Analysis of To A Buddha Seated On A Lotus
Sarojini Naidu 1879 (Hyderabad) – 1949 (Lucknow)
LORD BUDDHA, on thy Lotus-throne,
With praying eyes and hands elate,
What mystic rapture dost thou own,
Immutable and ultimate?
What peace, unravished of our ken,
Annihilate from the world of men?
The wind of change for ever blows
Across the tumult of our way,
To-morrow's unborn griefs depose
The sorrows of our yesterday.
Dream yields to dream, strife follows strife,
And Death unweaves the webs of Life.
For us the travail and the heat,
The broken secrets of our pride,
The strenuous lessons of defeat,
The flower deferred, the fruit denied;
But not the peace, supremely won,
Lord Buddha, of thy Lotus-throne.
With futile hands we seek to gain
Our inaccessible desire,
Diviner summits to attain,
With faith that sinks and feet that tire;
But nought shall conquer or control
The heavenward hunger of our soul.
The end, elusive and afar,
Still lures us with its beckoning flight,
And all our mortal moments are
A session of the Infinite.
How shall we reach the great, unknown
Nirvana of thy Lotus-throne?
Scheme | AXABCC DEDEFF GHGHXA IJIJKK LXLBAA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (27%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11011101 11010101 11010111 01000100 1111101 01010111 01111101 010101101 1111101 01011010 11111101 0110111 11001001 010101101 010010101 010010101 110101001 11011101 11011111 100100010 110101 111101110 11110101 01101101 01010001 111111001 011010101 01010100 11110101 01011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,012 |
Words | 173 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 160 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 34 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 28, 2023
- 52 sec read
- 120 Views
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