Spring
A stalwart soldier comes, the spring,Who bears the bow of Love;And on that bow, the lustrous stringIs made of bees, that moveWith malice as they speed the shaftOf blossoming mango-flowerAt us, dear, who have never laughedAt love, nor scorned his power.
Their blossom-burden weights the trees;The winds in fragrance move;The lakes are bright with lotuses,The women bright with love;The days are soft, the evenings clearAnd charming; everythingThat moves and lives and blossoms, dear,Is sweeter in the spring.
The groves are beautifully brightFor many and many a mileWith jasmine-flowers that are as whiteAs loving woman's smile:The resolution of a saintMight well be tried by this;Far more, young hearts that fancies paintWith dreams of loving bliss.
Words in this poem
- stalwart a.
- Brave; bold; strong; redoubted; daring; vehement; violent. [OE. stalworth, AS. stælwyrth serviceable, probably originally, good at stealing, or worth stealing or taking, and afterwards extended to other causes of estimat]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Spring 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, Spring, in Shakuntala and Other Works (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16659, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kalidasa-shakuntala/spring.html, id L15660.
Form and metre
Spring is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% 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 ABABCDCD springA · loveB · stringA · moveB · shaftC · flowerD · laughedC · powerD
- 2 ABABCDCD treesA · moveB · lotusesA · loveB · clearC · everythingD · dearC · springD
- 3 ABABCDCD brightA · mileB · whiteA · smileB · saintC · thisD · paintC · blissD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A stalwart soldier comes, the spring, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Who bears the bow of Love; | 6 | ······ |
| And on that bow, the lustrous string | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Is made of bees, that move | 6 | ······ |
| With malice as they speed the shaft | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of blossoming mango-flower | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘/˘ |
| At us, dear, who have never laughed | 9 | ·····/˘·˘ |
| At love, nor scorned his power. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Their blossom-burden weights the trees; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The winds in fragrance move; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The lakes are bright with lotuses, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| The women bright with love; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The days are soft, the evenings clear | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And charming; everything | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| That moves and lives and blossoms, dear, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Is sweeter in the spring. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The groves are beautifully bright | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| For many and many a mile | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| With jasmine-flowers that are as white | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| As loving woman's smile: | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| The resolution of a saint | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Might well be tried by this; | 6 | ······ |
| Far more, young hearts that fancies paint | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With dreams of loving bliss. | 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.