This page features a video of the poem “The Stolen Boat”, prescribed under the Karnataka State Syllabus for 10th Standard English First Language. Along with its summary in three languages and transliterated songs. It serves as a valuable learning resource for students and parents, with each song accompanied by its respective lyrics for easy sing-along. The synchronized lyrics help learners follow and recite the song as it progresses, making memorization and learning by heart easier, more effective, and enjoyable.
Lyrics
English
One summer evening (led by her) I found
A little boat tied to a willow tree
Within a rocky cave, its usual home.
Straight I unloosed her chain, and stepping in
Pushed from the shore. It was an act of stealth
And troubled pleasure, nor without the voice
Of mountain-echoes did my boat move on;
Leaving behind her still, on either side,
Small circles glittering idly in the moon,
Until they melted all into one track
Of sparkling light. But now, like one who rows,
Proud of his skill, to reach a chosen point
With an unswerving line, I fixed my view
Upon the summit of a craggy ridge,
The horizon’s utmost boundary; far above
Was nothing but the stars and the grey sky.
She was an elfin pinnace; lustily
I dipped my oars into the silent lake,
And, as I rose upon the stroke, my boat
Went heaving through the water like a swan;
When, from behind that craggy steep till then
The horizon’s bound, a huge peak, black and huge,
As if with voluntary power instinct,
Upreared its head. I struck and struck again,
And growing still in stature the grim shape
Towered up between me and the stars, and still,
For so it seemed, with purpose of its own
And measured motion like a living thing,
Strode after me. With trembling oars I turned,
And through the silent water stole my way
Back to the covert of the willow tree;
There in her mooring-place I left my bark,—
And through the meadows homeward went, in grave
And serious mood; but after I had seen
That spectacle, for many days, my brain
Worked with a dim and undetermined sense
Of unknown modes of being; o’er my thoughts
There hung a darkness, call it solitude
Or blank desertion. No familiar shapes
Remained, no pleasant images of trees,
Of sea or sky, no colours of green fields;
But huge and mighty forms, that do not live
Like living men, moved slowly through the mind
By day, and were a trouble to my dreams.
A little boat tied to a willow tree
Within a rocky cave, its usual home.
Straight I unloosed her chain, and stepping in
Pushed from the shore. It was an act of stealth
And troubled pleasure, nor without the voice
Of mountain-echoes did my boat move on;
Leaving behind her still, on either side,
Small circles glittering idly in the moon,
Until they melted all into one track
Of sparkling light. But now, like one who rows,
Proud of his skill, to reach a chosen point
With an unswerving line, I fixed my view
Upon the summit of a craggy ridge,
The horizon’s utmost boundary; far above
Was nothing but the stars and the grey sky.
She was an elfin pinnace; lustily
I dipped my oars into the silent lake,
And, as I rose upon the stroke, my boat
Went heaving through the water like a swan;
When, from behind that craggy steep till then
The horizon’s bound, a huge peak, black and huge,
As if with voluntary power instinct,
Upreared its head. I struck and struck again,
And growing still in stature the grim shape
Towered up between me and the stars, and still,
For so it seemed, with purpose of its own
And measured motion like a living thing,
Strode after me. With trembling oars I turned,
And through the silent water stole my way
Back to the covert of the willow tree;
There in her mooring-place I left my bark,—
And through the meadows homeward went, in grave
And serious mood; but after I had seen
That spectacle, for many days, my brain
Worked with a dim and undetermined sense
Of unknown modes of being; o’er my thoughts
There hung a darkness, call it solitude
Or blank desertion. No familiar shapes
Remained, no pleasant images of trees,
Of sea or sky, no colours of green fields;
But huge and mighty forms, that do not live
Like living men, moved slowly through the mind
By day, and were a trouble to my dreams.
Summary
ಈ ಕವಿತೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಬೇಸಿಗೆಯ ಒಂದು ಸಂಜೆ ಕವಿ ಗುಹೆಯ ಬಳಿ ಕಟ್ಟಿದ್ದ ಸಣ್ಣ ದೋಣಿಯನ್ನು ಬಿಡಿಸಿ ಸರೋವರದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಾಗುವ ಅನುಭವವನ್ನು ನೆನಪಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಆರಂಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಅವನು ಚಂದ್ರನ ಬೆಳಕಿನಲ್ಲಿ ನೀರಿನ ಮೇಲೆ ದೋಣಿಯನ್ನು ಚಲಿಸುವುದನ್ನು ಸಂತೋಷದಿಂದ ಅನುಭವಿಸುತ್ತಾನೆ ಮತ್ತು ತನ್ನ ಕೌಶಲ್ಯದ ಮೇಲೆ ಹೆಮ್ಮೆಪಡುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಆದರೆ ಬೆಟ್ಟದ ಹಿಂದೆ ಒಂದು ಭಾರೀ ಕಪ್ಪು ಶಿಖರ ಎದ್ದು, ತನ್ನದೇ ಉದ್ದೇಶದಿಂದ ಜೀವಂತ ವಸ್ತುವಿನಂತೆ ಅವನನ್ನು ಹಿಂಬಾಲಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವಂತೆ ಕಾಣುತ್ತದೆ. ಭಯಗೊಂಡ ಕವಿ ದೋಣಿಯನ್ನು ತಿರುಗಿಸಿ ಮತ್ತೆ ಮರಗಳ ಆಶ್ರಯಕ್ಕೆ ಹಿಂದಿರುಗುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಈ ಅದ್ಭುತ ಮತ್ತು ಭಯಾನಕ ಅನುಭವದ ನಂತರ ಪ್ರಕೃತಿಯ ಅಪಾರ ಶಕ್ತಿ ಅವನ ಮನಸ್ಸಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಆಳವಾದ ಮತ್ತು ಗಂಭೀರವಾದ ಗುರುತು ಬಿಡುತ್ತದೆ.
Author
William Wordsworth