Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was a Bengali polymath who reshaped the art of his culture. His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to topics political and personal. His verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed--or panned--for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and unnatural contemplation. His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India's "Jana Gana Mana" and Bangladesh's "Amar Shonar Bangla." Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 and knighted by the British Crown in 1915, though he later renounced this honor after the 1919 Amritsar massacre. He died in 1941.
