ON TAGORE

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Do you think the Tagore influenced modern writers?

Rabindranath Tagore, not only left behind a huge ovure of work but had seminal influence on many modern writers. The reason for his appeal was spiritual humanism.

The bard not only influenced generations of Bengalis, but he had seminal influence on many modern writers.

Some of the writers he influenced are :- Chilean writer Pablo Neruda, Mexican poet Octavio Paz, Japanese novelist Yasunari Kawabata,  Kannada poets D. R. Bendre, , Gujrati poet and writer Umashankar Joshi, and Kannada novelist A. N. Krishna Rao.

After he won the Nobel, Tagore attracted much attention in the West, those attracted by Eastern mysticism. They included W.B. Yeats, Robert Frost etc. 

Tagore had great influence on Latin American poets. In a lecture on Tagore's manuscripts, given at the University of Delhi by Octavio Paz, he says “Although Rabindranath has influenced some of our Hispanic-American poets, none of our poets have had any kind of influence on him. He was not well versed in Spanish and in his writings there is no hint of his acquaintance with our writers or our tradition”.(1)

Many of Pablo Neruda’s poems are based on Tagore. "In My Sky at Twilight" is based on Tagore’s  “Tumi sandhar meghamala" . "ComeWith Me, I Said, And No One Knew" is based on Tagore’s "Jodi tor daakshune' keu na aashe'...ekla cholo re".

Juan Ramón Jiménez was a Spanish poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1956. In 1913, he and his wife-to-be, Zenobia Camprubi, had begun translating Gitanjali . Jimenez was producing what was later to become one of the most important books in Spanish literature: Platero and I. The book - the story of a man and his donkey - is deeply influenced by Tagore's lyric prose, and it is an effort to transgress the classical boundaries between novel and poetry.

Yasunari Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968.He became the first Japanese, and third Asian (after Rabindranath Tagore and Shmuel Yosef Agnon), to win the award. Yasunari Kawabata, treasured memories from his middle-school days of "this sage-like poet" .His white hair flowed softly down both sides of his forehead; the tufts of hair under the temples also were long like two beards, and linking up with the hair on his cheeks, continued into his beard, so that he gave an impression, to the boy I was then, of some ancient Oriental wizard.(2)

Leoville L’Homme was the first Mauritian poet of French expression who was influenced by Rabindranath Tagore.

In China, Tagore is said to be the most translated foreign writer in Chinese after Shakespeare. He found admirers in 20th century Chinese writers and poets like Xu Zhimo.(3)

Tagore also influenced writers in other Indian languages. (4)

D. R. Bendre (Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre) kannada poet was greatly influenced by Tagore.

Umashankar Joshi received the Jnanpith Award in 1967 for his contribution to Gujarati, literature. He was highly inspired by Rabindranath Tagore's dialogue poems, and enriched the existing Gujrati literature by penning in the same manner. Two such poems are his "Prachina" and "Mahaprasthan".

Dr. A. N. Krishna Rao Karnataka's famous novelist was greatly influenced by Tagore.

Rabindranath Tagore left an enduring impact on Urdu literature and is still  a constant source of inspiration for writers. (5)

Many of the popular Bolywood songs are based on Tagore's writings.

Thus we see that Rabindranath Tagore’s influence in global and he has influenced writers through generations throughout the world.

Reference:-

(1) http://archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/print_news.php?nid=206529

(2) http://www.outlookindia.com/article/A-Poet-Unwelcome/281819

(3) http://travel.cnn.com/mumbai/play/rabindranath-tagore-bengali-bards-150th-year-516791

(4)http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/tagore-has-influenced-modern-indian-writers/article2980296.ece

(5)http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/influence-tagore-urdu-literature