King
Sprung from a nymph of heavenWanton and gay,Who spurned the blessing given,Going her way;
By the stern hermit takenIn her most need:So fell the blossom shaken,Flower on a weed.
She is God's vision, of pure thoughtComposed in His creative mind;His reveries of beauty wroughtThe peerless pearl of womankind.So plays my fancy when I seeHow great is God, how lovely she.
She seems a flower whose fragrance none has tasted,A gem uncut by workman's tool,A branch no desecrating hands have wasted,Fresh honey, beautifully cool.
No man on earth deserves to taste her beauty,Her blameless loveliness and worth,Unless he has fulfilled man's perfect duty--And is there such a one on earth?
When I was near, she could not look at me;She smiled--but not to me--and half denied it;She would not show her love for modesty,Yet did not try so very hard to hide it.
When she had hardly left my side,"I cannot walk," the maiden cried,And turned her face, and feigned to freeThe dress not caught upon the tree.
The wealth we take from common men,Wastes while we cherish;These share with us such holinessAs ne'er can perish.
The splendid palace serves as hermitage;His royal government, courageous, sage,Adds daily to his merit; it is givenTo him to win applause from choirs of heavenWhose anthems to his glory rise and swell,Proclaiming him a king, and saint as well.
Nor is it wonderful that one whose armMight bolt a city gate, should keep from harmThe whole broad earth dark-belted by the sea;For when the gods in heaven with demons fight,Dushyanta's bow and Indra's weapon brightAre their reliance for the victory.
Thou art a worthy scion ofThe kings who ruled our nationAnd found, defending those in need,Their truest consecration.
Words in this poem
- womankind n.
- The females of the human race; women, collectively.
- uncut a.
- Not cut; not separated or divided by cutting or otherwise; -- said especially of books, periodicals, and the like, when the leaves have not been separated by trimming in binding.
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- hermitage n.
- The habitation of a hermit; a secluded residence. [OE. hermitage, ermitage, F. hermitage, ermitage. See Hermit.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
King 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, King, in Shakuntala and Other Works (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16659, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kalidasa-shakuntala/king.html, id L15632.
Form and metre
King is 50 lines in 11 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 3 of the 11 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.5 syllables. 19 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 28% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 -A-A heaven · gayA · given · wayA
- 2 ABAB takenA · needB · shakenA · weedB
- 3 ABABCC thoughtA · mindB · wroughtA · womankindB · seeC · sheC
- 4 ABAB tastedA · toolB · wastedA · coolB
- 5 ABAB beautyA · worthB · dutyA · earthB
- 6 -A-A me · itA · modesty · itA
- 7 AABB sideA · criedA · freeB · treeB
- 8 -A-A men · cherishA · holiness · perishA
- 9 AA--BB hermitageA · sageA · given · heaven · swellB · wellB
- 10 AA-BB- armA · harmA · sea · fightB · brightB · victory
- 11 -A-A of · nationA · need · consecrationA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Sprung from a nymph of heaven | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Wanton and gay, | 4 | /˘·· |
| Who spurned the blessing given, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Going her way; | 4 | /˘·· |
| By the stern hermit taken | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| In her most need: | 4 | ···· |
| So fell the blossom shaken, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Flower on a weed. | 5 | /˘··· |
| She is God's vision, of pure thought | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Composed in His creative mind; | 9 | ˘/˘··˘/˘· |
| His reveries of beauty wrought | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| The peerless pearl of womankind. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| So plays my fancy when I see | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| How great is God, how lovely she. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| She seems a flower whose fragrance none has tasted, | 11 | ···/·/˘··/˘ |
| A gem uncut by workman's tool, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| A branch no desecrating hands have wasted, | 11 | ···˘˘/˘··/˘ |
| Fresh honey, beautifully cool. | 7 | ·/˘/˘˘· |
| No man on earth deserves to taste her beauty, | 11 | ····˘/···/˘ |
| Her blameless loveliness and worth, | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| Unless he has fulfilled man's perfect duty-- | 11 | ····˘/·/·/˘ |
| And is there such a one on earth? | 8 | ········ |
| When I was near, she could not look at me; | 10 | ·········· |
| She smiled--but not to me--and half denied it; | 11 | ········˘/· |
| She would not show her love for modesty, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Yet did not try so very hard to hide it. | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| When she had hardly left my side, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| "I cannot walk," the maiden cried, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And turned her face, and feigned to free | 10 | ··˘····˘·· |
| The dress not caught upon the tree. | 8 | ········ |
| The wealth we take from common men, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Wastes while we cherish; | 5 | ···/˘ |
| These share with us such holiness | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| As ne'er can perish. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The splendid palace serves as hermitage; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| His royal government, courageous, sage, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘˘/˘· |
| Adds daily to his merit; it is given | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| To him to win applause from choirs of heaven | 11 | ····˘/···/˘ |
| Whose anthems to his glory rise and swell, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Proclaiming him a king, and saint as well. | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| Nor is it wonderful that one whose arm | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Might bolt a city gate, should keep from harm | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The whole broad earth dark-belted by the sea; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For when the gods in heaven with demons fight, | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| Dushyanta's bow and Indra's weapon bright | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Are their reliance for the victory. | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| Thou art a worthy scion of | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The kings who ruled our nation | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| And found, defending those in need, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Their truest consecration. | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
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.