Guerdon
To field and forestThe gifts of the spring,To hawk and to heronThe pride of their wing;Her grace to the panther,Her tints to the dove. . .For me, O my Master,The rapture of Love!
To the hand of the diverThe gems of the tide,To the eyes of the bridegroomThe face of his bride;To the heart of a dreamerThe dreams of his youth. . .For me, O my Master,The rapture of Truth!
To priests and to prophetsThe joy of their creeds,To kings and their cohortsThe glory of deeds;And peace to the vanquishedAnd hope to the strong. . . .For me, O my Master,The rapture of Song!
Words in this poem
- bridegroom n.
- A man newly married, or just about to be married. [OE. bridegome, brudgume, AS. br (akin to OS. br, D. bruidegom, bruigom, OHG. pr, MHG. briutegome, G. bräutigam); AS. br bride + guma man, akin to Goth. guma, Ic]
- dreamer n.
- One who dreams.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Guerdon 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, Guerdon, in The Bird of Time: Songs of Life, Death & the Spring (1912), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/naidu-bird-of-time/guerdon.html, id L27561.
Form and metre
Guerdon is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is anapaestic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in anapaestic dimeter.
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-B-B forest · springA · heron · wingA · panther · doveB · master · loveB
- 2 -A-A-B-B diver · tideA · bridegroom · brideA · dreamer · youthB · master · truthB
- 3 -A-A-B-B prophets · creedsA · cohorts · deedsA · vanquished · strongB · master · songB
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 anapaestic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| To field and forest | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The gifts of the spring, | 5 | ····· |
| To hawk and to heron | 6 | ····/˘ |
| The pride of their wing; | 5 | ····· |
| Her grace to the panther, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Her tints to the dove. . . | 5 | ····· |
| For me, O my Master, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| The rapture of Love! | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| To the hand of the diver | 6 | ·····/ |
| The gems of the tide, | 5 | ····· |
| To the eyes of the bridegroom | 7 | ·····/· |
| The face of his bride; | 5 | ····· |
| To the heart of a dreamer | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The dreams of his youth. . . | 5 | ····· |
| For me, O my Master, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| The rapture of Truth! | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| To priests and to prophets | 6 | ····/˘ |
| The joy of their creeds, | 5 | ····· |
| To kings and their cohorts | 6 | ····/˘ |
| The glory of deeds; | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| And peace to the vanquished | 6 | ····/˘ |
| And hope to the strong. . . . | 5 | ····· |
| For me, O my Master, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| The rapture of Song! | 5 | ·/˘·· |
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.