Bangle-Sellers
Bangle-sellers are we who bearOur shining loads to the temple fair. . . .Who will buy these delicate, brightRainbow-tinted circles of light?Lustrous tokens of radiant lives,For happy daughters and happy wives.
Some are meet for a maiden's wrist,Silver and blue as the mountain-mist,Some are flushed like the buds that dreamOn the tranquil brow of a woodland stream;Some are aglow with the bloom that cleavesTo the limpid glory of new-born leaves.
Some are like fields of sunlit corn,Meet for a bride on her bridal morn,Some, like the flame of her marriage fire,Or rich with the hue of her heart's desire,Tinkling, luminous, tender, and clear,Like her bridal laughter and bridal tear.
Some are purple and gold-flecked grey,For her who has journeyed thro' life midway,Whose hands have cherished, whose love has blestAnd cradled fair sons on her faithful breast,Who serves her household in fruitful pride,And worships the gods at her husband's side.
Words in this poem
- aglow adv.
- In a glow; glowing; as, cheeks aglow; the landscape all aglow. [Pref. a- + glow.]
- sunlit a.
- Lighted by the sun.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- midway n.
- The middle of the way or distance; a middle way or course.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Bangle-Sellers is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Bird of Time: Songs of Life, Death & the Spring (London: William Heinemann; New York: John Lane Company, 1912), Wikisource; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sarojini Naidu, Bangle-Sellers, in The Bird of Time: Songs of Life, Death & the Spring (1912), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/naidu-bird-of-time/bangle-sellers.html, id L27541.
Form and metre
Bangle-Sellers is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCC. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCC bearA · fairA · brightB · lightB · livesC · wivesC
- 2 AABBCC wristA · mistA · dreamB · streamB · cleavesC · leavesC
- 3 AABBCC cornA · mornA · fireB · desireB · clearC · tearC
- 4 AABBCC greyA · midwayA · blestB · breastB · prideC · sideC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Bangle-sellers are we who bear | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Our shining loads to the temple fair. . . . | 10 | /˘/˘···/˘· |
| Who will buy these delicate, bright | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Rainbow-tinted circles of light? | 8 | /·/˘/˘·· |
| Lustrous tokens of radiant lives, | 9 | /˘/˘·/˘˘· |
| For happy daughters and happy wives. | 9 | ·/˘/˘·/˘· |
| Some are meet for a maiden's wrist, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Silver and blue as the mountain-mist, | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| Some are flushed like the buds that dream | 8 | ········ |
| On the tranquil brow of a woodland stream; | 10 | ··/˘···/·· |
| Some are aglow with the bloom that cleaves | 9 | ··˘/····· |
| To the limpid glory of new-born leaves. | 10 | ··/˘/˘···· |
| Some are like fields of sunlit corn, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Meet for a bride on her bridal morn, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Some, like the flame of her marriage fire, | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| Or rich with the hue of her heart's desire, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Tinkling, luminous, tender, and clear, | 10 | /˘˘/˘˘/˘·· |
| Like her bridal laughter and bridal tear. | 10 | ··/˘/˘·/˘· |
| Some are purple and gold-flecked grey, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| For her who has journeyed thro' life midway, | 10 | ····/˘··/· |
| Whose hands have cherished, whose love has blest | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And cradled fair sons on her faithful breast, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Who serves her household in fruitful pride, | 9 | ···/··/˘· |
| And worships the gods at her husband's side. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.