In this excerpt, Thompson gives a sometimes mixed, but overall positive, review of the poetry and short stories of Tagore.

[Though] Rabindranath has never ceased to learn, and is as great a thief as any in all literature, it is in the pre- Manasi period that we must look for influences. First, of course, are the Bengali Vaisnava lyrists. The poet's own authority compels this statement, for did he not in the Bhanu Singha songs carefully catch their very notes? And he has never ceased to praise them, has translated them, and always refers to them as his masters. Be it so, then; one must suppose that they are. Yet I have always been rebellious under the importance he ascribes to them, and I believe he does them too much honour. I will say frankly that I am sure they have not influenced him to anything like...