Translation, illustrations and photography: Zhen Nian Yi Si
Music: Out of the Darkness into the Light (Composed and performed by Kevin Kern)
Kevin Kern (1958~) is a master of piano from the New England Conservatory of Music and a famous piano performance master. He created his own piano genre, which mainly uses piano as the main body to interpret the mood and melody of music.
Introduction to the work:
"The Gardener" is a collection of poems written by the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore. It is a collection of English lyric poems "about love and life" in prose style. ***Contains 85 poems, first published in 1913.
Most of the poems in the collection were translated by the poet from the Bengali poetry collections he created in the 1890s, such as "The Moment Collection", "The Dream Collection", "The Golden Ship Collection" and "The Colorful Collection". . A poetic work belonging to Tagore's early creative stage.
"The Gardener's Collection" is a philosophical collection of poems, with a total of 85 poems. Tagore used concise language to construct a palace of truth. It incorporates the poet's feelings about youth and delicately describes the happiness and sorrow of men and women in love. While reminiscing about youth, it also carries out rational and profound thinking.
In "The Gardener's Collection", the poet clearly expresses his attitude towards social life through profound allegorical poems and concise philosophical poems, and artistically answers why and how people should live. Big life questions. [
Creation background
Tagore was born in an era of rapid change and was influenced by traditional Indian philosophical thought and Western philosophical thought. Tagore's poetic talent emerged in his childhood. When his patriotic poem "Temple Festival for Hindus" was published (1875), he was only 14 years old. In 1905, India set off the first upsurge of the national liberation movement. Tagore actively participated in the movement and wrote many patriotic poems. This period was the most glorious period of his creation. He published eight collections of poetry in Bengali and eight collections of poetry in English, including The Gardener's Collection.
Theme of the work
Love is the eternal theme of poetry. In these more than eighty poems, there are the shyness of first love, the anguish of lovesickness, the anxiety of anticipation, the trembling of trysts, the joy of newlyweds, and the pain of life, separation, and death. The poet seems to lead us into the mysterious world of love and appreciate the pain and joy in it. At the same time, it reflects the poet's persistent pursuit of ideal life.
Tagore lived between the 19th and 20th centuries. Due to the limitations of the times and class, some negative thoughts were also expressed in "The Gardener". For example, in terms of exploring the path of life, the poet sometimes feels that things are counterproductive and helpless: "I ask for what I can't get, and I get what I don't ask for." (No. 15). Sometimes he feels that the future is bleak and the hope cannot be realized: " I am absent-minded, eager to touch the edge of the dim distance." "The breath you blow on me whispers an impossible hope." (No. 5) When it comes to love, Tagore's thoughts are sometimes contradictory. On the one hand, the poet advocates happiness in this world and praises the love between men and women. On the other hand, he believes that the love between men and women is vain: "Who do I want to hold in my arms? Dreams can never catch me. My eager hands hold the emptiness. Hold it tightly in my heart, but it secretly hurts my chest. "(No. 51) Even thinking that love is a vain desire is difficult to realize: less of my vain desires! Where is the hope of this union except in you, my God? "(No. 50)
However, in "The Gardener's Collection", there are only a few poems that reveal negative thoughts and emotions. In this large garden with blooming flowers carefully cultivated by Tagore, there are absolutely no Most lyric poems are full of vitality, they bring people beauty, joy, encouragement and enlightenment
Artistic characteristics
The Gardener's Collection is one of Rabindranath Tagore's important masterpieces. It is a "song of life" that integrates more of the poet's experience in his youth and delicately describes the happiness, troubles and sadness of love. It can be regarded as a youth love song that the poet sings when looking back on the past. When the love song recalls the throbbing of the youthful soul, it undoubtedly maintains a certain distance from one's own youth, and conducts rational examination and thinking, which makes this love song shine with philosophical brilliance from time to time. Reading these poems is like seeing a beautiful world. The clear world allows people to appreciate the taste of love and youth unconsciously.
The poems in the collection are full of the moving vitality of youth and shine with the beautiful color of love. The text describes the expectations, pursuits, troubles and sorrows of young ignorant young people for love, and sings the heart throbbing of youth. The style is fresh and romantic, and at the same time it incorporates the poet's philosophical thinking on love. Compared with "Gitanjali", another work by Tagore that describes the spiritual love between man and God, "The Gardener's Collection" mainly shows the sexual love between men and women. Obviously, the former is religious. , the latter is secular. This is the basic distinction between the two collections of poems. The poet uses symbolism and other techniques to express various emotions in love delicately and implicitly, and the implicit meaning is fascinating.
Evaluation of the work
The poems in "The Gardener's Collection" are like "stars in the sky". ---American poet and critic Ezra Pound
"The Gardener" is short and concise, rich in poetry and philosophy.
---Professor Zou Jiecheng
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Poem: Liri Pine Forest
Love
Sing with singing voice
Hold flowers
Each Petals
Dancing musical notes
Flowing hair
Blue cloak
Opening the chest of the night
Surging heartbeat
Close face
Comfort like spring sun
Trembling leaves
Whispering
Purging light dust
Eyelashes drooping and revealing
Toward the light
The road has no end
Music fills the heart
Do you want to leave?
Listen to the wind and rain singing
(Thank you to Liri Songlin for your encouragement and support with the poem!)