Tagore's Gora: A Reformist's Protest Against Religious And Social Fundamentalism

In the 19th century, Bengal Hindu orthodoxy and fundamentalism were at their height as seen in the strict observances of the caste distinctions. Women were subjected to inhuman practices like Sati, Purdah, Child marriage, etc. A reform movement was initiated by Raja Ram Mohan Roy through his institution of BrahmoSamaj. Rabindranath Tagore along with his father and grandfather was also an adherent of BrahmoSamaj. His keen desire for an end to bigotry and awakening of reason finds expression in his novel Gora. In fact, Tagore seems to be using the novel to make a fervent appeal against discrimination, orthodoxy and intolerance. He wishes for a country which would be free from injustice and cruelty towards the poor and weak.

Silent Conversations in Rudyard Kipling’s Kim and Ruskin Bond’s Rusty novels

The essay undertakes an analysis of the connections and conversations between Rudyard Kipling’s Kim(1901) and Ruskin Bond’s largely autobiographical Rusty(1955-) novels. Kipling’s Kimhas evoked many literary responses and reactions across India. While writers such as Sarath Kumar Ghosh, Rabindranath Tagore, T.N. Murari,and even Sashi Tharoor have boldly written back to Kim, Ruskin Bond silently acknowledgesit in his Rusty series of children’s fiction. At times, Bond’s pointed and conscious avoidance ofKipling becomes his means of accepting Kipling’s influence on him. The essay traces the implicit dialogue between thesetwo Anglo-Indian authorsand their protagonists.It undertakes a close reading of theirnovelsto analysethe evolution of English literature and Anglo-Indianism in India, whilealsoexaminingthe divided identities of the authors and their fictional protagonists.

ПОНЯТТЯ ЧАСУ В ПОЕЗІЇ РАБІНДРАНАТА ТАГОРА: ЧИТАЦЬКА ІНТЕРПРЕТАЦІЯ

In the current study, readers’ interpretation of the conception of time in Rabindranath Tagore’s nonnarrative poetry is approached from the perspective of schema theory (E. Semino) and Text World Theory (P. Werth, J. Gavins). The analysis shows that in Rabindranath Tagore’s non-narrative poems about time, which were written in or translated into English, a TIME schema is instantiated through (i) linguistic units that refl ect human idea of dividing time into conventional periods – moments, days, months, years, etc.; (ii) a complex web of fi gurative devices, metaphors and similes in particular. In readers’ minds, fi gurative language prompts associative connections between several core, or basic, schemata: TIME, GOD, HUMAN LIFE, LIFE OF NATURE. Basic schemata can contain subordinate ones (TIME: MOMENT, DAY, MONTH; GOD: THY HANDS, SHUT GATE (thy gate be shut); HUMAN LIFE: CLOCK, PARODY, POEM, MEMORY; LIFE OF NATURE: BUTTERFLY, GARDEN, FLOWER, etc.). Connections between schemata on either a level or across levels indicate that the abstract conception of time is objectifi ed through physical processes and entities, which are perceptible by human senses; and that human life and life of nature have some common characteristics determined by time-related processes. Relying on schemata instantiated by the language of a poem, a reader creates his or her mental representation of the text, in other words, builds a poem’s text-world. On the text-world level, the conception of time in Rabindranath Tagore’s non-narrative poetry is presented through the use of all the three types of elements from which text-worlds are constructed: temporal deictic markers (world-building elements), function-advancing propositions (elements that describe actions, events, and states), and intensive relational processes (elements which describe physical characteristics). Text-worlds in Rabindranath Tagore’s non-narrative poems about time can be complex. His texts can contain world-switches – changes in the temporal parameters “present – future” from the perspective of the author and “present – past” from the perspective of a reader, and/or modal worlds that exist as hypothetical ones in the minds of the author and his readers. The latter concerns the poems in which time is associated with the transcendent conception of God. Key words: Rabindranath Tagore, non-narrative poetry, time, schema, text-world.

An enquiry into the moral conceptions of some New Zealand school children

The world today has special concern with morality not that its people are less moral, but rather that two agencies in particular have acted to bring about conditions in which a high standard of morality is difficult to attain. First, the industrial conditions of the Great Society produced the Nation, which, according to Rabindranath Tagore, is an organisation of power breaking the living bonds society, giving place to a mechanical structure, so that the full reality of man is more and more crushed beneath its weight. Secondly the disintegrating influence of Democracy, accelerated by the situation which arose from the World War, has produced a renewed disposition to scrutinise opinion about all sanctions of conduct, whether legal, moral or religious, so that "what is sometimes called 'authority' does not count for what it did. Questions are being raised with freedom that is fresh, about the formulas which express the various kinds of faith."

An enquiry into the moral conceptions of some New Zealand school children

The world today has special concern with morality not that its people are less moral, but rather that two agencies in particular have acted to bring about conditions in which a high standard of morality is difficult to attain. First, the industrial conditions of the Great Society produced the Nation, which, according to Rabindranath Tagore, is an organisation of power breaking the living bonds society, giving place to a mechanical structure, so that the full reality of man is more and more crushed beneath its weight. Secondly the disintegrating influence of Democracy, accelerated by the situation which arose from the World War, has produced a renewed disposition to scrutinise opinion about all sanctions of conduct, whether legal, moral or religious, so that "what is sometimes called 'authority' does not count for what it did. Questions are being raised with freedom that is fresh, about the formulas which express the various kinds of faith."

The Dynamics of Binodini’s Character in Rabindranath Tagore’s Chokher Bali

Chokher Bali is considered as one of the best-known works of Rabindranath Tagore. The novel is a character-based work which is completely progressive in its essence. Binodini, the protagonist, is personification of intellect, grace, femininity, commitment and skills. She is a woman of desire in spite of being a widow. She is dreamer but at the same time deeply attached with her roots and reality. The dynamics of her character, the subtle nuances which she depicts are the epitome of aesthetic development in a character for the need of the plot. She rebels and out rightly rejects the paradigm of widowhood set by the patriarchy. The way Tagore portrays her character even the negatives, the flaws, the shortcomings in Binodini, appear to be very natural and spontaneous. Widowhood is all about seclusion and loneliness and the character of Binodini is all about debunking and shattering the myths related to widowhood. This paper is an attempt to focus on the artistic character of Binodini and realism attached with her aspirations.

Mei Wan Mei Liao

This is the Chinese translation for the first poem of Gitanjali, a collection of poems, written by Rabindranath Tagore, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.

Pei Wo Chuang Dang

This is the Chinese translation for the fourth poem of Gitanjali, a collection of poems, written by Rabindranath Tagore, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.