COMPARISON OF THE “GIFT

OF INDIA” AND “JOHN

BROWN”
BY ANINDYA BATABYAL
 SAROJINI NAIDU (1879-1949)
• Sarojini Naidu, popularly known as the Nightingale of India, was born on 13
February 1879. She was an Indian political activist and poet.
• Sarojini Naidu was a prolific poet whose volumes of poetry include The Golden
Threshold (1905), The Bird of Time (1912), The Sceptered Flute (1928), and The
Feather of the Dawn (1961).
• She was the first female Indian governor of Uttar Pradesh in independent India.
 BOB DYLAN !!!
• Bob Dylan is an American singer, songwriter, poet and painter. He was born on May
24, 1941. He was born in Minnesota, US. He has been one of the major influential
figures in popular music and culture for his extraordinary folk and country songs. In
1961, he signed his first recording contract and emerged as one of the most
influential voices in the history of American popular music. Dylan is known for his
lyrics that incorporate an array of political, philosophical, social and literary
influences. He has received eleven Grammy awards, a Golden Globe award, an
Academy award as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2016, he received
the Nobel prize in literature “for having created new poetic expressions within the
great American song tradition”.
 ‘THE GIFT OF INDIA’ !!!!
• The poem ‘The Gift of India’ by Sarojini Naidu sounds like an appeal
made by mother India to the world to remember the contribution of
Indian soldiers during World War I.
• It is surcharged with the emotional outpouring of a mother,
reminiscence on how her children fought and died during World
War I.
 ‘JOHN BROWN’
• John brown is an anti-war song composed and performed by the American
singer-songwriter and Nobel laureate Bob Dylan. The song is an
expression of the singer’s deep-rooted sense of pacifism.
• The song follows the young soldier and his mother’s lives. The singer
shows us the true fate of the American soldiers who are stationed in
foreign countries for war. He also questions the very nature of war and
shows us that there is no nobility in warfare, thereby strengthening the
idea of pacifism.
 DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW
• In John Brown the poem is narrated in third person but both John Brown's mother and
John Brown’s point of view is given. John Brown is at first very excited to go to war. He
too is proud of himself, like his mother and he too like his mother wants to gain glory in
war but when he does fight a war, he figures out that he is only a pawn and so at this point
his view on war changes. Now he believes that war is futile and that there is no point to it.
• The Gift of India is narrated from mother India's point of view and her sons’ point of view
is not given so we do not know how they feel about the war.  
 DIFFERENT REASONS FOR PRIDE
• In the poem John Brown, John Brown’s mother is proud to see her son become a
soldier and go to war as it will win him many medals and glory similarly in The
Gift of India mother India is also proud of her sons but for different reason, she is
proud of her sons as by going to war they are keeping her commitment to the
foreign nations.
• John Brown’s mother is happy to see her son become a soldier and go to the war in
contrast to mother India whose sons were torn from her breast.  
 THE GIFT OF INDIA AS AN ANTI WAR
POEM:
• The Gift of India (1915), written by Sarojini Naidu alludes to the selfless
sacrifice and courage of Indian soldiers who participated in the First
World war.
• The poet mourns over her deceased children who sacrificed their lives in
the war and sung for the soldiers who died in other foreign lands. The
poem critiques the war and its impact on the family causes devastation.
The title of the poem is suggestive of the gift of India that India bestowed
upon Britain in fighting against Germany.
JOHN BROWN AS AN ANTI WAR POEM :

• Bob Dylan’s song ‘John Brown’ is an anti-war lyric. It tells the story of an
American mother who sends her son John Brown to war on some foreign
land. The song follows the young soldier and his mother’s lives.
• The singer shows us the true fate of the American soldiers who are
stationed in foreign countries for war. 
 COCLUSION
• At the end of the poem John Brown, John Brown's mother is shocked to see her son like
that, so much so that she cannot even look at him. John Brown drops his medals into his
mother’s hand which shows that he has deep contempt for his mother as a result of her
pushing him to become a soldier and fight in the war. In The Gift of India at the end of
the poem mother India asks us to offer memorial thanks to the commanders who fought
in the Dauntless ranks, to honor the deeds of the deathless ones and to remember the
blood of her martyred sons. There seems to be no bad blood between son and mother at
the end of this war.
THANK YOU