Analysis of To what shore would you cross
To what shore would you cross,
O my heart?
there is no traveller before you,
there is no road:
Where is the movement,
where is the rest,
on that shore?
There is no water; no boat, no boatman, is there;
There is not so much as a rope to tow the boat, nor a man to draw it.
No earth, no sky, no time, no thing, is there: no shore, no ford!
There, there is neither body nor mind:
and where is the place that shall still the thirst of the soul?
You shall find naught in that emptiness.
Be strong, and enter into your own body:
for there your foothold is firm.
Consider it well,
O my heart!
go not elsewhere,
Kabîr says: 'Put all imaginations away,
and stand fast in that which you are.'
Scheme | xAxxxxx b xx xxxxxxAbxx |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (25%) Etheree (25%) |
Metre | 111111 111 111100011 1111 11010 1101 111 111101111011 111111011101101111 11111111111111 111101011 0110111101101 111101100 11010011110 111111 01011 111 111 11111001001 01101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 687 |
Words | 139 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 1, 2, 10 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 128 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 34 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 41 sec read
- 149 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"To what shore would you cross" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/24817/to-what-shore-would-you-cross>.
Discuss this Kabir poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In