Sarojini Naidu

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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.
Black and white photo of Sarojini Naidu, head and neck only. She looks quizzically at the camera, her face resting on one hand, with slightly raised eyebrows emphasizing the wrinkles on her forehead. Her dark grey hair is brushed back, and she wears dangly earrings.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Friends, Associates Rosita Forbes
In FinlandRF met the national hero Marshal Mannerheim .
Forbes, Rosita. Gypsy in the Sun. Cassell, 1944.
302
On her first visit to the USA she met Rebecca West , Ruth Draper , Anna Pavlova , and H. G. Wells ; on...
Intertextuality and Influence Percy Bysshe Shelley
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...
Textual Features Carol Ann Duffy
Among the many poets gathered here, inescapable choices like Wilfred Owen , Siegfried Sassoon , Isaac Rosenberg , and Robert Graves rub shoulders with the unexpected, like Cynthia Asquith , Sarojini Naidu , and Gertrude Stein .
Theme or Topic Treated in Text Rosita Forbes
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.