The Pardah Nashin
Her life is a revolving dreamOf languid and sequestered ease;Her girdles and her fillets gleamLike changing fires on sunset seas;Her raiment is like morning mist,Shot opal, gold and amethyst.
From thieving light of eyes impure,From coveting sun or wind's caress,Her days are guarded and secureBehind her carven lattices,Like jewels in a turbaned crest,Like secrets in a lover's breast.
But though no hand unsanctioned daresUnveil the mysteries of her grace,Time lifts the curtain unawares,And Sorrow looks into her face . . .Who shall prevent the subtle years,Or shield a woman's eyes from tears?
Words in this poem
- amethyst
- A variety of crystallized quartz, of a purple or bluish violet color, of different shades. It is much used as a jeweler's stone. [F. ametiste, amatiste, F. améthyste, L. amethystus, fr. Gr. Mead.]
- caress n.
- An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness. [F. caresse, It. carezza, LL. caritia dearness, fr. L. carus dear. See Charity.]
- carven a.
- Wrought by carving; ornamented by carvings; carved.
- turbaned a.
- Wearing a turban.
- unveil v. t.
- To remove a veil from; to divest of a veil; to uncover; to disclose to view; to reveal; as, she unveiled her face. [1st pref. un- + veil.]
- 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 Pardah Nashin 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, The Pardah Nashin, in The Golden Threshold (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #680, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/naidu-golden-threshold/the-pardah-nashin.html, id L27508.
Form and metre
The Pardah Nashin is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in iambic 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 ABABCC dreamA · easeB · gleamA · seasB · mistC · amethystC
- 2 A-A-BB impureA · caress · secureA · lattices · crestB · breastB
- 3 ABAB-A daresA · graceB · unawaresA · faceB · years · tearsA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Her life is a revolving dream | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Of languid and sequestered ease; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Her girdles and her fillets gleam | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Like changing fires on sunset seas; | 8 | ·/˘/·/·· |
| Her raiment is like morning mist, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Shot opal, gold and amethyst. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| From thieving light of eyes impure, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| From coveting sun or wind's caress, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Her days are guarded and secure | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Behind her carven lattices, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Like jewels in a turbaned crest, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Like secrets in a lover's breast. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| But though no hand unsanctioned dares | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Unveil the mysteries of her grace, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Time lifts the curtain unawares, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And Sorrow looks into her face . . . | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Who shall prevent the subtle years, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Or shield a woman's eyes from tears? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
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.