<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">

<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; ">
<title>Rabindranath and Modernism</title>

</head>

<body lang=EN-US style='tab-interval:.5in'>

<table border="0" cellpadding="6" style="border-collapse: collapse" width="100%">
	<tr>
		<td>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><b
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><font size="4">Rabindranath and Modernism</font><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<div class=Section1>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>(I)<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>BENGALI literature has
reached the stage of modernism and even ultra-modernism. This achievement is,
we may say point-blank, the contribution of Rabindranath. Not that the movement
was totally absent before the advent of Rabindranath. But it is from him that
the current has received the high impetus and overflooded the mind and the
vital being of the Bengali race. We can recall here the two great artists who
commenced modernism – Madhusudan and Bankim. But in their outlook there was
still a trace of the past, in their ideas and expressions there was an imprint
of the past. The transition from Ishwar Gupta and Dinabandhu to Bankim and
Madhusudan – not from the viewpoint of time but from that of quality – is
indeed a revolution. Within a short span of years the Bengali way of thinking
and the refinement of their taste have taken a right-about turn. It was Bankim
and Madhusudan who have placed Bengali literature on the macadamized road of
modernism. Still, while walking on that road, somehow we were not able to shake
off completely the touch of clay under the feet and the smell of swampy lands
around. It was Tagore's mastercraft that enabled Bengali literature to drive in
coachand-four through the highways. Not only so, in addition he has enriched
and developed it to such an extent that we feel, pursuing the image, as if we
could safely drive there the motor car or even the railway train.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:13.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
term modern, no doubt, relates to the present time,<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span style='font-size:10.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 157<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>but</span>
there is in it a factor of space as well. It is the close communion among the
different countries of the world that has made modernism modern. The relation
of give-and-take among many and various countries and races has given each
country a new atmosphere and a new character. The newness that has thus
developed is perhaps the fundamental feature of modernism. Bankim and
Madhusudan were modern, for they had infused the European manner into the
artistic consciousness of <st1:place>Bengal</st1:place>. <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>
itself is indeed the hallowed place, the place for pilgrimage of our epoch.
Humanity in the modern age plays its great role in <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>.
So to come into contact with <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> is to become modern –
to take one's seat at the forefront in the theatre of the world. Thus it is
that <st1:country-region><st1:place>Japan</st1:place></st1:country-region> has
become modern in <st1:place>Asia</st1:place>. And <st1:country-region><st1:place>China</st1:place></st1:country-region>
lagged behind for want of this contact. In <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
it was the Bengalis who first of all surpassed all others in adopting European
ways. That is why their success and credit have no parallel in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
From Bharatchandra, Ishwar Gupta even up to Dinabandhu the genius of <st1:place>Bengal</st1:place>
I was chiefly and fundamehtal1y <st1:place>Bengal</st1:place>'s own. The
imagination, experience and consciousness of the Bengalis had been I till then
confined to the narrow peculiarities of the Bengali race. Bankim and Madhusudan
broke the barrier of provincialism and cast aside all parochialism and
narrowness of Bengalihood and brought in the imagination, consciousness,
manners and customs of other lands.<span style='mso-tab-count:1'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Rabindranath
too has done the same, but in a subtler, deeper and wider way. Firstly, at the
dawn of modernism, the two currents, foreign and indigenous, though side by
side did not get quite fused. They stood somewhat apart though contiguous.
There was a gulf between – a <span class=GramE>difference</span>, even a
conflict – as of oil and water. In Madhusudan these two discordances were
distinct and quite marked. It was in the works of Bankim that a true synthesis
commenced. Still, on the whole, the artistic creation of that age was
something like putting on a dhoti with its play of<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 158</span><span
style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:
11.25pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

</div>

<div class=Section2>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>creases</span>
and folds, and over it a streamlined coat and waistcoat and necktie. Both the
fashions are beautiful and graceful in their own way. But there is no harmony
and synthesis in, their combination. It was Tagore's genius that brought about
a beautiful harmony between the two worlds. In the creation of the artistic
taste of <st1:place>Bengal</st1:place> he has opened wide the doors of her
consciousness so that the free air from abroad may have full play and all
parochialism blown away. Yet she has not <span class=GramE>fallen</span> a prey
to foreign ways to become a mere imitation or a distant echo; it is the vast
and the universal that has entered. True, Tagore's genius belonged intimately
to <st1:place>Bengal</st1:place>, but not exclusively; for it has been claimed
also by humanity at large as its own. The poet's consciousness has returned
home after a world-tour, as it were. It has become the Bengali consciousness in
a wider and deeper sense. So the poet sings:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>My own
clime I find in every clime, </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>And I shall
win it from everywhere.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.7pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Thus,
for example, the ideas and movements that have taken shape in Swinburne and
Maeterlinck have induced some echoing waves in the works of Tagore here and
there. Some of the things, <span class=GramE>specially</span> characteristic of
the West, were fused into his inspiration, became his own and formed part of
the being of the pure Bengali race: these have grown now its permanent assets. Rabindranath's
experience has, so to say, travelled across space to embrace the universe. On
the other side, in the matter of time too his experience has far exceeded the
present to climb to the lofty past. At times he soared high to the experiences <i>of
</i>the seers of the Upanishads or the Vaishnava devotees, and came down with
them into the widely extended domain of universal experience. The modernism of
his poetic creation, developed on the wings of these two aspects, and its
keynote is the harmony and synthesis of the East and the West, the present<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 159<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>and</span>
the past. Thus the oriental and the occidental thoughts, ideas, experiences and
realisations of the present and of by-gone times, that possess any value or
special significance, have combined and are fused in the delightful comprehension
of the poet giving birth to a new creation in which a great diversity vibrating
in a common symphony blossomed with immaculate beauty.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>How
the two original streams of thought, oriental and occidental, were synthesised
in Tagore's work is a subject that demands a deep study. I do not propose to
deal with the subject in its entirety, but I shall try to point out a few
salient features. The European consciousness, especially modern, is <span
class=SpellE>centred</span> on this physical world, this living body endowed
with the ardent senses, on the undeniable reality of the outside world where,
after all, things are transitory; and of the dualistic life it espouses, this
consciousness lays more stress on death than on life, on misery than on
happiness, on shadow than on light; it seeks beauty and fulfilment in contrast
and conflict in human life and consciousness. Inspired by this idea our poet
sings:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Not for me
liberation through renunciation.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>&nbsp;</p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:8.85pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
class=GramE>or</span>,<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:8.85pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>&nbsp;</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Is the
Vaishnava's song only for Vaikuntha¹?<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>&nbsp;</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Again,<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>&nbsp;</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Where is the light, O
where? </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Kindle it with the fire of
separation.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>I do not say the
indulgence of the lower nature, the physical propensities and the sense-objects
is less prevalent in our country. The teeming wealth of sensuality that is
found </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>¹ <span style='font-size:
10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>The highest heaven.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 160<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:13.2pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>in</span>
Kalidasa and Jayadeva has hardly any parallel in the literature of any other
country. But the oriental approach is quite different from the occidental. The
consciousness and the attitude with which <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> has
accepted and embraced the sense-world or the material world are profane, pagan –
the enjoyment of pleasure in the grossest and the most materialistic way,
pleasure for the sake of pleasure. The fount of tears pent up in the core of
every transient object <i>(&quot;sunt lacrymae rerum&quot;), </i>so said
Virgil, the great poet of <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>. The artistic mind of <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>
derives its inspiration from there. The Indian consciousness even after
accepting the material objects could not completely exhaust itself in the earthly
relation only. As the Upanishad says, the husband, the wife or the son is dear
to us not because of their own sake but for the delight of one's soul. It is
not that the spiritual basis of consciousness is directly or actively manifest
in all Indians or even all creative artists of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
But this perception permeates the atmosphere, the firmament, the air, land and
water of <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
And this idea, on the whole, brought about a special outlook and tone in the
style of her creative arts. The works of Vaishnava poets are replete with
earthly love, at places only nominally associated with God; and yet even this
nominal or tacit association is a very characteristic and special feature. And
it cannot be put in the category of mere earthly and human outlook as known to
us. At least earthly things and sense-objects have not been presented solely
with their own norms and values. They have been assessed in relation to the
values of something else, their truth has been' determined as a help or an
impediment to some other truth. Not <span class=GramE>that artists</span> of this
type are totally absent in <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>. There also – although
it is the exception rather than the rule as here – we come across a few who have
the experience of the Imperishable in the perishable, and the realisation of
Consciousness in Matter. The experience of silence, for example, was in some
so overwhelming<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 161<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>as</span>
to render names and forms secondary – insignificant – and to reduce them to mere
shadows. Thus to Wordsworth all natural truths and beauty are inherent in the
power that presides over Nature which he calls Spirit.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.45pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Tagore
wanted to seize the object as a real object and touch the body physically, with
the sense of touch. Unlike the spiritual seers he could not remain content with
embracing the object in and through the soul alone and the person through the
impersonal. As a mortal he sought to taste the delight of-mortal things. And
yet he established the Immortal in the mortal. He looked upon the body as body
and yet was united with it in and through something of the formless soul. The
uniqueness of his realisation consists in the synthesis of the duality, the
contrary. Like the pagan he maintained intact the terrestrial enjoying, even
made it more intense, yet he brought down into it something of the supraphysical.
And for this harmonisation he resorted to the consciousness of the Upanishads
which is innate to his country. The thing that has bridged the gulf between the
physical and the supra-physical, between the body and the soul, between the
inmost within and the outmost without is the heart of the devotee – the
emotional fervour of the Vaishnavas, adorers, lovers and those who have the
fine sense of beauty and delight.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Rabindranath
has the intuition of the Brahman, the infinite Bliss, <span class=GramE>the</span>
One without a second, which is beyond all limits and is the support of all, as
the vital principle. He has, at every step, sung the victory and glory of this
vital aspect of the Brahman. He has often cited this aphorism of the Upanishad:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>All created
things are moved by the <i>pranic </i>power. </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Inspired by this idea he
too had sung:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Deep I dive
into the ocean of life and breathe it in to my heart's content.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;'>Page – 162</span><o:p></o:p></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:12.0pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
rhythm of life flowed out into movement and dynamis. Here again another
feature of the modern mentality, characteristic, for example, of the vitalists,
is found in him. But the difference is that he has not assigned the highest
place to it, though he has emphasized it considerably. He has endeavoured to
posit something of immobility within or behind the moving and to make all
stirrings terminate in a wide peace. Although he gave himself to the duality,
the many, the swirling flood-tide of the external world, he was in close touch
with the inner being, the profundity which is filled with the calm and silence
of the One.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:13.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>No
doubt, he says:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Away with your meditation,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Away with your
flower-offering, </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Let your clothes get torn
and soiled.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>But what he meant to say
is this:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Then you may rush out to
the wide world </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>And remain
unsulIied<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>In the
midst of the dust,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>And walk about freely.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>With all chains on the body;<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Until that day dawns<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Remain in the depths of your heart.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:16.3pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:8.6pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
life that was the object of Rabindranath's worship was no other than the
Brahman in Its aspect of Prank Energy. On the one hand the sense of this
Prana-Brahman impelled him towards the world as such and, on the other hand, a
gesture and glimpse of the Transcendent Brahman served to give a poise and
measure, cadence and contour to that Immeasurable Energy.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.3pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>We
lay so much stress on this aspect of Tagore, because herein lies the main
secret of man's modernity and his <span class=SpellE>im</span><span class=GramE>mediate</span>
future.
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 163<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>What is required of man is to realise and establish the supra-physical
even in the physical without losing the reality of the latter, to convert the
supra-physical into the physical. Though the physical was not lost in oblivion,
yet its own forms and ideas were brought under the pressure of the
supra-physical and tinged with the colour of the same, so that it could be seen
in a new light as an image of the supra-physical – such has been the trend of
ancient spiritual tradition. But the modernity of to-day wants to keep the
nature and the essence of the physical intact and, keeping its speciality
unimpaired, endeavours to manifest the supra-physical in the physical. Man's
universal urge to-day finds expression in the immortal line of Tagore:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>O Infinite,
Thou dwellest in the finite.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>We
believe that the entire future of humanity depends on this line of spiritual
practice and its realisation in this life. And in this respect Rabindranath the
poet has almost become to us the seer Rabindranath.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>(2)<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.7pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>In
the consciousness of the artist of the past each concept, each thought, each
sentence or word appeared as a well-defined, separate entity. Artistic skill
lay in harmonising the different and separate entities. The criterion of
beauty in that age consisted in the proportionate, well-built formation of the
constituents – a symmetry and balance. In the modern consciousness and
experience nothing stands in its own uniqueness. The lines of demarcation
between things have faded, are almost obliterated – no faculty or experience
has its separate <span class=GramE>existence,</span> everything enters into
every other thing. In the consciousness and experience of men and in the sphere
of artistic, taste there is now a <span class=SpellE>uni<span
class=GramE>fication</span> </span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 164<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span class=SpellE>and an assimilation just as men want to
unite, irrespective of caste and creed and national or racial boundaries. We
want to replace the ancient beauty of proportion by a complex system of sprung
rhythm and a play of irregularities and exceptions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.45pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>So
we may say that the difference between the past and the present is something
like the difference between melody and harmony. The ancients used to playas it <span
class=GramE>were</span> on a one-stringed lyre accompanied with a melodious
song, or carried on a symphony comprising the same kind of melodies. The
moderns like polyphonic movements, conglomerations of many heterogeneous
sounds.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:13.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>From
this standpoint it will be no exaggeration to say that Rabindranath Tagore has
modernised the Bengalis and Bengali literature and the Bengali heart.
Madhusudan brought in Blank Verse. But by creating and introducing the metre of
stresses Tagore brought about a speciality in modernism. In words, rhythms and
concepts he has brought in a freedom of movement and swing, a richer, wider and
subtler synthesis and beauty.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:13.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>A
poet of the olden times sings:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Who says the autumnal full
moon can be compared to her face?<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>A myriad
moons</span> are lying there on her toe-nails.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:right;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:13.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
Or take the famous line that received ample praise from Bankimchandra – <o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:-9.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The fair lady leaves, imparting
overwhelming pangs of separation.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:206.6pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>How far away have we come
when we listen to the following lines of <span class=GramE>Tagore:</span><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 165<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:12.7pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>&quot;Who art thou that
comest to me, O merciful one?&quot; </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>Asks the
woman.</span> The mendicant replies,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>&quot;The destined hour is
co<span style="background-color: #FFFFFF">m</span>e to-night.&quot;¹<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Or,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Thy feet are tinged red
with the heart's blood of the three worlds, </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>O Thou, who hast left thy
hung-down plait uncovered, </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Thou hast placed thy
nimble feet on the central part.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>Of the
bloomed lotus of world-desires.</span><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:2.75in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:9.8pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>After
sharpening and heightening the intellect by the urge of inspiration, after
magnifying and diversifying his imagination by the intellect infused with the
delight of the inner soul, Rabindranath's experiences at different levels of
consciousness synthesised them all in a free and vivacious metre embodied in
waves of poetry. He created a Utopia in which the modern <span class=GramE>world
with all its hopes, aspirations and dreams have</span> found the reflection of
its own deeper nature.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:275.0pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The sweetness, skill and power of expression that are
found in the Bengali literature of today were merely an ideal before Tagore
bodied them forth. We, the moderns, who are drawing upon the wealth amassed by
him for over half a century and we who are using it according to our capacity
often think that it is the outcome of our own genius.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>We
are swept by the giant billow caused by Tagore. But being placed at the crest
of it we can hardly conceive how far we have co<span style="background-color: #FFFFFF">m</span>e up. Again forgetting all
about the wave we claim all the credit for ourselves. One of the signs of the
rich and mature language is that every writer has at his command a ready-made
tool of which he has to know only the proper manipulation. In the literature of
that language no writer falls below a particular standard or a level of tune.
The writer, who imbibes the genius of a language, and <span class=SpellE>lite<span
class=GramE>rature</span> </span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.3pt;mso-line-height-alt:
9.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>¹ <span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>The mendicant came to nurse
the deserted woman whose allurement he had once rejected and to whom he had
promised to come in proper time.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:
9.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 166<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-line-height-alt:
9.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span class=SpellE>and its ways of expression, is carried on by
them in spite of himself. Of course, we do not claim that Bengali literature
has already reached the acme of perfection. But the growth and the development
amounting to a full-fledged youth have been the contribution solely of
Rabindranath. Again, in this respect his indirect thought-influence has far
exceeded his direct contribution.<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>We
have used the word &quot;modern&quot;. Now the question is whether the term
&quot;modern&quot; should include the ultra-modern also. The ultra-moderns have
gone one step forward. The movement of eternal youth and the overflow of
youthful delight in Rabindranath are apt to march towards the ever-new, to
commune with the novel, to accord a cordial welcome to the ever-green. There it
is quite natural that he should have sympathy and good-will for the ultra-modern
also. Nevertheless, it must be kept in view that above all he was the
worshipper of the beautiful and of beautiful forms and appearances. However
soft and pliant might have been the frame of his poetry, in the end it remained
a frame, after all, a delicate and harmonious shape of beauty. It is doubtful
whether the ultra-moderns have retained anything like the frame-work of beauty.
In fact, under their influence, the frame-work has not only got dissolved but
also practically evaporated. Not to speak of rhyme, they have banished the
regulated rhythm and pause. They have adopted a loud rhetoric and an
over-decorated personal emphasis. Of course, we may detect a reflection or have
a glimpse of ultramodernism in the following lines of Tagore's <i>Purabi </i>and
<i>Balaka:<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Behold, by what a blast of
wind,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>By what a stroke of music<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The waters of my lake
heave up in waves<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>To hold speechless
communications between this bank and the other!<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:224.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><span
style='font-family:Arial'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
style='mso-tab-count:2'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span style='mso-tab-count:
1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><font face="Times New Roman">(Purabi)</font></span><span
style='mso-bidi-font-style:italic'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</i>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:224.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-style:italic'>Page – 167<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<i>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:13.2pt;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:224.15pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

</i>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The mountain longs to become
an aimless summer cloud.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The trees want to free
themselves from their Moorings in the earth<i><o:p></o:p></p>

</i>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>And to be on the wing and
to proceed in pursuit of the sound<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>And become lost in their
search for the farthest of the sky in a twinkling.</p><i>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 259.65pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
style='mso-tab-count:2'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>(Balaka)<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:right 259.65pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

</i>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:250.8pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>But
still here we do not come across the note of a reversal, dissolution,
revolution. It seems the poet retains an inner link with the heart of the hoary
past in spite of so much of his novelty and modernism. And he did not like to
cut asunder that link.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>This
deep conservatism alone made Tagore the worshipper of symbols and did not allow
him to be a revolutionary iconoclast. Indeed one can draw one's attention to
the speciality of his unique skilfulness. Many a time he held firm the
structures and forms almost in a sportive mood and created under strict
restrictions. The play of freedom and lightness found expression not so much
in his words as in his metres, still more in his concepts, and above everything
else in his ideas and attitudes. In connection with his delineation he gave
expression to a unique softness and delicacy in the midst of firmness. He
placed the formless in the body and brought the Infinite into the finite and
gave us the taste of liberation amidst innumerable bondages.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Further,
in spite of close intimacy and familiarity, there is an aristocracy and glory
in the manners and movements of his poetry; this too became a stumbling-block
on the way of his becoming an ultra-modern.<span style='font-family:"Arial Narrow";mso-bidi-font-family:
"Arial Narrow"'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 168<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<i>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:12.95pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

</i></div><i>

<p align="right" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0">
<a href="-00_Content"><img src="_Gif%20Image/Home.gif" width="60" height="25" border="0"></a></p>
<div align="right"> 
	<p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"> </div>

</i></td>
	</tr>
</table>

</body>

</html>
