Dhrita-rashtra's Speech
Tear-drops filled his sightless eyeballs, anguish shook his aged frame,As the monarch soothed Duryodhan by each fond endearing name:
"Listen, dearest son, Duryodhan, shun this dark and fatal strife,Cast not grief and death's black shadows on thy parents' closing life!
Krishna's heart is pure and spotless, true and wise the words he said,We may win a world-wide empire with the noble Krishna's aid!
Seek the friendship of Yudhishthir, loved of righteous gods above,And unite the scattered Kurus by the lasting tie of love!
Now at full is tide of fortune, never may it come again,Strive and win! or ever after all repentance may be vain!
Peace is righteous Krishna's counsel, and he offers loving peace,Take the offered boon, Duryodhan! Let all strife and hatred cease!"
Words in this poem
- sightless a.
- Wanting sight; without sight; blind.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- endearing a.
- Making dear or beloved; causing love.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- boon n.
- A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dhrita-rashtra'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, Dhrita-rashtra's Speech, in The Mahabharata (condensed) (1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19630, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mahabharata/dhrita-rashtra-s-speech.html, id L15804.
Form and metre
Dhrita-rashtra's Speech is 12 lines in 6 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 83% of the lines. The metre is trochaic octameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 97% 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 frameA · nameA
- 2 AA strifeA · lifeA
- 4 AA aboveA · loveA
- 5 AA againA · vainA
- 6 AA peaceA · ceaseA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tear-drops filled his sightless eyeballs, anguish shook his aged frame, | 15 | ···˘·/˘/·/˘···· |
| As the monarch soothed Duryodhan by each fond endearing name: | 15 | ··/········˘/˘· |
| "Listen, dearest son, Duryodhan, shun this dark and fatal strife, | 15 | /˘/˘········/˘· |
| Cast not grief and death's black shadows on thy parents' closing life! | 15 | ······/···/˘/˘· |
| Krishna's heart is pure and spotless, true and wise the words he said, | 15 | /˘····/˘······· |
| We may win a world-wide empire with the noble Krishna's aid! | 15 | ······/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Seek the friendship of Yudhishthir, loved of righteous gods above, | 15 | ··/˘······/˘··· |
| And unite the scattered Kurus by the lasting tie of love! | 15 | ·/··/˘····/˘··· |
| Now at full is tide of fortune, never may it come again, | 15 | ······/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Strive and win! or ever after all repentance may be vain! | 15 | ····/˘···˘/˘··· |
| Peace is righteous Krishna's counsel, and he offers loving peace, | 15 | ··/˘/˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Take the offered boon, Duryodhan! Let all strife and hatred cease!" | 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.