Write the appearance and summary of the poem'The Bangle Sellers'
Answers
Answer: The poet says that some of the bangles are made for the unmarried women and they are of silver and blue in colour. The other bangles made for the bride glows like the fields of corn during morning and some glow like the bride’s marriage flame rich in colour like her heart’s desires. The bangles are tinkling with ‘luminous’ colours like the bride’s laughter or tears. Some bangles are made for the elderly women who have journeyed through half of their life.
These bangles are of purple and grey colours with gold fleckers. These women have served their household well, cradled their sons and have worshipped the household gods with their husbands beside them.
Shining loads, delicate, bright, rainbow-tinted circles of light and lustrous tokens of radiant lives are a few other ways of referring to bangles. People usually buy bangles on temple fairs and such are occasions of happiness. Both the rich and poor buy these bangles and gift them to their wives and daughters. Some of these bangles are perfectly suiting for young girls. They are silver and blue in colour as “the mountain mist”.
Some are flushed red like buds dreaming of their blooming on the tranquil banks of woodland streams. Some have the light like clear glow of the glorious leaves that are just recently born. The bangles mentioned above possess purity and tranquillity in common.
The poem brilliantly and soulfully explores the imagery associated with bangles and the implications for women’s roles in a traditionalist Indian social setting. The speaker makes strong connections between the bangles and their role in providing “happy daughters and happy wives.” The subsequent stanzas describe lush and natural imagery, the beauty of the bangles and their precious values.
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. The purple and grey bangles, flecked with gold colour symbolize a woman who “serves her household in fruitful pride, and worships the gods at her husband’s side.” The grey colour indicates the maturity that comes with age. 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.