Indian Nationalism and the Bengal Partition

As much as Tagore and others like him preferred to spend their time in contemplation of their God, the political situation in India often affected them or their poetry. In "60," Tagore writes: "Tempest roams in the pathless sky, ships get wrecked in the trackless water, death is abroad and children play. On the seashore of endless worlds is the great meeting of children." Images like these, while certainly containing religious significance, also speak of instability in general. They also hint at the idea of a coalition, a "great meeting." For Tagore, these themes often came from issues associated with the British control of India. Mary M. Lago says, speaking generally about Tagore's life and work in her chapter on "Tagore's Traditions" in Twayne's World Authors Series Online : "The basic theme . . . was constant: the search for ways to keep civilization, in the East...