A Study on the Poetry of Rabindranath Tagore and Walt Whitman with the Special Reference to the Elements of Transcendentalism

Abstract

Transcendentalism is one of the prevalent themes of poetry revealed in every human religious tradition around the world. Tagore’s transcendental world of poetry encompasses the concept like consciousness, independence and pure sensation as well as apprehension of transcendental mystery. Whitman’s transcendental world of poetry encompasses the concepts like self, independence, nationalism. There are some similarities and differences in the concepts presented in the poetry by both the poets. The study will give special references to Tagore’s Gitanjali and Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, the collection of poetry of both the poets. The objective of this thesis is to study the transcendental elements in the poetry of Tagore in the light of his prominent work of transcendental poetry and to study the transcendental elements in the poetry of Walt Whitman in the lights of his prominent work of transcendental poetry. And we have illustrated and elaborated about the similarities and differences in the transcendental concept of the both the poets.