Rabindranath Tagore, also recognized as Bhanu Singha Thakur, was a Bengali poet, author, painter, and music composer. He became the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. Millions of people have been moved by his erratic and spiritual beliefs.
As a traveller, he preferred to travel and discover the world rather than learn from books. He disliked formal schooling. He was so moved by the artistry of The Golden Temple that he composed six poems on Sikhism and many publications about Sikhism for Bengali children’s magazine.
He returned to India in the late 1870s, published many poetry books in the 1880s, finished several more printed novels, and received widespread acclaim. If you want to discover the incredible masterpieces of this well-known Bard of Bengal, we have compiled a great reading list of great books by Rabindranath Tagore in this article!
List of Top 5 Books by Rabindranath Tagore:
Gitanjali (1910)
Gitanjali is a collection of poetry and is Rabindranath Tagore’s most famous and significant book. Tagore republished it in 1912 as a sequence of translated prose poems in English, titled ‘Gitanjali: Song Offerings,’ after it was first published in 1910. W.B. Yeats wrote the intro to the English translation. Tagore was influenced by traditional Indian devotional songs and highlighted that ‘Love’ is the primary focus of Gitanjali. Among Rabindranath Tagore’s most famous publications, this series was widely acclaimed for its melodic and rhythmic poetry, winning Tagore the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.
Chokher Bali (1903)
Tagore’s Bengali novel Chokher Bali, often known as ‘A grain of sand,’ was later translated into English in 1959. The plot revolves around an extramarital affair and portrays relationships, passion, desires and honesty in all their complexities. The work is widely renowned for depicting the complexity of a relationship.
The Postmaster (1891)
The Postmaster, known to have been written in complete isolation by Tagore, defined Tagore as India’s biggest romantic as the plot beautifully describes the human condition in its various forms, from the innocence of childhood to the comparison between a massive city and a homely village, as well as hopes and fears and the natural and supernatural! It is one of the greatest works by Rabindranath Tagore that you might choose if you are just getting started with his enormously rich and fascinating writings!
Gora (1910)
Gora has been hailed as a seminal work in Bengali literature. It is broad in scope and dense in ideas. The plot depicts the social, political, and religious situation in Bengal around the beginning of the century. The factors at operation in Bengal were tremendous nationalism and the rebirth of traditional spiritual traditions and liberal Western philosophy. Gora is a beautiful book because of its social message and its fantastic plot of self-searching, conflicts, and resolutions.
Shesher Kabita (1928)
Shesher Kabita was initially featured in the magazine ‘Probashi.’ It was released as a book in 1928. In English, the book is titled ‘The Last Poem’ and ‘Farewell Song.’ The novel depicts the selfless love of a mature couple and its complications. It’s a fantastic story of love.
