The Tagore Period

The Tagore period, which followed the Bankim period and co-existed with the Sarat Period, has to date been the most defining period in Bengali literature. Its essentially distinctive universal appeal, richness and variety of literary styles demand separate treatment and stratification. Tagore was not just a Bengali poet or writer. Tagore was a world phenomenon. Tagore's short stories are many and varied in their contents, tastes, presentation, universal appeal and inherent literary beauty. They differ from those of his cotemporary writers, they differ from even his own novels and plays. In the latter, Tagore used quite a distinct aristic licence. He went on to draw a much bigger picture. Here he observed and depicted people in their family and social settings. His penetrating insight into human minds and the many intricate ways they relate to other people around them in love and in conflict, in victory and in defeat, in happiness and in misery allowed him to map characters and stories precisely with a language that derived its adulthood from his pen.