THE LOTUS

SUMMARY AND THEME OF THE POEM

In this poem, Toru Dutt presents the idea that the Indian Lotus is the most beautiful of all
flowers. For a long time, Lily and Rose had been fighting for the title ‘Queen of flowers.’ Each
flower with its own support from poets, claimed for the title. At this time, God of Love came to
Goddess Flora asking for a flower, which would be the unchallenged queen of flowers. She
wanted for a flower, which was stately as the Lily and as delicious as the Rose. Goddess Flora
gave God of Love the lotus flower and resolved the long standing quarrel between Lily and
Rose. Great poets supported the flowers according to their wish, and some poets even raised the
doubt if the lily was beautiful than the rose. Lotus combines the redness of the rose with the
paleness of the lily. Goddess Flora created Lotus, which was both rose red and lily white.

One more thing to note is that the lotus is a flower of significance both to Indian and the Hindu
religion. We can understand Toru Dutt’s affection for an Indian flower and also she wanted to
establish the superiority of Hindu religion over other religions in the world. As Toru Dutt was
brought up and educated abroad, she always turned to classical mythology to establish her stand.

Analysis of “The Lotus”

Toru Dutt was an educated young woman who had traveled to Britain and France during her
childhood.  British literature and culture influenced her and is demonstrated in various work by
Toru, including “The Lotus”.  In the poem, Toru presents the idea that the lotus is the most
beautiful of all flowers in order to establish superiority of the Hindu religion over other world
religions.

“The Lotus”, begins with a conflict between the rose and the lily flower.  The goddess of love,
Aphrodite, approached the flower goddess, Flora to create a flower who would undisputedly be
the queenliest of all flowers.  Both the lily and the rose, used their “bards of power” in their fight
over the queenliest flower title.  Bards is associated with Gaelic spiritual power traditions of
England, Scotland and Ireland.  Toru uses Greek and Roman mythology as support for her Hindu
beliefs and to establish her stand.   The rose is described as never reaching the level of the lily
flower, because the lily has a strong willed demeanor.

In line 8 of the poem, we reach the climax where all the flower groups form cliques in a bitter
conflict within the soul’s essence.  The goddess Flora is given a task of creating a flower as
“delicious as the rose” and “stately as the lily in her pride” (Dutt, 82)    Lines 9-14 of the poem,
describes the solution to the problem of finding the queenliest flower of all.   Toru has Flora
create a flower that is both red as a rose and white as a lily.  As a result, Flora creates a flower
with the characteristics of a rose and a lily combined and created the beautiful lotus flower.

Why did Toru chose the lotus flower as the queenliest of all flowers?  The lotus is a national
symbol of India and the Hindu faith.  The overall theme of the poem is the pride of India’s
culture and Hindu religion. The idea of Hindu being the ultimate religion of the world is the main
focus of “The Lotus”.   Hinduism is polytheistic in nature and beliefs are practiced through idol

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worship.  The idols can be human, animal or natural, such as the Sun God. Each idol has a form
of symbolism, which represents knowledge, wealth, and strength among a few things (Mullatti) 
Toru wanted to acknowledge her Indian background for others to understand her love for her
native country India.  Although she had traveled and received her education abroad during her
childhood, she still believes India to be her home.   Indian tradition explains the lotus flower
springs not from the earth but from the surface of the water and will remain pure and
unblemished, not matter the impurity of the water.  The purity of the lotus expresses the idea of
supernatural birth and the appearance of the first created entity from the ancient waters of chaos,
thus the lotus is observed as the medium of the Hindu creator Narayana and his second being
God Brahma (Mitra & Kaporr, 126).    Toru uses the idea of Greek and Roman goddesses to
create a western understanding of Hinduism and its divine faith of the lotus.

Toru had an ability to excel in her writing at a young age and is one of the most famous Indo-
Anglican poets of India.  She mastered “The Lotus” in a Petrarchan style by separating the poem
into two divisions, the Octave and the Sestet.  Toru was able to present the problem of searching
for the queenliest flower in the octave, which was composed of the first 8 lines and resolved the
issue by creating the lotus in the sestet, which consists of the last 6 lines.  She uses the rose and
the lily in the poem to describe the West and the East.  The “lily” is a representation of the white
race and the “rose” depicting the reddish skin tone of the eastern race, such as her native India.
Thus the poem “The Lotus” indicates a fusion between the West and East (Dutt, 82).  Although
Toru herself was raised as a Christian with western ideology, she was able to relate herself back
to her Eastern roots of India in the sonnet.  The lotus is a representation of Toru and her cultural
encounters living in Western Europe (Dutt, 82).  She interlaces her Western experience and
education in order to create herself as her beautiful native Indian lotus flower

Figure of speech and form

The rhyme scheme is abbaacca dedeed. There is no ending couplet though there is an ee
couplet in the sestet. Petrarchan sonnets are fourteen lines written in an octave and sestet.

The use of personification by indicating flora and fauna as a living being.

SYMBOLISM

[1] “The Lotus” as a Petrarchan sonnet, a form whose structure often informs its content. 
Petrarchan sonnets are comprised of 14 lines which are divided into an octave and a sestet. The
octave, or the first eight lines, outlines a problem or expresses a desire; the sestet, or the last six
lines, comments on the problem or suggests a solution. The Petrarchan sonnet usually meditates
on love as its primary theme, particularly unattainable love. 

[2] "Love" is most likely a reference to Cupid, Roman god of love, although one account of
creation in mythology involves Love, personified, who produces life and joy. "Flora" is the
Roman goddess of flowers and spring.

[3]As Gibson notes, Dutt is entering into a long poetical debate on the superiority of the rose
versus the lily, most notably William Cowper’s “The Lily and the Rose” (393). Dutt portrays the

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rose as romantic and delicious because of its color in contrast to the lily, which is regal and
stately in stature. In Cowper’s poem, it is decided that the two flowers must reign equally as
queen until there exists a third to surpass them. Dutt employs the powers of the gods and
goddesses along with the tradition of the “Bards” in order to position the lotus as the “queenliest”
flower.

[4] The title “bard” harkens back to 12th century Britain as the name given to poets. It was still
used during Toru’s time as a title of respect to great poets—Shakespeare and Milton were both
referred to as “bards.” Here, Dutt calls attention to the “traditional” English poets who neglect to
remember there are other “flowers” or “beauties” in the world. In addition, the word “power”
adds a sense of the dominant position the English assume in the world over all things—poetry,
beauty, people, land. Dutt unsettles and displaces that control.

[5] Juno is considered the queen of Roman mythology. She is usually depicted in a dignified and
imperial manner, so Dutt’s reference to her mien (demeanor or bearing) reinforces the stateliness
of the lily.

[6] In Roman mythology, Psyche is Cupid’s love interest. In their story, Psyche is at one point
brought to a bower (a leafy shelter or recess) covered with plants and flowers.

[7] Dutt’s focus on the “colour” of the flowers calls to mind the “privileged” position Europeans
gave to people based on skin color.

[8] In this sense, “blows” means to produce flowers or to be in flower