The Bangle Sellers By Sarojini Naidu

Introduction

The poem “The Bangle Sellers” is written by Sarojini Naidu. The poem is about bangles and bangle sellers. The bangle sellers carry loads of bangles to sell at the fairs. The bangles are delicate bright and colourful circles of light. As a woman journeys through the different stages of her life, the colour, texture, and design of her bangles also change accordingly. The bangle seller says that some bangles are for happy daughters and some for happy wives. The narrator draws colourful images from nature to reflect the exact hue and tint of the bangles. The bangle seller says that he has bangles not only for maidens but also for a middle-aged woman who in her fruitful pride worships the gods at her husband’s side.

Meanings of Important Words

Loads : collections (of bangles)

Rainbow-tinted: having the colours of the rainbow in them

Lustrous: bright; shining

Meet (adj.) : proper

Flushed: shining brightly

Tranquil: calm

Aglow: shining

Limpid: transparent and clear

Hue: colour

Tinkling: making a light ringing sound

Luminous: shining

Gold flecked: spotted with gold dots

For her … midway: for a middle-aged woman

Cherished: nused

Summary Of The Bangle Seller

The poem ‘Bangle Seller’ explores the imagery associated with bangles and it also speaks about women’s role in Indian society. It speaks about the strong connection between the bangles and their role in providing ‘happy daughters and happy wives’.

A group of Bangle Seller is on its way to the temple fair to sell their bangles. One of them is the narrator of this poem. They are very poor people but the bangle seller does not talk about his poverty but he talks about the various colours of the bangles. He is selling various kinds of bangles. The bangles are delicate, colourful bright circles of light. He says that these bangles are bright and shining tokens of life.

The poet repeats the word happy in ‘for happy daughter and happy wives’ to indicate that the daughters look forward to their happy marriage and the wives are happy in their married life.

The next three paragraphs deal with the three stages in the life of an Indian woman- a maiden, an expectant bride and finally, a matured married woman. Each stage is described by the colours of the bangle.

The maiden girl likes silver and blue bangles like the mountain mist. Some girls are having countless dreams and so they are the buds. These girls are like a stream that flows in a woodland area. Some girls have the glow like fresh and transparent newly split leaves.

The young brides are like fields of sunlit corns. These brides are nervous about their married life. She also feels sad that she has to leave her parental home. So, she chooses bangles with flame-like colours of her marriage fire, which is golden yellow. These colours express the desire of the heart.

The matured married lady chooses ‘purple and gold-flecked grey’. She has passed half of her life. She has given birth to children. She has successfully served her family. So, she wears the bangles with the colour of fulfilment and takes her rightful place by the side of her husband in all domestic religious rituals.

Theme

This poem is a tribute to Indian women and their beauty and grace. It is a celebration of their female character. It threads together the different stages of a woman’s life into the cultural wealth of India. This poem also acknowledges the part of bangle sellers in the custom and tradition of India.

Poetic Devices

Imagery
There is imagery particularly visual imagery in this poem. Some of the visual images are:
Temple fair, wrist, silver, blue. mountain mist, stream, leaves, fields of sunlit corn, marriage fire, purple, gold grey, breast, etc.

Simile
A simile is a comparison between two dissimilar things having something in common using words like, as, as if etc. e.g. flushed like the buds that dream from this poem. The other examples of similes from this poem are: like fields of sunlit corn, like the flame of her marriage fire, like her bridal laughter and bridal tear, silver and blue as the mountain mist

Thinking about the poem |Questions

Q.1 Who is the speaker in the poem?.

Ans. A bangle seller is the speaker in the poem.

Q.2. How are the bangles described in the first stanza of the poem and who are these bangles for?

Ans. In the first stanza, the bangles are described as shining, delicate and bright. They are described as rainbow-tinted circles of light and as tokens of radiant lives. These bangles are for happy daughters and happy wives.

Q.3. The poet uses different similes for the bangles. What are these?

Ans. The poet compares the bangles to the mountain mist, to the flower buds, to the fields of sunlit corn, bridal laughter and to the bridal tear.

Q.4. Name the different colours mentioned in the poem. What do they represent?

Ans. Rainbow colours, silver, and blue, sunlit corn colour, purple and gold-flecked grey are the different colours mentioned in the poem. These colours represent the bangles suitable for different age groups of women.

Q.5. The word “some” has been repeated in the poem. What is it?

Ans. The word ‘some’ represents the different types of bangles being sold by the bangle seller.

Q.6. Explain the following lines.

Some are meet for maiden’s wrist
Silver and blue as the maintain mist

Ans. In these lines, the narrator says that some bangles are suitable for the wrist of unmarried women. Some bangles are of silver and blue colour as the mountain that is under a blanket of mist.

Long Answers Questions

Q.What are the kinds of bangles suited to young maidens?
Ans. The poem ‘Bangle Seller’ explores the imagery associated with bangles and it also speaks about women’s role in Indian society. It speaks about the strong connection between the bangles and their role in providing ‘happy daughters and happy wives’. The maiden girl likes silver and blue bangles like the mountain mist. Some girls are having countless dreams and so they are the buds. These girls are like a stream that flows in a woodland area. Some girls have the glow like fresh and transparent newly split leaves.

Q.What is the function of bangle sellers as seen in the poem “Bangle Sellers”?
Ans. The Bangle seller is selling various kinds of bangles. The bangles are delicate, colourful bright circles of light. He says that these bangles are bright and shining tokens of life. The poet repeats the word happy in ‘for happy daughter and happy wives’ to indicate that the daughters look forward to their happy marriage and the wives are happy in their married life. He has brought bangles for all the three stages in the life of an Indian woman- a maiden, an expectant bride and finally, a matured married woman. The bangle seller actually understands the choice and dreams of all the three stages in the life of an Indian woman.

LANGUAGE WORK

I. Read the poem once again and fill in the blanks as in the poem:

Bangle seller, sunlit corn, flecked grey, rainbow-tinted

Ans.1. Bangles are said to be as rainbow-tinted circles of light.

2. Some are like fields of sunlit corn.

3. Some bangles are purple and gold-flecked grey.

4. People buy these bangles from the bangle-seller.

II. The poet has used several expressions that form pictures in the reader’s mind i.e., “fields of sunlit corn” and “circles of light”. Pick out more such expressions from the poem.

Ans. Some more expressions are:
i. the maiden’s wrist.
ii. the mist of mountain.
iii. the flame of her marriage fire.
iv. bridal laughter and bridal tear.

III. Use the clues to complete the word pyramid:

Ans. MOB, MOTH, MONTH, MOTHER, MORNING, MOUNTAIN