Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali poet, Brahmo philosopher, visual
artist, playwright, composer, and novelist whose avant-garde works
reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. A celebrated cultural icon of Bengal, he became Asia's
first Nobel laureate when he won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature.
His home schooling, life in Shelidah, and extensive travels made
Tagore an iconoclastic pragmatist; however, growing disillusionment
with the British Raj caused the internationalist Tagore to back the
Indian Independence Movement and befriend Mahatma Gandhi. Despite the
loss of virtually his entire family and his regrets regarding Bengal's
decline, his life's work — Visva-Bharati University — endured.
Tagore's major works included Gitanjali and Ghare-Baire, while his
verse, short stories, and novels — many defined by rhythmic lyricism,
colloquial language, meditative naturalism, and philosophical
contemplation — received worldwide acclaim.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1763:
Indian Wars: Chief Pontiac led an attempt to seize Fort Detroit and
drive out the British settlers, beginning Pontiac's Rebellion.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Detroit)
1824:
Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor premiered in Vienna.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._9_%28Beethoven%29)
1915:
World War I: The ocean liner RMS Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by
the German submarine Unterseeboot 20, killing 1,198 on board.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Lusitania)
1920:
Kiev Offensive: Polish-Ukrainian troops led by Józef Piłsudski and
Edward Rydz-Śmigły captured Kiev during the Polish-Soviet War.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiev_Offensive)
1945:
End of World War II in Europe: On behalf of Reichspräsident Karl
Dönitz, General Alfred Jodl signed and submitted the capitulation
documents to the Allies in Reims, France.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Jodl)
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Wikiquote of the day:
"The meaning of the living words that come out of the experiences of
great hearts can never be exhausted by any one system of logical
interpretation. They have to be endlessly explained by the
commentaries of individual lives, and they gain an added mystery in
each new revelation." -- Rabindranath Tagore
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore)