Solitude
Let us rise, O my heart, let us go where the twilight is callingFar away from the sound of this lonely and menacing crowd,To the glens, to the glades, where the magical darkness is fallingIn rivers of gold from the breast of a radiant cloud.
Come away, come away from this throng and its tumult of sorrow,There is rest, there is peace from the pang of its manifold strifeWhere the halcyon night holds in trust the dear songs of the morrow,And the silence is but a rich pause in the music of life.
Let us climb where the eagles keep guard on the rocky grey ledges,Let us lie 'neath the palms where perchance we may listen, and reachA delicate dream from the lips of the slumbering sedges,That catch from the stars some high tone of their mystical speech.
Or perchance, we may glean a far glimpse of the Infinite BosomIn whose glorious shadow all life is unfolded or furled.Thro' the luminous hours ere the lotus of dawn shall reblossomIn petals of splendour to worship the Lord of the world.
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- glean n.
- Cleaning; afterbirth. Holland.
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- 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,]
- reblossom v. i.
- To blossom again.
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Solitude 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, Solitude, in The Bird of Time: Songs of Life, Death & the Spring (1912), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/naidu-bird-of-time/solitude.html, id L27555.
Form and metre
Solitude is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is anapaestic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in anapaestic 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 ABAB callingA · crowdB · fallingA · cloudB
- 2 ABAB sorrowA · strifeB · morrowA · lifeB
- 3 ABAB ledgesA · reachB · sedgesA · speechB
- 4 ABAB bosomA · furledB · reblossomA · worldB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Let us rise, O my heart, let us go where the twilight is calling | 16 | ···········/··/˘ |
| Far away from the sound of this lonely and menacing crowd, | 14 | ·˘/·····/˘·/˘· |
| To the glens, to the glades, where the magical darkness is falling | 15 | ········/˘/˘·/˘ |
| In rivers of gold from the breast of a radiant cloud. | 13 | ·/˘·······/˘· |
| Come away, come away from this throng and its tumult of sorrow, | 16 | ·˘/·˘/·····/˘·/˘ |
| There is rest, there is peace from the pang of its manifold strife | 15 | ···········/˘·· |
| Where the halcyon night holds in trust the dear songs of the morrow, | 15 | ··/˘·········/˘ |
| And the silence is but a rich pause in the music of life. | 15 | ··/˘·······/˘·· |
| Let us climb where the eagles keep guard on the rocky grey ledges, | 16 | ·····/˘····/˘·/˘ |
| Let us lie 'neath the palms where perchance we may listen, and reach | 15 | ·······˘/··/˘·· |
| A delicate dream from the lips of the slumbering sedges, | 13 | ·/˘······/˘/˘ |
| That catch from the stars some high tone of their mystical speech. | 13 | ··········/˘· |
| Or perchance, we may glean a far glimpse of the Infinite Bosom | 15 | ·˘/········/˘/˘ |
| In whose glorious shadow all life is unfolded or furled. | 14 | ··/˘/····˘/˘·· |
| Thro' the luminous hours ere the lotus of dawn shall reblossom | 15 | ··/˘/··/˘···˘/˘ |
| In petals of splendour to worship the Lord of the world. | 14 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘····· |
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.