Palanquin Bearers by Sarojini Naidu

“Palanquin Bearers” appears in Sarojini Naidu’s well-known poetry collection The Golden Threshold. It is the first poem of the volume, appearing in the Folk Songs section. It is a song of the bearers of a palanquin. The term “Palanquin” is associated solely with India. It is a covered couch for a passenger, especially a bride or married woman, consisting of a large box carried on two horizontal piles. Usually, it is carried by four or six sturdy bearers. While carrying the palanquin, they sing in chorus in order to lighten their burden, mentally. This poem features one such song voiced by the Indian “Nightingale” Sarojini Naidu.

• Read the full text of “Palanquin Bearers” below:

Palanquin Bearers
by Sarojini Naidu

Lightly, O lightly we bear her along,
She sways like a flower in the wind of our song;
She skims like a bird on the foam of a stream,
She floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream.
Gaily, O gaily we glide and we sing,
We bear her along like a pearl on a string.

Softly, O softly we bear her along,
She hangs like a star in the dew of our song;
She springs like a beam on the brow of the tide,
She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride.
Lightly, O lightly we glide and we sing,
We bear her along like a pearl on a string.

- from The Golden Threshold (1905)

Summary

“Palanquin Bearers” has two verses. The first verse features how the bearers handle the box with caution and sing along the way. They glorify the passenger by using several metaphors. For example, they compare the lady to a flower dancing in their beautiful song. She skims like a bird on the foam and floats like a laugh from the lips of dreamers. The bearers are happy to do their job and they bear her as if she is a precious pearl hung on strings of a pole.

In the next stanza, Naidu uses a similar pattern in order to describe the lady. The bearers sing about how the lady hangs on the palanquin. They describe the lady as a beam as well as a tear. The last two lines are repeated as a refrain.

Meaning

The title of the poem “Palanquin Bearers” associates an Indian essence. This piece is about the song of palanquin bearers which they sing while carrying a lady passenger. In this poem, Naidu explores how they glorify the lady as if she is a precious thing. Besides, it also depicts the respect they have for the lady. For them, she is as soft as a flower. Hence, they have to bear her lightly. It is not that they are unhappy with their work. So they reiterate the fact they are more than happy to be the co-passengers of the bride. This sweet, little song vividly depicts the beauty of the lady and the gliding movement of the palanquin.

Form, Rhyme Scheme, & Meter

Structure & Form

“Palanquin Bearers” consists of two stanzas. Each stanza has six lines. The number of lines somehow hints at the number of men bearing the lady to her destination. This poem has a song-like structure. It contains a refrain at the end of each verse. Naidu uses a similar sentence structure in both verses. Besides, this piece is written from the bearers’ point of view. The musicality alongside the presence of first-person speakers brings out a lyrical quality in this piece.

Rhyme Scheme

This piece contains a set rhyme scheme. It is AABBCCDD, meaning each verse consists of three rhyming couplets. For example, the first two lines form a couplet that contains the following rhyming pair of words: “along” and “song”.

The same scheme is followed in the second verse. There is only one exception. It occurs in the last two lines. In these lines, “sing” and “string” rhyme imperfectly. However, these terms end with a similar consonant sound.

Meter

Most of the lines of this poem contain eleven syllables. While a few contain ten syllables. After grouping the syllables into units of two/three syllables, there will be a total of four feet in front of readers. They need to stress the second/third syllable of each foot. Hence, the overall poem is composed in anapestic tetrameter with a few iambic and trochaic variations. Let’s see how the metrical scheme works in the text.

Light-ly,/ O light/-ly we bear/ her a-long,

She sways/ like a flower/ in the wind/ of our song;

She skims/ like a bird/ on the foam/ of a stream,

She floats/ like a laugh/ from the lips/ of a dream.

Gai-ly,/ O gai/-ly we glide/ and we sing,

We bear/ her a-long/ like a pearl/ on a string.

Poetic Devices & Figures of Speech

Naidu uses the following poetic devices in “Palanquin Bearers”.

• Repetition: It occurs throughout the poem. For instance, the beginning of the first line is repeated in the fifth line. Besides, line 2-4 follows a similar beginning.
• Anaphora: It occurs in the second, third, and fourth lines of each verse. These lines begin with the pronoun “She”.
• Simile: It occurs in lines 2-4 of both the stanzas. For example, Naidu compares the lady to a flower, bird, and laugh in these lines.
• Metaphor: This device is used in the lines where simile occurs. For instance, the phrase “the wind of our song” contains a metaphor. Here, the flow of the song is compared to the wind. Another important metaphor of this piece is “a pearl on a string”. Naidu compares the woman to a pearl and the poles of the palanquin to a string.
• Refrain: The last two lines of each stanza act as a refrain.
• Alliteration: It occurs in “She sways”, “She skims”, “Gaily, O gaily we glide”, “She springs”, etc.
• Imagery: Naidu makes use of visual imagery to compare the lady to a number of things. She also uses kinesthetic imagery in order to depict the movement of the palanquin.

Themes

The main themes of “Palanquin Bearers” concern the act of palanquin bearing and feminine beauty. Naidu also explores the theme of nature, music, and Indianness or orientalism. This poem presents an oriental rural scene. It has now become rare. However, Naidu takes readers to a time when Indian women traveled by palanquins. In this poem, she visually depicts how the palanquin moves. It seems as if she is describing a shop floating on the sea or a bird flying with the wind.

Besides, she associates the essence of music with this physical activity to fuse beauty with activity and toil with enjoyment. From the tone of the bearers, it doesn’t even seem that the act has made them tiresome. Rather they enjoy the process as they were not bearing a lady, but taking a precious pearl safely to its destination.

Line-by-Line Critical Analysis & Explanation

Line 1

Lightly, O lightly we bear her along,

The pellucid style and the cadence of a collective song fill the ambiance of “Palanquin Bearers”. Naidu speaks in this poem from the perspective of the bearers carrying a lady to a place. She does not delve into any personal details. Rather her focus solely lies on the agility of their movement and the way they appreciate the passenger.

The repetition of the term “Lightly” in the very first line describes how softly they bear the palanquin. For the passenger sitting inside, the journey does not seem tiring at any point. The bearers are so swift and light in their movement that it seems they are floating, not treading on the ground.

Lines 2-4

She sways like a flower in the wind of our song;

She skims like a bird on the foam of a stream,

She floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream.

In the following lines, Naidu uses a number of metaphors, presented with similes. Firstly, the lady is compared to a flower. By using this comparison, the poet describes how soft the lady is. For the poet, it seems as if the lady is nodding her head as a flower does in the mild air current. Furthermore, the flow of the bearers’ song is compared to the wind. So, the lady is swaying with the rhythm of their song.

In the next line, the lady is compared to a bird. The movement of the palanquin seems like the waves and the lady, like a bird, touches the foam while gliding over them. The beautiful metaphor of a stream not only describes the wave-like movement of the palanquin but also depicts how swiftly the bearers carry it.

The third line contains another thought-provoking comparison between the lady and a laugh. According to the speaker, she floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream. In “lips of a dream”, the poet uses synecdoche to invest an abstract with a concrete attribute. Here, “dream” represents a dreamer. The lady is like a happy dream of a person. Her transience is compared to the temporary happiness of a dreamer while having a vision of the lady.

Lines 5-6

Gaily, O gaily we glide and we sing,

We bear her along like a pearl on a string.

The fifth line begins with a repetition of the term “gaily”. It refers to the cheerful mood of the bearers. They are more than happy to carry the lady to her destination. Naidu describes their movement as if they are gliding with the wind. So, here the poet metaphorically compares the bearers to birds or a ship.

While carrying the passenger, they sing to unburden them from weariness. Besides, they bear her like a “pearl on a string”. This phrase has two metaphors. First of all, the lady is so precious to the speakers that they think it is like a pearl. This pearl hangs on a string, a metaphorical reference to the poles of the palanquin or the bearers. Imaginatively, the bearers are like a string and the lady, the central attraction, is the pearl hanging on it. So, the bearers along with the passengers depict an image of a pendant.

Lines 7-12

Softly, O softly we bear her along,

She hangs like a star in the dew of our song;

She springs like a beam on the brow of the tide,

She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride.

Lightly, O lightly we glide and we sing,

We bear her along like a pearl on a string.

The second stanza of “Palanquin Bearers” begins with a refrain. In the beginning, Naidu uses the phrase “Softly, O softly”. This line describes how soft the bearers’ movement is.

In the following lines, the poet presents a series of comparisons as present in the first stanza. Firstly, the speakers compare the lady to a star. Their song is described as a “dew”. Here, the reflection of a star in dew is portrayed. As the dew trembles, it makes the reflection tremble. While the palanquin moves, the passenger’s body also shakes in this manner.

Then she is compared to a “beam”, meaning a ship or a ray of light. Like a ship sails on the tide, the palanquin is carried. The lady is portrayed as a ship or a light beam that springs on the “brow of the tide”. Here, Naidu uses a personal metaphor in the quoted phrase.

In the next line, Naidu hints at the lady’s mental state. She is newly married and leaving her home. That’s why the poet uses an image of a bride in tears. Apart from that, the last two lines are repeated for the sake of emphasis.

Historical Context

The poem “Palanquin Bearers” was first published in Sarojini Naidu’s first poetry collection The Golden Threshold. It appears as the first poem of the Folk Songs section. The book was first published in 1896 in the United Kingdom and later in Hyderabad in 1905. Her poems published in this volume were admired in India and abroad. Politicians like Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Mahatma Gandhi appreciated her works. In this song, Naidu depicts a rural Indian scene. It centers on an image of a newly married woman carried by a palanquin. The poet vividly depicts how the bearers adorn her and carry her swiftly and softly to her destination.

Questions & Answers

Similar Indo-Anglian Poems

• “The Bird Sanctuary” by Sarojini Naidu — In this poem, Naidu expresses her wish to be in close proximity with God and nature.
• “The Orphan Girl” by Henry Derozio — This piece features the loneliness and suffering of an orphan girl.
• “Bequest” by Eunice de Souza — This feminist poem explores what a woman bequeaths to her future generation.
• “Sita” by Toru Dutt — This poem alludes to Sita’s tragic tale and its impression on a speaker’s mind.

External Resources

• Full Text of The Golden Threshold — Explore more poems from this collection.
• Sarojini Naidu, the Nightingale of India — Read the short biographical sketch of Naidu.
• About Sarojini Naidu — Learn about the poet’s life, her political and literary career.
• Google Doodle on Sarojini Naidu’s 135th Birthday — Explore the doodle commemorating Naidu’s 135th birth anniversary.