Edward John Thompson who was in West Bengal during the period 1910-1913 wrote the first major English-language critical study of Tagore's poetry. The work involved him in difficult relations with Tagore, and also with a wide circle of Calcutta intellectuals. The present study by E. P. Thompson draws upon his father's extensive collection of letters and journals, and throws light on unfamiliar aspects of the relations between the two men and between Bengali and British culture. In an important appendix another scholar, Dr Uma Das Gupta, edits a hitherto unknown notebook of Thompson's conversations with Tagore.