Village Song by Sarojini Naidu (About the Poetess, The Poem & Summary)

 

Village Song

by Sarojini Naidu

(About the Poetess, The Poem & Summary) 

Sarojini Naidu (1879 –1949) was an Indian political activist and poet. Her mother was poetess. She inherited the instinct of poetry from her mother. She was an important figure in India's struggle for independence from colonial rule. Naidu's work as a poet earned her the sobriquet 'the Nightingale of India', or 'Bharat Kokila' by Mahatma Gandhi because of colour, imagery and lyrical quality of her poetry.

Born in a Bengali family in Hyderabad, Naidu was educated in Madras, London and Cambridge. In England, where she worked as a suffragist, she was drawn to Indian National Congress' movement for India's independence from British rule. She became a part of the Indian nationalist movement and became a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and his idea of swaraj. She had a brilliant academic record. She began to write poetry from a very early age. She was the first Indian poetess who achieved considerable fame by writing the poem in English. She was appointed the President of the Indian National Congress in 1925 and later became the Governor of the United Provinces in 1947, becoming the first woman to hold the office of Governor in the Dominion of India.

Naidu's poetry includes both children's poems and others written on more serious themes including patriotism, romance, and tragedy. Published in 1912, "In the Bazaars of Hyderabad" remains one of her most popular poems. She was married to Govindarajulu Naidu, a general physician, and had five children with him. She died of a cardiac arrest on 2 March 1949.

In this little village song, the poetess expresses the deep and sincere affection between the family members of an Indian society.

Village Song

(The Poem)

Full are my pitchers and far to carry,

Lone is the way and long,

Why, O why was I tempted to tarry

Lured by the boatmen's song?

Swiftly the shadows of night are falling,

Hear, O hear, is the white crane calling,

Is it the wild owl's cry?

There are no tender moonbeams to light me,

If in the darkness a serpent should bite me,

Or if an evil spirit should smite me,

Ram re Ram! I shall die.

 

My brother will murmur, " Why doth she linger? "

My mother will wait and weep,

Saying, " O safe may the great gods bring her,

The Jamuna's waters are deep. " ...

The Jamuna's waters rush by so quickly,

The shadows of evening gather so thickly,

Like black birds in the sky ...

O! if the storm breaks, what will betide me?

Safe from the lightning where shall I hide me?

Unless Thou succour my footsteps and guide me,

Ram re Ram! I shall die.

Summary

In this homely song, we come across the affection found between the family members of an Indian society. Apart from the narrator, who is the poetess herself, there are two other characters in the poem, her brother and her mother. The narrator goes to the river Jamuna to fetch water in her pitchers. While returning, she is late because she is tempted by the song of a boatman. Now she is afraid of the falling night and the stretching shadows of the mountains. She is also terrified by the sudden calling of the white crane and the cry of an owlet. The night is dark and there are no moon beams to light her path. The poetess is afraid of unknown fears. She is afraid of a serpent which may bite her or an evil spirit which may smite her. She remembers the God in these adverse conditions.

While the narrator of this poem is in the forest, her family members are at home. They are anxious of her being so late. Her mother starts weeping and her mind is filled with all types of negative thoughts. She is worried because she knows that the Jamuna’s water is deep. She is afraid of her daughter because she is alone and the shadows of the night are falling quickly and thickly. Her mother starts abusing her daughter for being so late in the forest. Her brother also murmurs, " Why doth she linger?"

In the last part of the poem the poetess says, that her brother also grumbles, when she is late. She shows her uneasiness and fear and says, that if the storm breaks, who will give her shelter and who will hide her safe. She knows that only the God can save and guide her foot steps in this dark night.

The song is divided into two stanzas, each of 11 lines. The first stanza describes the narrator, in the forest, and in the second stanza, the worries of her family members and her faith and hope in the God are described. The poem has a homely atmosphere in it. The concern of her mother and her brother and the exclamation Ram re Ram! Lends, the poem, the beauty of Indianization. The rhyme scheme of the poem is a b a b c c d e e e d. The language of the poem is easy and the words used are of common discourse.