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Primary sourceBook1914

The Gardener

Rabindranath Tagore · 1914

A collection of love and life poems by Tagore, translated by himself from the original Bengali and published in 1914.

Tagore's own poetry collection, translated by himself, showing his early lyrical style before Gitanjali.

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The GardenerPDF · 172 pages
Rabindranath Tagore, The Gardener, translated by the author from the original Bengali, 1914. Scanned book, Internet Archive.

About this source

What it is

The Gardener is a book of poems written by Rabindranath Tagore and translated by him from the original Bengali into English. It was first published in 1913, with this edition dated 1914, by Macmillan and Co. The scanned book is held by the Internet Archive.

Why it matters

According to Tagore's own preface, these lyrics of love and life were written earlier than the religious poems collected in his famous work Gitanjali. Because Tagore translated the poems himself, the book shows how he reshaped his own Bengali verse for English readers, sometimes abridging or paraphrasing rather than translating word for word.

Look closer

  • Why might Tagore choose to paraphrase rather than translate his poems exactly?
  • What might be gained or lost when a poet translates their own work into another language?
  • What do the themes of love and life suggest about Tagore as a young poet, compared to his later religious poetry?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Rabindranath Tagore on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Rabindranath Tagore · 1910

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Bertil Waldén · May 1921

Piano sheet music score titled 'Jana Gana Mana' by Rabindranath Tagore, in D minor/F major key with 4/4 time, tempo 96, two staves (treble clef) with dynamics like f, p, ff and a fermata at the end.Document

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Jana Gana Mana

Rabindranath Tagore · 11 December 1911

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