I Won’t Let You Go: Selected Poems

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In what a profound sadness are sky and earth immersed! The further I go, the more I hear the same piteous note: ‘I won’t let you go!’ In this stunning collection of poems by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, acclaimed translator Ketaki Kushari Dyson brilliantly captures the energy and lyricism of the legendary poet’s verses. The title poem evokes the inner turmoil of a man who must return to the drudgery of work after visiting his home for the Durga Puja vacation. Haunted by his four-year-old daughter’s parting words, ‘I won’t let you go!’ he finds his anguish reflected in the vagaries of nature, with the earth echoing his pain. The other poems in this collection brim with Tagore’s compassionate humanity and delicate sensuousness. From detailing thenuances of intimate relationships to ruminating on the vast cosmos, these poems glow with a burning awareness of man’s place in the universe, reaffirming Tagore’s reputation as one of India’s greatest modern poets.

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Born in 1861, Rabindranath Tagore was a key figure of the Bengal Renaissance. He was a household name in Bengal as a poet, a songwriter, a playwright, an essayist, a short story writer and a novelist. In 1913 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and his verse collection Gitanjali came to be known internationally. Tagore was a pioneering literary figure, renowned for his ceaseless innovations in poetry, prose, drama, music and painting, which he took up late in life. His works include novels; plays; essays on religious, social and literary topics; some sixty collections of verse; over a hundred short stories; and more than 2500 songs, including the national anthems of India and Bangladesh. He died in 1941.