Ancient ballads and legends of Hindustan, with an intr. memoir by E. W. Gosse1882 |
Common terms and phrases
archery Arjuna art thou bear beauty Bhowanipore blest blind blood boughs bracelet Brahman breath bride brow Calcutta Casuarina child choly creature crown dare dark dead dear death Dhruva Dronacharjya earth EDMUND W eyes face fain fair faith fast father fear feel flowers forest French Fields gentle give gleam gleaned in French gods grace hand Hark hast thou hath head hear heard heart Hindu honour hour husband king knew light live look lotus melan Mlle monarch mother Muni never nursling pain pale Pandava past peacock throne pedlar praise Prehlad prince queen rites rose round royal Satyavan Savitri shadow shalt Sheaf gleaned Shell-bracelets Sindhu sire Sita smiled soul spake star strange Suruchee sweet tamarind tears thee thine thou art thou hast thought throne Toru Dutt Toru's tree unto Vishnu Purana voice wife wild wood words youth
Popular passages
Page v - I never heard the old song of Percy and Douglas that I found not my heart moved more than with a trumpet...
Page x - Still barred thy doors ! The far east glows, The morning wind blows fresh and free. Should not the hour that wakes the rose Awaken also thee? All look for thee, Love, Light, and Song, Light in the sky deep red above, Song, in the lark of pinions strong, And in my heart, true Love.
Page xxviii - Thy generous fruits, though gathered ere their prime, Still showed a quickness ; and maturing time But mellows what we write to the dull sweets of rhyme. Once more, hail, and farewell ; farewell, thou young, But ah! too short, Marcellus of our tongue! Thy brows with ivy and with laurels bound; But fate and gloomy night encompass thee around.
Page 62 - And lo! the arm so fair and young Sank in the waters down again. They bowed before the mystic Power, And as they home returned in thought, Each took from thence a lotus flower In memory of the day and spot. Years, centuries, have passed away, And still before the temple shrine Descendants of the pedlar pay Shell bracelets of the old design As annual tribute.
Page 28 - She saw a stranger slowly glide Beneath the boughs that shrunk aghast. Upon his head he wore a crown That shimmered in the doubtful light ; His vestment scarlet reached low down, His waist, a golden girdle dight. His skin was dark as bronze ; his face Irradiate, and yet severe ; His eyes had much of love and grace, But glowed so bright, they filled with fear.
Page 137 - What is that dirge-like murmur that I hear Like the sea breaking on a shingle-beach? It is the tree's lament, an eerie speech, That haply to the unknown land may reach. Unknown, yet well-known to the eye of faith! Ah, I have heard that wail far, far away In distant lands, by many a sheltered bay When slumbered in his cave the water-wraith And the waves gently kissed the classic shore Of France or Italy, beneath the moon When earth lay tranced in a dreamless swoon...
Page 129 - Head of the human column, thus Ever in swoon wilt thou remain ? Thought, Freedom, Truth', quenched ominous Whence then shall Hope arise for us, Plunged in the darkness all again. No, she stirs ! — There's a fire in her glance, Ware, oh ware of that broken sword ! What, dare ye for an hour's mischance, Gather around her, jeering France, Attila's own exultant horde? Lo, she stands up — stands up e'en now, Strong once more for the battle-fray, Gleams bright the star, that from her brow Lightens...
Page xi - Light in the sky deep red above, Song, in the lark of pinions strong, And in my heart, true Love. " Apart we miss our nature's goal, Why strive to cheat our destinies? Was not my love made for thy soul ? Thy beauty for mine eyes? No longer sleep, Oh, listen now ! I wait and weep, But where art thou...
Page xiv - November, 1873, they went back again to Bengal, and the four remaining years of Toru's life were spent in the old garden-house at Calcutta, in a feverish dream of intellectual effort and imaginative production. When we consider what she achieved in these forty-five months of seclusion, it is impossible to wonder that the frail and hectic body succumbed under so excessive a strain. She brought with her from Europe a store of knowledge that would have sufficed to make an English or French girl seem...
Page xviii - Clarisse Bader, author of a somewhat remarkable book on the position of women in ancient Indian society. Almost simultaneously this volume fell into the hands of Toru, and she was moved to translate it into English, for the use of Hindus less instructed than herself. In January, 1877, she accordingly wrote to Mile. Bader requesting her authorization, and received a prompt and kind reply. On the...