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{{Short description|Poem by Henry Louis Vivian Derozio}}
{{Infobox poem
| name = To India - My Native Land
| image = Henry Louis Vivian Derozio photo.jpg
| image_size = 
| caption = 
| subtitle = 
| author = [[Henry Louis Vivian Derozio]]
| original_title = 
| original_title_lang = 
| translator = 
| written =
| first = ''The Fakeer of Jungheera''
| illustrator = 
| cover_artist = 
| country = India
| language = English
| subject = [[British rule]]
| form = [[Petrarchan sonnet]]
| meter = [[Iambic pentameter]]
| rhyme = ABABABCC DEDEFF
| publisher = 
| publication_date = 1828
| publication_date_en = 
| media_type = 
| lines = 14
| pages = 
| size_weight = 
| isbn = 
| oclc = 
| wikisource = 
}}
{{italic title}}
'''''To India - My Native Land''''' is a poem by [[Indian people|Indian]] poet [[Henry Louis Vivian Derozio]], first published in 1828 as part of his book ''The Fakeer of Jungheera: A Metrical Tale and Other Poems''. In that book, the poem is untitled; [[Francis Bradley Bradley-Birt|Francis Bradley-Birt]] added the title when publishing a collection of Derozio's poems in 1923.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Agarwal |first=Smita |title=Marginalized: Indian poetry in English |date=2014 |publisher=Rodopi |isbn=978-90-420-3784-7 |series=DQR studies in literature |location=Amsterdam New York |chapter=Henry Derozio and the Romance of Rebellion (1809-1831)}}</ref> It is one of the most notable works by Derozio.

The poem has been identified by historians as containing some of the first written examples of [[Indian nationalism]], with the poem extolling "[[patriotism]] and a love of freedom".<ref name="Naik1984">{{cite book|author=M. K. Naik|author-link=M. K. Naik|title=Perspectives on Indian Poetry in English|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FcH2MUnlQjQC&pg=RA1-PA1|accessdate=22 June 2012|year=1984|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-0-391-03286-6|pages=1–}}</ref>

==Summary==
{{Quote box
|title=To India - My Native Land
|fontsize=100%
|quote=<poem>My country! in thy day of glory past
A beauteous halo circled round thy brow,
And worshipped as a deity thou wast—
Where is thy glory, where the reverence now?
Thy eagle pinion is chained down at last,
And grovelling in the lowly dust art thou:
Thy minstrel hath no wreath to weave for thee
Save the sad story of thy misery!—
Well–let me dive into the depths of time,
And bring from out the ages that have rolled
A few small fragments of those wrecks sublime,
Which human eyes may never more behold;
And let the guerdon of my labour be
My fallen country! one kind wish for thee!</poem><ref name="Naik1984">{{cite book|author=M. K. Naik|author-link=M. K. Naik|title=Perspectives on Indian Poetry in English|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FcH2MUnlQjQC&pg=RA1-PA1|accessdate=22 June 2012|year=1984|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-0-391-03286-6|pages=1–}}</ref>}}

Derozio's poem elates at length of his view on the state of India under [[Company rule in India|the rule]] of the [[East India Company]], writing that compared to "thy day of glory past" the country has now been "chained down at last", and is reduced to "grovelling in the lowly dust". Despite this, Derozio writes that India may rise again and "bring from out the ages that have rolled".<ref name="Naik1984">{{cite book|author=M. K. Naik|author-link=M. K. Naik|title=Perspectives on Indian Poetry in English|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FcH2MUnlQjQC&pg=RA1-PA1|accessdate=22 June 2012|year=1984|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-0-391-03286-6|pages=1–}}</ref>

==Major themes==
The themes of the poem concern primarily [[Indian nationalism|nationalism]] and [[patriotism]]. Derozio writes of the "past glory" of India and how the country that was once "worshipped as a deity" has been chained down to the lowest depths. Derozio writes about some of that heritage of the distant past and in return hopes for a "kind wish" from the country and its people.<ref>Indispensable THE GOLDEN LYRE, By Mr. Usha Nagpal, National Publication house and did like himself , p-117</ref>

The poem uses the image of a golden bird, thus hinting at the past glory of India as imagined by Derozio. Words such as "halo", "deity", "worship" elevate the nation to the imagined height and then words such as "chained", "grovelling", and "lowly dust" sharply contrast the current state of the country. The misery and lament of the poet invites the reader to join in his sorrow. Historians have written that Derozio was influenced by the [[Romanticism|Romantic-era]] [[Romantic poetry|poetry]] of [[Lord Byron|Byron]] and [[Robert Southey|Southey]].<ref name="Naik1984">{{cite book|author=M. K. Naik|author-link=M. K. Naik|title=Perspectives on Indian Poetry in English|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FcH2MUnlQjQC&pg=RA1-PA1|accessdate=22 June 2012|year=1984|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-0-391-03286-6|pages=1–}}</ref><ref name="Roberts2013">{{Cite book |title=Legacies of Romanticism: Literature, Culture, Aesthetics |last=Roberts |first=Daniel Sanjiv |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |editor-last=Casaliggi |editor-first=Carmen |pages=215–230 |chapter="Dark Interpretations": Romanticism's Ambiguous Legacy in India |editor-last2=March-Russell |editor-first2=Paul}}</ref>

==Style==
The poem is a [[Petrarchan sonnet]] with a rhyme scheme of ABABABCC DEDEFF. The poem shows influences of [[Romantic poetry|Romantic poets]].<ref name="Naik1984">{{cite book|author=M. K. Naik|author-link=M. K. Naik|title=Perspectives on Indian Poetry in English|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FcH2MUnlQjQC&pg=RA1-PA1|accessdate=22 June 2012|year=1984|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-0-391-03286-6|pages=1–}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Indian poems]]
[[Category:1828 poems]]

To India - My Native Land - Revision history

Himvanta: adding initial post w/ sources