hi jnathan, biswhakobi doesnt mean that all people in the world must know the poet. it means who have thought and written about the people of the world. in the us many of the US students DONT know where Iraq is! isnt surprizing? how these people will know who the hell biswhakobi is!

but i talked to many of my colleagues, students, general people in sweden abt this great poet! they informed me that even some of them have already studied the writings of Tagore. since the nobel prize started in 1901 there are many nobel laureate in literature. it is quite hard to remember a poet from india. but surprizingly many of swedish people know who he is!

it also depends on the class, where you put the questions! if you ask somebody who are running after Subway trains in NY or who just go to job, work 15 hrs a day and sleep rest of the time then you did a great mistake! if you have been in NY, then you must have notived that how people are running after work and dont have time to sleep either. they are so tired and sleepy in the subways. so, how do you expect that they will know your poets from Bangladesh?

for your kind information, Kazi Nazrul Islam and Modhusudhon are very well known in England and rest of the world. but unfortunately not as famous as Tagore, as he received nobel prize! i met some people who even know abt the poem NARI by Nazrul Islam that is an unique creation in the world literature. if you have some habit of going to some cultural centres in Dhaka then might have noticed that many of the works of our naitonal poet, Kazi Nazrul Islam are already translated in many languages. that means people know who he is!

at last, please try to find some positive things, NOT always run after nagative things. be optimistic, not pessimistic!