Indian Weavers

Presented By : Raman
(Computer Faculty)
SGAD Govt. Girls Sec School, Tarn Taran
About the Author
Sarojini Naidu was born into a Bengali
Brahmin family in Hyderabad, India. With
her father a scientist and her mother a poet,
she grew up surrounded by artists,
intellectuals, and revolutionaries. Her
published poetic works include The Golden
Threshold (1905), The Bird of Time (1912),
The Broken Wing (1917), Selected Poems
(1930), The Sceptred Flute (1937, with Sarojini Naidu
introduction by Joseph Auslander), and The (1879-1949)
Feather of the Dawn (1961).
About the Poem
This poem describes the weavers weaving garments of
different types. They weave garments of a new born
baby. They also weave marriage veils of a queen. On
cold moonlights they weave white garments.
Explanation
Stanza I
Weavers, weaving at break of day1
Poet says that weavers are busy weaving garment at day break.
Why do you weave a garment2 so gay3?
Poetess asks the weavers about the garment.
Blue as the wing of halcyon4 wild
The garment is blue and looks beautiful.
We weave the robes5 of a new born child
The weavers tell her that they are weaving a garment of a new born
baby. They relate it to the start of the life.

1. sunrise 2. dress 3. bright 4. a blue coloured bird 5. dress

Stanza II
Weavers, weaving at fall of night

Poetess here talks about the night time.

Why do you weave a garment so bright?
Poetess asks why they weave this garment.
Like the plumes1 of peacock, purple and green

She finds that the weavers are working on a beautiful and bright garment. It has a
magic colors
We weave the marriage veils2 of a queen

Weavers tell her that they are weaving a marriage veil of a queen.
This phrase suggests the second phase of life

1. wings 2. Cover
Stanza III
Weavers, weaving solemn1 and still
Here weavers are weaving a garment in a silent and serious way.
What do you weave in the moonlight chill2?

It is cold moonlight night.

White as feather and white as a cloud
The colour of the garment is white like a cloud and a feather.

We weave a dead man’s funeral shroud3

On asking weavers tell the poetess that they are weaving a cloth to
cover the body of a dead man.This phrase shows the third phase of
the life.

1. Sad and serious 2. cold 3. covering cloth of a dead body

Classroom Exercise
 Plumes  Wings
 Chill  Cold
 Funeral Shroud  Covering cloth of dead
 Author Name  Sarojini Naidu
 Veil  Cover
Recapitulation
The poem displays the joys and mixtures of the life. It
coincides the working time of the weavers with the joy
and sorrows of the life. Weavers weave bright and
colourful cloth for the new birth baby and also for the
marriage of a queen. Therefore representing the joyous
moment of life with the rise of the day. Like night
sorrow is also the part of life. Weavers work on night to
weave the shroud for dead man symbolizing the end
(night) of life.
Bibliography
 Microsoft Encarta 2005
 English Textbook of 10+2
 Helping Book for English 10+2