Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Sarojini Naidu
-
Standard Name: Naidu, Sarojini
Birth Name: Sarojini Chattopadhyaya
Married Name: Sarojini Naidu
Sarojini Naidu
was an Indian poet and political activist who published in English in the first decades of the twentieth century.
The British Library catalogue spells her name Sarojini Nayadu
.
While studying in England in the 1890s, she became acquainted with British writers Edmund Gosse
and Arthur Symons
, who encouraged her to publish her poems. She began her writing career with three volumes of poetry, published in London and New York, which drew positive attention from critics. These poems, on subjects ranging from nature and love to Krishna and Indian freedom, generally combine Indian images, traditions, and beliefs with European forms and rhythms, though they occasionally also draw from Eastern poetics. SN
's later publications, primarily political speeches and articles, reflect her increasing commitment to Indian national politics. She is now remembered more for her extensive political activity than for her poetry.
"Sarojini Naidu" This work is licensed under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication license. This work is in the public domain.
For generations PBS
appeared the quintessential image of the Romantic poet, whose work influenced such poets as Mathilde Blind
, Amy Levy
, Alice Meynell
, Sarojini Naidu
—though for some of them he was...
Literary responses
Laurence Hope
The poet and politician Sarojini Naidu
(contemporary of LH
) owned a copy of The Garden of Káma. Marginalia in this indicate that while she liked some of the poems she found most of...
RF
builds her conclusion from the idea of two great influences in India that we, that is English people, are ignorant of: the influence of religion, and the influence of women. The latter is immeasurable...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text
Edith Lyttelton
EL
's account of India is the shortest, but the most transparent in the imperial slant to its attitudes. As she toured New Delhi, she pondered ignorantly [her word] on the whole situation, concluding...
Timeline
By early March 1922
The miners' strike in South Africa known as the Rand Rebellion had escalated to almost the proportions of a war; many reports called the miners revolutionaries.
15 May 1930
Writer and activist Sarojini Naidu
(as a member of an Indian women's organization) led a raid on the government salt depot at Dharasana in India.
29 November 1947 - 29 February 1948
The Royal Academy
in London held an important exhibition of Indian and Pakistani art. Sarojini Naidu
was one of those who worked with British arts professionals to find and select the exhibits.