Fireflies: Illustrated in Black and White

By Rabindranath Tagore

Book Overview

Fireflies is a collection of brief poems by Rabindranath Tagore, the famed Indian poet and recipient of the 1913 Nobel Prize for Literature. In the words of the poet, "Fireflies had their origin in China and Japan where thoughts were very often claimed from me in my handwriting on fans and pieces of silk." In this treasured volume, all 253 poems of Fireflies are beautifully illustrated in black and white by prolific artist, designer and author, Alberta Hutchinson. Hutchinson also designed 253 different and unique decorative borders to frame each illustrated poem to enhance its mood and energy.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1503008401
• ISBN13: 9781503008403
• Release Date: April 2015
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 270 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 8.5" x 11.0"

Customer Reviews

Not Haiku, but dissimilar

A friend gave me a copy of this book when I was entering the India X Peace Corps training project in 1964. "To be read in times of stress, but also happiness," it says inside the flyleaf. That just says it all. You don't need to think you enjoy poetry to treasure this book. Tagore captures moment after moment of the human experience, pierces each with an insight of his own and shares it with the reader. In a sense it bears a similarity to those little books of daily prayers or 'thoughts for the day' people used to hand you when they came to the door uninvited to explain to you what you should believe to mold yourself to a nearer model of what they, themselves believed. But it's a lot more than that. Tagore isn't pushy. He soaks in to your conciousness the way water enters a sponge, and he stays there.I think a copy of this book ought to be by the bedside in every home in America to be read during those times when the weight of our submersion in this reality seems too heavy to bear, or when the joys lift us too high.

Meaningful beyond words

This book speaks directly to the soul. Its poems are concise yet beautifully eloquent. When I read them, I am re-awakened to an inner knowing of beauty and love and creative spirit. I am also reminded of the timelessness and constancy of truth. "Fireflies" is a book to return to again and again.

Marvelous Though Little Read Now

Fireflies by Rabindranath Tagore is one of the most beautiful books that I have ever read. I am not an expert on Asian literature; so, I cannot give very much background on the poems presented her. What I can say is that every poem in here is a beautiful and is a perfect thought no matter where it came from or who is reading it. This collection by the Nobel Prize winner is made up of fireflies. They are each only three to six lines long and present a single thought. The poems flow together very cohesively. Tagore covers many different subjects. He speaks of innocense, nature, power, bigotry, freedom, death, and love. In short, Tagore writes about life. My favorite was the last: "Before the end of my journey/may I reach within myself/the one which is the all,/leaving the outer shell/to float away with the drifting multitude/upon the current of chance and change."I also liked:"Love is an endless mystery,/for it has nothing else to explain it."Few books flow as well as this one does. It enlightens the reader through the entire book and will express into words some feelings that all people have (as good poetry should do). Anyone who loved The Prophet by Gibran would love this book as well. It is somewhat forgotten among readers of today (I'm 18, and I guarantee that no other person in my high school has read this), but it should definately not be.