Kalidasa
An ancient heathen poet, loving moreGod's creatures, and His women, and His flowersThan we who boast of consecrated powers;Still lavishing his unexhausted store
Of love's deep, simple wisdom, healing o'erThe world's old sorrows, India's griefs and ours;That healing love he found in palace towers,On mountain, plain, and dark, sea-belted shore,
In songs of holy Raghu's kingly lineOr sweet Shakuntala in pious grove,In hearts that met where starry jasmines twine
Or hearts that from long, lovelorn absence stroveTogether. Still his words of wisdom shine:All's well with man, when man and woman love.
Willst du die Blüte des frühen, dieFrüchte des späteren Jahres,Willst du, was reizt und entzückt,Willst du, was sättigt und nährt,Willst du den Hummel, die erde mitEinem Namen begreifen,Nenn' ich, Sakuntala, dich, unddann ist alles gesagt.
Words in this poem
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- lovelorn a.
- Forsaken by one's love.
- hummel v. t.
- To separate from the awns; -- said of barley. [Cf. Hamble.]
- dann n.
- A title of honor equivalent to master, or sir. [OE. dan, danz, OF. danz (prop. only nom.), dan, master, fr. L. dominus. See Dame.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Kalidasa is in the public domain. This text is taken from Shakuntala and Other Works, Project Gutenberg ebook #16659, the Arthur W. Ryder translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Kalidasa, Kalidasa, in Shakuntala and Other Works (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16659, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kalidasa-shakuntala/kalidasa.html, id L15628.
Form and metre
Kalidasa is 22 lines in 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 46% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABBA moreA · flowersB · powersB · storeA
- 2 -AA- o'er · oursA · towersA · shore
- 3 A-A lineA · grove · twineA
- 5 A---A--- dieA · jahres · entzückt · — · mitA · begreifen · und · gesagt
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| An ancient heathen poet, loving more | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| God's creatures, and His women, and His flowers | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| Than we who boast of consecrated powers; | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| Still lavishing his unexhausted store | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Of love's deep, simple wisdom, healing o'er | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| The world's old sorrows, India's griefs and ours; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··/ |
| That healing love he found in palace towers, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘/˘ |
| On mountain, plain, and dark, sea-belted shore, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| In songs of holy Raghu's kingly line | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Or sweet Shakuntala in pious grove, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| In hearts that met where starry jasmines twine | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Or hearts that from long, lovelorn absence strove | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Together. Still his words of wisdom shine: | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| All's well with man, when man and woman love. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Willst du die Blüte des frühen, die | 8 | ········ |
| Früchte des späteren Jahres, | 6 | ······ |
| Willst du, was reizt und entzückt, | 7 | ······· |
| Willst du, was sättigt und nährt, | 7 | ······· |
| Willst du den Hummel, die erde mit | 10 | ···/˘··/// |
| Einem Namen begreifen, | 7 | ······· |
| Nenn' ich, Sakuntala, dich, und | 8 | ········ |
| dann ist alles gesagt. | 5 | ····· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.