The Gardener

2015 Reprint of 1913 Printing. Full facsimile of the original edition. Not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. "The Gardener" is an enchanting collection of love poems set against the backdrop of life in the Bengali countryside. These short love poems capture the deepest of emotions - those most have felt but were seldom able to adequately express. Tagore writes in a simple and easy to follow style and in many ways reads like a contemporary. Although both the "Gitanjali" and "The Gardener" were published in 1913, many of the poems in the Gardener were written much before the spiritual verses of the Gitanjali. One can chart the tragic transition from the sensual love poems of "The Gardener" to the prayers of Gitanjali, brought upon by a gut-wrenchingly painful period in Rabindranath Tagore's life; during which he lost his father, wife, daughter and a son in quick succession.