Rabindranth hoped that Gitanjali would be published some times at the middle of Oct. But due to its delay in publishing he decided to go to America. He explained the reasons for this decision in a letter written to Ajit Kumar on 16th Oct.;
"We shall start for America on Saturday next. We thought that we shall start after the publication of Gitanjali -- many advised to do so -- but I am feeling restless. It becomes very difficult for me to bear with my own writings and the discussions of the same. I became eager to get relief out of it and wanted to get myself free from this bondage. I was translating some of my poems into English at Selaidah, that was for my own pleasure. But now I see myself in a crowd of human beings and not in a solitary place-- I'm doing things for my own urge and not for my pleasure. I cannot bear this for long time. I have to resign from my present occupation irrespective of the amount of emoluments I get."
Now, before going to America the fame of Rabindranath as a poet spread to anothrr country i.e. in France. The French poet Alexi St Leger Leger , (a Nobel Laureate in 1960 , pseudonym St. John Perse, 1887-1975. ) wrote a letter to Rabindranath enclosing a letter of introduction by Fox Strangways on 14th Oct;
"At the end of a solitary stay in this town, when it was for me a very deep and secret joy I meet by chance , in a news paper, with two poems quoted by the English poet Yeats, I have made this wish, I know your poet's work in our times and having in our times and having read it on proofs one evening, I may serve it in great admiration in my country."
Then he met Rabindranath in the morning of 17th Oct and secured the permission of translating his poems in French. Stating this Rabindranath wrote to Jagadananda on 18th Oct;
"A writer from France came to see me on yesterday morning. He saw my Gitanjali translated into English and became overwhelmed with joy and said, we are waiting for a poet like you. In our lyrics we are enclosed within the accidental phenomenon. Your theme goes beyond the time and place. Come to our France, we need you etc. and my permission to translate my poems in Bengali."
But St. Leger Leger did not translate Gitanjali. He collected a copy published by India Society and sent it to his friend, a famous litterateur Andre Gide (1869-André Paul Guillaume Gide. (22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1947. Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism between the two World Wars.1951).
"We shall start for America on Saturday next. We thought that we shall start after the publication of Gitanjali -- many advised to do so -- but I am feeling restless. It becomes very difficult for me to bear with my own writings and the discussions of the same. I became eager to get relief out of it and wanted to get myself free from this bondage. I was translating some of my poems into English at Selaidah, that was for my own pleasure. But now I see myself in a crowd of human beings and not in a solitary place-- I'm doing things for my own urge and not for my pleasure. I cannot bear this for long time. I have to resign from my present occupation irrespective of the amount of emoluments I get."
Now, before going to America the fame of Rabindranath as a poet spread to anothrr country i.e. in France. The French poet Alexi St Leger Leger , (a Nobel Laureate in 1960 , pseudonym St. John Perse, 1887-1975. ) wrote a letter to Rabindranath enclosing a letter of introduction by Fox Strangways on 14th Oct;"At the end of a solitary stay in this town, when it was for me a very deep and secret joy I meet by chance , in a news paper, with two poems quoted by the English poet Yeats, I have made this wish, I know your poet's work in our times and having in our times and having read it on proofs one evening, I may serve it in great admiration in my country."
Then he met Rabindranath in the morning of 17th Oct and secured the permission of translating his poems in French. Stating this Rabindranath wrote to Jagadananda on 18th Oct;
"A writer from France came to see me on yesterday morning. He saw my Gitanjali translated into English and became overwhelmed with joy and said, we are waiting for a poet like you. In our lyrics we are enclosed within the accidental phenomenon. Your theme goes beyond the time and place. Come to our France, we need you etc. and my permission to translate my poems in Bengali."But St. Leger Leger did not translate Gitanjali. He collected a copy published by India Society and sent it to his friend, a famous litterateur Andre Gide (1869-André Paul Guillaume Gide. (22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1947. Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism between the two World Wars.1951).
