought, they display a world I have dreamed of my whole life long. Although they are the work of a highly sophisticated culture, they still appear to grow as naturally from the common soil as grass and reeds.

A tradition where poetry and religion are the same thing has passed through the centuries, gathering metaphors and emotions from both the learned and the unlearned, and carrying the thoughts of the scholar and the nobleman back to the common people. If the civilization of Bengal A region in the northeast of the Indian subcontinent, today divided between Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. remains unbroken—if that shared mind which one senses running through everyone is not, as it is with us in the West, broken into a dozen different minds that know nothing of each other—then even the most subtle parts of these verses will reach the beggar on the road within a few generations.

In the days when England had a single, unified mind, Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340s–1400), often called the "Father of English Literature." wrote his Troilus and Cressida. Even though he wrote it to be read silently or read aloud—for the modern era was approaching quickly—his work was still sung by minstrels Medieval singers or musicians who performed songs and recited poetry. for a time. Rabindranath Tagore original: "Rabindra Nath Tagore" (1861–1941). The Bengali polymath who reshaped Bengali literature and music., like the poets who came before Chaucer, composes music for his words. At every moment, one understands that he is so prolific, so spontaneous, so daring in his passion, and so full of surprise because he is practicing an art that has never seemed strange, unnatural, or in need of defense. These verses will not simply sit in fine, well-printed books on the tables of ladies who turn the pages with indolent original: "indolent." Meaning lazy, idle, or wanting to avoid exertion. hands just so they may sigh—