To Buddha
Awake again in Asia, Lord of Peace,Awake and preach, for her far swordsmen rise.And would they sheathe the sword before you, friend,Or scorn your way, while looking in your eyes?
Good comrade and philosopher and prince,Thoughtful and thoroughbred and strong and kind,Dare they to move against your pride benign,Lord of the Law, high chieftain of the mind?
But what can Europe say, when in your nameThe throats are cut, the lotus-ponds turn red?And what can Europe say, when with a laughOld Asia heaps her hecatombs of dead?
Words in this poem
- thoroughbred a.
- Bred from the best blood through a long line; pure-blooded; -- said of stock, as horses. Hence, having the characteristics of such breeding; mettlesome; courageous; of elegant form, or the like.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Buddha is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Congo, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1021; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Vachel Lindsay, To Buddha, in The Congo and Other Poems (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1021, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lindsay-congo/to-buddha.html, id L01000.
Form and metre
To Buddha is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 17% 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 -A-A peace · riseA · friend · eyesA
- 2 -A-A prince · kindA · benign · mindA
- 3 -A-A name · redA · laugh · deadA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Awake again in Asia, Lord of Peace, | 10 | ˘/˘/·/˘··· |
| Awake and preach, for her far swordsmen rise. | 10 | ˘/········ |
| And would they sheathe the sword before you, friend, | 10 | ·········· |
| Or scorn your way, while looking in your eyes? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Good comrade and philosopher and prince, | 9 | ·/··˘/˘·· |
| Thoughtful and thoroughbred and strong and kind, | 10 | /˘·/˘/···· |
| Dare they to move against your pride benign, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Lord of the Law, high chieftain of the mind? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But what can Europe say, when in your name | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The throats are cut, the lotus-ponds turn red? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And what can Europe say, when with a laugh | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Old Asia heaps her hecatombs of dead? | 10 | ·/˘······· |
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.