Damayante to Nala in the Hour of Exile
Shalt thou be conquered of a human fateMy liege, my lover, whose imperial headHath never bent in sorrow of defeat?Shalt thou be vanquished, whose imperial feetHave shattered armies and stamped empires dead?Who shall unking thee, husband of a queen?Wear thou thy majesty inviolate.Earth's glories flee of human eyes unseen,Earth's kingdoms fade to a remembered dream,But thine henceforth shall be a power supreme,Dazzling command and rich dominion,The winds thy heralds and thy vassals allThe silver-belted planets and the sun.Where'er the radiance of thy coming fall,Shall dawn for thee her saffron footcloths spread,Sunset her purple canopies and red,In serried splendour, and the night unfoldHer velvet darkness wrought with starry goldFor kingly raiment, soft as cygnet-down.My hair shall braid thy temples like a crownOf sapphires, and my kiss upon thy browsLike cithar-music lull thee to repose,Till the sun yield thee homage of his light.
O king, thy kingdom who from thee can wrest?What fate shall dare uncrown thee from this breast,O god-born lover, whom my love doth girdAnd armour with impregnable delightOf Hope's triumphant keen flame-carven sword?
Words in this poem 15
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- liege a.
- Sovereign; independent; having authority or right to allegiance; as, a liege lord. [OE. lige, lege, F. lige, LL. ligius, legius, liege, unlimited, complete, prob. of German origin; cf. G. ledig free from bonds and obstacles, MHG. ledec, ledic, ]
- defeat v. t.
- To undo; to disfigure; to destroy. [From F. défait, OF. desfait, p. p. ofe défaire, OF. desfaire, to undo; L. dis- + facere to do. See Feat, Fact, and cf. Disfashion.]
- 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,]
- unking v. t.
- To cause to cease to be a king. [1st un- + king.]
- inviolate a.
- Not violated; uninjured; unhurt; unbroken. [L. inviolatus. See In- not, and Violate.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- henceforth adv.
- From this time forward; henceforward.
- serried a.
- Crowded; compact; dense; pressed together. [See Serry.]
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- lull v. t.
- To cause to rest by soothing influences; to compose; to calm; to soothe; to quiet. [Akin to OD. lullen to sing to sleep, G. lullen, Dan. lulle, Sw. lulla; all of imitative origin. Cf. Loll, Lollard.]
- uncrown v. t.
- To deprive of a crown; to take the crown from; hence, to discrown; to dethrone. [1st pref. un- + crown.]
- armour n.
- Defensive arms for the body; any clothing or covering worn to protect one's person in battle. [OE. armure, fr. F. armure, OF. armeure, fr. L. armatura. See Armature.]
- carven a.
- Wrought by carving; ornamented by carvings; carved.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Damayante to Nala in the Hour of Exile is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Golden Threshold, with an introduction by Arthur Symons (Hyderabad, 1905; London, John Lane, 1905), Project Gutenberg ebook #680; 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, Damayante to Nala in the Hour of Exile, in The Golden Threshold (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #680, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/naidu-golden-threshold/damayante-to-nala-in-the-hour-of-exile.html, id L27503.
Form and metre
Damayante to Nala in the Hour of Exile is 28 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 -ABBACBCDDCECEAAFFGG--- fate · headA · defeatB · feetB · deadA · queenC · inviolateB · unseenC · dreamD · supremeD · dominionC · allE · sunC · fallE · spreadA · redA · unfoldF · goldF · downG · crownG · brows · repose · light
- 2 AA--- wrestA · breastA · gird · delight · sword
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Shalt thou be conquered of a human fate | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| My liege, my lover, whose imperial head | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Hath never bent in sorrow of defeat? | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Shalt thou be vanquished, whose imperial feet | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Have shattered armies and stamped empires dead? | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Who shall unking thee, husband of a queen? | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Wear thou thy majesty inviolate. | 10 | ···/˘˘˘/˘˘ |
| Earth's glories flee of human eyes unseen, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Earth's kingdoms fade to a remembered dream, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| But thine henceforth shall be a power supreme, | 10 | ··//···/˘/ |
| Dazzling command and rich dominion, | 10 | /˘˘˘/··˘/˘ |
| The winds thy heralds and thy vassals all | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The silver-belted planets and the sun. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Where'er the radiance of thy coming fall, | 11 | ˘˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| Shall dawn for thee her saffron footcloths spread, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Sunset her purple canopies and red, | 10 | /··/˘/˘˘·· |
| In serried splendour, and the night unfold | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Her velvet darkness wrought with starry gold | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| For kingly raiment, soft as cygnet-down. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| My hair shall braid thy temples like a crown | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of sapphires, and my kiss upon thy brows | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Like cithar-music lull thee to repose, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Till the sun yield thee homage of his light. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| O king, thy kingdom who from thee can wrest? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| What fate shall dare uncrown thee from this breast, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| O god-born lover, whom my love doth gird | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And armour with impregnable delight | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘˘/ |
| Of Hope's triumphant keen flame-carven sword? | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
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.