The Bangle Sellers - Questions & Answers

Answer:

In her poem The Bangle Sellers the poet Sarojini Naidu has expressed her conception of Indian women in a traditional social set up. She has presented three stages of woman life here to show the changes in the life of a woman with regard to the colour of her bangles.

In the second stanza she talks about the maiden, an unmarried girl. A maiden wears silver and blue coloured bangles like ‘mountain mist’, sometimes pink and light red bangles like the ‘flushed buds’ and sometimes her bangles are brightly glowing. She is ‘flushed like the buds that dream’ indicating her chastity and her dreaming about marriage.

The next stanza of the poem is about her transition from a maiden to a wife. It’s her ‘bridal morn’ with ‘bridal laughter and bridal tear’. In this stage, the yellow bangles like ‘fields of sunlit corn’ and red bangles like ‘the flame of her marriage fire’ are most suitable for her. This stage of a woman’s life represent the passion of a newly made relation. ‘Bridal laughter and bridal tear’ expresses all the emotions attached with this transition in a girl’s life.

Finally, it is the middle aged woman who has journeyed through life midway’. She wears bangles that are ‘purple and gold flecked grey’. She has reared her children with love and care. All she is concerned with now is her household, her family. She serves those with pride, worships the gods together with her husband and continues to live a happy life.

Answer: One of the prominent themes in Sarojini Naidu’s poems is the vibrancy of Indian cultural tradition. In her poem ‘The Bangle Sellers’ she has presented that vibrancy through the various colours of bangles that girls and women of different ages like to wear in a typical Indian society. This very purpose has allowed the poet to present some well-crafted colour imageries throughout the poem.

Silver and blue coloured bangles are compared to the mountain mist because it symbolizes purity.

Silver and blue as the mountain mist

The pink and reddish (flushed) bangles are compared to the buds that peep (as if dreaming) from the calm and quiet bank (tranquil brow) of a river that flows through the woods (woodland stream).

Some are flushed like the buds that dream
On the tranquil brow of a woodland stream,

Again, some of the bangles are glowing (aglow) like the green leaves which are shiny with the bloom (a delicate powdery surface deposit) that cleaves (adheres or sticks) to those new born leaves in a bush.

Some are aglow with the bloom that cleaves
To the limpid glory of new born leaves.

The yellow bangles are compared to the field of sunlit corn as they represent the happiness and joy of a prosperous life ahead.

Some are like fields of sunlit corn,

Again, the bride’s red bangles are compared to the flame of her marriage fire, as it represents the passion and desire of a newly made relationship.

Some, like the flame of her marriage fire,
Or, rich with the hue of her heart’s desire,

The poet has compared her bridal laughter and bridal tear with the tinkling, luminous, tender and clear bangles which seem to express her joy and sorrow well.

Tinkling, luminous, tender, and clear,
Like her bridal laughter and bridal tear.

The poet has also presented the purple and gold-flecked grey bangles for the women who have journeyed through life’s midway. Purple and gold-flecked bangles probably represent the maturity and fulfillment of her life.

Some are purple and gold flecked grey

However, these colour imageries have been the main attraction of the poem. Its literary value is perceived mostly through these imageries.

Answer: According the the poet Sarojini Naidu in her poem The Bangle Sellers, there are some particular kinds of bangles that are suitable for the maidens. They are Silver and Blue in colour like the mountain mist. Some of them are ‘flushed’, that is pink and light red in colour like flower buds growing beside a woodland stream. And others are bright like a glowing bloom that divides the transparent beauty of new born green leaves.

Silver and blue coloured bangles are compared to the mountain mist because of the resemblance of colour and also because it symbolizes purity.

Answer:

In Sarojini Naidu’s poem “The Bangle Sellers“, some bangle sellers go to the temple fair to sell their bangles. They shout their trade cry by glorifying those bangles and describing their colours and suitability for girls and women of various ages.

The main idea is to present the stages of woman life and the cultural tradition of a typical Indian society of the poet’s time. The bangles are compared with natural objects to symbolize the feelings and emotions attached with the life of Indian women and the roles played by the bangles.

Answer: In the poem “Bangle Seller” by Sarojini Naidu , bangles are called as “lustrous tokens of radiant lives” because the multihued bangles are symbolic of bright and happy lives of “happy daughters and happy wives”.Each stage of an Indian woman’s life is described according to the colour of bangles suitable at that stage from a dreamy maiden to an excited bride and finally to a mature matriarch.

The different coloured bangles symbolise the different stages in a woman’s life as a young maiden, a bride, as a middle aged matron and as an old woman. For example blue and silver bangles represent the mountain of the mist which symbolises the freshness and beauty of young maidens, sunlit and gold signify happiness and brightness , grey signify maturity that comes with age and purple signify loyalty and pale colour signify glory.

Answer:

Some are flushed like the buds that dream
On the tranquil brow of a woodland stream,

In the two lines above taken from Sarojini Naidu’s poem ‘The Bangle Sellers’, the pink and reddish (flushed) bangles are compared to the buds that peep from the calm and quiet bank (tranquil brow) of a river that flows through the woods (woodland stream).

The flushed bangles are suitable for a maiden’s wrist and the colour symbolizes the dream and shyness of the maiden. As the buds are waiting to bloom, the maidens are waiting for their marriage and to see and enjoy the charms of life. So, it seems like both the buds and maidens are in dream for a beautiful future. That is why the poet draws this comparison and says “the buds that dream”.

Answer:

Sarojini Naidu’s poetry is known for its Indianness — being Indian in thought and spirit. In its Indianness, her poem The Bangle Sellers is comparable to her another poem In the Bazaars of Hyderabad.

Through this poem she presents the role of bangles and bangle sellers in the vibrant cultural tradition in an Indian society. The bangle sellers going to the temple fair to sell those objects are typically an Indian scene. Bangles are worn by Indian girls and women especially in occasions to express their joy and delight. This is also related to the well-being of a family. The poet expresses this theme very well in two lines:

Lustrous tokens of radiant lives,
For happy daughters and happy wives.

Further, the poem deals with various colours of bangles to relate them to various stages of woman life. Those colourful bangles well represent the feelings and emotions attached with various events in a girl or woman’s life. All these are typically Indian. The flushing and dreaming of a maiden, ‘bridal laughter and bridal tear‘, cradling of ‘fair sons on her faithful breast’, serving ‘her household in fruitful pride’ and worshiping ‘the gods at her husband’s side’ — all these represent a woman’s life in an Indian society. Naidu’s liking for the rich Indian tradition is conveyed throughout the poem.