Gitanjali

The word "Gitanjali" in the source language, Bengali, meaning "song offerings", is the title of a collection of poetic prose by Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), published in 1913. That same year, due to the greatness of this literary work, translated into English by the author himself, the latter won the "Nobel" prize.

In days of peace and calm, read Rabindranath Tagore! It is so true that it is said that reading just one line of his poetry saves you from drowning in the sea that raises raging storms within and outside you, brings you ashore safe and sound, and leads you to the home of hope and strength.

The richness of thought and the simplicity of language of this poetry cause constant spiritual and mental renewal. There lies all the inspiration of humanity. Thus, reading this poetry, you experience the sense of beauty and of evident meanings, you see birds descending from trees and landing on your hands, because its construction corresponds to Nietzsche's doctrine, which says that one should not believe in those moral or intellectual beauties which, with the passing of time, fail to leave their mark on tangible things. For this reason, you cannot help but fall in love with this poetry forever at the first reading.

Although it belongs to a superior culture, this poetry appears like the grass and flowers that grow on ordinary earth. There you see that the tradition, where poetry and faith merge into one, has flowed through the centuries, enriched by the metaphor and emotion of the educated and uneducated, to bring to humanity the thought of the sage and of the common folk.

Rabindranath Tagore is extremely rich in expression, extremely spontaneous, extremely bold in reflecting his own passions, extremely full of explosive surprises, because he writes about something that is not strange, not unnatural, and needs no protection. At every moment, the poetry of this poet flows, pouring into the soul without rapture and without shame, because it embodies the essence of human life. An entire civilization, extremely unknown to you, takes final form in the imagination of this poet. But this unknown does not touch you; on the contrary, you are touched by the encounter with your own image, it even seems to you that you have heard your voice in a dream, which perhaps happens for the first time in literature.