Saturday Art: "The Bangle Sellers", Poem By Sarojini Naidu, 1912

Today's edition of 'Saturday Art' features a poem. You may question how it qualifies as art, but poetry as an art form allows one, through words in verse, to express ideas, emotions, or experiences directly — pretty much what art does. It is artistic because of the delicate juggling act of rhythms, sound devices, and subject matter.

The sounds of the words in a line of poetry make a rhythm similar to the rhythm in music. This rhythm is established by meter, which is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. These sound devices are used as a strategy to create an emotional response in the listener. They are also used to create certain effects in the poem to convey and reinforce meaning through sound.

To illustrate this, what comes to mind is this beautiful poem, The Bangle Sellers, written by Sarojini Naidu. There is another reason for selecting this poem. Just a couple of days ago, on 13th February, it was her 146th birth anniversary. You may know she was an activist, freedom fighter, feminist, as well as a poet. Giving below a rare footage of her that brings out the character of this exceptional lady. There is no better ambassador to speak for the Indian woman than her. She has drawn reference to our history and culture to put forward a sensitive and endearing portrait of her.

The poem below you will see is a celebration of womanhood. She creates such a rich imagery of a woman’s life through the colourful bangles. While describing the socially accepted roles of women in different stages of their life, the poem is deeply rooted in our culture and ethos and brings out the quintessential Indian woman.

The Bangle Sellers

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 with 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.

We will see how this poem uses sound devices and other techniques to raise it to a distinct art form.

The lines of her poem have an inverse syntax exhibiting a Hyperbaton. Examples of this can be found in the line "Some are flushed like the buds that dream," where the natural word order is disrupted by placing "like the buds that dream" after "flushed," creating a more poetic emphasis on the imagery.

The poem also uses Assonance by repeating similar vowel sounds across different words within a line, creating a pleasing auditory effect. Examples can be found in lines like "flushed like the buds that dream," "some are like fields of sunlit corn," and "silver and blue as the mountain mist," where the repetition of long "oo" and short "u" vowel sounds create a musical quality within the lines. The use of assonance enhances the vivid imagery of the bangles, comparing them to natural elements like mist, buds, and cornfields.

Other techniques she has used are Alliteration, with phrases like "mountain mist," where the repeated "m" sound creates alliteration; another example is "hue of her heart's" with the repeated "h" sound. Repetition is used through the word "happy" in the line "For happy daughters and happy wives" and "bridal" in "bridal laughter and bridal tear." The line "Rainbow-tinted circles of light?" uses the poetic device of Rhetorical Question. Simile is seen in "Some are flushed like the buds that dream" and "Some are like fields of sunlit corn."

She has also used Personification. Poets personify when they attribute human characteristics to something non-human. For example, in "flushed like the buds that dream," being "flushed" (blushing in emotion) and "dreaming" are human characteristics attributed to the buds.

You can also see an example of Hypallage or transferred epithet. It is a figure of speech where an epithet (adjective) grammatically qualifies a noun other than the person or thing it actually describes. "Faithful breast" in the last stanza is an example of hypallage. Here, the mother’s dependability and faithfulness are attached to the word "breast."

Sarojini has raised her art by the brilliant use of Symbolism. She uses symbols to describe various stages of a woman's life and the feelings and emotions attached with those stages. Silver and blue bangles, like mountain mist, symbolize purity. "Flushed like the buds that dream" indicates the dream of marriage and the shyness of a maiden. Again, red bangles like "flame of her marriage fire" symbolize the passion of her newly made relation.

Coming back to the rhythmic form, she has primarily achieved it through a consistent use of simple rhyme schemes (aabbcc) within each stanza. Each line has a similar number of stressed syllables, contributing to a steady rhythm. This, coupled with repetition of certain phrases and imagery, creates a melodious and almost song-like quality that mirrors the celebratory nature of bangles in Indian culture. This rhythm effectively conveys the joyful and vibrant atmosphere of the bangle sellers at the temple fair. The poem's rhythm aligns with traditional Indian song patterns, reflecting the cultural significance of bangles in celebrating women's life stages.

Sarojini Naidu