Matali
Heaven's king is powerless; you shall smiteHis foes in battle soon;Darkness that overcomes the day,Is scattered by the moon.
The spurnèd snake will swell his hood;Fire blazes when 'tis stirred;Brave men are roused to fighting moodBy some insulting word.King. Friend Madhavya, I must obey the bidding of heaven's king. Go,acquaint the minister Pishuna with the matter, and add these words ofmine:
Your wisdom only shall controlThe kingdom for a time;My bow is strung; a distant goalCalls me, and tasks sublime.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- spurn v. t.
- To drive back or away, as with the foot; to kick. [OE. spurnen to kick against, to stumble over, AS. spurnan to kick, offend; akin to spura spur, OS. & OHG. spurnan to kick, Icel. spyrna, L. spernere to despise,]
- acquaint v. t.
- To furnish or give experimental knowledge of; to make (one) to know; to make familiar; -- followed by with. [OE. aqueinten, acointen, OF. acointier, LL. adcognitare, fr. L. ad + cognitus, p. p. of cognoscere to know; con- + noscere to know. See Quaint, Know.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Matali 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, Matali, in Shakuntala and Other Works (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16659, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kalidasa-shakuntala/matali.html, id L15644.
Form and metre
Matali is 15 lines in 3 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 33% 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 smite · soonA · day · moonA
- 2 -A-A--- hood · stirredA · mood · wordA · go · of · mine
- 3 ABAB controlA · timeB · goalA · sublimeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Heaven's king is powerless; you shall smite | 10 | /˘··/˘˘··· |
| His foes in battle soon; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Darkness that overcomes the day, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Is scattered by the moon. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The spurnèd snake will swell his hood; | 7 | ······· |
| Fire blazes when 'tis stirred; | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Brave men are roused to fighting mood | 9 | ····˘·/˘· |
| By some insulting word. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| King. Friend Madhavya, I must obey the bidding of heaven's king. Go, | 17 | ·······˘/·/˘·/˘·· |
| acquaint the minister Pishuna with the matter, and add these words of | 17 | ˘/·/˘·····/˘····· |
| mine: | 1 | · |
| Your wisdom only shall control | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The kingdom for a time; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| My bow is strung; a distant goal | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Calls me, and tasks sublime. | 6 | ····˘/ |
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.