The Faery Isle of Janjira
Fain would I dwell in your faery kingdom,O faery queen of a flowering clime,Where life glides by to a delicate measure,With the glamour and grace of a far-off time.
Fain would I dwell where your wild doves wander,Your palm-woods burgeon and sea-winds sing. . . .Lulled by the rune of the rhythmic waters,In your Island of Bliss it is always spring.
Yet must I go where the loud world beckons,And the urgent drum-beat of destiny calls,Far from your white dome's luminous slumber,Far from the dream of your fortress walls,
Into the strife of the throng and the tumult,The war of sweet Love against folly and wrong;Where brave hearts carry the sword of battle,'Tis mine to carry the banner of song,
The solace of faith to the lips that falter,The succour of hope to the hands that fail,The tidings of joy when Peace shall triumph,When Truth shall conquer and Love prevail.
Words in this poem
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- clime n.
- A climate; a tract or region of the earth. See Climate. [L. clima. See Climate.]
- glamour n.
- A charm affecting the eye, making objects appear different from what they really are. [Scot. glamour, glamer; cf. Icel. glámeggdr one who is troubled with the glaucoma; or Icel. glam-s weakness of sight, glamour; glamr name of the moon, also of a ]
- burgeon v. i.
- To bud. See Bourgeon.
- rune n.
- A letter, or character, belonging to the written language of the ancient Norsemen, or Scandinavians; in a wider sense, applied to the letters of the ancient nations of Northern Europe in general. [AS. run a rune, a secret, a mystery; akin to Icel. run, OHG. & Goth. runa a secret, secret colloquy, G. & Dan. rune rune, and probably to Gr. 'ereyna^n to searc]
- rhythmic a.
- Pertaining to, or of the nature of, rhythm DAy and night I worked my rhythmic thought. Mrs. Browning. [Gr. rhythmicus, F. rhythmique.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- solace n.
- Comfort in grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety; also, that which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; relief. [OF. solas, ssoulaz, L. solacium, solatium, fr. solari to comfort, console. Cf. Console, v. t.]
- falter v. t.
- To thrash in the chaff; also, to cleanse or sift, as barley.
- succour v. t.
- tiono run to, or run to support; hence, to help or relieve when in difficulty, want, or distress; to assist and deliver from suffering; to relieve; as, to succor a besieged city. [OE. socouren, OF. sucurre, soucourre, secorre, F. secourir, L. succurrere, succursum, to run under, run to the aid of, help, succor; sub under + currere to run.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Faery Isle of Janjira 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, The Faery Isle of Janjira, in The Bird of Time: Songs of Life, Death & the Spring (1912), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/naidu-bird-of-time/the-faery-isle-of-janjira.html, id L27548.
Form and metre
The Faery Isle of Janjira is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 71%).
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 AA-A kingdomA · climeA · measure · timeA
- 2 -A-A wander · singA · waters · springA
- 3 -A-A beckons · callsA · slumber · wallsA
- 4 -A-A tumult · wrongA · battle · songA
- 5 -A-A falter · failA · triumph · prevailA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Fain would I dwell in your faery kingdom, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| O faery queen of a flowering clime, | 10 | ······/˘˘· |
| Where life glides by to a delicate measure, | 11 | ······/˘˘/˘ |
| With the glamour and grace of a far-off time. | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Fain would I dwell where your wild doves wander, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Your palm-woods burgeon and sea-winds sing. . . . | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Lulled by the rune of the rhythmic waters, | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| In your Island of Bliss it is always spring. | 11 | ··/˘····/·· |
| Yet must I go where the loud world beckons, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| And the urgent drum-beat of destiny calls, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Far from your white dome's luminous slumber, | 10 | ·····/˘˘/˘ |
| Far from the dream of your fortress walls, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Into the strife of the throng and the tumult, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| The war of sweet Love against folly and wrong; | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Where brave hearts carry the sword of battle, | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| 'Tis mine to carry the banner of song, | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| The solace of faith to the lips that falter, | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| The succour of hope to the hands that fail, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The tidings of joy when Peace shall triumph, | 10 | ·/˘·····/˘ |
| When Truth shall conquer and Love prevail. | 9 | ···/˘··˘/ |
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.