2.

VILLAGE SONGS
Sarojini Naidu

WARM UP ACTIVITY

Match the personalities with their correct positions:

PERSONALITIES THEIR POSITIONS

Sheryl Sandberg  Chair Person & Editorial Director

of Hindustan Times Group

Joanne Rowling  Prime minister of Germany

Susan Wojcicki  President of Ethiopia

Indra Nooyi  CEO of Samba Financial Group

Angela Merkel  Nigerian Media Personality

Roshni Malhotra  CEO of HCL

Gwynne Shotwell  COO of SpaceX

Shobhana Bhartia  Author of Harry Potter Series

Rania Nashar  COO of Facebook

Sahleo-Work Zewde  Senior Vice-President at Google

Mo Abudu  CEO of PepsiCo

Women listed above heeded to the call which came from within
themselves that had made them successful!!!

Find out the meaning of the expression ‘Heeded to the call’…

GLOSSARY:

Whither [Adverb] – to what place

Cast [Verb] – to throw in a forceful way

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Grieve [Verb] – to cause someone to feel sad
Forth [Adverb] - forward
Boughs [Noun] – a main branch of a tree
Haunted [Verb] – to visit as a ghost often and cause problems
Isles [Noun] – a little island
Glisten [Verb] – to shine with light reflected of a wet surface
Loom [Noun] – a machine that interlaces thread into cloth
Hearth [Noun] – the flat pot inside a fireplace
Cadences [Noun] – a continuous rising and falling action

TEXT

HONEY, child, honey, child, whither are you going?

Would you cast your jewels all to the breezes blowing?
Would you leave the mother who on golden grain has fed you?
Would you grieve the lover who is riding forth to wed you?

Mother mine, to the wild forest I am going,

Where upon the champa boughs the champa buds are blowing;
To the köil-haunted river-isles where lotus lilies glisten,
The voices of the fairy folk are calling me: O listen!

Honey, child, honey, child, the world is full of pleasure,

Of bridal-songs and cradle-songs and sandal-scented leisure.
Your bridal robes are in the loom, silver and saffron glowing,
Your bridal cakes are on the hearth: O whither are you going?

The bridal-songs and cradle-songs have cadences of sorrow,

The laughter of the sun to-day, the wind of death to-morrow.
Far sweeter sound the forest-notes where forest-streams are falling;
O mother mine, I cannot stay, the fairy-folk are calling.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sarojini Naidu was an Indian independence activist and poet

who was called ‘The Nightingale of India’. The poem, “Village

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Songs” deals with the traditional Indian village living style and
the attachment of young girl to her family.

A. COMPREHENSION

1. The poem is a dialogue between two characters. Who are

they?
a. Ghost and a girl
b. Tree and a child
c. Mother and a daughter
d. A witch and a young girl
2. Where does the daughter wish to go?
a. The wild forest
b. The school
c. To fetch water
d. Elope with her lover
3. The mother in the poem gives what reason to the daughter to
stop her from going?
a. Reason that the mother is dying
b. Reason that it is her wedding
c. Reason that her father is dying
d. Reason that the world is a scary place
4. Who is calling the daughter?
a. The witch
b. The ghost
c. A stranger
d. Fairy-folk

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5. What does the fairy-folk in the poem represent?
a. A witch in disguise
b. The daughter’s dreams
c. Scary things in the forest which she is ignorant of.
d. Her mother

B. PARAGRAPH QUESTIONS:

1. State the three reasons the mother gives the daughter to

stop her from going away.
2. State the reasons the daughter gives to ignore her mother.
3. How does the mother try to convince the daughter into marital
life?
4. Why does the daughter ignore her mother’s reasons?
5. What do you think ‘Fairy-folk’ means?

C. COMPOSITION:

1. Draft an essay on the poem “Village Song” written by Sarojini

Naidu using the following sub-headings:
a. Introduction
b. Mother-daughter relationship
c. The mother’s reasons
d. The daughter’s wish
e. The call of the ‘Fairy-folk’
f. Conclusion
2. Write an essay of your own on the topic ‘Chase your Dreams’
using the following sub-headings:
a. Introduction
b. What is my dream that I am passionate about?

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c. What should I do to keep up with the passion?
d. Skills I should learn/acquire to keep up with the passion
e. Deadline to achieve my dream.

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