Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was a Bengali poet, novelist, musician, painter and playwright who re-shaped literature and music in India. As author of Gitanjali and its profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, he was the first non- European to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. His magical poetry in translation was viewed as profoundly spiritual, and this together with his mesmerizing persona gave him a prophet-like aura in the West. Gitanjali is his best-known work and is greatly acclaimed for its beautiful lyricism and wise contemplation, much in the same way as Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet.