Show Yourself to My Soul: A New Translation of Gitanjali

Rating:
Summary: fabulous poems and translation
Review: Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore is a series of poems exposing Tagore's search for union with the divine. Tagore, a Bengali Hindu, writes with great beauty, emotion and simplicity. Reading the poems in order (there are 157 poems, each about a page or less long) shows the waxing and waning cycles of Tagore's spiritual life. Sometimes God is present to Tagore, only to leave later. A Christian spiritual seeker myself, I could easily relate to the pendulum swing that Tagore writes about: the joys, frustrations and patience. Tagore himself made an English translation of these poems for which he won the Nobel prize for literature in the early 20th century (the first non-European to win the literature prize). Here the translation is by a Catholic monk who spent most of his adult life in Bengal, and many scholars think his translation is better than Tagore's, due to his absolute fluency in both languages. I have read beautiful poems by many spiritual writers, and I found Tagore's Gitanjali the most approachable and meaningful. Highest recommendation.

Rating:
Summary: fabulous poems and translation
Review: Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore is a series of poems exposing Tagore's search for union with the divine. Tagore, a Bengali Hindu, writes with great beauty, emotion and simplicity. Reading the poems in order (there are 157 poems, each about a page or less long) shows the waxing and waning cycles of Tagore's spiritual life. Sometimes God is present to Tagore, only to leave later. A Christian spiritual seeker myself, I could easily relate to the pendulum swing that Tagore writes about: the joys, frustrations and patience. Tagore himself made an English translation of these poems for which he won the Nobel prize for literature in the early 20th century (the first non-European to win the literature prize). Here the translation is by a Catholic monk who spent most of his adult life in Bengal, and many scholars think his translation is better than Tagore's, due to his absolute fluency in both languages. I have read beautiful poems by many spiritual writers, and I found Tagore's Gitanjali the most approachable and meaningful. Highest recommendation.