Forest Life
In the dark and pathless forest long the Pandav brothers strayed,In the bosom of the jungle with the fair Draupadi stayed,
And they killed the forest red-deer, hewed the gnarled forest wood,From the stream she fetched the water, cooked the humble daily food,
In the morn she swept the cottage, lit the cheerful fire at eve,But at night in lonesome silence oft her woman's heart would grieve,
Insults rankled in her bosom and her tresses were unbound,--So she vowed,--till fitting vengeance had the base insulters found!
Oft when evening's shades descended, mantling o'er the wood and lea,When Draupadi by the cottage cooked the food beneath the tree,
Rishis came to good Yudhishthir, sat beside his evening fires,Many olden tales recited, legends of our ancient sires.
Markandeya, holy rishi, once unto Yudhishthir came,When his heart was sorrow-laden with the memories of his shame,
"Pardon, rishi!" said Yudhishthir, "if unbidden tears will start,But the woes of fair Draupadi grieve a banished husband's heart,
By her tears the saintly woman broke my bondage worse than death,By my sins she suffers exile and misfortune's freezing breath!
Dost thou, sage and saintly rishi, know of wife or woman born,By such nameless sorrow smitten, by such strange misfortune torn?
Hast thou in thy ancient legends heard of true and faithful wife,With a stronger wife's affection, with a sadder woman's life?"
"Listen, monarch!" said the rishi, "to a tale of ancient date,How Savitri loved and suffered, how she strove and conquered Fate!"
Words in this poem
- pathless a.
- Having no beaten path or way; untrodden; impenetrable; as, pathless woods.
- jungle n.
- A dense growth of brushwood, grasses, reeds, vines, etc.; an almost impenetrable thicket of trees, canes, and reedy vegetation, as in India, Africa, Australia, and Brazil. [Hind. jangal desert, forest, jungle; Skr. ja desert.]
- stayed a.
- Staid; fixed; settled; sober; -- now written staid. See Staid.
- gnarled a.
- Knotty; full of knots or gnarls; twisted; crossgrained.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- lonesome a.
- Secluded from society; not frequented by human beings; solitary.
- mantling n.
- The representation of a mantle, or the drapery behind and around a coat of arms: -- called also lambrequin.
- olden a.
- Old; ancient; as, the olden time.
- unbidden a.
- Not bidden; not commanded.
- saintly a.
- Like a saint; becoming a holy person.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- nameless a.
- Without a name; not having been given a name; as, a nameless star.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Forest Life 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, Forest Life, in The Mahabharata (condensed) (1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19630, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mahabharata/forest-life.html, id L15784.
Form and metre
Forest Life is 24 lines in 12 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 92% of the lines. The metre is trochaic octameter, 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 15.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 strayedA · stayedA
- 3 AA eveA · grieveA
- 4 AA unboundA · foundA
- 5 AA leaA · treeA
- 6 AA firesA · siresA
- 7 AA cameA · shameA
- 8 AA startA · heartA
- 9 AA deathA · breathA
- 10 AA bornA · tornA
- 11 AA wifeA · lifeA
- 12 AA dateA · fateA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In the dark and pathless forest long the Pandav brothers strayed, | 15 | ····/˘/˘····/˘· |
| In the bosom of the jungle with the fair Draupadi stayed, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘······· |
| And they killed the forest red-deer, hewed the gnarled forest wood, | 15 | ···˘·/˘·····/˘· |
| From the stream she fetched the water, cooked the humble daily food, | 15 | ······/˘··/˘/˘· |
| In the morn she swept the cottage, lit the cheerful fire at eve, | 15 | ······/˘··/˘/·· |
| But at night in lonesome silence oft her woman's heart would grieve, | 15 | ····/˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Insults rankled in her bosom and her tresses were unbound,-- | 15 | /·/˘··/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| So she vowed,--till fitting vengeance had the base insulters found! | 15 | ····/˘/˘······· |
| Oft when evening's shades descended, mantling o'er the wood and lea, | 15 | ··/˘·˘/˘/˘····· |
| When Draupadi by the cottage cooked the food beneath the tree, | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| Rishis came to good Yudhishthir, sat beside his evening fires, | 16 | ·········˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Many olden tales recited, legends of our ancient sires. | 15 | //˘·˘/˘/˘·/˘/˘· |
| Markandeya, holy rishi, once unto Yudhishthir came, | 14 | ···/˘········· |
| When his heart was sorrow-laden with the memories of his shame, | 15 | ····/˘/˘··/˘··· |
| "Pardon, rishi!" said Yudhishthir, "if unbidden tears will start, | 15 | /˘············· |
| But the woes of fair Draupadi grieve a banished husband's heart, | 15 | ··········/˘/˘· |
| By her tears the saintly woman broke my bondage worse than death, | 15 | ····/˘/˘··/˘··· |
| By my sins she suffers exile and misfortune's freezing breath! | 15 | ····/˘/··˘/˘/˘· |
| Dost thou, sage and saintly rishi, know of wife or woman born, | 15 | ····/˘······/˘· |
| By such nameless sorrow smitten, by such strange misfortune torn? | 15 | ··/˘/˘/˘···˘/˘· |
| Hast thou in thy ancient legends heard of true and faithful wife, | 15 | ····/˘/˘····/˘· |
| With a stronger wife's affection, with a sadder woman's life?" | 15 | ··/˘·˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| "Listen, monarch!" said the rishi, "to a tale of ancient date, | 15 | /˘/·········/˘· |
| How Savitri loved and suffered, how she strove and conquered Fate!" | 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.