Toru Dutt only lived to be 21, but during her short lifetime, she travelled, wrote, and blossomed as a poet and an author. Born in India in 1856, Dutt was the youngest child of a prominent Bengali family headed by her father, Govin Chunder. After converting his family to Christianity, Govin took them to France and then England before returning to India in 1874. During these travels, Dutt’s writing began to develop. Although she was educated extensively in Europe, Dutt does not abandon her Indian heritage. Instead, she weaves her own culture with the English language, producing a tapestry of lyricism and imagery. Her sonnet, “The Lotus,” is just one example of this young woman’s ability.
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Sonnet.1—The Lotus2
Love came to Flora3 asking for a flower
That would of flowers be undisputed queen,
The lily and the rose,4 long, long had been
Rivals for that high honour. Bards5 of power
Had sung their claims. “The rose can never tower 5
Like the pale lily with her Juno mien"6—
“But is the lily lovelier?” Thus between
Flower-factions rang the strife in Psyche’s bower.7
“Give me a flower delicious as the rose
And stately as the lily in her pride”— 10
“But of what colour?”8—“Rose-red,” Love first chose,
Then prayed,—“No, lily-white,—or, both provide”;
And Flora gave the lotus, “rose-red” dyed,
And “lily-white,”—the queenliest flower that blows.9
Notes
1As Dr. Mary Ellis Gibson notes in her recent study of Toru Dutt, Dutt’s father published most of her poetry after her death, but if she herself titled this poem, the appearance of “Sonnet” in the title plays an interesting role. Because she is writing in English, the declaration of the poem’s form is curious—an English audience would have recognized the poem as a sonnet without her naming it in the title. Poetically, however, the appearance works in several ways: 1) it claims the form as hers, thereby making her a “bard of great power,” such as she references in the poem; 2) it juxtaposes the most beautiful form of English poetry with the lotus flower itself, reinforcing its unrivaled beauty; 3) it poetically expresses both the hybridity of the color of the lotus as well as that of the poet. Toru wrote “Sonnet.—The Lotus” as a Petrarchan sonnet, a form whose structure often informs its content. Petrarchan sonnets are comprised of 14 lines which are divided into an octave and a sestet. The octave, or the first eight lines, outlines a problem or expresses a desire; the sestet, or the last six lines, comments on the problem or suggests a solution. The Petrarchan sonnet usually meditates on love as its primary theme, particularly unattainable love. (Return to the text)
2As Gibson notes, “In Hindu and Buddhist iconography, the lotus connotes purity and spiritual realization arising from the muck of creation. The goddess Lakshmi (associated with wealth, beauty, wisdom) is often depicted on a full-blown lotus. Thus Toru substitutes her own version of beauty, inspiration, and poetic power for conventional European ones—the lotus, combining the red and the white, exceeds even Juno’s beauty” (Gibson 393). It is also said the lotus’s unfolding petals signify the expansion of the soul. Because the lotus is the National Flower of India, Dutt may have intended to inject geopolitical undertones into this “battle” of beauty. Dutt uses her European influences—the poem's form, language, Roman mythology—in order to establish the Indian and Hindu dominance of the lotus. She chooses not to portray the obvious importance of the lotus to the Hindu gods but rather to show its supremacy to the culture that her readers would assume to be the dominant one.
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3"Love" is most likely a reference to Cupid, Roman god of love, although one account of creation in mythology involves Love, personified, who produces life and joy. "Flora" is the Roman goddess of flowers and spring. (Return to the text)
4As Gibson notes, Dutt is entering into a long poetical debate on the superiority of the rose versus the lily, most notably William Cowper’s “The Lily and the Rose” (393). Dutt portrays the rose as romantic and delicious because of its color in contrast to the lily, which is regal and stately in stature. In Cowper’s poem, it is decided that the two flowers must reign equally as queen until there exists a third to surpass them. Dutt employs the powers of the gods and goddesses along with the tradition of the “Bards” in order to position the lotus as the “queenliest” flower. (Return to the text)
5The title “bard” harkens back to 12th century Britain as the name given to poets. It was still used during Toru’s time as a title of respect to great poets—Shakespeare and Milton were both referred to as “bards.” Here, Dutt calls attention to the “traditional” English poets who neglect to remember there are other “flowers” or “beauties” in the world. In addition, the word “power” adds a sense of the dominant position the English assume in the world over all things—poetry, beauty, people, land. Dutt unsettles and displaces that control. (Return to the text)
6Juno is considered the queen of Roman mythology. She is usually depicted in a dignified and imperial manner, so Dutt’s reference to her mien (demeanor or bearing) reinforces the stateliness of the lily. (Return to the text)
7In Roman mythology, Psyche is Cupid’s love interest. In their story, Psyche is at one point brought to a bower (a leafy shelter or recess) covered with plants and flowers. (Return to the text)
8Dutt’s focus on the “colour” of the flowers calls to mind the “privileged” position Europeans gave to people based on skin color. (Return to the text)
9In this sense, “blows” means to produce flowers or to be in flower (from the OED).
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Created by: Jodie Crandall, Sara Heckler, Rachael Holloway, Amy Kennedy, and Katie Pegram
