Bring out all the imagery and their symbolism with reference to the poem ‘ The Bangle Sellers’.
Answers
Where blue and silver bangles symbolize maidenhood, yellow and red bangles 'rich with the hue of her heart's desire' symbolize the sanctity of marriage and love for the brides and married women. The imagery of 'bridal laughter and bridal tears' symbolize the joy of a bride for starting anew her wedded life and her sorrow for leaving her parent's house.
Lastly, purple and gold-flecked gray bangles symbolize maturity that indicates a stage at which a woman has lived a fruitful life performing well her household duties towards her husband and children. The poem gives a typical Indian traditional taste of life with the concluding line 'worships the gods at her husband's side.'
The poem 'The Bangle Sellers' by Sarojini Naidu is rich in symbolism.
The poem exists on two dimensions, but both complementary to each other. On one hand, the bangles are coloured differently, suiting different females. A deeper representation supports these colours as associated with age, by bringing out symbolic meanings associated with different colours since time immemorial. The following paragraphs give the reason for choosing each of the colours given in the poem.
The fresh-leaf GREEN colour of leaves on the wrist of maidens is symbolic of their freshness, purity and virginity.
SILVER and BLUE of the mountain mist. Mist consists of drops of dew, and dewdrops have, again, for us, symbolised purity, sanctity and freshness.
The bright PINK of the flower buds are symbolic of the innocence and sweet beauty of a young girl.
Similarly, the colour YELLOW often worn by Indian brides in the 'haldi' ceremony, has forever been symbolic of fertility in women.
We have forever associated RED colour with love and hearts, so the allusion to "hue of her heart's desire" is not inappropriate, as a bride's utmost desire and strongest emotion on her wedding day is to find and feel live. So, we get the red colour, common in a bride's wedding bangles in Indian culture.
The ORANGE-YELLOW flame of marriage fire is symbolic of not only a new bond sealed above one of the primary elements, fire, but also of the sacredness of marriage and the promises that are made by the two people to each other.
The colour PURPLE was considered a symbol of 'elevated honorary royalty' in ancient Rome, and holds a similar, but slightly more age-related meaning in Indian culture. It is often used to represent maturity and wisdom, as suiting a middle-aged woman.
GREY FLECKED WITH GOLD represents old age and wisdom (grey), with just a hint of the former beauty and vigour of the woman (gold), which is not gone, as it shows sometimes from under her old age, just like the gold colour is scattered across her grey bangles.
Thus, the poem is rich in symbolism and metaphors and provides a glimpse of Sarojini Naidu's prolific and vivid style of writing.