The Independent . ure,to synthesize the thought of the Eastand the thought of the West, to spreada universal philosophy. She is contentto express in beautiful English versethe thoughts of her purely Orientalmind. And in so doing she draws aside,for a moment, the curtain that hangsbefore the mysteries of India, and per-mits England and America to look atstrange and lovely things. Mrs. Naidu dedicates her book, TheGolden Threshold, To Edmund Gosse,who first showed me the way to thegolden threshold. And in his prefaceto Mrs. Naidus The Bird of TimeMr. Gosse tells just how he directedthe course of
The Independent . ure,to synthesize the thought of the Eastand the thought of the West, to spreada universal philosophy. She is contentto express in beautiful English versethe thoughts of her purely Orientalmind. And in so doing she draws aside,for a moment, the curtain that hangsbefore the mysteries of India, and per-mits England and America to look atstrange and lovely things. Mrs. Naidu dedicates her book, TheGolden Threshold, To Edmund Gosse,who first showed me the way to thegolden threshold. And in his prefaceto Mrs. Naidus The Bird of TimeMr. Gosse tells just how he directedthe course of this poets genius. Sarojini Chattopadhyay, the daughterof Dr. Aghorenath Chattopadhyay, whofounded the Nizam College at Hydera-bad, was born in Hyderabad in was the eldest of a large family,all of whom learned English at anearly age. She was taught science byher father, and from him and fromher mother she inherited a strong tend-ency towards poetry. She began writingat the age of eleven—at thirteen she. SAttUJliNl JNA1DU wrote a drama of two thousand linesand a thirteen hundred line narrativepoem in the manner of The Lady ofthe Lake. All this early work was thoroly Eng-lish in theme and in manner. And thisis where Mr. Edmund Gosse comes intothe story of her development. Sent toEngland by her parents in the hope ofbreaking her of her love for Dr. Govin-durajulu Naidu, who was not consideredan acceptable suitor because he wasnot a Brahmin, Sarojini, then sixteenyears old, met Edmund Gosse and athis request showed him her poems inmanuscript. The verses which Sarojini had en-trusted to him, he tells us, were skilfulin form, correct in grammar, andblameless in sentiment, but they hadthe disadvantage of being totally with-out individuality. They were Westernin feeling and in imagery; they werefounded on reminiscences of Tennysonand Shelley. Mr. Gosse told the young poet to con-sign to the waste basket all the versethat she had written in this falselyEnglish vein. He urged
Size: 1371px × 1823px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, bookpublishernewyorkswbenedict
