Tagore memorial at Shakespeare’s birthplace

Happy Birthday Tagore! Kobiguru, Gurudeb Robindronath Thakur. Much loved and revered by Bengalis, Indians and the International community. Whatever the sorbiquet, Rabindranath Tagore, the poetry, music and art of the polymath is enjoyed across ages and continents.Born on Poncheeshe Boishakh, the 25th day of the month of Boishakh of the Bengali calendar – ie 6th/7th/8th  May, 1861, his birth anniversary is celebrated on any of these dates every year. He was the first non-European to win the Nobel prize in Literature for his collection of poems – Gitanjali or Song Offerings.

Tagore spent a number of years in England. He undertook the translations of his poems (original Bengali poems were about 156/157; his own translation into English – for the English Gitanjali has 103 poems). Chitto jetha bhayshunyo (Where the mind is without fear) is among one of the most quoted poems from Gitanjali in which Tagore’s has expressed his dream of how the new, awakened India should be after independence.  The introduction is written by W.B. Yeats, the famous Irish poet of the 20th Century. The U.K. still remains one of the most active countries where individuals and organisations have collaborated with English scholars in highlighting and popularising Tagore.

Little surprise then, to find the bust of Tagore in the garden of Shakespeare’s birth place in Stratford Upon Avon. The bust has a tablet with a poem carved by the French sculptress, Catherine Retailleau,  following the hand of Tagore in Bengali script (and his own translation) that he wrote in honour of Shakespeare.

“When by the far-away sea your fiery disappeared from behind the unseen, O Poet, O Sun. England’s horizon felt you near her breast, and took you to be her own.

She kissed your forehead, caught you in the arms of her forest branches. Hid you behind her mist mantle and watched you in the green sward where fairies love to play among the meadow flowers.

A few early birds sang your hymn of praise, while the rest of the woodland choir were asleep. Then at the silent beckoning of the Eternal you rose higher and higher till you reached the mid sky, making all quarters of heaven your own.

Therefore, at this moment, after the end of centuries, the palm groves by the Indian sea raise their tremulous branches to the sky, murmuring your praise.”

The inscription on the York stone plinth of the bronze bust says “Rabindranath Tagore – Poet, Painter, Playwright, Thinker, Teacher – The Voice of India”, and it was given as a gift to Shakespeare Birth Trust in 1995 by the Indian High Commissioner. It is placed a a peaceful part of the lovely gardens, overlooking Shakespeare’s birth place. Gives us visitors, Bengali, Indian,  The Bard and Tagore-philes – a moment to dwell on both masters of their own leagues, born centuries apart.  Epitome of genius both. Loved, read and appreciated beyond boundaries.

Did you know that they both wrote most of their works in blank verse, a literary device? Un-rhyming. Written in consistent meter of stressed and un-stressed syllables. Could be that of iamb, trochee, spondee, and dactyl meters. With no fixed number of lines.

Will continue to share Shakespeare and Tagore over time. Watch this space and subscribe to my blog for getting post updates once or twice a month.