Question

What is the critical appreciation of the poem Bangle sellers?

Answer 1

I read this poem in my junior year and it is the most vibrant & colorful poem ever written.
Naidu's poem explores the imagery associated with bangles and the implications for women's roles in a traditionalist Indian social setting. Bangle sellers take their load of bangles to the temple fair to sell them. The bangles are termed as “lustrous tokens of radiant lives” which mean that they are symbols of love in people’s lives. They are trying to convince the purchasing public of the spiritual and symbolic importance of these bangles.
In this process, the speaker makes strong connections between the bangles and their role in providing "happy daughters and happy wives." The poet says that some of the bangles are made for the unmarried women and they are of silver and blue in color. The other bangles made for the bride glows like the fields of corn during morning. Those bangles glow like the bride’s marriage flame and rich in her heart’s desires. The bangles are tinkling with ‘luminous’ colors like the bride’s laughter or tears. Some bangles are made for the elderly women who have journeyed through half of their life. The purple and gray flecked bangle is meant to symbolize a woman who "serves her household in fruitful pride,/And worships the gods at her husband's side." The subsequent stanzas describe through lush and natural imagery the beauty of the bangles and their representation of these ideals help to increase their precious value. Some of these descriptions invoke the passion of "marriage's fire" and, in the last stanza, help to bring to light the socially accepted role of women in this setting. It is not very clear in the poem if the bangle seller is a man or a woman, and perhaps, some level of meaning might change if one plays with the gender of the speaker.
The rhyme scheme of the poem is aa-bb-cc. The poem employs colorful imagery liberally and is an epitome of the typical Indian scene. Onomatopoeia is one of the figures of speech used to describe the sounds of the bangles, which gives a musical flow to the poem.

Answer 2

see the attachment. I hope it helps you.