Contents: The East in its feminine gender: a historical and literary introduction/Krishna Bose and Sugata Bose. I. Poems: 1. Urbashi. 2. The black tulip. 3. The image. 4. Shakespeare. 5. A letter from youth. 6. The spring. 7. Playmate. 8. Last offering. 9. Fulfilment. 10. The call. 11. Fleeting moment. 12. Stranger. 13. Hope. 14. Grateful. 15. Future. 16. The past. 17. Adolescent love. 18. Alien flower. 19. The guest. 20. Last spring. 21. The key. 22. Exchange or La Belle Dame Sans Merci. 23. Italia. 24. The hidden. 25. Return. 26. Query. II. Songs: I. Songs of Devotion: 1. Nataraj. 2. Rising sun. 3. Lone wild man. II. Songs of Youth: 1. Break down all barriers. 2. Harbinger of youth. III. Songs of Love: 1. In the fairy tale. 2. Life's precious moment. 3. Why so restless. IV. Songs of Summer: 1. Come Baisakh. 2. Summer storm. V. Songs of Rain: 1. Ashaar. 2. Sraban. 3. Shadows darken. 4. Greetings to the rain. 5. The Neepa Grove. 6. My heart is dancing. 7. Wild wind on a rainy day. 8. The dark sky. 9. Peals of thunder. VI. Autumn Song: 1. Rice fields. VII. Songs of Winter: 1. Winter's day. 2. Winter wind. VIII. Songs of Spring: 1. My veena. 2. The door on the South. 3. Spring breeze. IX. The Song of the Poet: 1. Eternal me.

"Seventeen poems from Purabi (1925) form the core of this volume of translations of fifty-two thematically arranged poems and songs by Rabindranath Tagore. Purabi not only signifies 'the East in its feminine gender', as the poet put it, but also is the name of a wistful evening ragini whose spirit and mood seem to pervade this remarkable phase of Rabindranath's poetic life. This book reveals a passionate Tagore, a poet who celebrated the wonders of this earth instead of just pondering the mysteries of the other world and whose irrepressible love of life was tinged with an acute awareness of its inexorable limits and tragedies.

An audio CD of sixteen poems and songs accompanies the volume." (jacket)