Indian Weavers by Sarojini Naidu
Summary of Indian Weavers
Sarojini Naidu’s poem Indian Weavers is a short poem with three stanzas of four lines each. The poem covers a person’s full life span. Through the symbol of weaving, she expresses the joy and pain of creation. She had a penchant for the exotic and romantic, to the point of sentimentality.
The rhyme scheme of the poem is AABB. To express her ideas, the poet employs a variety of literary methods such as smilie, imagery, metaphor, and so on. The poem is a conversation between the poet and the weavers; the poet asks the weavers, and the weavers respond.
The poem encompasses a person’s entire existence. The metaphor of weaving powerfully conveys the joy and sorrow of creation.
In the poem, Naidu creates several times, moods, and columns. The poet discusses three different styles of dresses that Indian Weavers weave at different times of the day. Metaphorically, each moment and the outfit woven in that time represent a specific stage of life.
The poem is written in the style of question-and-answer patterns. The first two lines represent the query posed to the weavers, while the following two lines create the weaver’s response. Greek mythology holds the answer. There you have it, sisters: clothes, lachers, and Atropos. Fat sister’s job is to spin the thread, measure the thread, and cut (ship) the thread. It denotes birth, life, and death in this context.
Some critics link the poem to the Hindu gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Brahma, like the creator on a lotus blossoming in blue water. Sarojini Naidu’s comparison with the holy con bird relates to the beginning of the day and the birth of a new kid. Vishnu, the giver of wealth and splendour. Her apathy in this second stage corresponds to the colourful plumes of the peacock while representing the marriage veil of a queen, Shiva, who represents the end of life’s journey. The weavers connected with Shiva who are sewing a dead man’s funeral shroud in the cold moonlight are symbolically associated with the end of life.
Stanza Wise Analysis of Indian Weavers
Stanza 1: Youth
The poet asks the weavers in the opening stanza why they are weaving clothes so early in the morning that appear to be quite attractive and charming (gay). The clothes are as blue as the wing of a halcyon wild. The kingfisher’s alternative name is Halcyon.
The kingfisher’s wings are vivid blue in colour. In addition, the colour blue represents fidelity. As a result, the colour blue represents something lovely and valuable. As a result, in this verse, the clothes woven by the weavers are particularly unique, and the poet is interested in learning more about them.
The Indian Weavers respond, “We weave the robes of a new-born child,” implying that they are creating a lovely gown for a newborn who has just arrived in the world.
In this poem, a multitude of images are utilised to describe the first stage of human life, such as the break of day, attire as gay and blue as the wing of halcyon wild. This period is full with joy, freshness, hope, and beauty, among other things. There is no sadness on the stage.
Stanza 2: Adulthood
The poet encounters the Indian Weavers again in the second verse, this time during the fall of darkness. It most likely refers to the time in the evening or dusk when the sun sets and darkness descends. Furthermore, it is the season in which the majority of Indian marriages take place.
The poet confronts the weavers about why they make a gown that is as colourful as a peacock’s plumes, purple and green. Unlike the single color-blue, the outfit at this time is vibrant and full of colours like peacock feathers (during the morning time).
The weavers respond that they create a queen’s marriage veils, alluding to the second, or adult, stage of life. Humans are highly busy during this stage. They fall in love, marry, and strive for a better and more wealthy life.
Purple and green represent grief and happiness or difficulty and ease in one’s adult period, and these all colours or ups and downs of life make maturity brilliant.
Stanza 3: Death
The poet finds the weavers sombre and motionless in the final stanza, implying that they are deeply saddened, bereaved, and mute. They are weaving something strange in the moonlight chill, i.e. in the dead of night, that is white as a feather and white as a cloud, i.e. colourless and lifeless.
As the poet struggles to figure out what it is (the cloth) and why they are sombre and silent, she asks them what they are weaving rather than why they are weaving. They respond that they are making a shroud (cloth worn by the dead) for a deceased person.
Thus, the third and last stage is death, which is emotionless and lifeless, like a white cloud or feather. In this way, the life that begins with life, joy, hope, and so on ends with sorrow and grief.
Main Attractions
Sarojini Naidu’s Indian Weavers summarises human life on Earth in three major stages utilising symbols such as clothing and times of day. The journey of life begins with the colour blue, which represents joy and contentment.
It continues with the addition of a number of colors-green and purple-which represent the presence of sadness as well as happiness in one’s life. This stage of life is more active than the first.
In the final stanza, all of the colours fade away, leaving only white, implying that emotions are intertwined with life and that when a person dies, so do the feelings.
Theme
The deal with a common life of weavers she also refers to cycle.
Glossary
Halycon: Kingfisher—also a mythological bird thought to breed in a nest floating in the sea, during the winter solstice, charming the wind and waves into calm.
Annotate:
• Blue as the wing of a halcyon wild,
We weave the robes of a new-born child.
• Like the plumes of a peacock, purple and green,
We weave the marriage-veils of a queen.
• White as a feather and white as a cloud,
We weave a dead man’s funeral shroud.
Boost up:
✏️ Mood of the poem: light in the beginning and gloomy towards the end.
This poem is a Lyric.
✏️The poem is symbolic, rhyming and employs literary devices such as Alliteration and Simile.
✏️A reference of the FATE SISTERS from Greek mythology is mentioned: CLOTHOS (spins the thread of life), LACHESIS (measures the thread of life) and ATROPOS (cuts the thread of life)
✏️Reference to Indian mythology is lucid: BRAHMA (the creator), VISHNU (sustains life) and SHIVA (associated with the colour white refers to Death symbolically)
✏️Weakness in the poem: too sentimental and too flowery(rhetorical)
Literary Devices
Simile:
• Blue as the wings of a halcyon wild,
• Like the plumes of a peacock, purple and green,
• White as a feather and white as a cloud,
Alliteration:
• Weavers, weaving at break of day, • Why do you weave a garment so gay?….
• Like the plumes of a peacock, purple and green,
• Weavers, weaving solemn and still
Elliptical:
• Why do you weave a garment so gay?…..
• Why do you weave a garment so bright?….. • What do you weave in the moonlight chill?….
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