Bhishma's Speech
From the monarch's ancient bosom sighs and sobs convulsive broke,Bhishma wiped his manly eyelids and to proud Duryodhan spoke:
"Listen, prince! for righteous Krishna counsels love and holy peace,Listen, youth! and may thy fortune with thy passing years increase!
Yield to Krishna's words of wisdom, for thy weal he nobly strives,Yield and save thy friends and kinsmen, save thy cherished subjects' lives!
Foremost race in all this wide earth is Hastina's royal line,Bring not on them dire destruction by a sinful act of thine!
Sons and fathers, friends and brothers, shall in mutual conflict die,Kinsmen slain by dearest kinsmen shall upon the red field lie!
Hearken unto Krishna's counsel, unto wise Vidura's word,Be thy mother's fond entreaty and thy father's mandate heard!
Tempt not devas' fiery vengeance on thy old heroic race,Tread not in the path of darkness, seek the path of light and grace!
Listen to thy king and father, he hath Kuru's empire graced,Listen to thy queen and mother, she hath nursed thee on her breast!"
Words in this poem
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- nobly adv.
- Of noble extraction; as, nobly born or descended.
- dire a.
- Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
- 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,]
- entreaty n.
- Treatment; reception; entertainment. B. Jonson.
- graced a.
- Endowed with grace; beautiful; full of graces; honorable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Bhishma's Speech is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Mahabharata (condensed), Project Gutenberg ebook #19630, the Romesh Chunder Dutt 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: Vyasa, Bhishma's Speech, in The Mahabharata (condensed) (1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19630, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mahabharata/bhishma-s-speech.html, id L15801.
Form and metre
Bhishma's Speech is 16 lines in 8 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 88% of the lines. The metre is trochaic octameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 15.0 syllables.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic octameter.
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 AA brokeA · spokeA
- 2 AA peaceA · increaseA
- 3 AA strivesA · livesA
- 4 AA lineA · thineA
- 5 AA dieA · lieA
- 6 AA wordA · heardA
- 7 AA raceA · graceA
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 trochaic octameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| From the monarch's ancient bosom sighs and sobs convulsive broke, | 15 | ··/·/˘/˘···˘/˘· |
| Bhishma wiped his manly eyelids and to proud Duryodhan spoke: | 15 | ····/˘/········ |
| "Listen, prince! for righteous Krishna counsels love and holy peace, | 15 | /˘··/˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Listen, youth! and may thy fortune with thy passing years increase! | 15 | /˘····/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Yield to Krishna's words of wisdom, for thy weal he nobly strives, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘····/˘· |
| Yield and save thy friends and kinsmen, save thy cherished subjects' lives! | 15 | ··········/˘/˘· |
| Foremost race in all this wide earth is Hastina's royal line, | 15 | /···········/˘· |
| Bring not on them dire destruction by a sinful act of thine! | 15 | ·····˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Sons and fathers, friends and brothers, shall in mutual conflict die, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Kinsmen slain by dearest kinsmen shall upon the red field lie! | 15 | ····/˘········· |
| Hearken unto Krishna's counsel, unto wise Vidura's word, | 15 | /˘··/˘/˘······· |
| Be thy mother's fond entreaty and thy father's mandate heard! | 15 | ··/˘·˘/˘··/˘/·· |
| Tempt not devas' fiery vengeance on thy old heroic race, | 15 | ····/˘/˘···˘/˘· |
| Tread not in the path of darkness, seek the path of light and grace! | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| Listen to thy king and father, he hath Kuru's empire graced, | 15 | /˘····/˘····/˘· |
| Listen to thy queen and mother, she hath nursed thee on her breast!" | 15 | /˘····/˘······· |
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.