Baugmaree (By Toru Dutt)
Introduction to the Poem ‘Baugmaree’
This sonnet ‘Baugmaree’ is a Petrarchan or Classical sonnet. It is also known as Miltonic sonnet after the name of Milton. It has two parts-an octave of eight lines and a sestet of six lines. Its rhyme scheme is a b b a, a b b a, c d c d e e. This sonnet shows, Toru Dutt’s deep love of Nature. This garden has different kinds of trees and these are sufficient to charm us. There are trees of different colours. Variety of colours in the garden makes it very attractive.
Toru Dutt loved trees very deeply. Her another poem ‘Our Casurina Tree’ like this poem shows Toru Dutt as a poetess of nature. This poem reveals the inmate love the poetess had for nature. Her description of tamarind tree, cluster of mango trees, palm trees and seemul trees gives us a soothing feeling. Otherwise human life is very drab and unhappy. She watches the moon whose rays pass through the gaps of the range of bamboos. A blooming lotus flower appears to her like a cup of silver. The beauty of Baugmaree is just like the beauty of the heavenly Eden Garden. If we are drunk with the natural beauty of the garden, we may swoon.
This poem Baugmaree, reminds us of the famous poem “The Garden” composed by Andrew Marvell.
Summary of the Poem
Toru Dutt’s sonnet ‘Baugmaree’, like Andrew Marvell’s poem “The Garden” is a beautiful description of the garden. Toru Dutt is a great lover of trees, their different colours and beauty. The whole garden is encircled by a sea of green leaves which are bright and not dull. There are contrasted colours-light green colour of tall tamarinds and deep green colour of mango trees. The tall palm trees appear like grey pillars and the red seemul trees lean over the quiet polls of water. These produce a shrill sound like that of a trumpet.
Toru Dutt finds great beauty is another object of nature. The rays of the moon pass through the chinks between the bamboo trees. The blooming lotus flower appears like a silver cup. She compares the beauty of Baugmaree garden with the beauty of heavenly Eden Garden. We can do nothing but gaze at its beauty with amazement.
Explanations & Analysis
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A sea of foliage girts……….like a trumpet’s sound.
Explanation with Reference to the Context-
These are the opening lines of the sonnet ‘Baugmaree’ composed by Toru Dutt. This sonnet shows Toru Dutt as a poetess of nature. She was a poetess who took fancy for the garden ‘Baugmaree’. Really she was very fond of trees. Her poems abound in descriptions of the beauty of nature. She describes the beauty of the trees and gardens in a very attractive manner. Her nature descriptions act a soothing force to the otherwise drab and unhappy life that human beings lead.
Toru Dutt presents a beautiful description of the garden in the Octave. The garden is surrounded by a sea of green leaves but the greenery is not dull green. There are different kinds of contrasted colours in this garden. There are different trees-tamarinds of light-green colour in the midst of a cluster of mango trees which are of deep green colour. The tell palm trees are standing between these trees and look like pillars of grey colour. The seemul trees lean over the calm pools of water. These are of red colour and the movement of their leaves gives us a shrill noise like that of a wind instrument.
Critical Comment
- Toru Dutt possessed a seeing eye : Nothing escaped her notice. The colour combination presented by her is very attractive. Variety is the spice of life. In the garden there are trees of different colours-light green, dark green, grey and red. All these trees are beautiful to look at. This poem reminds us of Andrew Marvell’s poem “The Garden”.
- This sonnet is a genuine work of verbal embroidery H.A.L. Fisher rightly said, “This child of the green valley of the Ganges will for ever remain in the great fellowship of English poets.”
- The rhyme scheme of these lines is a b b a a b b a.
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But nothing can be lovelier ……Eden, in amaze.
Explanation with Reference to the Context-
These lines are from the sestet of Toru Dutt’s popular sonnet “Baugmaree”. This sonnet reminds us of Andrew Marvell’s famous poem “The Garden”. This poem celebrates Toru Dutt’s love of Nature. There is a freshness and elegance in Toru Dutt’s sonnet. There is everywhere in the garden a riot of green colour indicating the lusty growth of Nature. The ranges of tall bamboos, the lotus flower etc. are so enchanting that we may be lost in amazement.
Toru Dutt describes the tamarinds, cluster of mango trees, palm trees and seemul trees. Here she says that the ranges of bamboos through the gaps of which the moon peeps are the loveliest. The blooming lotus flower floods like a cup of silver. The natural “Beauty is enough for us to swoon. We may go on grazing in amazement at the ancient garden which is as beautiful, as the Eden Garden in heaven.
Critical Comment-
- Toru Dutt compares Baugmaree to the Eden Garden of Heaven. This is just like Andrew Marvell’s description of the garden in his famous poem. “The Garden” Adam lived in two paradises–the Eden Garden and spent his life in innocence and happiness.
- This poem shows Toru Dutt’s deep love of Nature. She has described trees of different colours.
- The rhyme scheme of this sestet is cdcdee. It is a Petrarchan, Classical or Miltonic sonnet.
English Literature— Important links
- “The Flute player of Brindaban”- Summary, Analysis & Explanation
- Ode to a Nightingale- Stanza-wise Explanation & Analysis
- Critical appreciation of the “Ode To a Nightingale”
- “Ode to the West Wind”- Introduction & Complete Explanation
- Main Characteristics of P. B. Shelley’s Poetry
- Tintern Abbey- Line by Line Explanation (1 to 10 Context Stanza-wise)
- Tintern Abbey Stanza-wise Explanation (11 to 16 Context)
- Tintern Abbey Summary in Hindi | (कविता का सारांश)
- The World is Too Much With Us- Summary & Stanza-wise Explanation
- Nurse’s Song by William Blake | Summary & Complete Explanation
- Absalom and Achitophel (John Dryden)- Introduction & Summary
- “Paradise Lost” (Lines 242-272) John Milton | Summary & Analysis
- “The Canonization” by John Donne- Summary & Line by line Explanation
- Development of English poetry since the age of Shakespeare
- Important Forms of poetry in English (Narrative, Lyrical, Sonnet etc.)
- Sonnet 29- When, in disgrace with fortune (William Shakespeare)
- SONNET 138- When my love swears (Analysis and Explanation)
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