popularity as a poet can be gauged from Rothenstein’s letter to him, “When you last came, it was as a stranger, with only our unworthy selves to offer our friendship; now you come widely recognized poet and seer, with friends known and unknown in a hundred homes”. Tagore left for India in September, 1913. The award of the Nobel Prize transformed the reputation of Tagore and he was invited all across the globe. His ideas of internationalism also spurred his desire to travel and interact
with cultures. In 1916 he visited Rangoon and Japan, stopping at Kobe, Osaka, Tokyo and Yokohama. Tagore was keen to locate in Japan a “manifestation of modern life in the spirit of its traditional past”, and he was moved by the aesthetic consciousness of the people. Tagore was, however, disappointed by the emergence of nationalism and imperialism in the country. In September 1916 Tagore was invited to the USA to deliver a series of lectures. He travelled to Seattle, Chicago
Tagore with dignitaries on a visit to Japan, 1929
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and Philadelphia delivering his critique against the cult of nationalism. Although he was warmly received, his views generated a lot of hostility. Tagore returned to Europe in 1920. In England, he was disappointed to find that his strident stand against nationalism and war had cooled the ardour of his friends. He travelled to France and was deeply moved on his trip to the battle ground near Rheims. At Strasbourg, he delivered his lecture titled “The Message of the Forest”. His subsequent
visit to USA to generate funds for Visva-Bharati proved to be unsuccessful. Not only did he fail to raise significant funds, he also encountered a distinctly hostile audience for his criticism of materialism and nationalism. In 1921, Tagore travelled to Paris to meet Romain Rolland, immediately warming to the vision of internationalism that both shared. Tagore also visited Holland and Belgium, Denmark and Sweden delivering an address at the Swedish academy. He travelled to Germany looking with
Tagore addressing people during his visit to Singapore, 1927
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