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BANGLE SELLERS
- SAROJINI NAIDU |
I. INTRODUCTION:
The poem 'Bangle Sellers' was written by Sarojini Naidu, the Nightingale of India. Sarojini Naidu has been regarded as one of the gifted poets of India. Her poetry is purely Indian in character. Her themes are Indian, thoughts are Indian, melody is of India but only the language is that of England. Sarojini Naidu loved the common folk of India and she celebrates their occupations, their joys and sorrows in a number of her beautiful lyrics. The pageantry of Indian life fascinated her and she sings of it with zest. Indian customs and traditions, festivals and celebrations, men and women fairs and feasts are abundant in her poetry. Her poems reveal a distinct melody and her manipulation of words and sounds invests her poetry with a musical grace and flow.
The poem 'Bangle Sellers' belongs to the third section of 'Indian Folk Songs' of her second book 'The Bird of Time'. It is a poem of four stanzas of six lines each. This poem is a perfectepitome of typical Indian scene.
The poem 'Bangle Sellers' was written by Sarojini Naidu, the Nightingale of India. Sarojini Naidu has been regarded as one of the gifted poets of India. Her poetry is purely Indian in character. Her themes are Indian, thoughts are Indian, melody is of India but only the language is that of England. Sarojini Naidu loved the common folk of India and she celebrates their occupations, their joys and sorrows in a number of her beautiful lyrics. The pageantry of Indian life fascinated her and she sings of it with zest. Indian customs and traditions, festivals and celebrations, men and women fairs and feasts are abundant in her poetry. Her poems reveal a distinct melody and her manipulation of words and sounds invests her poetry with a musical grace and flow.
The poem 'Bangle Sellers' belongs to the third section of 'Indian Folk Songs' of her second book 'The Bird of Time'. It is a poem of four stanzas of six lines each. This poem is a perfectepitome of typical Indian scene.
Bangle sellers are we who bear
Our shining loads to the temple fair...
Who will buy these delicate, bright
Rainbow-tinted circles of light?
Lustrous tokens of radiant lives,
For happy daughters and happy wives.
Some are meet for a maiden's wrist,
Silver and blue as the mountain mist,
Some are flushed like the buds that dream
On the tranquil brow of a woodland stream,
Some are aglow wth the bloom that cleaves
To the limpid glory of new born leaves
Some are like fields of sunlit corn,
Meet for a bride on her bridal morn,
Some, like the flame of her marriage fire,
Or, rich with the hue of her heart's desire,
Tinkling, luminous, tender, and clear,
Like her bridal laughter and bridal tear.
Some are purple and gold flecked grey
For she who has journeyed through life midway,
Whose hands have cherished, whose love has blest,
And cradled fair sons on her faithful breast,
And serves her household in fruitful pride,
And worships the gods at her husband's side.
II. STANZA - WISE PARAPHRASE OF 'BANGLE SELLERS'Our shining loads to the temple fair...
Who will buy these delicate, bright
Rainbow-tinted circles of light?
Lustrous tokens of radiant lives,
For happy daughters and happy wives.
Some are meet for a maiden's wrist,
Silver and blue as the mountain mist,
Some are flushed like the buds that dream
On the tranquil brow of a woodland stream,
Some are aglow wth the bloom that cleaves
To the limpid glory of new born leaves
Some are like fields of sunlit corn,
Meet for a bride on her bridal morn,
Some, like the flame of her marriage fire,
Or, rich with the hue of her heart's desire,
Tinkling, luminous, tender, and clear,
Like her bridal laughter and bridal tear.
Some are purple and gold flecked grey
For she who has journeyed through life midway,
Whose hands have cherished, whose love has blest,
And cradled fair sons on her faithful breast,
And serves her household in fruitful pride,
And worships the gods at her husband's side.
In the first stanza, the bangle sellers go on roaming and wandering from place to place to sell their bangles. They sing this beautiful song When they go Selling their shining loads (bangles) to the temple fair. They invite the people to come and buy the delicate, bright and multi-coloured bangles which are tokens (symbols) of delight for happy daughters and happy wives.
In the second stanza, the bangle sellers give an account of the bangles which match a maiden.They say that the silver and blue coloured bangles are suitable to a maiden. These are like the mist on the mountain in their colour. Further they say that they have bangles which are like buds on a woodland stream. Some are shining like flowers. All these bud-like and flower- like bangles are suitable for the unmarried girls.
In the third stanza the bangle sellers say that they have some bangles which look like corn fields. They are suitable for a bride on her bridal morning. Some bangles look like the flame of her marriage fire (red). Some are rich with colours of her heart's desire. They make soft sounds just as the bride makes at the time of her wedding. The bride laughs as she is getting married and weeps as she is going to leave her parental abode. The phrases bridal laughter and bridal tears suggest the emotional feelings of a bride.
In the last stanza the bangle sellers say that they possess some bangles which are purple in colour and some are touched with gold and grey colours. All these bangles are suitable for a middle-aged woman whose hands have cared tenderly, loved, blessed and cradled her fair sons and worshiped the gods sitting by her husband's side.
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