Tagore played a decisive role in the development of the modern Bengali language, he enriched Bengali poetry with new forms and verse sizes, laid the foundations of the narrative genre and developed the novel genre. He influenced all the literatures of India.
Rabindranath Tagore Quotes
- “Boundless hope and enthusiasm are the chief wealth of youth.”
- “The big walks beside the small without fear. The middle-holds aloof.”
- “Pessimism is a form of spiritual alcoholism.”
- “The first steps are always the most difficult.”
- “Man is worse than an animal when he is an animal.”
- “Every child that comes into this world is news that God is not yet disappointed in men.”
- “Wealth is called, Fortunately, that which is outside – real goodness exists within me.”
- “Truth comes as a conqueror only because we have forgotten how to receive it as a guest.”
- “To understand something is to find in it something that is ours; and it is precisely this discovery of the self outside of us that is what delights us.”
- “He who uses his strength proves his weakness.”
Tagore is credited with several thousand folk songs; his poem “Soul of the People” (1911) became the national anthem of India, and his song “My Golden Bengal” is now the national anthem of the Republic of Bangladesh.
Tagore also made a significant contribution to drawing, which he began to practise in 1928. Two thousand drawings and paintings, mostly in a conventional manner, significantly expand the understanding of the poet’s spiritual world.