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| Native feel in the Poetry of Sarojini Naidu | |||||||
| Paper Id :
15970 Submission Date :
2022-04-17 Acceptance Date :
2022-04-20 Publication Date :
2022-04-25
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| Abstract |
Sarojini Naidu, the poet needs no introduction as her name is familiar to every reader either as the ‘Bharat Kokila’ or ‘The Nightingale of India’. She is one of the most lyrical poets of India. George Sampson, the author of ‘The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature’ says “Sarojini Naidu made a more definite contribution to English poetry. She came to England in 1895 and went to Curton. Her cordent literary temperament was fired by the poetic spirit of the Nineties and she began writing verses that are entirely English in matter and form but was advised to turn to her native land for themes…….”
She interpreted Indian life before the western world. She paints the Indian landscape in front of the eyes of her readers. Her poetry is pictorial and romantic. She has spontaneity and charm in her lyrics. She exhales lyrics like a flower exhales fragrance. She achieves signal success in the handling of Indian imagery and the expressions of Indian personality. Her poetry introduces us with the Indian folk life.
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| Keywords | Bharat Kokila Soul of India. Pictorial Indian Imagery. | ||||||
| Introduction |
Native flavour is one of the striking features of Sarojini Naidu’s poetry. She wrote a poem ‘Traveller’s song’ when she was only twelve years of age in which she says that wherever she might go, she earns for her motherland.
“But wheresoever I may roam,
I long for thee, my dear home”
Her poetry takes us to the voluptuous richness of an Indian landscape. She loved her native Hyderabad. She talks of Indian bazaars, especially of Hyderabad. Her poem ‘In the Bazaars of Hyderabad’ was written during the British rule, when Indians were asked to boycott foreign products. Newspaper was banned. she spread the message through her poems, In it she says,
What do you weigh, O ye vendors?
Saffron and lentil and rice
What do you grind, O maidens?
Sandalwood, henna and spice
What do you call, O ye pedlars?
Chessmen and ivory dice.
What do you cry, O ye fruit men?
Citron pomegranate and plum.
What do you play O musicians?
Sitar, Sarangi and drum.
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In her early age we see her heavily by western feeling and sentiments. But when she joined King’s College England and Girton College in Cambridge , She came in contact with Mr. Goose and Arthur Symons who suggested her to write on Indian themes. He writes
‘I implored her to considered that from an Indian of extreme sensibility who had mastered not merely the language but the prosody of the west, what we wished to receive was not a réchauffé of Anglo-Saxon sentiment in an Anglo-Saxon setting, but some revelation. The heart of India some sincere penetrating analysis of native passion if native passion of the principles of antique and of such mysterious intimations as stirred the soul of the East long before the west had begun to dream that it had a soul”.
Arthur Symons wrote about Sarojini Naidu, “All the life of the tiny figures seemed to concentrate itself in the eyes, they fused toward Beauty as the sunflower turns towards the sun”.
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| Objective of study | In this paper an effort has been made to focus on the native feel in her poetry. |
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| Review of Literature |
Sarojini Naidu touches every aspect of Indian culture whether it is about common indian life or about their religion , customs and rituals. As Wordsworth rights about only the beautiful aspect of nature ,she writes about only the beauty of indian life and nature. Her lyrics are as spontaneous as of P. B . Shelley. |
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| Main Text |
Folk Songs on Common Indian Life Sarojini’s folk songs revealed her wide sympathy
and a strange capacity to transform the common places into pieces of exotic
poetic beauty. She sings of the palanquin bearers lightly bearing their
precious burden. ‘Like A Pearl on a string’. In even the simplest scenes also
beautifully expressed that the readers feel spellbound. Lightly, O lightly, we bear her along. She swears like a flower in the wind of our song. ……………………………………………. ……………………………………………. Gaily, O gaily, we glide and we sing We bear her along like a pearl on a string “The palanquin Bearers” though romantic in setting and imagery
successfully recreates the scene which was common not only in Hyderabad, but in
the whole of India about a century ago one might even today come across such
scenes in some remote village. “The Indian Weavers” a poem of deep symbolic beauty. Weavers, weaving at break of day, Why do you weave a garment so gay?........ Blue as the wing of a halcyon wild, We weave the robes of a new born child. …………………………………. …………………………………. The Indian weaver sing that at break of day. They weave the robes of a new
born child at fall of night a Queen's marriage veils and in the moonlight
chill, “a Dead Man's funerals shroud”. How beautifully she summarised the whole human life
year. She described “Coromandel fishers” gather their nets from the shore and venture out upon the sea. “Coromandel fishers” captures beautifully the folk spirit of India. It depicts the happy carefree and but busy life of the fishers who go out with their net to sea early morning to collect the fish. The three stanzas of the poem set three vivid scenes from a professional day of the fisherman, ‘sunrise, sunset and full moon.’ Another poem, ‘The Snake charmer’ also presents our charming as well as authentic scene of Indian life. Here we come across a common native experience of the charmer inviting snake on milk and honey. The scenes where we have the scenes of snakes creates a sense of devotion rather than terror as in India it is not the embodiment of evil, we have the conception of Vasuki. ‘Village Song’, the poem describes traditional Indian life of village where
we notice a very familiar rural sight. A lovely woman goes out with her pitcher
to the river to fetch water and when she is late she is worried
about what her family members might be thinking. The scene paints the beautiful
scene of common Indian village family life infront of our eyes. Besides we have the poems like ‘The Bangle Sellers’ describing
traditional Indian bangles with a deeper meaning of different stages of women
life. Spirit of wandering tribe is in her poem of Indian Gipsy. Wandering
Beggars” recalls a common sight in India were beggar wanders from door to
door. Beggars are a very common sight in India. Anyone can find them anywhere
in any part of the country. Her poem ‘Bells’ depicts three kinds of Bells- anklet bells, cattle bells
and temple Bells. So is in her lyric ‘wandering singers’ where they sing of
happy and simple and sorrowful things. Besides present they also sing about the
greatness and glory of the past. They are thus truly the folk and it is of
their life that they sing as it has been lived since time immemorial. The
appeal of their sing is, therefore, deathless and equally immortal we feel, is
the folk poetry of Sarojini. Rituals and festivals Rituals and festivals are the root of Indian culture.Sarojini Naidu’s poems
stressed on this aspect too. Indian festivals serve to link up the
community of life with the life of nature.She writes about both Hindu and
Muslim festivals.we have poems on vasant panchmi,Nariyal purnima and Muharram “The Night of Martyrdom” describe beautifully the festival of Muharram. The poem catches the spirit of sacrifice and brotherhood through suffering and purification which underlies the Muslim festival. Element of Hinduism like in Kali the mother is in the form of a prayer and
is set in the temple of Kali. Religion We see a synthesis of Hindu Muslim culture in her poetry. She is familiar
with Indian epics, myths and legends. She has a deep knowledge of Vedic
Heritage too. In her poems like ‘Harvest Hymn’ she invokes different deities
like Surya, Varun, Prithvi and Brahma for their prosperity and joy. To a Buddha
seated on a Lotus shows the deep understanding of the Buddhist teaching. She
refers to the web of mortal’s life which causes pain and suffering her poem,
‘The soul’s prayer’ is a prayer to God for giving her ‘all passionate rapture
and despair’ and God replies to the soul. ‘I, bending from my sevenfold height Will teach thee of my quickening grace, Life is a prison of my light, And death the shadow of my face.’ “The Prayer of Islam” mentions some of the 99 beautiful. Arabic names of God as used by the followers of Islam such as Hameed, Hafeez Ghani. This poem expresses the Islamic faith ‘In the call of Evening Prayer’ she says, Allah Ho Akbar! Allah Ho Akbar! from mosque and minar the muezzin are calling four forth your praises…………. The song of Princess Zab-ur-nissa, Humayun to Zubeda etc presents the life
of ordinary Muslim men and women. In a poem An Indian love song we find a
Muslim lover who is wooing a Hindu maid. Thus in her poems we find the glimpses of both the religion . They present Sarojini Naidu as a secular poet. As a true Indian Sarojini gives spontaneous expression to the religious emotions and ideas. She has immortalized the familiar scenes of everyday life in modern India. We find in her poetry many interesting phrases in the interpretation of Indian religious life. |
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| Conclusion |
She concentrated on Indian themes and thus made an advancement upon earlier Indo-Anglian poets. She presents an authentic Indian life and culture to her readers. Her poetry is truly Indian in themes, imagery and setting. Her poetry reveals Indian life with a bird’s eye-view . R.P.N. Sinha writes.
Sarojini’s poems written thereafter breath an Indian air in all its freshness, glory and romanticism……..
However, it may be added that she shows only the romantic aspects of the Indian pageantry . She did not write of the grinding poverty and rural tragedies. But this was because of her romantic outlook and vision.This reminds us of William Wordsworth who portrayed only the positive aspect of nature and was one of the greatest romantic poets of romantic age.
Professor K.K. Mehrotra writes…
“The range of Mrs. Naidu’s poetry is limited, she covers a restricted field, But within that field she is flawless……….”
Above all she was sensitive for the beauty of human life and nature.She paints as an artist the beauty of holiness, the beauty of Buddha's compassion, the beauty of Brindavan’s Lord through her words.
K.S. Bhalla in his book ‘Great women of India writes.’
‘Sarojini Naidu was a woman of extra ordinary character, loving human and wise. she was short, with luminous eyes. She loved rich colours, silks and jewels, flowers and children, she was a connoisseur good food and herself cooked good dishes. Sarojini was always a woman, supremely womanly and always a patriot she brought beauty, grace and dignity to public life .’
In short we can say that she did not cudgel herself towards explosive modernity but she was a wholesome and authentic singer of common Indian life.
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| References | 1. Abidi, S.Z.H. studies in Anglo Indian poetry Sarojini Naidu, ‘The Poet’. Prakash Book Depot, Bareilly, 1987.
2. Bhalla, K.S., ‘Great women of India, Kalpaz publications Delhi, 2008.
3. Bhatnagar R.R., Sarojini Naidu,‘The Poet of a Nation 1947.
4. Iyengar Srinivasa K.R., ‘Indian writing in English, Sterling publishers, New Delhi ,1985.
5. Goose, Edmund, ‘Introduction to the Birds of Time, William Heinemann, London, 1912
6. Jha , Amarnath , “ The Poetry of Sarojini Naidu ״ |
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