Nightfall in the City of Hyderabad
See how the speckled sky burns like a pigeon's throat,Jewelled with embers of opal and peridote.
See the white river that flashes and scintillates,Curved like a tusk from the mouth of the city-gates.
Hark, from the minaret, how the muezzin's callFloats like a battle-flag over the city wall.
From trellised balconies, languid and luminousFaces gleam, veiled in a splendour voluminous.
Leisurely elephants wind through the winding lanes,Swinging their silver bells hung from their silver chains.
Round the high Char Minar sounds of gay cavalcadesBlend with the music of cymbals and serenades.
Over the city bridge Night comes majestical,Borne like a queen to a sumptuous festival.
Words in this poem
- minaret n.
- A slender, lofty tower attached to a mosque and surrounded by one or more projecting balconies, from which the summon to prayer is cried by the muezzin. [Sp. minarete, Ar. manarat lamp, lantern, lighthouse, turret, fr. nar to shine.]
- trellised a.
- Having a trellis or trellises.
- veiled a.
- Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden.
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
- voluminous a.
- Of or pertaining to volume or volumes. Specifically: -- (a) Consisting of many folds, coils, or convolutions. [L. voluminosus: cf. F. volumineux.]
- majestical a.
- Majestic. Cowley.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Nightfall in the City of Hyderabad 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, Nightfall in the City of Hyderabad, in The Golden Threshold (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #680, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/naidu-golden-threshold/nightfall-in-the-city-of-hyderabad.html, id L27510.
Form and metre
Nightfall in the City of Hyderabad is 14 lines in 7 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 86% of the lines. The metre is dactylic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in dactylic tetrameter.
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 throatA · peridoteA
- 2 AA scintillatesA · gatesA
- 3 AA callA · wallA
- 4 AA luminousA · voluminousA
- 5 AA lanesA · chainsA
- 6 AA cavalcadesA · serenadesA
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 dactylic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| See how the speckled sky burns like a pigeon's throat, | 12 | ···/˘····/˘· |
| Jewelled with embers of opal and peridote. | 12 | /˘·/˘·/˘···· |
| See the white river that flashes and scintillates, | 12 | ···/˘·/˘···· |
| Curved like a tusk from the mouth of the city-gates. | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| Hark, from the minaret, how the muezzin's call | 11 | ····˘/····· |
| Floats like a battle-flag over the city wall. | 12 | ···/˘····/˘· |
| From trellised balconies, languid and luminous | 12 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘·/˘˘ |
| Faces gleam, veiled in a splendour voluminous. | 12 | /˘····/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Leisurely elephants wind through the winding lanes, | 12 | /˘˘/˘˘···/˘· |
| Swinging their silver bells hung from their silver chains. | 12 | /˘·/˘····/˘· |
| Round the high Char Minar sounds of gay cavalcades | 12 | ····/˘···/˘· |
| Blend with the music of cymbals and serenades. | 12 | ···/˘·/˘··˘/ |
| Over the city bridge Night comes majestical, | 12 | ···/˘···˘/˘˘ |
| Borne like a queen to a sumptuous festival. | 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.