TAGORE 



5687 



TAINE 



TAGORE, tagohr' , SIR RABINDRANATH (1860- 

 ), an Indian (Bengalese) poet, philosopher 

 and religious teacher, winner of the Nobel 

 Prize for literature in 1913. For twenty-five 

 years before this award made his name familiar 

 throughout Europe and America he had been 

 the prophet of Bengal. One of his countrymen 

 said of him that "he is the first among our 

 saints who has not refused to live, but has 

 spoken out of life itself, and that is why we 

 give him our love." His poems, dramas, short 

 stories, novels and essays are all filled with his 

 religious faith. Patriotism is often their theme, 

 but the undercurrent of a simple religious con- 

 viction is never concealed. His patriotism won 

 for him the name of "the Soul of Bengal," 

 and his poems and songs exerted much influ- 

 ence in developing a radical and national con- 

 ciousness. 



Whether in his writings for newspapers, his 

 poems or his lectures, whenever he expresses his 

 inmost thoughts, he speaks of essentials, of the 

 things of the soul. He has a marvelous sym- 

 pathy for the beauties of nature a cloud, a 

 mountain, a flower, a bird but in them all he 

 sees God. In all his work there is something of 

 that typical Hindu reverence which led his 

 parents to send him, as a boy of eleven, into 

 the Himalaya Mountains that he might grasp 

 the insignificance of the individual and the 

 grandeur of solitude and space. His language 

 is expressive, and yet unexpected. His poetry 

 creates a picture which stimulates the imagina- 

 tion. 



Tagore is primarily the interpreter of the 

 East, and he rarely shows the influence of 

 Western civilization. As a boy of seventeen 

 he was at school in England, and he traveled 

 in other European countries. He acquired an 

 easy command of the English language, into 

 which he has translated many of his own works. 

 His translations are not all of equal merit, but 

 all have the spirit of the original and many 

 have an excellent technique. The most impor- 

 tant of them are Chitra; The Crescent Moon; 

 The Gardener Gitanjali (Song Offerings) ; King 

 of the Dark Chamber; The Post Office; and 

 Sddhana: the Realization of Life. 



In 1916 Tagore lectured in America on the 

 subject of "Internationalism." 



TAHITI , tahe'te, ARCHIPELAGO . See SO- 

 CIETY ISLANDS. 



TAHOE, ta'ho, or tah'ho, a beautiful glacial 

 lake on the boundary between California and 

 Nevada, the largest body of water in the Sierra 

 Nevada range. The mountains of two states, 



those on the Nevada shore, gray and rugged, 

 and those on the California side, stately and 

 verdant, are mirrored in its dark blue waters. 

 The outlet of the lake is in the rushing Truckee 

 River, which carries the overflow to a "sink" 

 known as Pyramid Lake, where the water 

 evaporates. The woods of the adjacent slopes 

 are filled with game, and the lake and swift 

 mountain torrents abound with fish, making the 

 region a paradise of the sportsman as well as 

 the delight of the tourist. Lake Tahoe is a 

 popular summer resort, and in its vicinity are 

 many attractive homes and fine hotels. The 

 lake is oval shaped, and is about twenty miles 

 long and half as wide. It has an elevation 

 above sea level of 6,225 feet, and an average 

 depth of 1,500 feet. 



TAIL 'OR BIRD, a song bird of India, Ma- 

 laysia and the Philippines, so named from its 

 habit of enclosing its nest within a large leaf, 

 which it sews to- 

 gether at the edge 

 with its slender 

 bill. The nest it- 

 self is made of 

 plant down, fine 

 grass, hair, etc. 

 The eggs are 

 three or four in 

 number, varying 

 in color from red- 

 dish-white to 

 bluish - green, 

 boldly marked 

 with brownish- 

 red. This bird 

 has back plumage 

 of olive -green, 

 white underparts 

 and a chestnut crown. The nest is ingeniously 

 sewed together with bits of silk or wool threads 

 or with vegetable fiber, which the bird searches 

 for most diligently. 



TAINE, tayn, HIPPOLYTE ADOLPHE (1828- 

 1893), a French historian and critic, bora at 

 Vouziers. He was a student from his child- 

 hood, and by the time he was fourteen years 

 old he had drawn up a schedule for his day's 

 work to which he held rigidly twenty minutes 

 for play in the afternoon, an hour for music 

 after dinner, and all the rest of his waking 

 hours for study. The results of his intense ap- 

 plication were seen when he entered the I^cole 

 Normale, where he speedily distinguished him- 

 self. In 1851 he was made professor of phi- 

 losophy in the College of Toulon, but he soon 



TAILOR BIRD AND NEST 



