Rabindranath had faced some be wilderness at the time when the British court-poet Bridges determined to publish a collection of poems, titled "The Spirit of Man', where he wanted to incorporate three poems of Gitanjali. Three poems bore the nos. 67, 92, and 31 and nine poems with nos. 3,4,9,32,34,37,43,56,76 from "One hundred poems of Kabir". He wrote a letter to Rabindranath asking his permission to incorporate the poems with some "verbal alterations".Rabindranath had no objection in this publication. Practically he gave a permission on 14th Jan to Edward Thomson ; " As Macmillans are your publishers it will be easy for you to get permission from them to use some of my poems for our selection. As for myself I gladly give you my permission."
But in the case of Bridges it was not so easy because he wanted to change some languages of the poems. Still the generosity of Rabindranath stood in the way of his disapproval directly. He expressed his objection in this regard on 22nd Mar in a very polite manner and indirectly;
"I feel flattered when you wish to include some of my things in the anthology you are compiling. So far as I am concerned you are at liberty to choose the poems you want from my works and from my translation of Kabir's poems. but, I am afraid, the right to give you permission rests with my publishers, who. I am sure will not refuse you.
As for rewriting the rhythms of my translations, I assure you, I can have no personal objection because it is not possible for me to have a real critical apprehension of the musical value of English words or their arrangements and I cannot but be grateful for any help I get from such masters of word-music in English as you are. But as the Gitanjali poems have already become popular , any alteration in their rhythm is likely to be unwelcome to the readers familiar with them.The sample you have sent me, I feel, is beautiful. But with things one has grown to love one does not tolerate any change even for the better. That is my experience. However in this matter also, I am sure, I have no oteroption but to rely upon my publishersand their authority.
This letter of Rabindranath opened a series of large number of letters.
