Sunday, October 30, 2011

Rabindranath in Ellionos University, Urbana, USA

The hotel life at New York was not appealing to Rabindranath.He started for Urbana in Illionos on 31st Oct. but before doing that he wrote a letter to Rothenstein;
" Off we go to the west -- to Illionos. I hope I shall get rest there for which I long. Though it is too early for me  to pronounce any opinion on this country I must say  I do not like it. America, like an unripe fruit, has not got its proper flavour yet. It has a sharp and acid taste . I haven't tried to see the people to whom you have given me introduction for fear of being drawn into engagement ." 
On 1st Nov, during day, flashed with rain, Rabindranath reached Urbana. His arrival was circulated in The Daily Illini, the news bulletin of University of Illionos in 1st Oct, just one month earlier. 
" POET TO VISIT UNIVERSITY: FAMOUS INDIAN WRITER COMING SOON"  
Rabindranath Tagore, who is recognised as the foremost poet of India, is soon to pay the University a visit. The date for his visit not yet been definitely learned but at present Mr. Tagore, his son, R.N.Tagore , and his wife, are in England where they are being entertained by English writer and Artists. 
Rathindranath has given the news of the arrival of Rabindranath Tagore. Having learnt this news, his ex-Prof. Dr. Arthur Seymour (1875-1955) arranged some lectures for him. Rathindranath wrote to Mrs. Seymour;
" It is very kind of Prof. Seymour to think of arranging for my father to lecture at University. but father is very adverse to any sort of public life and  am sure would not like to give any lecture while he is there, moreover he is not used to speaking in English."
One 2nd Nov-issue  it was circulated "India's First Poet arrives. Son, a former student, will resume studies."
Rathindranath and Pratima Devi had already come and and staying there as a guest in the family of Seymour. Rabindranath's accommodation was arranged in the house of Prof Morgan Brooks (1861-1955), an Electrical Engineer of the University of Illionos. He and his wife were already acquainted when they had gone to Calcutta. After some days they rented a house and shifted to their new address, 508 W. High Street.      

Saturday, October 29, 2011

(video) Gitanjali Song #59: "Ei je tomar prem"

Rathindranath and Pratima went to America on 10th Oct, 1912. it was decided that Dr. Dwijendranath Moitra will accompany Rabindranath. On 17th Oct, Rabindranath wrote to Mira Devi;
" Dr. Moitra will go along with us this time.The person is very enthusiastic. He keeps everybody in joy. The wife of Satyaranjan Das and her daughter may also go. The ship will filled up with Indians."
rabindranath started for New York on 19th Oct. The ocean was rough and the first few days of our journey did not pass happily. In the night , at about 4am suddenly I woke up due to the swing of the ship.Looking on the opposite side of the cabin I saw Rabindranath sitting in meditation and singing, "Ei je tomar prem.." After the song being over, he kept quiet and silent for some time. After some time he again started murmuring a song. I could not lie down on bed."
They reached New York on 27th Oct. Rabindranth wrote to Rothenstein on the same day;
" The first half of our voyage was frightfully rough. I promised a sonnet to the sea god if he behaved decently but I suppose he had no faith in human nature and knew I would forget all about it directly  I reached land safely.However he made amends at last and we had some very beautiful days...
We have landed in New York this morning and passed through the ordeals of the custom house . My turban attracted the notice of a news paper interviewer and he attacked me with questions but I was almost as silent as my turban. This was my first taste of America - the custom house and the interviewer."
Rabindranath wrote to Mira Devi the troublesome experience of standing for two hours in the check room. When he going to enter America from Canada in 1929, he was world famous poet but he gave up of going to America remembering this incident. He had in his mind to get his treatment of files in America and this was one of the reasons of his coming here. He brought a letter of introduction from Rothenstein  to lawyer and writer John Jay Chapman (1862-1933), Dr. Simon Flexner (1863- 1946) and to Homeopathy physicist Dr. Carol Dunham (1858-1922).. On reaching New York Rabindranath enquired about their where abouts. But Chapman was not in the city and Dr. Flexer was on the way to Europe. So he had some treatment from the Homeopathy physicist and hoped that he might get some relief. But he had no good result. Ultimately he had operate it at London on his return journey.    

Friday, October 28, 2011

St. John Perse and Centenary of Tagore

In the year of Centenary year (1961) of Rabindranath Tagore, just after receiving the Nobel Prize on 1960, St John Perse read an essay which was published in a memorandum titled, " Hommage de la France a Rabindranath Tagore pour Le Centenaire de sa Naissance, 1961 (1962) " on behalf of Institute de Civilisation Indienne. He narrated with utmost emotion and mature reverence to the genius of Rabidranath Tagore describing his first meeting with him.  Prof. Sourindra Mitra  translated the lecture in Bengali.
Within a week of the meeting with Rabindranath, St Leger wrote to Andre Gide (1869-1951),
"The Nlle Revue Francaise, instead of serving Amold Bennet up to us, would do better to be the first review in Europe to give us the work of Rabindranath Tagore. The English Translation of his work, which he himself made, and which is to appear within a fortnight, is the only really poetic English-language work to have appeared in a long time."  

Rabindranath and Alexi St. Leger Leger of France

Rabindranth hoped that Gitanjali would be published some times at the middle of Oct. But due to its delay in publishing he decided to go to America. He explained the reasons for this decision in a letter written to Ajit Kumar on  16th Oct.;
"We shall start for America on Saturday next. We thought that we shall start after the publication of Gitanjali -- many advised to do so -- but I am feeling restless. It becomes very difficult for me to bear with my own writings and the  discussions of the same. I became eager to get relief out of it and wanted to get myself free from this bondage. I was translating some of my poems into English  at Selaidah, that was for my own pleasure. But now I see myself in a crowd of human beings  and not in a solitary place-- I'm doing things for my own urge  and not for my pleasure. I cannot bear this for long time. I have to resign from my present occupation irrespective of the amount of emoluments I get."
Now, before going to America  the fame of Rabindranath as a poet  spread to anothrr country i.e. in France. The French poet Alexi  St Leger Leger , (a Nobel Laureate in 1960 , pseudonym  St. John Perse,  1887-1975. ) wrote a letter to Rabindranath enclosing a letter of introduction by Fox Strangways on 14th Oct;
"At the end of a solitary stay in this town, when it was for me a very deep and secret joy I meet by chance  , in a news paper, with two poems quoted by the English poet Yeats, I  have made this wish, I know your poet's work in our times and having in our times and having read it on proofs one evening, I may serve it in great admiration in my country."
Then he met Rabindranath in the morning of 17th Oct and secured the permission of translating his poems in French. Stating this Rabindranath wrote to Jagadananda on 18th Oct;
"A writer from France came to see me on yesterday morning. He saw my Gitanjali translated into English and became overwhelmed with joy and said, we are waiting for a poet like you. In our lyrics we are enclosed within the accidental phenomenon. Your theme goes beyond the time and place. Come to our France, we need you etc. and  my permission to translate my poems in Bengali."
But St. Leger Leger did not translate Gitanjali. He collected a copy published by India Society and sent it to his friend, a famous litterateur Andre Gide (1869-AndrĂ© Paul Guillaume Gide. (22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1947. Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism between the two World Wars.1951). 

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Rabindranath purchsed a land for Rathin

On 12 July, Rabindranath wrote to Jagadananda Roy;
" Rathi has got an invitation from a famous scientist here to work with him. "
For this reason, when Rabindranath and Pratima went to the village of England (Oakridge Lynch), Rathi could not accompany them. He was busy in doing his research work at London. Rabindranth wrote Jagadanada Roy again;
" My earnest desire is Rathi should do research work in Science at Bolpur if he gets a suitable place and opportunity there. ..I don't want him to be pushed to the rotten papers of our zamindary  Estate. You please try to find some land there which we shall procure."
Rabindranath came to learn while he was in London that Zamindar of Raipur wanted to sell his Kuthibadi with land at Surul..
Lt.Col. Dr. Narendra Prasanna Sinha was then at London. He wrote to Rabindranath on enquiry on 24th Sept. ;
" My Respected Sir/ I wanted to sell it to Dwipu Babu with a price of Rs.11 thousand only. He offered me Rs.8 thousand. I could not sell. But now you have kindly consented  to purchase it to do some beneficial work, I can sell you for Rs. 8 thousand only. I wouldn't have asked for money, but I want do some work at Raipur which will  require huge amount of money. It is because of that I am asking for money."
He again wrote on 26th Sept.;
"  I received your letter yesterday, and became glad to know that you are willing to purchase the house for Rs. 8 thousand only. You need not pay in cash at present.  For legal formalities, I shall consult with my brother (Satyendra Prasad). I'm going to meet him today to finalise the issue."
He wrote again on 13th Oct;
" If you want to purchase it just now and will start your construction then we, two brothers, will sign the deed of conveyance and Satya will do the needful on going there. You have to issue a hand note and pay at your convenience."
Being agreed on this condition, Rabindranath issued a hand note on 16th Oct. and informed    Santosh Chandra Majumdar on the next day;
" Yesterday I purchased the land at Surul from Lt. Col.Sinha of Raipur, at London. This house and land I require for the research work of Rathi. You will get possession  after getting this letter.I think that you will get your accommodation with your family hence forth." He gave him permission to shift his dairy there and wrote;
"It is a matter of huge mount of money for establishing a suitable laboratory for Rathin but at present I shall be happy if Rathi gets a service in your school. This adventure I have done for future." 

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Rabindranath's journey to Europe

Rabindranath returned from Oakridge Lynch to Lnodon on 25th Aug and wrote a letter to Jagadananda on 26th;
" It was decided suddenly that we will be going to France and Germany for just a visit because there is no work in the month of Sept., so this is the best time to have a tour to Europe. I think to go to Hydelburg at first -- there I want to see the University in Germany how they are doing with their education."
On 30th Aug  he wrote Ajit Kumar;
" Dwijen Babu and Suren (Moitra) Babu came here today. Probably, in coming Friday or Saturday we are going for Europe. .. Will come back at the end of Sept."
Sukumar Ray wrote his mother on 29th Aug'
"Rabibabu is going to Germany and France and will start in a day or two. Dwijen Babu is going with them. Rabibabu has also requested me to accompany -- I also agreed. I can't say now, when we shall start, today or tomorrow."
But none of them were able to go.
Rathindranath explained the reasons to his brother-in-law Nagendranath on 4th Sept.,
" I have written you earlier that we will be going to continent for a visit -- Lucerne or Geneva. But just before the day of our journey, my father became seriously ill and we had to stop our journey. For a few days my father was suffering from piles, his old disease. Moreover, he has some tooth-ache. Day before yesterday, he has removed 2 teeth and got relief now. Hampsted Heath was good for health than this place. We are going back to that place on Saturday. We got an accommodation by the side of Heath -- but no arrangement for  fooding, that has been arranged in a boarding."
The postal address of the place was 21 Cromwell Road, South Kensington, S.W. This was the address of  a student's hostel and of Northbrook Society.
Sukumar Ray wrote a letter to his father on 20th Sept. from the same address;
"Tonight I am invited to the house of Rabindranath. Mr. Rothenstein and others are also invited. Rabi babu's residence is very near to this place . It is one minute' s way."
They came to their new accommodation on 7th Sept, before that Rabindranath wrote an essay "Poet Yeats" to introduce the poet to the Bengalee readers.
Rabindranath did the same thing in caseof Stopford Brook. He wrote an essay on Stopford Brook.
       Stopford Augustus Brooke (14 November 1832 – 18 March 1916) was an Irish churchman and writer.
Rothenstein sent a copy of Gitanjali to him also and wrote;
"One of the first persoms whom Tagore wanted to know was Stopford Brook..."
Stopford Brook was a favourite poet amongst the Brahmma.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Translation of works of Rabindranath by himself.



Rabidranath translated a few poems from "Sishu" and gave it to Rothenstein who liked those very much.He wrote this to Ajit Kumar. He also wrote in detail to Manilal Gangopadhyay on 21 Aug;
"I have translated some poems from "Sishu" -- they liked those very much.It is the desire of Rothenstein that if Aban or Nandalal gives three or four sketches then he will print these poems with those sketches. It is difficult to get any sketch from Aban so if Nandalal draws some sketches and send them to  us very shortly  then that would be nice. It must come to us before Oct.,1912. He gave a list of 22 poems, 3 of which were translated earlier and were included in Gitanjali. The others which were transalted before
21st Aug were here. Ask them to try from these. If Gagan does this work, I shall be much pleased." But Gaganendra did nothing. The drawings were done by; Abanindra --1, Nandalal Basu --3, Surendranath Gangopadhyay and Asit Kumar Halder -- 2 each. Total -- 7. Those drawings were printed in Crescent Moon (1913).
There are 40 poems in Crescent Moon. The manuscript of 20 poems are preserved by Rothenstein. Apart from these poems the translation of three poems, Ashirbad, Bhitare O Bahire, Masterbabu are not there. Rothenstein wrote an introduction on the front page of the group of manuscripts of 72 pages including 12 poems of Gitanjali. He wrote;
" The original ms of the "Crescent Moon", before the poems were more or less rewritten by Sturge Moore, not always to the advantage of Tagore's own translations,  even though the English be more correct. A number of the poems were translated while Tagore was staying with us at Oakridg Lynch during the summer of 1912, others at Oak Hill Park, others again came to me later fromIndia. Among the Gitanjali poems at the end are 2 with Yeats' pencilled emendations." In the collection of Rothenstein there are typed copy of 21 poems -- in which corrections made by Rabindranath and Rothenstein are there.At the margin of the poem "Defamation'  (Apajash) a comment made by Rothenstein - Charming- is there. In the collection of Rothenstein there is a typed manuscript of 255 pages in the book size ( There are some corrections in the hand writing of Rabindranath), within this the preliminary form of 22 poems of The Crescent Moon is visible. In the previous two manuscript the extra addition of poems are, The Beginning, (Janmakatha), Baby's World (Khokar Rajya), and The Last Bargain (ke nibi go kine amay)- only the poems 'Bhitare O Bahire' and 'Masterbabu' are left out.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Rabindranath in Butterton, UK

Butterton Village:
The name of the village was Butterton. Rev. W. Outram was living here with his wife and children. He was a vicar and son of the famous military Captain, James Outram, who fought during the Great Revolution of India , 1857, on behalf of the British,
Rabindranath expressed, in his essay " Englonder Palligram O Padri", how he was moved on seeing a village in England. He was charmed also on seeing the neatness and cleanliness with which the household was maintained. This he had seen in the house of Dr. Scott while he was in England as a student.
Not only the members of the family of the house where they were, at present,  as a guest were very nice and also the maintenance of the household.  Rabindranath liked very much. He compared the uncleanliness of the things at Santiniketan with this state of things.This he wrote to Ajit Kumar. He also added,
" I am attaching here with a letter written by Rothenstein which speaks that they have accepted my poems not as poems only, they have taken it as the meaning of a life. This gives me much pleasure.. Keep this letter carefully because it is dearer to me as it is written with utmost care."
Rothenstein was living at that time in another village Stroud at Gloucester Shire. Rabindranath wrote him'
" Kindly write to me if it would be possible for us -- myself and my daughter-in-law -- to get some accommodation somewhere near you, if we start from here by the afternoon train next Saturday 10 Aug? Our host Rev. Mr. Outram has kindly volunteered to accompany us to Birmingham where we have to change. Do you think you can come to Gloucester to guide us to the train that goes to Stroud."
Rothenstein arranged an accommodation for them to stay in a house of a big farmer at Oaridge Lynch. Rabindranath wrote to Mira Devi;
" they are nice gentle men. Mrs. and her daughter is taking us much care. the place is also very beautiful. Only the thing is that weather here is very nasty. There is another problem -- the bathroom is not good; so also its accessories. It is as small as it can be -- it is needless to describe the other facilities which are as pathetic as anything.
Rothenstein wrote;
" It happened that the summer (1912) was one of the rainiest on record.'A traveller always meet with exceptional conditions,' said Tagore, when I apologised for the cold and rain, and the absence of sun. When he should be kept indoors, he must make himself busy  with translation of more poems or plays."
   

Rabindranath and Andrews


CHARLES FREER ANDREWS (1871-1940)
Born in 1871, C. F. Andrews came to India as an Anglican priest and lecturer at St. Stephens College, Delhi in 1904. Starting from his position as a clergyman, he became increasingly respected in the Indian nationalist circles and official British ones until his death in 1940. A close friend of Gandhi and Rabindranath, Andrews championed the Indian cause for independence, and, in a broader sense, the cause of all downtrodden people against oppression. Rabindranath met Andrews in 1912 at Rothenstein’s home in England on the evening when W. B. Yeats gave the recitation of the Gitanjali poems. In the next few months they met frequently and Rabindranath invited Andrews to Santiniketan. Andrews was not only a life long friend of Rabindranath, he was a friend of Santiniketan and Visva Bharati. It was around this time in 1914 that he met Gandhi at South Africa. He had been following the struggle of Gandhi and Gokhale on behalf of the Indian Community in South Africa. He was impressed with Gandhi’s ideals of non-violence and Satyagraha. It was through Andrews that Gandhi and Rabindranath met. On the one hand he took upon himself the task of interpreting Gandhi to the West and keeping open the possibility of a dialogue between Indian leaders and the British Government. On the other hand, he was working closely with Rabindranath in the making of Visva Bharati and traveling with the Poet both in India and abroad. Andrews visited Fiji and fought for the indentured Indian labourers at the sugar plantations and succeeded in abolishing the indenture in 1929. The labourers gratefully called him “Dina Bandhu”.
Rabindranath and Andrews corresponded with each other regularly and some letters to Andrews were collected in a volume, “Letters to a Friend”.
Rabindranath wrote Ajit Kumar on 2nd Aug,
"We are going to a village here for some days. Train will start in the morning but we are not yet ready."
Andrews himself accompanied Rabindranath and Pratima to their desired place and got a seat after many trouble in the train. Andrews wrote,
"I noticed that all through the long train journey Rabindranath sat with his eyes closed, wrapt in meditation."
They changed the train at Staford station and then got down at Newcastle on 3rd Aug. The friend of Andrews, mr. Rev. W. Outramwas waiting on the station with a car. When they ascended the car, it was cloudy all aound and rain started in a few moments. Principal Sushil Rudra of St. Stephen College , Delhi and his daughter was also there as guests. Hence Rabindranath was given a Bengali welcome.
       

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Rabindranath in London

Some whereabouts of Rabindranath were obtained from the dairy of  Devaprasad Sarbadhikari;
Sunday, 21 July 1912 (5 Shraban) - I went to meet  Mrs P.K.Roy (Sarala Roy) at her house. Many persons came to her residence on that day. There I met Sri Rabindranath Tagore, Mr. Powell . Rothenstein, Yeats etc a few Englishmen, sympathisers of Rabindranath, wanted to translate and publish his poems . In some places these poems were being read. One or two places I too was invited .
Friday, 26 July 1912 ( 10 Shraban) :- I went as an invitee to Belsize Park, Park Hill Road, the house of Barrister B. Dube  ( Pandit Bhagabandin Dube) to attend  lunch. Rabindranath and his son also were invited there.They wanted to go to Durbyshire and Boxton to take some mineral water as a medicinal dose for treatment of Rheumatism of Rabindranath. After  lunch Miss Smith (London correspondent of Amrita Bazar Patrika} and others arrived there. We had many discussions there. The guest Mrs. Despard made everybody absorbed in the debate. Her status was high and she was gorgeous. She was under custody for suffragette disturbance and following the same route she was to be arrested again.
The Indian friends of Rabindranath were returning back to their home from the month of August after finishing their lesson.Mr. A.G. Weld invited Rabidranath on 22 July to stay for few days in his house at Oxford. He wrote ;
My great friend Pramatha Lal Sen tells me you are coming to Oxford. Will you please tell me what date you come, where will you be staying  -- that I may introduce you to our Prof. of Poetry, who is also the President of Magdalen College where the Prince of Wales is to be, its the niece of .....I am very anxious to make the acquaintance in your person, an  India's greatest poet."
In the mean time the period six months, the tenure for which the rent was taken, was over when Reverend Andrews invited Rabindranath to stay in a  house of one of his Missionary-friend. He wrote;
" I told him of a personal friend of my own who was living in the beautiful, unspoilt English country, miles away from any town  or railway station, and asked him to come with me and stay there. I spoke of my friend's little children who would welcome him and the simple villagers of the countryside such as Wordsworth loved. His eyes lighted up, and he promised me to came and remain through the whole month of August."
Before meeting him Andrews was moved at the genius Rabindranth possessed. He went to see Rabindranath on 6th July when he learnt that he had come to London. But he could not meet him as he was not at his house at that moment. He met Rabindranath on the next day at Rothenstein's house. Describing his first meeting with Rabindranath he wrote;
" After dinner we went to Mr. Rothenstein's house  and our names were announced. The next miment I was aware of a slender figure passing rapidly across the room towards me...I would like to have made obeisance to the poet, who has so raised his nation by his songs, but in a   moment he had clasped my hand and said to me, _ ' Oh! Mr. Andrews I have so long to see you, I cannot tell you how I have longed to see you, and yesterday, when I found you had called and I had missed you. I hardly knew what to do. I felt as if I must run all the way to where you are staying, and tell you how sorry I was to be out when you called .I happened to be trying over some Bengali music with an English friend, who was deeply interested in my country, and I was not aware that the time had flown past so quickly.
Rabindranath was also accustomed with the writings of Andrews published in Modern Review since 1907 and wrote about the villages of England in his book " Englonder Palligram O Padri". He expressed his views by writing, "after coming over here I met a Christian Missionary who was more a Christian than a Missionary."  

Friday, October 21, 2011

Rabindranath's drama translated and staged

Pravat Kumar Mukhopadhyay and Kshitish Roy wrote an article titled. "A chronicle of eighty years" in the centenary collection published by Sahitya Academy;
"George Calderon dramatises one of his short stories, Dallia, under the title, The Maharani of Arakan. The play was acted at Royal Albert Hall Theatre on 20th July  -- the cast included S  ybil Thorndike and Ronald Colman who made his debut in this performance."
Actually the Theatre was staged in that hall on 30th July , evening, organised by Indian Art Dramatic and Friendly Society. This organisation was founded by Kedarnath Dasgupta to organise Indian drama in English form. The news was published in Amrita Bazar Patrika on 11 Nov 1913;
" The success of their previous productions -- Budha, Sakuntala, Ratnabali, and The Maharani of Arakan   -- has inspired the organisers of the Indian Art Dramatic and Friendly Society to present an Indian play "Mrichakati" (The Little Clay Cart), at the Royal Albert Hall Theatre on the evening of Tuesday 25 Nov and the afternoon of Saturday, the 29th.
The detail description of the ceremony was published in "The Times", on 31 July which said ;
"In the absence of Maharaja of Kaloyar, Rothenstein was deputed for introducing Rabindranath;
he said," on the characteristics of M r. Tagore's thought and work, his mysticism, the delight in the world about him which separates him from many western mystics...; his attitude to life and to death, the great  lord for whom we keep all the riches of our thought and spirit."
On 2nd Aug, Rabindranath  wrote to Ajit Kumar;
"A dramatist here named Calderon has translated my short story, Dallia, in the form of a drama. That was staged on that day. The spectators appreciated it. To read the translation is not appealing because some foreign tuning  is there. I wrote a song for the drama with its melody.This is the first attempt, at present, to write poetry here.The song is, " Ali bar  bar phire jay" ( The bee is to come and the bee is to go), to be sung by Amina. "
The drama was published in the book form in 1915 with the declaration'
"The Maharani of Arakan/ A Romantic Comedy in One Act/ Founded on the story of /Sir Raindranath Tagore/ By George Calderon/ Illustrated by Clarissa Miles/Photographs specially taken by Walter Benington/ Together with/ A character Sketch of/ Sir Rabindranath Tagore/ Compiled by K.N.Das Gupta/ London/ Francis Griffiths/ 34 Maiden Lane, Strand, W.C./ 1915.
On the next page it was written; Staged by / The Indian Art and dramatic Society.

Rabindranath and Yeats (contd-5)

(Yeats drawn by John Singer Sargent)

"In 1889, Yeats met Maud Gonne, then a 23-year-old heiress and ardent Nationalist. Gonne was eighteen months younger than Yeats and later claimed she met the poet as a "paint-stained art student." Gonne had admired "The Isle of Statues" and sought out his acquaintance. Yeats developed an obsessive infatuation with her beauty and outspoken manner, and she was to have a significant and lasting effect on his poetry and his life thereafter."




"W.B. Yeats, in later years,  admitted "it seems to me that she [Gonne] brought into my life those days—for as yet I saw only what lay upon the surface—the middle of the tint, a sound as of a Burmese gong, an over-powering tumult that had yet many pleasant secondary notes." Yeats' love initially remained unrequited, in part due to his reluctance to participate in her nationalist activism.
"Yeats proposed to Gonne three more times: in 1899, 1900 and 1901. She refused each proposal, and in 1903, to his horror, married the Irish nationalist Major John MacBride.
.....Yeats proposed in an indifferent manner, with conditions attached, and he both expected and hoped she would turn him down. According to Foster "when he duly asked Maud to marry him, and was duly refused, his thoughts shifted with surprising speed to her daughter." Iseult Gonne was Maud's second child with Lucien Millevoye, and at the time was twenty-one years old. She had lived a sad life to this point; conceived as an attempt to reincarnate her short-lived brother, for the first few years of her life, she was presented as her mother's adopted niece. When Maud told her that she was going to marry, Iseult cried and told her mother that she hated MacBride. At fifteen, she proposed to Yeats. A few months after the poet's approach to Maud, he proposed to Iseult, but was rejected."
Yeats, perhaps, thought to take the Help of Rabindranath Tagore to influence Iseult Gonne to marry him. Moreover, he was, young age, attracted it the Indian mysticism and the activities of Theosophical Society of India. He had come in close contact with Mohini Mohan Chattopadhyaya, son-in-law of Dwijendranath. He became interested after knowing that Rabindranath was also interested in "Planchet" as he was practicing such knowledge.He wrote in that letter to Rabindranarh'
" My medium writes that she is out of town. If you let me know when you return to London in the autumn I will arrange for this . I have written to find out about Mrs. Wreidt the American medium."
Anyway, Yeats arranged meeting of Rabindranth with Iseult.She tried to learn Bengali from Debebrata Mukhopadhyay, so-in-law of Mohini Mohan Chattopadhyay, a student of Oxford and translator of Dakghar. and within two years she translated severall poems of "The Gardener"  from Bengali to French . Yeats asked some time from Rabindranath  to judge the merits of those poems for publication and wrote;
"I would be greatly obliged however if you would give those rights to no one else for a time." 

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

W.B.Yeats and Rabindranath (contd-4)

(collected from Wiki pedia)
My arms are like the twisted thorn
And yet there beauty lay;
The first of all the tribe lay there
And did such pleasure take;
She who had brought great Hector down
And put all Troy to wreck.
In 1896, Yeats was introduced to Lady Gregory by their mutual friend Edward Martyn. Gregory encouraged Yeats' nationalism, and convinced him to continue focusing on writing drama. Although he was influenced by French Symbolism, Yeats concentrated on an identifiably Irish content and this inclination was reinforced by his involvement with a new generation of younger and emerging Irish authors. Together with Lady Gregory, Martyn, and other writers including J. M. Synge, SeĂ¡n O'Casey, and Padraic Colum, Yeats was one of those responsible for the establishment of the "Irish Literary Revival" movement. Apart from these creative writers, much of the impetus for the Revival came from the work of scholarly translators who were aiding in the discovery of both the ancient sagas and Ossianic poetry and the more recent folk song tradition in Irish. One of the most significant of these was Douglas Hyde, later the first President of Ireland, whose Love Songs of Connacht was widely admired.

 Abbey Theatre


John Singer Sargent, Portrait of W. B. Yeats, 1908
In 1899, Yeats, Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn and George Moore established the Irish Literary Theatre for the purpose of performing Irish and Celtic plays. The ideals of the Abbey were derived from the avant-garde French theatre, which sought to express the "ascendancy of the playwright rather than the actor-manager Ă  l'anglais."The group's manifesto, which Yeats wrote, declared "We hope to find in Ireland an uncorrupted & imaginative audience trained to listen by its passion for oratory... & that freedom to experiment which is not found in the theatres of England, & without which no new movement in art or literature can succeed."
The collective survived for about two years but was not successful. Working with two Irish brothers with theatrical experience, William and Frank Fay, Yeats' unpaid-yet-independently wealthy secretary Annie Horniman, and the leading West End actress Florence Farr, the group established the Irish National Theatre Society. Along with Synge, they acquired property in Dublin and on 27 December 1904 opened the Abbey Theatre. Yeats' play Cathleen NĂ­ Houlihan and Lady Gregory's Spreading the News were featured on the opening night. Yeats remained involved with the Abbey until his death, both as a member of the board and a prolific playwright. In 1902, he helped set up the Dun Emer Press to publish work by writers associated with the Revival. This became the Cuala Press in 1904, and inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement, sought to "find work for Irish hands in the making of beautiful things." From then until its closure in 1946, the press—which was run by the poet's sisters—produced over 70 titles; 48 of them books by Yeats himself.
In 1909, Yeats met the American poet Ezra Pound. Pound had travelled to London at least partly to meet the older man, whom he considered "the only poet worthy of serious study." From that year until 1916, the two men wintered in the Stone Cottage at Ashdown Forest, with Pound nominally acting as Yeats' secretary. The relationship got off to a rocky start when Pound arranged for the publication in the magazine Poetry of some of Yeats' verse with Pound's own unauthorised alterations. These changes reflected Pound's distaste for Victorian prosody. A more indirect influence was the scholarship on Japanese Noh plays that Pound had obtained from Ernest Fenollosa's widow, which provided Yeats with a model for the aristocratic drama he intended to write. The first of his plays modelled on Noh was At the Hawk's Well, the first draft of which he dictated to Pound in January 1916.
The emergence of a nationalist revolutionary movement from the ranks of the mostly Roman Catholic lower-middle and working class made Yeats reassess some of his attitudes. In the refrain of "Easter, 1916" ("All changed, changed utterly / A terrible beauty is born"), Yeats faces his own failure to recognise the merits of the leaders of the Easter Rising, due to his attitude towards their humble backgrounds and lives.

 Marriage to Georgie

By 1916, Yeats was 51 years old and determined to marry and produce an heir. John MacBride had been executed by British forces for his role in the 1916 Easter Rising, and Yeats thought that his widow might remarry.His final proposal to Maud Gonne took place in the summer of 1916. Gonne's history of revolutionary political activism, as well as a series of personal catastrophes in the previous few years of her life, including chloroform addiction and her troubled marriage to MacBride made her a potentially unsuitable wife and biographer R.F. Foster has observed that Yeats' last offer was motivated more by a sense of duty than by a genuine desire to marry her.

Yeats photographed in 1908 by Alvin Langdon Coburn
Yeats proposed in an indifferent manner, with conditions attached, and he both expected and hoped she would turn him down. According to Foster "when he duly asked Maud to marry him, and was duly refused, his thoughts shifted with surprising speed to her daughter." Iseult Gonne was Maud's second child with Lucien Millevoye, and at the time was twenty-one years old. She had lived a sad life to this point; conceived as an attempt to reincarnate her short-lived brother, for the first few years of her life, she was presented as her mother's adopted niece. When Maud told her that she was going to marry, Iseult cried and told her mother that she hated MacBride. At fifteen, she proposed to Yeats. A few months after the poet's approach to Maud, he proposed to Iseult, but was rejected.
That September, Yeats proposed to 25-year-old Georgie Hyde-Lees (1892–1968), whom he had met through Olivia Shakespear. Despite warning from her friends—"George ... you can't. He must be dead"—Hyde-Lees accepted, and the two were married on 20 October. Their marriage was a success, in spite of the age difference, and in spite of Yeats' feelings of remorse and regret during their honeymoon. The couple went on to have two children, Anne and Michael. Although in later years he had romantic relationships with other women and possibly affairs, George herself wrote to her husband "When you are dead, people will talk about your love affairs, but I shall say nothing, for I will remember how proud you were."
During the first years of his marriage, he and George experimented with automatic writing, and George contacted a variety of spirits and guides they called "Instructors." The spirits communicated a complex and esoteric system of characters and history, which the couple developed during experiments with the circumstances of trance and the exposition of phases, cones, and gyres. The spirits notified George that they were ready to communicate by filling the Yeats's house with the scent of mint leaves. Yeats devoted much time to preparing this material for publication as A Vision (1925). In 1924, he wrote to his publisher T. Werner Laurie admitting: "I dare say I delude myself in thinking this book my book of books

(Vol -VI ) Rabindranath and Yeats (contd-3)

W.B.Yeats wanted to see Rabindranath not only for editing Gitanjali but also for his personal reasons.
He wrote Rabindranath on 25th July;
"Could you  dine or lunch here on Tuesday next? I can get Iseult Gonne. I want her to meet you for her sake as I think her the start of a strong personality and a very beautiful woman and now that she is young and plastic  is the time to help her.Madam Gonne is anxious for this meeting.  I have never met a girl so full of talent...
If your time is too taken up just now to come to lunch or dinner I could, if you would let me, bring Iseult to call on you for a half our one afternoon. You will like. She is one of the most beautiful creatures in the world, aged 19 and has read all Flaubert and I hope she is dreaming of learning Bengali, I have known her since childhood."
 Yeats is one of the few writers whose greatest works were written after the award of the Nobel Prize. Whereas he received the Prize chiefly for his dramatic works, his significance today rests on his lyric achievement. His poetry, especially the volumes The Wild Swans at Coole (1919), Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921), The Tower (1928), The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933), and Last Poems and Plays (1940), made him one of the outstanding and most influential twentieth-century poets writing in English. His recurrent themes are the contrast of art and life, masks, cyclical theories of life (the symbol of the winding stairs), and the ideal of beauty and ceremony contrasting with the Maud Gonne
In 1889, Yeats met Maud Gonne, then a 23-year-old heiress and ardent Nationalist. Gonne was eighteen months younger than Yeats and later claimed she met the poet as a "paint-stained art student." Gonne had admired "The Isle of Statues" and sought out his acquaintance. Yeats developed an obsessive infatuation with her beauty and outspoken manner, and she was to have a significant and lasting effect on his poetry and his life thereafter.

Maud Gonne c. 1900

W.B. Yeats
In later years he admitted "it seems to me that she [Gonne] brought into my life those days—for as yet I saw only what lay upon the surface—the middle of the tint, a sound as of a Burmese gong, an over-powering tumult that had yet many pleasant secondary notes." Yeats' love initially remained unrequited, in part due to his reluctance to participate in her nationalist activism.
His only other love affair during this period was with Olivia Shakespear, whom he had first met in 1896, and parted with one year later. In 1891, he visited Gonne in Ireland and proposed marriage, but was rejected. He later admitted that from that point "the troubling of my life began". Yeats proposed to Gonne three more times: in 1899, 1900 and 1901. She refused each proposal, and in 1903, to his horror, married the Irish nationalist Major John MacBride.
There were two main reasons why Yeats was so horrified. To lose his muse to another made him look silly before the public. Yeats naturally hated MacBride and continually sought to deride and demean him both in his letters and his poetry. The second reason Yeats was horrified was linked to the fact of Maud's conversion to Catholicism, which Yeats despised. He thought his muse would come under the influence of the priests and do their bidding. The marriage, as forecast by both their sets of friends and relations was an early disaster. This pleased Yeats as Maud began to visit him in London. After the birth of her son, SeĂ¡n MacBride, in 1904, she and MacBride agreed to end the marriage, although they were unable to agree on the child's welfare. Despite the use of intermediaries, a divorce case ensued in Paris in 1905. Maud made a series of allegations against her husband with Yeats as her main 'second' though he did not attend court or travel to France. A divorce was not granted as the only accusation that held up in court was that MacBride had been drunk once during the marriage. A separation was granted with Maud having custody of the baby with John having visiting rights. Yeats' friendship with Gonne persisted, and, in Paris, in 1908, they finally consummated their relationship. "The long years of fidelity rewarded at last" was how another of his lovers described the event. Yeats was less sentimental and later remarked that "the tragedy of sexual intercourse is the perpetual virginity of the soul."The relationship did not develop into a new phase after their night together, and soon afterwards Gonne wrote to the poet indicating that despite the physical consummation, they could not continue as they had been: "I have prayed so hard to have all earthly desire taken from my love for you and dearest, loving you as I do, I have prayed and I am praying still that the bodily desire for me may be taken from you too." By January 1909, Gonne was sending Yeats letters praising the advantage given to artists who abstain from sex. Nearly twenty years later, Yeats recalled the night with Gonne in his poem "A Man Young and Old":hubbub of modern life.   

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Printing of Gitanjali -- Indian Society

Indian Society of London would publish Gitanjali was decided at the felicitation of Tagore at Trocadero Restaurant and the Poet Yeats would write  its introduction. Yeats went to Normandy in France with the edited manuscript and planned to write the introduction at his leisure time.
Rabindranath intimated this information to Ajit kumar on 2nd Aug.Gitanjali would be first published by India Society and Yeats wrote its introduction. On 7th Sep Yeats wrote Rothenstein;
"You will, I think, find it emphatic enough ... .In the first little chapter I have given what Indians said to me about Tagore -- their praise of him and their description of his life. That I am anxious about....some fact may be given wrongly ,...I think it might be well if somebody compiled a sort of 'Who's Who' paragraph of Tagore, and put after the introduction a string of dates,saying when he was born, when his chief works were published . I give no facts except those in the quoted conversation,"
This was not done and some wrong information floated in some foreign news paper after Rabindranath won the Nobel prize. Some also criticised the introduction and some omitted the introduction while translating in other languages.
The manuscript of Gitanjali was sent to the press on 9th Sep (Mon 24 Bhadra). Rabindranath took the charge of going through the 'proof' in consultation with Yeats.While doing the work he changed a few words. One of such changes came to knowledge from the letter written by Yeats dated 9 Jan 1913;
"The other day I started to read out No.52 to a friend. When I came to the last paragraph I was most sorrowful to find the maginificent ' no more coiness ( coyness) and sweetness of demeanour ' was changed and the whole poem half ruined. I fell on Rothenstein at once and accused the Fox Strangways ( Secretary of India Society-- by author) of it. He defends Fox Strangways but I do not believe him. .. Do please put back old sentence, which suggested the very woman, in the new edition."
Rabindranath, on his usual courtesey sake, wrote to Rothenstein on 14th Feb ;
" Mr. Yeats is not satisfied with some of the corrections that have been made without his knowledge. I have promised him to submit to him the proofs of the second edition of Gitanjali."   
The First edition of Gitanjali, published by India Society came to light on 1 nov (Fri 16 Kartik). 

Friday, October 14, 2011

Rabindranath and Yeats (contd-2)

The typed copy of the manuscript containing 86 poems of Gitanjali gifted by Rabindranath to Rothenstein was corrected by Yeats with the help of pencil. But Rothenstein while going with the corrected typed copy had lost it. Only a portion of it with 12 poems in Rabindranth's own handwriting are preserved in the Huton Library of Harvard University. Two of them  was also corrected with pencil by Yeats . One ; "In desparate hope I go and search for her " (no.87)
Prof. Shyamal Kumar Sarkar laid down a valuable discussion on these 12 poems, Titled "The Manuscript of Gitanjali ; A supplementary Note" (vide V/B.Q.,Vol.44. nos 3 & 4 /150-75) This has been preserved in Rabindrabhavan transforming into Micro-film by Prof.sarkar. This microfilm revealed that Yeats suggested 3 corrections for the first one and 4 corrections for the second one in these two poems ( it was written by pencil on the original manuscript). Among these corrections one in the first one and four in the second one has been accepted during final print. On scruitiny of  the manuscript and the printed book contained some small changes  which are visible..It seems that these changes have been made during joint reading of the manuscript.
Prof. Sourindra Mitra discussed in detail about these corrections;
Observaions:
1. The no. of words in the manuscript of 83 poems : about ten thousands
2. It reveals from the printed book no. of corrections
     in words .............................................................:  45 only
3. No. of sentences in the 83 poems ........................:  about 500
4. No. of sentences where corrections are made ......:  43 maximum, moreover
5.  No. of minute changes in changing a word, or
     changing the order of the word or deleted or any
      comma or foolstop, taking each as one unit.........: about 250; i.e. 1/40 of the total no. of words.
On a random verification it is seen that the observations made by Prof.Mitra is almost correct.
Reviewing all these discussions, Ernest Rhys, Secretary of Everyman's Library Series remarked that "....it has been rumoured by sceptical critics in India that Gitanjali was in the process indebted to an English Ghost ; and the name of Mr. W.B. Yeats has been particularly associated with this mysterious office, thanks, it may be, to his known uncanny powers. It may be as well to say, then, that the small manuscript book in which the author made these new English versions when he was on his way here in 1912, is still in the possession of Mr. W. Rothenstein ; and any one who takes the trouble to compare the pocket book with the printed text will find that the variations are of the slightest, while in certain instances the printed reading may be criticised as not an improvement on those in the Ms.
There were some serious changes other than these . Those  changes were the formation of paragraphs and poetic metres. But it was not known by whom the changes  were made. No reliable information was available about this.         

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Rabindranath back to London from Cambridge

Rabindranath continued translating his poems into English even after coming to London from Cambridge. He translated three poems about death on this date. Having learnt the news of the death of Rothenstein's mother, he sent one of them to him with the following words;
"You know my heart is with you in your pesent trial. I do not know what made me sit down to trsnslate three of my poems, all on the subject of death, Directly I came back from Cambridge yesterday. It seems to me that the sympathetic chords of heart are touched at some unseen communication . I feel I must send you the first one of those translation -- the original of which sprang from a direct experience of death."
This poem was the 5th one  belonging  to the series of Smaran written after the death of Mrinalini, the translation of " Amar Gharete aar nei se je nei" -- "In desperate hope I go and search her in all corners of room"( Gitanjali-no. 87) . The other two poems were, " Pathaile aaji Mrityur dut" ( Naibedya-no. 18th), and "Ekdin ei dekha hoye jabe sesh"( Durlava Janmaa, Chaitali). Those poems earmarked as 86th and 92nd in the collection of Gitanjali.
Rothenstein wrote Yeats a letter congratulating him for his lecture as a president at the dinner of Trocadero Restaurant and added " we must arrange to meet one day next week to go over the poems . Will you lunch & then sit;  & work aftewards ?"
Yeats wrote Rabindranath on 17th July, from his residence at 18 Woburn Bildings, Upper Woburn Place,
"Will you lunch with me at one to-morrow at the Hotel Gunlia, Upper Woburn Place, the Hotel we dined the other day ? We can come in here afterwards and go through the mss (manuscripts) or Monday (22nd July) night ". He  further added, "I am afraid there has been some misunderstanding, as to the day on which I was to go through the translations with you.... I am sorry that I cannot get free to-morrow. Are you free Thursday ? If not, Saturday would suit me. I am looking forward greatly to talking over the poems with you. I am still reading them continually." and again wrote on Tuesday (23rd July), "I will come Tuesday as our next please. Many thanks for further Mss."
The letters probably were written at the end of July because Rabindranath wrote a letter to Ajit Kumar on 2nd Aug before going to the village Batarton of Stafordshire,
"Yeats  have gone to Normandy with those manuscripts. He will write an introduction of the collection and then it will be sent for printing by India Society."
  Prasanta Kumar Paul wrote in his book, "Rabijibani", 'so, Yeats would have met Rabindranath between 15th July and 18th July'  to finalise the manuscript of Gitanjali sitting together.
Rabindranath wrote Kshiti Mohan on 28th Jun about the primary notion of Yeats on his poems, " If any body says that he could improve them more, he does not know anything about literature."
The editting of Gitanjali was started after the decision taken by India Society to publish it. Yeats did not directly edited the manuscript of Gitanjali. He simply suggested some points and Rabindranath did the correction on a typed copy of Gitanjali. This was evident from the letter written by Rabindranth to Rothenstein on 4th April, 1915;
" I think Yeats  was sparing in his suggestions -- moreover, I was with him During the revision ...Though you have the first draft of my translations with you I have unfortunately allowed  the revised typed pages to get lost in which Yeats pencilled his corrections. "
     

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Rabindranath and Cambridge

Russell had a distinguished background: His grandfather Lord John Russell introduced the Reform Bill of 1832 and was twice prime minister; his parents were both prominent free thinkers; and his informal godfather was John Stuart Mill. Orphaned as a small child, Russell was reared by his paternal grandmother under stern puritanic rule. That experience powerfully affected his thinking on matters of morality and education. Russell studied at Trinity College, Cambridge (1890-94), where later he was a fellow (1895-1901) and a lecturer (1910-16). It was during this time that he published his most important works in philosophy and mathematics, The Principles of Mathematics (1903) and, with A. N. Whitehead, Principia Mathematica (3 vol., 1910-13), and also had as his student Ludwig Wittgenstein
Rathindranath wrote about their first meeting in London;
"Russel told that he came straight to London from Cambridge , just to see my father. Without any pretention he asked my father directly, "Hallo, Tagore! In your opinion which is beautiful ?" But the answer is not so easy to reply so quickly.Remaining silent for some time, Rabindranath answered slowly and explained his idea about aesthetics. Russel took  my father's explanation granted, was difficult to say. Ofcourse, he remained silent so long my father was answerisng the question and when it was finished, he left the place immediately as he had come like a storm."
Prasanta Kumar Paul, writer of "Rabijibani" remarked that the statement   is not correct.
Russel wrote Rothenstein on 16th August,
"I was much interested to meet an Indian poet,  and very anxious to hear all he had to say -- I didn't quite realize he was a very dear friend of yours or I wd have spoken of you to him."
Probably, Russel came to London at the end of July to meet Rabindranath..
Some correspondence between Rabindranath and Russel in Oct-Nov  interchanging their thoughts were kept in Rabindrabhavan.
In Cambridge Rabindranath's days were not busy, but those who had come to see him became too much overwhelmed. Among them were Wife of Francis Cornford, Grand daughter of Charle's Darwin etc. Francis Darwin Cornford wrote Rothenstein on 15th July;
" I must write and tell you both what wonderful thing it has been to see Tagore ..he is like a saint, and the beauty and dignity of his whole being is wonderful to remember ... and make me feel that we in the west hardly know what real gentleness and tenderness are..I can now imagine a powerful and gentle Christ, which I could never before."
On the same day Anderson wrote him,
" The poet's quite dignity and modesty are very delightful, and it is easy to see why he has such extraordinary influence over the rising generationin of Bengal.I am very grateful to you for having given me the chance of making the acquaintance of so distinguished and attractive being."
Anderson also wrote Rabindranath;
"Please believe that it was a very great pride and pleasure to meet you at King's College yesterday..I am very sorry my rheumatic old back compelled me to run away early, and prevented me from getting the full advantage of a great opportunity."
Anderson continued this correspondence with Rabindranath till his death (1920).
    Pearson was also in Cambridge at that time. After coming back to Calcutta he went to Oxford mission hostel and met the ex-students of Brahmacharyyasram there and wrote Rabindranath about this meeting on 17th Dec,
"Sudhir (Sudhiranjan Das) at me request sang the song you sang to us at Cambridge which begins with " Jibane jata Puja " . He has a very sweet voice and the song moved me deeply as I remembered the scene at Cambridge.
Rabindranath came back from Cambridge to London on 15th July ( Mon 3 Asharh).

Rabindraath's Ovation in England

The presidential address delivered by Yeats had been recorded in extended form in the introduction of Gitanjali.The Bengali translation of the reply given by Rabindranath against this ovation was published in "Pravasi" in Bhadra issue in the title "England-e Sahitya-Samrat Rabindranath-er Sambardhana". The reply was as follows:
" To day in the evening you have given me the honour , I am afraid, which I cannot explain in the language I have not been born. I hope you will forgive me.Though I have a little knowledge in your  glorified language, but I feel better  to think and to feel in my own language .My mother tongue like an household wife, extremely jealous, is always demanding exclusive service from me  and she does not like slightest indulgence to any intruder from any competitive side. I  frankly confess to you that I can't express that I have been charmed so much by the unending love I received since I have come  over here. I have got a lesson--though the lesson I got after travelling thousands of miles seems to me successful because though we live thousands miles apart and our language, our culture differ but we possess heart with same feeling......"
The ideas Rabindranth tried to develop in his Gitanjali are, 1. the relation between East and West, 2. the relation between the people of East and West with the universal humanity, and 3. the relation of human being with the supreme soul.
Yeats recited three poems. Two of which were published in "The Times" on 13th July;
1. I was not aware of the moment when I first crossed the threshhold of this life (no.95), and 2. In the deep shadows of the rainy July,
This was the first occasion when Rabindranath's own translation was published in "a foreign paper" .
The other one was taken from "Kheya"--Anabashyak ( "Kasher Bane Sunya Nadir Tire") On the slope of the desolate river among tall grasses I asked her."    This news was published in "Modern Review" on Nov 1912 under the head "Inutile"with comments by the editor M,R. as "This prose translation of one of his poems was one of the three read at the dinner given to Mr.Tagore in London in July last"
Rathindranat wrote;
"while replying to the toasts my father (Rabindranath) recited a few unpublished poems, and at the end when he sang in Bengali the national song "Vande Mataram", everybody rose and remained standing." He also wrote to mira and Nagendra describing in details the programme on that evening in English and added ,"Mr. Rothenstein has done some very fine drawing of father's -- one of which I am having reproduced here and will shortly send you out a thousand copies". He thoght it to be given on the cover of his book "Jibansmriti" but  that was already sent to press. It was used in the cover of Gitanjali.
He added, "we are going to-night to Cambridge to spend the week-end there. Father has been invited by Mr. Dickinson (the author of John Chinaman), But we are going to stay with a Quaker family.My father has some connoisseur there.The retired civillian James Drummond Anderson(1852-1920) was then professor of Bengali in Cambridge University. He was present in the felicitation of Tagore arranged by India Society. When he heard that Rabindranath had come to London he became eager to meet him. But as he was busy otherwise and for want of available space in his house he could not invite him. He wrote to Rothenstein;
"I hope, however, that the poet would visit Cambridge when work begins again --after 4th July -- and we shall be proud and pleased to do him honour ... There are many here who would be glad to make his acquaintance , amongst them -- the professor of Arabic, who has heard much about him, and only from me.
Having read, "Letters of John Chanaman" written by \the historian and fellow of King's College of Cambridge, Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson (1862-1932), Rabindranath wrote an essay titled "Chinamaner Chithi". Due to his eagerness Rothenstein made arrangements for introducing him with Rabindranath.
Rabindranath described his experience after meeting  him (Mr.Dickinson);
" I saw the writer - he is not a Chinese; but he is imaginative and hence he is a global man. For two days we stayed with him and have interactions with him  always.As waves mix up with waves very easily, we too were flooded with thoughts simultaneously. After some time a professor of Mathematics came -- their dialogue also inspired me like anything.The heat generated from the discussion in Mathematics, sometimes, dried up the feelings of some persons -- sometimes enlightened one's mind. Here  the mind of Mr. Russel is well lit by the dazzling light generated from the discussion of Mathematics. Sufficient signs of delight  mixed with the dazzling light made me amazing. After dinner we used to take our seat in the garden where I met their discussions at about 11 pm in the old woods of the garden...."       

 

Monday, October 10, 2011

Rabindranath and India Society

India Society had already started preparations for felicitation of Rabindranath in a dinner party. It would take place on 10th July (Wednessday 26 Asharh). Biographer of Rabindranath wrote,"Day before yesterday from the scheduled date of felicitation, it was arranged by Emerson club in a meeting convened in the name of "Union of East and West' founded by Kedar Nath Dasgupta. Hence the primary credit of felicitation of Rabindranath goes to the Bengali's.
The London reporter of Amrita Bazar Patrika published the news of felicitation on 12th July;
" I may add that the Indian Union Society entertained Mr. Tagore last Sunday (7th July, 23 Asharh)afternoon at the Emerson Club, London, and that he received a great ovation from the Indian and European friends present. He was garlanded in Indian fashion by Miss Das and made a characteristic and touching reply."
The felicitationn of Rabindranath by India Society was held on 10th July at  Trocadero Restaurant. A hand bill regarding this signed by Rothenstein,  W.W.Hornll, Mrs. Shuldham Saw, A,H.Fox Strangways was circulated to different men of importance.. The following words were  the excerpts of that hand bill;
" MR. RABINDRA NATH TAGORE, perhaps the most distinguished Indian poet and teacher of the present generation, is in England for a few weeks, and it seems  to be good opportunity of getting together a small number of people interested in literature to welcome him. It is proposed to dine together at the  Trocadero on 10th July at 7.30 pm...."
The  rate of the dinner-ticket was 5 shilling save the hot drinks. Interested persons are requested to contact earlier with Hornel at Edinburgh Mansion at Victoria Street. Rothenstein and J.D.Anderson had been informed to join but Galseworthy and Gopal Krishna Gokhale expressed regret of their inability to remain present since they would be out of station on that day. The menu card was attached.
A detail description of the occasion in the Title "Dinner to Mr. Rabindra nath Tagore" was published in "The Times" on 13th July.
On Wednessday last at the Trocadero Restaurant there was a large gathering in honour of Mr. Rabindra Nath Tagore. Mr.W.B.Yeats was on the chair, and among those present were Messrs. J.W.Mackai, Herbert Trench, R.b.Cunninghame Graham, H.W.Nevinson, H.G.Wells, Cecil Sharp, J.D.Anderson, E.b.Havell, T. W. Arnold, R.Vaughan Williams, and T.W.Rolleston.  
From the reporting of the paper "India ", Modern Review described on Aug 1912 that 70 important persons in England were present at the dinner given to felicitate Rabindranath. The description was as follows;
"The Chairman proposed the health of the poet, and read with wonderful effect, three of his poems in a prose translation. Mr. S.K.Ratcliffe, in seconding the toast, spoke of the remarkable record of the Tagore family in the intellectual leadership of Bengal. Mr. Tagore replied in a speech at once brief and singularly impressive.Mr. T.W.Arnold proposed the toast of India, to which also Mr. W. Rothenstein spoke. It was acknowledged by Sir Krishna Govinda Gupta.