NATIONALISM IN THE WORKS OF SAROJINI NAIDU
ABSTRACT:
Indian English Poetry is remarkably great. In Naidu 's poetry one can see the representation of the different colours of India and its folk cultures. There is also depiction of her secular outlook and patriotism as her theme of her poetry. The poems in which her nationalism is reflected are: 'To India ', ' An anthem of love ', 'The gift of India ', 'The call to evening prayer ', 'Lotus ', 'Indian dancers ' and Indian gipsy.
Keywords:
Patriotism Independence
Indo-Anglian
freedom
INTRODUCTION:
"You’ll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race.” … George Bernard Shaw
The Indian English poetry began far back before the independence. The credit of introducing Indians to English goes to Lord Macaulay. The Indian value of cultural assimilation was applied to English language. With English education, Indians befriended English making it a language of their intellectual as well as emotional make - up.
Naidu, in order to counter the western influence, prompted the native Indian colors and folk culture in her poetry.
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‘The Gift of India’ is a noble tribute to the brave Indian soldiers and sons of India. The poem has a raging world war as its background. It is in a form of address by Mother India to the world. The country is personified and identified with the poet. Her tender and sensitive soul leaps forward to sympathize with the heroes who displayed their valour on different battlefronts fighting for Allied forces. The boundless grief of mother India for her heroic sons, who were killed in alien lands, is poignantly expressed in the poem. The brave sons of India were killed in different climate and in strange lands. Their bodies were burnt in “alien graves’ without any concern or love or a tear. They attained martyrdom in the World War