Gitanjali

Author  :  Rabindranath Tagore 

Country:  India

Genre : Poetry 

Date of Publication: 1910

Gitanjali or “The Song Offerings” is a collection of poems written by  Rabindranath Tagore. 

The original work, which was published on August 14 1910, had 157 songs. The English version was released in November 1912 by the India Society of London. It contained translations of 53 poems and 50 other poems of Tagore. This English version of the book brought him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913.

The book had a long foreword by the famous poet W B Yeats.

The songs in Gitanjali are mostly conversations between the poet himself and God.

In a few poems he addresses Bharatvidhata- the God of India.

The prayers of the poet are not of earthly things. It is all about purifying mankind. 

The songs of Gitanjali also have a deep connection with nature.

Gitanjali was written in the context of British India. The poet prayed to Bharatvidhata to awaken his countrymen into the heaven of wisdom and work. He also prayed for the removal of caste discrimination.