Rabindranath Tagore was born in 1861, into one of the foremost families of Bengal. His father headed a Hindu reform movement. Tagore started writing at an early age, and his talent was recognized by Bankimchandra Chatterjee, the leading Indian writer of his day. In 1912, he went to England with Gitanjali, an English translation of his religious lyrics. It was acclaimed by Keats and later published, leading to his winning the Nobel Prize in 1913. Tagore was a controversial figure at home and abroad: at home because of his ceaseless innovations in poetry, prose, drama and music; abroad because of the stand he took against militarism and nationalism. He was close to Mahatma Ghandhi, who called him the "Great Sentinel" of modern India. His works number twenty-nine volumes and include some sixty collections of verse, novels and experimental plays. He travelled widely in Europe (even meeting Einstein in Germany) and also visited the United States. He was also known for his musical compositions (writing over 2,000 songs) and paintings. Tagore died in 1941.

Every day in the early morning this faithful dog
Sits quietly by my chair
For as long as I do not acknowledge his presence
By the touch of my hand.
The moment he receives this small recognition,
Waves of happiness leap through his body.
In the inarticulate animal world
Only this creature
Has pierced through good and bad and seen
Complete man,
Has seen him for whom
Life may be joyfully given,
That object of a free outpouring of love
Whose consciousness points the way
To the realm of infinite consciousness.
When I see this dumb heart
Revealing its own humility
Through total self-surrender,
I feel unequal to the worth
His simple perception has found in the nature of man.
The wistful anxiety in his mute gaze
Understands something he cannot explain:
It directs me to the true meaning of man in the universe.