Love is the eternal theme of poetry. In these more than 80 poems, there are shyness of first love, anguish of lovesickness, anxiety of expectation, adventure of tryst, happiness of wedding and pain of where to go. The poet seems to lead us into the mysterious world of love, appreciate the bitterness and joy in it, and at the same time reflect the poet's persistent pursuit of ideal life.
Tagore lived between19th century and 20th century. Due to the limitation of times and classes, The Gardener Collection also shows some negative thoughts. For example, in the exploration of the road of life, poets sometimes feel that things are counterproductive and helpless: "I asked for what I couldn't get, and I got what I didn't ask for." (No.15) Sometimes I feel that my future is dim and my hope cannot be realized: "I am absent-minded and eager to touch the dim edge in the distance" and "the breath you blow to me whispers an impossible hope". Tagore's thoughts on love are sometimes contradictory. On the one hand, the poet advocates secular happiness and praises the love between men and women, on the other hand, he thinks that the love between men and women is illusory: "Who should I hold in my arms?" Dreams can never be caught. My eager hand holds the emptiness in my heart, which stings my chest. " (No.565438 +0) Even the desire to think that love is false is hard to realize: less my false desire! God, besides being with you, where is the hope of this integration? "(No.50)
However, in The Gardener's Collection, only a few poems reveal negative thoughts and emotions. In Tagore's carefully cultivated garden, most lyric poems are full of vitality. They cultivate people with beauty and give people joy, inspiration and enlightenment.
Artistic feature
The Gardener's Collection is one of Tagore's important masterpieces and a "song of life". It is more integrated into the poet's youth experience and describes the happiness, troubles and sadness of love in detail, which can be regarded as a youth love song. The poet sang these love songs in retrospect. When recalling the throbbing of youth, he undoubtedly kept a certain distance from his own youth and made a rational examination and thinking, so that this love song flashed the glory of philosophy from time to time. Reading these poems seems to see a bright and clear world, which makes people unconsciously appreciate the taste of love and youth.
The poems in the anthology are full of youthful vigor and beautiful colors of love. With simple words, the poet described the expectation, pursuit, troubles and sadness of young and ignorant young people for love, sang the throbbing soul of youth, and his style was fresh and romantic, at the same time, he integrated the poet's philosophical thinking on love. Compared with Tagore's Gitanjali, another work describing the spiritual love between man and God, The Gardener's Collection mainly shows the love between men and women. Obviously, the former is religious and the latter is secular. This is the basic dividing line between the two poems. Poets use symbolism and other means to express all kinds of emotions in love subtly and implicitly, and their implications are fascinating. The poems in The Gardener's Collection are like "the stars in the sky". -Pound, a famous American poet and critic
The Gardener Collection is short and pithy, full of poetry and philosophy. —— Professor Zou Jie Cheng