In Salutation to the Eternal Peace
Men say the world is full of fear and hate,And all life's ripening harvest-fields awaitThe restless sickle of relentless fate.
But I, sweet Soul, rejoice that I was born,When from the climbing terraces of cornI watch the golden orioles of Thy morn.
What care I for the world's desire and pride,Who know the silver wings that gleam and glide,The homing pigeons of Thine eventide?
What care I for the world's loud weariness,Who dream in twilight granaries Thou dost blessWith delicate sheaves of mellow silences?
Say, shall I heed dull presages of doom,Or dread the rumoured loneliness and gloom,The mute and mythic terror of the tomb?
For my glad heart is drunk and drenched with Thee,O inmost wine of living ecstasy!O intimate essence of eternity!
Words in this poem
- await v. t.
- To watch for; to look out for. [OF. awaitier, agaitier; (L. ad) + waitier, gaitier to watch, F. guetter. See Wait.]
- relentless a.
- Unmoved by appeals for sympathy or forgiveness; insensible to the distresses of others; destitute of tenderness; unrelenting; unyielding; unpitying; as, a prey to relentless despotism.
- 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.]
- homing a.
- Home-returning; -- used specifically of carrier pigeons.
- eventide n.
- The time of evening; evening. [AS. æfentid. See Tide.]
- 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,]
- loneliness n.
- The condition of being lonely; solitude; seclusion.
- mythic a.
- Of or relating to myths; described in a myth; of the nature of a myth; fabulous; imaginary; fanciful. [L. mythicus, Gr. Myth.]
- inmost a.
- Deepest within; farthest from the surface or external part; innermost. [OE. innemest, AS. innemest, a double superlative form fr. inne within, fr. in in. The modern form is due to confusion with most. See In, and cf. Aftermost, Fore]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In Salutation to the Eternal Peace 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, In Salutation to the Eternal Peace, in The Bird of Time: Songs of Life, Death & the Spring (1912), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/naidu-bird-of-time/in-salutation-to-the-eternal-peace.html, id L27558.
Form and metre
In Salutation to the Eternal Peace is 18 lines in 6 stanzas of 3 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 56% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AAA hateA · awaitA · fateA
- 2 AAA bornA · cornA · mornA
- 3 AAA prideA · glideA · eventideA
- 4 AAA wearinessA · blessA · silencesA
- 5 AAA doomA · gloomA · tombA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Men say the world is full of fear and hate, | 10 | ·········· |
| And all life's ripening harvest-fields await | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The restless sickle of relentless fate. | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| But I, sweet Soul, rejoice that I was born, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| When from the climbing terraces of corn | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| I watch the golden orioles of Thy morn. | 11 | ···/˘/˘···· |
| What care I for the world's desire and pride, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Who know the silver wings that gleam and glide, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The homing pigeons of Thine eventide? | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| What care I for the world's loud weariness, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Who dream in twilight granaries Thou dost bless | 10 | ···/······ |
| With delicate sheaves of mellow silences? | 11 | ·/˘˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| Say, shall I heed dull presages of doom, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Or dread the rumoured loneliness and gloom, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| The mute and mythic terror of the tomb? | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| For my glad heart is drunk and drenched with Thee, | 10 | ·········· |
| O inmost wine of living ecstasy! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| O intimate essence of eternity! | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘·˘/˘˘ |
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.