Rabindranath Tagore *** 186 1 year-1941year * * *, a famous Indian poet, writer, social activist, philosopher and Indian nationalist. 1861On May 7th, Rabindranath Tagore was born into a wealthy aristocratic family in Kolkata. 19 13 years, together with gitanjali, he became the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. His poems contain profound religious and philosophical views, and Tagore's poems enjoy epic status in India, such as Gitanjaly, Birds, Sand in the Eyes, Four Men, Family and the World, Gardeners Collection, New Moon, The Last Poetry, Gora and Crisis of Civilization.
Tagore's literary characteristics
His works reflect the Indian people's strong desire to change their destiny under the oppression of imperialism and feudal caste system, and describe their indomitable struggle. They are full of distinctive patriotism and democratic spirit, rich in national style and characteristics, and have high artistic value, which is deeply loved by the people.
Most of his works are based on the real life in India, reflecting the tragic fate of the Indian people under the heavy oppression of colonialism, feudalism and ignorance and backwardness, depicting the changes of Indian society and the awakening of a new generation under the impact of new ideas, and also recording his personal spiritual exploration. In terms of creative skills, he not only absorbed the nutrition of national literature, but also drew lessons from the advantages of western culture, and achieved high artistic achievements. In particular, his poems are fresh in style, beautiful in verse, strange in imagination, beautiful in rhythm, full of lyrical flavor, full of profound philosophical and religious thoughts, social and life ideals, and touch the hearts of readers. Some poems are mysterious because of the influence of religious thoughts in the Vedas and Upanishads, but they still have unique artistic charm.
style
Tagore made bold innovations in poetry, genre, language and expression. Stylistically, realistic themes are regarded as having contemplative factors, and contemplative genres are regarded as having realistic factors; Genre, the poet created the form of "story poem" and political lyric poem; He also devoted himself to writing free verse. Tagore is good at learning and using spoken language in people's lives, making the language of poetry lively and vivid; In terms of creative methods, he organically combines realism with romanticism, but romanticism is more important in lyric poetry and realism is more in narrative works.
Kalipiga
Tagore's women come from different castes and classes and have different identities. Such as child brides, widowed girls, buried widows, deceived prostitutes, traditional Indian housewives, well-educated celebrities and intellectual women with new ideas. These women are often portrayed as victims of traditional bad habits, pursuers of happy love and new Indian women in the author's ideal.
The low status and miserable situation of Indian women are the result of politics, race, religion and husband's bondage, and are the reflection of all kinds of disadvantages caused by Indian religious society. Tagore's concern for widows' unique experiences and their vivid feelings turned into a sharp pen and knife, pointing directly at child marriage, arranged marriage, teenage widowhood, widow martyrdom, dowry and other systems? A href ='' target =' _ blank'> What do you mean by slow chivalrous people and locusts? "Ran scratched tan? Chen? Huh? Hey? What's the matter with you? So what? What happened to Shantou Chungou? What happened? Chen? Dark curtain? Did you get through? 愦 "Que Jiu? Blow scandium? /p & gt；
Thoughts of Tagore, a litterateur
The unity of Brahma and me
Tagore himself once said: "I think I can't say that I am a pure poet, which is obvious." The poet changed his style in front of me and acquired the qualities of a missionary at the same time. I founded a philosophy of life, which contains strong emotional qualities, so my philosophy can be sung and passed on. My philosophy is like a cloud in the sky, which can be turned into a shower and dyed into colorful clouds to decorate the feast in the sky. "
In his research works, Mr. Ji Xianlin pointed out that although Tagore was also influenced by western philosophy, his ideological keynote was pantheism from Rigveda to Upanishads and ancient Indian Vedanta. This kind of thinking advocates the unity of all things in the universe, and this kind is called Brahma. Brahma is the unity of the universe and the essence of the world. Man and Brahma are also a unity. "'I' is synonymous with' Vatican', and' Vatican' is the highest' I'." "There is no difference between human nature and natural nature. Both of them are part of Brahma, the essence of the world, and they are interdependent and interrelated. " Tagore called it infinity with God or Brahman as one side and finiteness with natural or phenomenal world and individual soul as one side. The relationship between infinity and finiteness is the central issue of his philosophical exploration, and it is also a problem he often touches on in his poems. The difference between Tagore and Indian traditional philosophy is that he takes "man" as the center, and thinks that man needs God, and God also needs man, and even thinks that God can only be seen between people.
Mr. Ji Xianlin also pointed out: "Since Brahma and I are one, I am one with no self, and man and nature are one, the relationship between them, that is, the relationship between all things in the universe, can only be harmony and coordination. Harmony and coordination can be said to be the core of Tagore's thought. " Tagore believed that "complete freedom lies in complete harmony of relations". From this philosophical point of view, Tagore publicized the gospel of love, thinking that "what really strengthens the power of civilization and makes it really progress is cooperation and love, mutual trust and mutual assistance." However, Tagore does not deny the existence of contradictions. There are some dialectical factors in his thought. He admits that nature, society and people's thoughts are changing. In Tagore's thought, "rhythm" occupies a very high position, which is his highest ideal, the most fundamental principle and the golden key to the mystery of the universe. "
The relationship between poetry and poets
Tagore is a poet with romantic style. From the perspective of poetry creation, he pays special attention to the relationship between poetry and poets. 1903, after reading the biography of the English poet Tennyson, Tagore wrote The Poet's Biography, mainly discussing the relationship between the poet and his works. He believes that the poet's works can give us a true image of him because he has integrated his life into his works, while the poet's biography only records the poet's external activities, so we can't really know the poet by studying his biography. He pointed out: "A poet does not create his own life by the way he writes poems, and his life is not a poem" * * * Volume 22: 37***. Tagore does not deny that the poet's life is intrinsically related to his poetry, but he thinks that only an extraordinary poet like Dante can show his genius in poetry and life practice at the same time. "Dante's poems condensed Dante's life. If we read them together, we will know ourselves better than his object "; The main purpose of art is to express individuality, not abstract and analytical things. In a Passage to Europe, he believes that only as the creator of artistic objects can he become a truly free subject, and points out: "Only in literature can he become a subject. In other words, man is the symbol and purpose of literature. ..... People become the main body of literature, which is the essence and result of interpersonal communication. Therefore, the symbol and purpose of literature can only be' I' as a person, and it is by no means all external things I have seen. * * * Volume 19: 270-72 * *. It can be seen that people with subjectivity are the starting point and final destination of Tagore's poetics. The so-called subjective poetics emphasizes the relationship between literature and people, especially the author's subjective position in literary creation. The theory of literary subjectivity has a profound historical origin in both East and West, but in the West, the understanding and attention to literary subjectivity began with romanticism. Tagore is a poet who is deeply influenced by western romanticism and has a romantic temperament. In his poetry creation and theory, he shows distinct subjective characteristics. The biography of the poet can be said to be a prelude to his subjectivist literary theory.
Emotional motivation
Tagore believes that the foundation or key of poetry is not the poet's intelligence and the poet's external activities. He pointed out: "Daily speech, letters, communication, activities and education are not the foundation of poetry, but the foundation is the spread of a huge emotional impulse, as if it were accidental, not man-made-it is beyond the poet's knowledge." * * * Tagore Volume 22: 39 * *. Two factors are emphasized here, one is emotion and the other is inspiration; It also denies two factors, one is knowledge and the other is deliberate efforts. Yan Canglang, an ancient poet in China, said: "Poetry is unique and has nothing to do with books; Poetry has other interests and has nothing to do with reason. " The difference is that Yan Yu's theoretical understanding is based on poetry appreciation, while Tagore's experience is based on long-term rich creation.
In addition to emotion and inspiration, Tagore also paid special attention to the role of imagination in poetry creation. He pointed out: "The fact is that people's hearts are constantly enriched by ambiguous feelings. Those feelings always cover the sky of the world's huge human mind with short-lived pain, short-lived feelings and short-lived things, and then hover in the sky. A poet relies on attractive imagination to bind these emotional bundles in his own imagination and make them clear in front of people's hearts, so that we can be happy. " He also said: "A special face of the human mind gathers in the poet's imagination and shows its amazing brilliance through beauty. Literary critics should think about this issue. " * * Tagore Volume 22:116-117 * *. Obviously, Tagore regards imagination as the basis of poetry creation and criticism.
Subjective poetics
Tagore believes that biographers seldom care about the poet's colorful personality and inner world, and the poet's performance in poetry is more real than his real life. "The readers of Ba Mi created a biography of the poet's life from his poems, which is more real than the real life of Ba Mi" * * Volume 22: 38 * *. In a word, he thinks that the biography of the poet's life can better express the poet's self than his works, that is to say, poetry is the expression of the poet's personality, not the reproduction of the poet's life. This subjective poetic thought is more profound in his later works.
About death
Tagore had an extraordinary understanding of death. He said: "Life as a whole will never take death seriously. Before he died, he laughed, danced and played. It builds, stores and loves. Only when we separate the fact of individual death from the whole life can we see its emptiness and become depressed. We forget the whole of life, and death is only a part of it. Just as an oak tree looks at a piece of cloth under a microscope, it looks like a net. We stared at those big holes and imagined shaking. But the truth is, death is not the ultimate truth. It looks dark, just as the sky looks blue, but death is not a blackened entity, just as the sky does not leave its color on the wings of birds. " "In Tagore's works, death is full of poetry and yearning. In the final stage of Gitanjaly, he used more than 20 poems to praise death, expressing the process of being the same with God in death.
View of good and evil
Tagore is an optimist. He believes that the world is developing towards absolute goodness, and firmly believes that evil will eventually become good. The poet believes that we have pain because we feel limited, but this is not fixed or final, and so is happiness. Therefore, the existence of good and evil is not absolute, but it is real to us. We must unite with infinite activities through the karmic hemolysis in the Bhagavad-gita, that is, through the practice of selfless kindness, in order to obtain universal life or moral life.
He said, "To live in perfect goodness is to realize life in infinity. This is the most comprehensive and profound outlook on life, that is, the view we can have on the whole life through inner moral strength. The Buddha's teaching is to cultivate this moral power to the highest degree and understand that our scope of action should not be limited to a narrow self-domain. " "When the Buddha thought about how to liberate mankind from the bondage of pain, he had reached the truth that when mankind achieved the highest goal by integrating individuals into the universe, mankind was liberated from the bondage of pain." Because of this, Tagore admires Buddha, and his poems reflect the connection between individual and whole from everything.