summary on Sarojini Naidu's poem "To India"
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To India” – Summary and Analysis by Sarojini Naidu
The poem, “To India”, was obviously penned by Sarojini Naidu. It is divided into four stanzas. Each stanza entertains precisely four lines. It is a poem consisting of only twelve lines. Though it may only be composed in a total of twelve lines, the impact of the poem far exceeds its length. In her poem, she deliberately designs India, to be personified as the Mother whom the poet invokes and pleads, for her to wake from her slumber. In the first stanza of the poem, Naidu calls on Mother India to rise, who is still young, even though she has existed since eternity – “O Young, through all thy immemorial years/Rise”. To the poet, the nation is in a deep slumber but she has to rise, rise from all the atrocities that she has faced, from all the “gloom” she underwent, while suffering inaction. The poet cannot bear the present state of her dear nation, she cannot fathom to believe that her glorious nation, even in her ruins, is sleeping and not revolting, nor regenerating her lost self but sleeping, in acceptance of the devastated condition of her mutilated self. By “spheres”, the poet could mean other powerful countries, with whom she would want India to ally, for her to win the fight for Independence. Thus, as a result of the mating of two countries, the poet wishes to beget “new glories” from the womb of the “bride”, for it is ageless and still, fertile.
The second stanza beholds the horror of the nation. By “nations” the poet could mean other colonized countries, or she could also mean the States of the country, that is, India. Since each State upholds a different language and even culture, they are together listed in the poet’s mind as “nations”, provoked by their existing diversity. It could also be possible that by “nations”, the poet implies the different people of the country, belonging to different cultures or having different perspectives. Thus the calling of the collective as the “nations” and not a nation. By “great mornings break”, the poet implies, victory and glory that is to be achieved. Since after a night of misery, comes the morning, bearing with it, the hope for a better tomorrow and the hope for glory just as in the glorious past, Mother India was so supreme that it lost to no one, instead, others yielded to her, willingly. Again, to cheer herself and the Mother out of their pitiful state, we see that in this poem, the poet tries to tell us that after darkness, there will come light. So, their scenario will alter, they will not remain misers forever.
Thus, she says that “The nations” are tired of all that they are enduring and like a beggar craves for food, they are craving for Mother India to rescue them from “fettered darkness”, which has stripped them of joy and left them weeping, to help them achieve the freedom that they rightly deserve. The poet demands the Mother to answer for the cause of her silence. The poet demands an answer, for what reason is she still asleep, given the situation the country is in. She cannot fathom to believe that despite all that has happened to the nation and its people, how are her people still quiet and unresponsive. Naidu pursues the Mother to rise from her sleeping state to rescue her future and to answer the poet for her “children’s sake”. The poet includes the children the poem to draw the undivided attention of the country, since the poet wasn’t being taken seriously and thus like a parent though unbothered about other things, is excessively careful and participating in nature when it comes to preventing her children from any harm. Now, her children’s lives are driven by her actions and her inaction is, but, contributing to her children’s destruction. And, hoping that this will cause the nation to stir, but at last, and move the unmoveable “slumbering” Mother, the poets do not end the poem but simply falls silent to observe the inaction of the nation change and thereby, ultimately, to victory.
The poem, “To India”, was obviously penned by Sarojini Naidu. It is divided into four stanzas. Each stanza entertains precisely four lines. It is a poem consisting of only twelve lines. Though it may only be composed in a total of twelve lines, the impact of the poem far exceeds its length. In her poem, she deliberately designs India, to be personified as the Mother whom the poet invokes and pleads, for her to wake from her slumber. In the first stanza of the poem, Naidu calls on Mother India to rise, who is still young, even though she has existed since eternity – “O Young, through all thy immemorial years/Rise”. To the poet, the nation is in a deep slumber but she has to rise, rise from all the atrocities that she has faced, from all the “gloom” she underwent, while suffering inaction. The poet cannot bear the present state of her dear nation, she cannot fathom to believe that her glorious nation, even in her ruins, is sleeping and not revolting, nor regenerating her lost self but sleeping, in acceptance of the devastated condition of her mutilated self. By “spheres”, the poet could mean other powerful countries, with whom she would want India to ally, for her to win the fight for Independence. Thus, as a result of the mating of two countries, the poet wishes to beget “new glories” from the womb of the “bride”, for it is ageless and still, fertile.
The second stanza beholds the horror of the nation. By “nations” the poet could mean other colonized countries, or she could also mean the States of the country, that is, India. Since each State upholds a different language and even culture, they are together listed in the poet’s mind as “nations”, provoked by their existing diversity. It could also be possible that by “nations”, the poet implies the different people of the country, belonging to different cultures or having different perspectives. Thus the calling of the collective as the “nations” and not a nation. By “great mornings break”, the poet implies, victory and glory that is to be achieved. Since after a night of misery, comes the morning, bearing with it, the hope for a better tomorrow and the hope for glory just as in the glorious past, Mother India was so supreme that it lost to no one, instead, others yielded to her, willingly. Again, to cheer herself and the Mother out of their pitiful state, we see that in this poem, the poet tries to tell us that after darkness, there will come light. So, their scenario will alter, they will not remain misers forever.
Thus, she says that “The nations” are tired of all that they are enduring and like a beggar craves for food, they are craving for Mother India to rescue them from “fettered darkness”, which has stripped them of joy and left them weeping, to help them achieve the freedom that they rightly deserve. The poet demands the Mother to answer for the cause of her silence. The poet demands an answer, for what reason is she still asleep, given the situation the country is in. She cannot fathom to believe that despite all that has happened to the nation and its people, how are her people still quiet and unresponsive. Naidu pursues the Mother to rise from her sleeping state to rescue her future and to answer the poet for her “children’s sake”. The poet includes the children the poem to draw the undivided attention of the country, since the poet wasn’t being taken seriously and thus like a parent though unbothered about other things, is excessively careful and participating in nature when it comes to preventing her children from any harm. Now, her children’s lives are driven by her actions and her inaction is, but, contributing to her children’s destruction. And, hoping that this will cause the nation to stir, but at last, and move the unmoveable “slumbering” Mother, the poets do not end the poem but simply falls silent to observe the inaction of the nation change and thereby, ultimately, to victory.
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