Sarojini Naidu, the poet, freedom fighter and a patriot was also known by the sobriquet The Nightingale of India. She was a sensitive poet and wrote poetry based on the beauty of simple joys and sorrows of life. Her poetry included children’s poems, nature poems, poems on love and death etc. Sarojini Naidu is a poet of Indian thought and culture and her poems described Indian flora and fauna, Indian customs and traditions, festivals, men and women, places legends of kings and queens etc.
The poem “Wandering Singers” by Sarojini Naidu is about the band of folk singers who wander from town to town and from village to village to spread the message of love through their singing. They play the lute; a musical instrument as they roam from place to place. The voice of the wind symbolizes the welcoming tone of the song that echoes through the forests and streets. To the wandering singers, all mankind are like their extended family and the world is their home.
The theme of the songs that they sing goes back to stories of ancient battles or of old kings. They also have songs about the beauty of women and about happy and sad things.
The wandering singers have no dreams or hopes of their own; they go wherever the wind calls them. No love can make them go slow or no joy can bade them to wait. The voice of the wind is the voice of their life and also their destiny.
Meanings:
kindred:extended family/ people of own blood
lays: songs
lustre: glory
bids us: asks us to
tarry: go slow
Choose the correct answer from the options:
1. What do the singers sing about?
a. animals and birds
b. culture and rituals
c. beauty of women and simple and sorrowful things
d. songs of God and Goddesses
2. Pick out the phrase that tell us about the singers
a. consider all the human beings as one
b. complaining about life
c. sing about the birds and animals
d. roam about freely
