Best patriotic poems written by Sarojini Naidu that will strike a chord
Sarojini Naidu has dedicated her entire life to her overflowing passion for the motherland. There are so many patriotic poems in English by Sarojini Naidu. In some of them, she has praised our Indian heroes. In the others, she has expressed her love for the beauty of Mother India.
She was one of the few Indian poets who could describe the Indian culture, traditions, mythology, flora, and fauna with so many nuances in the English language. There are also several patriotic poems written by Sarojini Naidu in Hindi.
Let us go through three of the famous poems written by Sarojini Naidu on the theme of patriotism:
- The Gift of India
Is there aught you need that my hands withhold,
Rich gifts of raiment or grain or gold?
Lo! I have flung to the East and West
Priceless treasures torn from my breast,
And yielded the sons of my stricken womb
To the drum-beats of duty, the sabres of doom.
Gathered like pearls in their alien graves
Silent they sleep by the Persian waves,
Scattered like shells on Egyptian sands,
They lie with pale brows and brave, broken hands,
They are strewn like blossoms mown down by chance
On the blood-brown meadows of Flanders and France.
Can ye measure the grief of the tears I weep
Or compass the woe of the watch I keep?
Or the pride that thrills thro’ my heart’s despair
And the hope that comforts the anguish of prayer?
And the far sad glorious vision I see
Of the torn red banners of Victory?
When the terror and tumult of hate shall cease
And life be refashioned on anvils of peace,
And your love shall offer memorial thanks
To the comrades who fought in your dauntless ranks,
And you honour the deeds of the deathless ones
Remember the blood of thy martyred sons!
This poem is a tribute of Sarojini Naidu towards our Indian soldiers who contributed to World War I by fighting alongside Britain. It is a war poem that describes the brutality of war and the havoc it wreaks. Here, she has personified our country as a “mother.” She has praised our soldiers for their selfless sacrifices.
The entire poem feels like our Mother India is having an emotional breakdown from the memories of her children (the Indian soldiers) fighting and dying in huge numbers during World War I. In the first stanza, the poet talks about how people from across the world have taken away raiment, grain, and gold as gifts from our country.
In the second stanza, she has vividly described the traumatizing deaths of the soldiers who lost their lives miles away from their homes. The third stanza talks about the pain that the families of these soldiers faced when they were struck with the news of their deaths. And finally, in the last stanza, she has honoured the sacrifices of the soldiers.
- An Anthem of love
Two hands are we to serve thee, O our Mother,
To strive and succour, cherish and unite;
Two feet are we to cleave the waning darkness,
And gain the pathways of the dawning light.
Two years are we to catch the nearing echo,
The sounding cheer of Time’s prophetic horn;
Two eyes are we to reap the crescent glory,
The radiant promise of renascent morn.
One heart are we to love thee, O our Mother,
One undivided, indivisible soul,
Bound by one hope, one purpose, one devotion
Towards a great, divinely-destined goal.
The theme of this poem is a declaration of the resolve of Indians to serve the country unitedly. Here, Sarojini Naidu has described patriotism as a “person” with two hands, two feet, two eyes, and two ears but one heart. In the pre-Independence era, almost every Indian had the undying passion to struggle for our freedom.
So, the poet declares here that the people of this country will serve it with both hands. The sound of the time blowing through the metaphorical “horn” will alert Indians that their freedom is near. The poem’s theme revolves around the united desire of Indians to love their country with intensity and fight for its freedom with their one heart and soul.
- To India
O YOUNG through all thy immemorial years!
Rise, Mother, rise, regenerate from thy gloom,
And, like a bride high-mated with the spheres,
Beget new glories from thine ageless womb!
The nations that in fettered darkness weep
Crave thee to lead them where great mornings break . . . .
Mother, O Mother, wherefore dost thou sleep?
Arise and answer for thy children’s sake!
Thy Future calls thee with a manifold sound
To crescent honours, splendours, victories vast;
Waken, O slumbering Mother and be crowned,
Who once wert empress of the sovereign Past.
In this poem, the poet is asking mother India to wake up from sleep and fight against the British for its independence. She is asking Mother India (the people of India) to give up her immaturity and ignorance and fight to see the new dawn of freedom from the clutches of Britishers.
The poet here says that the country’s future is calling in different voices towards honour, richness, dignity, liberty, grand victory, and prosperity. She is asking Mother India to wake up and crown herself again as the Queen she was in the glorious past.
There are so many famous English poems written by Indian poets, but very few of them can come close to the essence and emotions that Sarojini Naidu captures. Her poems are intense, fierce, and have a bold rawness.
Description: Patriotic poems written by Sarojini Naidu is a blog that recalls some of the best poems this great human ever wrote. Her inspiration spreads through the nation.
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