SOURCE: "Krishna Motifs in the Poetry of Sarojini Naidu and Kamala Das," in Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. XIII, No. 1, Fall, 1977, pp. 9-14.

In the following essay, Blackwell examines imagery used by Naidu and Kamala Das of "the soul's quest for God (Krishna). "

Let us consider four poems, two each by two Indian poets writing in English. The older of the two is Sarojini Naidu (1879-1949), who is the author of three volumes of poetry: The Golden Threshold (1905), The Bird of Time (1912) and The Broken Wing (1915-1916). This first poem is taken from the second volume:

"Song of Radha the Milkmaid"

I carried my curds to the Mathura fair. . .
 How softly the heifers were lowing . . .
 I wanted to cry, "Who will buy, who will buy
 These curds that are white as the clouds in the sky
 When the breezes of Shrawan are blowing?"
 But my heart was...