Dynamics of Human Relationship in the poetry of Sarojini Naidu

Abstract

Sarojini Naidu, popularly known by the sobriquet The Nightingale of India , is one of the major Indo-Anglian poets. She was born on February 13,1879 at Hyderabad, a very important city of India. In addition to being a great political leader, she was a poet of considerably high order. She passed away in 1949. Her poetry anthologies such as The Golden Threshold(1905), The Bird of Time(1912), The Broken Wing(1917) and The Feather of the Dawn(posthumously published in 1961) have enormously enriched Indo-Anglian poetry. With the evolution of culture and civilisation, man has progressed a lot in different fields of endeavour. Though cutting-age science and technology have made human life easier and cosier than ever before, it is the nature and quality of human relationships that ultimately govern the way our progresses in various fields can be utilised for greater common good. Human beings keep changing corresponding to the transitions in their social, economic, political, cultural and historical circumstances. The transitions affect human relationship and go a long way in determining its nature. Sarojini Naidu s writings are an ideal destination of scholarly pursuit in this connection. The spectrum of human relationship we find in her poetry is quite vast. Her recurrent focus on the essential human virtues in her poetry is very notable. She glorifies manual labour, love, community spirit, altruism, family values etc. in her poetry. Her poetry reminds human being of his inherent nobility. Her poems exhibit trends which are eye-openers to men at present who hanker after the transient worldly pleasures at the cost of enduring glories of life. Her poetry can be an ideal guide to the contemporary society driven by consumerism and market economy that has lost its way of possible nobility and greatness. Her poems are everlasting records of dynamics of human relationships. She will indisputably continue to be relevant even in future.