ক্ষণিকা

by Rabindranath Tagore

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published January 1, 1900

About the author

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 "because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West."

Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic strictures. His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to topics political and personal. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced), and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed—or panned—for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and unnatural contemplation. His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India's Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh's Amar Shonar Bangla.

The complete works of Rabindranath Tagore (রবীন্দ্র রচনাবলী) in the original Bengali are now available at these third-party websites:
http://www.tagoreweb.in/
http://www.rabindra-rachanabali.nltr....

Reviews

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

To Tagore, Love is truth; it is also beauty. The purpose of art is not the expression of Beauty but the expression of the unity of life which is the highest truth. Beauty and truth are intimately related, and one completes the other. To quote Tagore himself, "The stream which comes from the Infinite and flows towards the finite-that is the True, the Good; it is subject to laws, definite in form. Its echo which returns towards the Infinite is Beauty and Joy, which are tough to touch or grasp, and so make us beside ourselves."
In Ksanika (1900), accepted values, religious, political, social, etc., find an ironical-satirical treatment. The poet's disposition is light, and so the diction too is colloquial. The work discovers an exclusively innovative aspect of Tagore's genius. In the later poems of the collection the leitmotif of love re-appears. The world of love that these poems open up is a dreamworld of wistful yearnings, of pangs hushed, of love silenced. Desire or ardour has no place in this world. The lovers scarcely meet or talk; a glance, a touch, a sight-and lyrical imagination sets about weaving delicate arabesques of beauty round the feeling of love. And over this love, there ever breathes a serene, charming Nature. About this work, a critic comments, "Gay abandon, sparkling mischief, playful wit or sardonic irony explore and often tear to pieces such values and make for a robust acceptance of life-free, fearless, bounteous. It is altogether a fantastic world where mischief and gaiety play on the surface and fitfully reveal underneath a deep fountain of sobriety and wisdom. The Donne of Songs and Sonnets without this arrogant sensuality, the ironical songs of Peacock, the wanton lyrics of the lighter Keats would be with limitations, perhaps, the nearest parallels."

[Hira Araaf · Rating 4 out of 5]

রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুরের লেখা নিয়ে কথা বলার কিছুই নাই। আমার এমনও হয় আমি অনেকসময় বুঝি না তাও কেন জানি ভাল্লাগে। কেমন জানি একটা বায়াসনেস কাজ করে আমার