Post-Tagore era. For the poets in the latter half of the twentieth century Das "has practically come to take the place of Tagore". Das's oeuvre is eclectic and resists classification under any single heading or school.

Das wrote ceaselessly, but as he was an introvert and the "most alone of  poets", he felt "compelled to suppress some of his most important writings or to locate them in a secret life".

Truest poet. Jibanananda Das conceived a poem and moulded it up in the way most natural for him. When a theme occurred to him, he shaped it with words, metaphors and imagery that distinguished him from all others. Jibanananda Das's poetry is to be felt, rather than merely read or heard.

Jibanananda Das was born in 1899,  in what was, at the time, East Bengal. His father was a schoolteacher and a journalist / editor, his mother Kusumkumari Das was also a poet.Despite a severe illness as a child he attended Brojomohon School and compteted his studies succesfully, leaving in 1915 with good grades. He went on to Brajamohan College and was equally succesful before moving on to University in Calcutta where he studied English literature, graduating in 1919.  He went on to complete his M.A. in 1921. He fell ill whilst preparing for his final examination and didn’t take up his employment as a teacher until the following year.

1919 saw the first publication of one of his poems. The first of the 269 published in his lifetime. In 1927 he published his frist collection entitled “ Jhara Palok (Fallen Feathers)”  Shortly after this he lost his teaching post and was forced to move from job to job for many years before finally settling down in Barisal in the mid 1930s. It was about this time that Das’ poetry cane to the attention of Tagore who wrote to his editor praising the appearance of one of Das’ poems. A few years latore Tagore included some of Das’ work in one of his anthologies. (Bangla Kabya Paeichay).

By the latter years of his life Das was constantly in demand at literary conferences, poetry readings, radio recitals etc.  

On 14th October 1954, he was hit by a tram whilst crossing the road on his way home. Opinion is divided as to whether this was an accident or suicide. Despite every effort he died 8 days later on 22nd October 1954. 

A collection of his poems won the Indian Sahitya Akademi Award in 1955.