Jibanananda Das (17 February 1899 – 22 October 1954) was a Bengali poet, writer, and educationist widely regarded as one of the major figures of twentieth-century Bengali modernist poetry. Often called Rupashi Banglar Kabi (“Poet of Beautiful Bengal”), he received limited recognition during his lifetime but later came to be considered one of the most important and influential figures in Bengali literature after Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam.

Born in Barisal, Bengal Presidency, Das studied English literature at Presidency College and University of Calcutta. He worked mainly as a teacher of English at several colleges, while also writing poetry, essays and fiction. His first poem appeared in print in 1919, and his first poetry collection, Jhara Palok, was published in 1927.

Das's verse explores a world of surrealism, depression, and melancholia. His work often combines nature, time, death, desire and urban alienation through dense metaphor and surreal suggestion. His major works include Jhara Palok, Dhusar Pandulipi, Banalata Sen, Mahaprithibi, Shreshtha Kavita and the posthumously published Rupasi Bangla; among them, the poem “Banalata Sen” and the poetry collection Rupasi Bangla remain his most discussed and celebrated works.

In 1954, Das was hit by a tram in Kolkata while crossing on a road, and was taken to a hospital, where he died eight days later. Das received the Rabindra-Memorial Award for Banalata Sen in 1953. His collection Shrestha Kavita was posthumously awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1955. His life and works have since become major subjects of literary criticism, academic research, translation, documentary work, music and film adaptation in both Bangladesh and India.

Jibanananda Das was born in 1899 in Barisal, a district town in the British Raj, into a Bengali Baidya family. His father, Satyananda Das, was a schoolmaster and publisher, and his mother, Kusumkumari Das, was a poet who explored social issues. Das was called by the nickname Milu by his parents. He was the eldest son and had two siblings, Ashokananda Das and Sucharita Das.^{[citation needed]}

Das ancestors originated from the Bikrampur region (now Mushiganj) of the Dhaka Division, from the now-extinct village of Gaupara in the kumarvog area of the Louhajang Upazila on the banks of the river Padma. Das' grandfather Sarbānanda Dāśgupta was the first to settle permanently in Barisal. He was an early exponent of the reformist Brahmo Samaj movement in Barisal and was highly regarded in town for his philanthropy. He erased the -gupta suffix from the family name, regarding it as a symbol of Vedic Brahmin excess, thus rendering the surname to Das.

Jibanananda attended Brajamohon College in Barisal, where he passed both his Matriculation and Intermediate exams with a first division in 1915 and 1917 respectively. In 1919, he received a BA Degree in English literature from Presidency College, Kolkata and earned a master's degree from Calcutta University in 1921.

Following his graduation, Das taught and tutored students in English, but he experienced persistent difficulty in securing stable employment and faced financial hardship throughout his life. In 1922, Jibanananda Das joined City College as a lecturer and continued there until 1928, when he lost his position at the institution.^:P20