Healing and Therapeutic Aspects in Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali: Towards a Multidimensional Model of Poetry Therapy

Abstract

The relationship between literature and healing has received increasing scholarly attention in recent decades through the emergence of bibliotherapy, poetry therapy, expressive arts therapy, and narrative medicine. Among the literary texts that possess significant therapeutic potential, Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali occupies a unique position owing to its profound engagement with spirituality, self-discovery, nature, compassion, and emotional transcendence. While Gitanjali has been extensively studied from literary, philosophical, religious, and aesthetic perspectives, its potential as a therapeutic text remains comparatively underexplored. This paper investigates the healing dimensions embedded within Tagore's Gitanjali and proposes a multidimensional model of poetry therapy based on the text. Through qualitative textual analysis, selected poems from the English version of Gitanjali are examined alongside relevant concepts from poetry therapy, positive psychology, spiritual psychology, and humanistic literary criticism. The study argues that Gitanjali functions as a therapeutic text on multiple levels by facilitating emotional catharsis, spiritual reconciliation, self-reflection, existential meaning-making, and compassionate engagement with humanity. The poems create symbolic spaces where readers can negotiate grief, loneliness, anxiety, alienation, and spiritual uncertainty. The paper further demonstrates how Tagore's poetic language, rhythmic structures, devotional imagery, and nature symbolism contribute to emotional regulation and psychological resilience. By developing a multidimensional framework of Tagorean poetry therapy, this study seeks to establish Gitanjali not merely as a literary masterpiece but also as a valuable resource for contemporary therapeutic and educational practices. The findings suggest that Tagore's poetic vision remains profoundly relevant in addressing modern psychological and existential challenges.