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Elective English—IV

Notes Have his short story ‘Once there was a King’
Analyse ‘Once there was a King’

Introduction

Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel laureate poet, writer, philosopher was the ambassador of
Indian culture to the rest of the world. He is probably the most prominent figure in the cultural
world of Indian subcontinent and the first Asian person to be awarded with the Nobel Prize.
Even though he is mainly known as a poet, his multifaceted talent showered upon different
branches of art, such as, novels, short stories, dramas, articles, essays, painting etc. And his
songs, popularly known as Rabindrasangeet, have an eternal appeal and are permanently placed
in the heart of the Bengalis. He was a social reformer, patriot and above all, a great humanitarian
and philosopher. India and Bangladesh – the national anthems of these two countries are taken
from his composition.
Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913—the first to be awarded a non-
European—on the belief that he represented the romantic, mysterious East judged by the
sentimental translations he had made from the poems in his book Gitanjli.
10.1 About Rabindranath Thakur

Figure 10.1: Rabindranath Tagore

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/00358/17TH-OPEDTAGORE1_358123e.jpg
Rabindranath Thakur (1861-1941) born on Tuesday, 7th May 1861 in a wealthy family in Calcutta
was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region’s literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and
its “profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse”, he became the first non-European to win

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