Dirge: In Sorrow of Her Bereavement
What longer need hath she of lovelinessWhom Death has parted from her lord's caress?Of glimmering robes like rainbow-tangled mist,Of gleaming glass or jewels on her wrist,Blossoms or fillet-pearls to deck her head,Or jasmine garlands to adorn her bed?
Put by the mirror of her bridal days. . . .Why needs she now its counsel or its praise,Or happy symbol of the henna leafFor hands that know the comradeship of grief,Red spices for her lips that drink of sighs,Or black collyrium for her weeping eyes?
Shatter her shining bracelets, break the stringThreading the mystic marriage-beads that clingLoth to desert a sobbing throat so sweet,Unbind the golden anklets on her feet,Divest her of her azure veils and cloudHer living beauty in a living shroud.
Nay, let her be! . . . what comfort can we giveFor joy so frail, for hope so fugitive?The yearning pain of unfulfilled delight,The moonless vigils of her lonely night,For the abysmal anguish of her tears,And flowering springs that mock her empty years?
Words in this poem
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- caress n.
- An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness. [F. caresse, It. carezza, LL. caritia dearness, fr. L. carus dear. See Charity.]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- comradeship n.
- The state of being a comrade; intimate fellowship.
- collyrium n.
- An application to the eye, usually an eyewater.
- sobbing n.
- A series of short, convulsive inspirations, the glottis being suddenly closed so that little or no air enters into the lungs.
- moonless a.
- Being without a moon or moonlight.
- abysmal a.
- Pertaining to, or resembling, an abyss; bottomless; unending; profound.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dirge: In Sorrow of Her Bereavement is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Bird of Time: Songs of Life, Death & the Spring (London: William Heinemann; New York: John Lane Company, 1912), Wikisource; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sarojini Naidu, Dirge: In Sorrow of Her Bereavement, in The Bird of Time: Songs of Life, Death & the Spring (1912), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/naidu-bird-of-time/dirge-in-sorrow-of-her-bereavement.html, id L27516.
Form and metre
Dirge: In Sorrow of Her Bereavement is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 AABBCC lovelinessA · caressA · mistB · wristB · headC · bedC
- 2 AABBCC daysA · praiseA · leafB · griefB · sighsC · eyesC
- 3 AABBCC stringA · clingA · sweetB · feetB · cloudC · shroudC
- 4 AABBCC giveA · fugitiveA · delightB · nightB · tearsC · yearsC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What longer need hath she of loveliness | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| Whom Death has parted from her lord's caress? | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Of glimmering robes like rainbow-tangled mist, | 10 | ·/˘··/·/˘· |
| Of gleaming glass or jewels on her wrist, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Blossoms or fillet-pearls to deck her head, | 10 | /˘·˘/····· |
| Or jasmine garlands to adorn her bed? | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/·· |
| Put by the mirror of her bridal days. . . . | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Why needs she now its counsel or its praise, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Or happy symbol of the henna leaf | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| For hands that know the comradeship of grief, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Red spices for her lips that drink of sighs, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Or black collyrium for her weeping eyes? | 11 | ··˘/˘˘··/˘· |
| Shatter her shining bracelets, break the string | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Threading the mystic marriage-beads that cling | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Loth to desert a sobbing throat so sweet, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Unbind the golden anklets on her feet, | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘··· |
| Divest her of her azure veils and cloud | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Her living beauty in a living shroud. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Nay, let her be! . . . what comfort can we give | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For joy so frail, for hope so fugitive? | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| The yearning pain of unfulfilled delight, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘/ |
| The moonless vigils of her lonely night, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| For the abysmal anguish of her tears, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| And flowering springs that mock her empty years? | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
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