Wandering Singers

Sarojini Naidu

The wandering singers of this poem have no fixed abode. They are forever on the
road, led to ever new places by the voice of the wind. Whether they are travelling
through streets or forests, the places echo with their songs. These songs have many
themes: cities that were once glorious but no more; happy and beautiful women
who died a long time ago; old battles and old kings. As can be seen, all these themes
have something pleasant—beauty, happiness, glory or bravery—and something sad
about them—they belong to the past.

The wandering singers have no family and no home, but they consider everyone
their family and the whole world their home. They do not dream and plan the way
other people do, for their lives do not follow a fixed, regular pattern; their destiny is
as changeable as the changing direction of the wind. They are not held back by love
or happiness, yet they love their wandering lifestyle and are happy to keep travelling
forever.

The rhyme scheme of the poem is aa bb cc dd ee ff. It has been written in the first
person plural, using ‘we’ rather than ‘I’ or ‘they’ so that the story of the wandering
singers can be told in their voice and so that it is emphasised that they are a group
of singers, travelling together as a family in themselves, rather than a solitary
individual. The poet has chosen her words carefully: ‘wander’ and ‘roam’ imply a
leisurely, peaceful mode of travelling rather than for a fixed purpose or any pressing
demand. Repeating words like ‘voice’, ‘calls’ and ‘echoing’ emphasises that the
poem is about songs and singers. The half-sad, half-cheerful mood of the poem is
established by the dual nature of the wandering singers’ lives and songs. These

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figures also look timeless, since no particular place, date or name is mentioned, and
the singers say that they keep travelling, as if without beginning or end.

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