Analysis of Sarnat, a Boodh Monument
Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 (Chelsea) – 1838 (Cape Coast)
DIM faith of other times, when earth was young,
And eager in belief; when men were few,
And felt their nothingness; not then elate
With numbers, science, and the victories
Which history registers o’er vanquished time.
For time is vanquished by discovery,
By arts which triumph over common wants,
By knowledge, which bequeaths the following age
All that its predecessor sought and won.
But thou, oh ancient creed, hast nought of this.
Others have given immortality
To their bold founders ; he who worshipped fire,
And taught the Magi how to read the stars,
The Persian Zoroaster, left a name ;
And he, too, of the crescent and the sword,
Who sternlike swept on his appointed way,
Is still his followers’ war-cry. These beliefs
Are obvious in their workings ; we can trace
The one great mind that set the springs in play,
By which the human puppets rise and fall.
Ambition, avarice, cruelty, and fear,
The natural inmates of the heart in man,
Are stirred by some adventurer, who knows
How superstition can be made the bond
To fetter thousands; I can understand
The rise and progress of such earthly creed.
Oh, vanity of vanities is writ
Upon all things of earth—but what can wear
The writing on its forehead like this shrine ?
It is a mighty thing to teach mankind
A new idolatry, to bind the weak
In their own fancies, to incite the strong
By high imaginations, future hopes,
Which fill the craving in all noble hearts
For things beyond themselves, beyond their sphere.
All human gifts must concentrate in Him
Who can originate a new belief—
The fiery eloquence that stirs the soul,
The poetry that can create a world
More lovely than our own, and body forth
Its glorious creation, and yet blend
This fine enthusiasm with an eye
Worldly and keen, which sees in others’ faults,
Frailties, and follies, but the many means
Which work to its own ends : yet, out on pride !
Such men may live, fulfil their destiny,
Fill a whole land with temples and with tombs,
And yet not leave a record of their fame ;
Forgotten utterly; and of their faith,
No memory, but fallen monuments,
Haunted by dim tradition.—
“All accounts of the Hindoos speak of a most dreadful persecution carried on by the Bramins, the sect of Bhud, many years ago, and the subsequent expulsion of the latter, whose doctrines extend over Ceylon, Thibet, Tonquin, Cochin China, throughout China, exists largely in Japan, and is without doubt the religion which has
the most numerous followers in the world. Next to this, I suppose, the Christian can boast the greatest number of believers; then the Mahometans; and, lastly, the Braminical—being the four principal religions which divide the habitable world.
“As to the antiquity of the two religions, if we allow the figure of Bhud to be the personification of fire, as some of the statutes representing this deity have a small flame on the tops of their heads, and that one of the earliest religions amongst mankind sprung from natural respect towards the sun, and also grant that the Bramins
come, according to their own admission, from the northward, the preference seems due to that of Bhud.”
See Colonel Fitzclarence's (now Lord Munster's) Journey Overland from India; one of the most interesting and able works of the time.
Scheme | XXABCDXXEXDXXFXGXXGXHXXXXXXXXXXXXXHXXXIXXXXXXDXFXXE XIBAC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111011111 0100011101 0111001101 1101000100 11001001101 1111010100 1111010101 1101101001 111100101 1111011111 101100100 11110111010 0101011101 0101101 0111010001 111110101 11110011101 11000110111 0111110101 1101010101 0101001001 0100110101 1111010011 101011101 110101101 010111101 1100110011 0111111111 0101110111 1101011111 0101001101 0111010101 110010101 1101001101 1101010111 110111001 110100101 01001001101 0100110101 11011010101 1100010011 110100111 1001110101 1001010101 1111111111 111111100 1011110011 0111001111 0101000111 1100110100 1011010 1011011101100101011010111101010010001010101100110011110100110011000101011001011 0110010000111110101011010101010101010011001100010101010001 11001001010101101010111100001011011101001011001011101111011101000100111111000101010101101 101011101010100100111111 11011111010110011011000101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 3,202 |
Words | 557 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 51, 5 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 46 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,285 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 281 |
Font size:
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Sarnat, a Boodh Monument" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/45043/sarnat%2C-a-boodh-monument>.
Discuss this Letitia Elizabeth Landon 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