In the Forest
Here, O my heart, let us burn the dear dreams that are dead,Here in this wood let us fashion a funeral pyreOf fallen white petals and leaves that are mellow and red,Here let us burn them in noon's flaming torches of fire.
We are weary, my heart, we are weary, so long we have borneThe heavy loved burden of dreams that are dead, let us rest,Let us scatter their ashes away, for a while let us mourn;We will rest, O my heart, till the shadows are gray in the west.
But soon we must rise, O my heart, we must wander againInto the war of the world and the strife of the throng;Let us rise, O my heart, let us gather the dreams that remain,We will conquer the sorrow of life with the sorrow of song.
Words in this poem
- pyre n.
- A funeral pile; a combustible heap on which the dead are burned; hence, any pile to be burnt. [L. pure, Gr. Fire.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In the Forest 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, In the Forest, in The Golden Threshold (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #680, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/naidu-golden-threshold/in-the-forest.html, id L27495.
Form and metre
In the Forest is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is anapaestic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 deadA · pyreB · redA · fireB
- 2 ABAB borneA · restB · mournA · westB
- 3 ABAB againA · throngB · remainA · 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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Here, O my heart, let us burn the dear dreams that are dead, | 13 | ············· |
| Here in this wood let us fashion a funeral pyre | 14 | ······/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| Of fallen white petals and leaves that are mellow and red, | 14 | ·/˘·/˘····/˘·· |
| Here let us burn them in noon's flaming torches of fire. | 14 | ·······/˘/˘·/˘ |
| We are weary, my heart, we are weary, so long we have borne | 15 | ··/˘····/˘····· |
| The heavy loved burden of dreams that are dead, let us rest, | 14 | ·/˘·/˘········ |
| Let us scatter their ashes away, for a while let us mourn; | 15 | ··/˘·/˘˘/······ |
| We will rest, O my heart, till the shadows are gray in the west. | 15 | ········/······ |
| But soon we must rise, O my heart, we must wander again | 14 | ··········/˘˘/ |
| Into the war of the world and the strife of the throng; | 13 | ············· |
| Let us rise, O my heart, let us gather the dreams that remain, | 15 | ········/˘···˘/ |
| We will conquer the sorrow of life with the sorrow of song. | 15 | ··/˘·/˘····/˘·· |
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.