Gitanjali, a collection of 103 poems, explores the universal theme of the relationship between the divine and the human, focusing on the ever-present nature of God in all things. The human soul is personified as the beloved, yearning passionately for union with the divine (the awaited lover or “bridegroom”). Published in 1912 in English, with an introduction by William Butler Yeats, Gitanjali was described by the Nobel Foundation as “profoundly sensitive, fresh, and beautiful.” For this work, Rabindranath Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. Gitanjali offers the enduring message that even amidst life’s sorrows, infinite divine love surrounds us all and can transform pain into joy and inner peace. We have only to become aware of it. This message is as welcome today as it was in the war-torn era of the work's publication.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) originally wrote Gitanjali in Bengali and later translated the work into English. He modeled his song-poems after Medieval Indian devotional lyrics and wrote accompanying music for them. Tagore was a literary innovator who created new verse forms and introduced the use of colloquial language in Bengali literature, allowing it to break free from the traditional literary forms of classical Sanskrit. He was also an influential proponent of Indian independence from England.