Sarojini Naidu’s poem ‘The Bangle Sellers’ is all about bangles. The poem begins with the sellers going to a temple fair and shouting their trade cry. The sellers are the speakers in the entire poem. They describe the bangles in various ways like ‘rainbow-tinted circles of light’ and ‘lustrous tokens of radiant lives‘.

Thereafter, they starts describing bangles of various colours suitable for girls and women of various ages, comparing them to natural elements. But what is actually depicted through their comparison and description of those colourful bangles are the feelings, emotions and aspirations of a maiden, a bride and a middle-aged woman in a typical Indian society. Though apparently the poem is concerned with the bangles, actually it has been more about the celebration of woman life.

Some are meet for a maiden’s wrist,
Silver and blue as the mountain mist,
Some are flushed like the buds that dream

To take an example from the poem, the poet seems to be merely describing the silver and blue coloured bangles. But by their comparison to mountain mist, she actually hints at the purity of a maiden girl in the Indian society. Moreover, the ‘buds’ represent her chastity. ‘Flushed’ denotes her shyness and ‘dream’ indicates to a maiden girl dreaming of marriage.

Some are like fields of sunlit corn,
Meet for a bride on her bridal morn,
Some, like the flame of her marriage fire

Again, a bride’s bangles are yellow like sunlit corn and red resembling her marriage fire. While the sunlit corn represents the joy of a vast prosperous life ahead, the marriage fire signifies the passion of her newly made relation.

Thus, the poet has presented facts throughout the poem using her descriptive skills. As in most of her poems, Naidu has suggested deeper insights of life through her outwardly fanciful description. And all this has been a deliberate attempt from her part to make this poem a real beauty.