Sarojini Naidu's Summer Woods https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HQL7MfIsNQ 

Poem

 

SUMMER WOODS BY SAROJINI NAIDU

 

O I AM tired of painted roofs and soft and silken floors,
And long for wind-blown canopies of crimson gulmohurs!

O I am tired of strife and song and festivals and fame,
And long to fly where cassia-woods are breaking into flame.

Love, come with me where koels call from flowering glade and glen,
Far from the toil and weariness, the praise and prayers of men.

O let us fling all care away, and lie alone and dream
'Neath tangled boughs of tamarind and molsari and neem!

And bind our brows with jasmine sprays and play on carven flutes,
To wake the slumbering serpent-kings among the banyan roots,

And roam at fall of eventide along the river's brink,
And bathe in water-lily pools where golden panthers drink!

You and I together, Love, in the deep blossoming woods
Engirt with low-voiced silences and gleaming solitudes,

Companions of the lustrous dawn, gay comrades of the night,
Like Krishna and like Radhika, encompassed with delight.

 

 

 

 

 Critical Appreciation of Summer Wood by Sarojini Naidu

 

The poem “summer wood” has been extracted from the book “The Broken Wings” written by Sarojini Naidu. It was the last of the book published during the poet’s lifetime. Of the four political volumes of Sarojini Naidu, this book contains the largest number of poems under 4 different subtitles - Songs of life and death, The Flowering Year, The peacock lute and The Temple. The present poem comes under the subtitle the flowering year.

Sarojini Naidu has written a number of poem relating to the appeal of nature particularly spring. They are pretty as well as sincere but it's surprising to know that she has written no poem on writers and only two on summer - “June sunset” and “summer wood”.

 

The poem “Summer Wood” is no description of Indian summer. It is the woods of and not the summer as such that have capture the poets fancy. Summer Woods narrates the romantic longings of the protagonist to get away from the drudgery of everyday life. It resembles the poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree by WB Yeats. The poem begins with the poet's expression of  boredom with the city life and the desire to go to the Woods. Woods are imagined as the opposite of the city- a place where human life is uninterrupted. The poet invites her beloved to come to the woods and enjoy the life among the trees. She paints life in the woods in highly sensuous verses and elaborates the ecstasies the woods offer. The poet tempts the lover to come to the woods to listen to the songs of birds, the fragrance of the jasmine, bath in the river where golden panthers drink etc. She wishes to live with the wildness of the woods with her instincts.

 

The poet has become tired of the life of luxury and comforts. She no more wants to live under the “painted roofs” and soft and silken floor. She has become tired of festivals and flame. The poet expresses her desire to go to the woods along with her lover to rest in peace. She wants to realise to the deep blossoming wood to lie alone and dream. She wants to go there where cassia woods break into flame. Beneath the shades of tamarind, molsasi and neem.  She wants to have a rest with heart beloved. She wants to realise where she can hear the sweet melodious song of the poets. Tiled of the noise and the bottle of the country life. The poets long to enjoy the low voiced silence of gleaming solitude in the deep blossoming woods.

The poem depicts the tiresomeness of the poet’s heart who cries aloud for the wind-blown canopies of Crimson gulmohars:

 “O let us flingall care away, and lie alone and dream

Neath tangled boughs of tamarind and molsari and the neem!”

 

The poem is an attempt at the realistic landscape. The poet drops here the romantic veil and appears before us in the colour of light. Her observation is fresh and she describe a thing with a blend of realism and romance. Her sense of form and colour is also perfect. Her aim is to describe the impression produced by the scene.

The great charm of Sarojini Naidu is that she remains a true Indian in her thoughts. She gives us Indian pictures in English verse which have the ring of originality. In the last part of the poem, she canonizes her love and equates their love  with that of Radhika and Krishna. She also invokes Indian myths to express the depth of her passion. It is interesting to note that Indian fusion of love and sex is narrated in the poem. Amidst the trees, she invokes the Serpent King and feels immortal in their love.