Palanquin-Bearers
Lightly, O lightly we bear her along,She sways like a flower in the wind of our song;She skims like a bird on the foam of a stream,She floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream.Gaily, O gaily we glide and we sing,We bear her along like a pearl on a string.
Softly, O softly we bear her along,She hangs like a star in the dew of our song;She springs like a beam on the brow of the tide,She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride.Lightly, O lightly we glide and we sing,We bear her along like a pearl on a string.
Words in this poem
- gaily adv.
- Merrily; showily. See gaily. [From Gay.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Palanquin-Bearers 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, Palanquin-Bearers, in The Golden Threshold (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #680, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/naidu-golden-threshold/palanquin-bearers.html, id L27475.
Form and metre
Palanquin-Bearers is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCC. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in anapaestic 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 AABBCC alongA · songA · streamB · dreamB · singC · stringC
- 2 AABBCC alongA · songA · tideB · brideB · singC · stringC
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Lightly, O lightly we bear her along, | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| She sways like a flower in the wind of our song; | 11 | ····/····/· |
| She skims like a bird on the foam of a stream, | 11 | ··········· |
| She floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream. | 11 | ··········· |
| Gaily, O gaily we glide and we sing, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| We bear her along like a pearl on a string. | 11 | ···˘/······ |
| Softly, O softly we bear her along, | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| She hangs like a star in the dew of our song; | 11 | ·········/· |
| She springs like a beam on the brow of the tide, | 11 | ··········· |
| She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride. | 11 | ··········· |
| Lightly, O lightly we glide and we sing, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| We bear her along like a pearl on a string. | 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.