The speaker in Yogananda's "City Drum" dramatizes the glory of simply waking up in the morning to the sounds of a city as it begins an ordinary yet miraculous day.
“City Drum,” from Songs of the Soul, consists of four stanzas; the first, second, and fourth each have four rimed lines, while the third has ten rimed couplets. The rime scheme does not remain consistent throughout but varies to enhance the varied subject as it progresses. The first stanza’s rime scheme is ABCB, and the second stanza’s rime scheme is ABCC, while the fourth stanza consists of two couplets.
First Stanza: “'Tis morn. I hear”
The opening lines declare that it is morning—just a simple statement pronouncing the time of day: “'Tis morn.” Then the speaker asserts that to his ears has come the great sound of “rolling wheels the song / Of a marching world / So strong.”
He no doubt has heard the many cars and trucks of working people who are on the move, starting their day. And the speaker avers that that great “marching world” of work is stout and hardy.
Second Stanza: “I love to be roused”
In the second stanza, the speaker reports his affection for the simple act of waking up to the sounds of the city: “I love to be roused / From silent sleep / By the early hum / Of active-city drum.” The colorful description of a city’s rousing itself awake infuses what may seem to be merely a “hum-drum” experience with new interest and appeal.
Seen through the eyes of this speaker, the reader becomes aware of the miracle of each day’s renewal in the simple act of waking up, listening to ordinary sounds of God’s children moving about and going to work.
Third Stanza: “The drum doth beat”
The five couplets of the third stanza portray as “heroes” all the people who choose to face the morning’s potential trepidations with courage and “a dauntless smile.” The speaker’s assessment of all the strangers he does not even know reminds the reader of Walt Whitman’s many catalogues that celebrate ordinary people as they met their day in work in play.
The speaker claims that “The drum doth beat / To loudly greet / All heroes true / That would die or do.” The same “drum” beat of “rolling wheels” that rouses the speaker has likewise roused other citizens to get out and go about their duties.
The workers, whether they are businessman, teacher, nurse, or laborer, “meet the morning’s foe / Of worry or woe.” But they do it smiling, and thus they bring about a “happy camp” “[where] peace burn[s] its lamp.” The dutiful workers provide the world with an energy that blesses everyone.
Fourth Stanza: “With noisy hum”
The speaker then summarizes and reemphasizes the efficacy of sound. The “city drum” that is a “noisy hum” daily, early, and consistently trumpets its “true and strong” announcement that “"The world is marching on."
Other Yogananda articles:
- “Invisible Mother”: A Poem by Paramahansa Yogananda
- Divine Oneness: Paramahansa Yogananda’s “The Splinters of Thy Love”
- Maya’s Delusion: Paramahansa Yogananda’s “Shadows”
- Living for Spirit: Paramahansa Yogananda’s “I Was Made for Thee”
- Autobiography of a Yogi: Toys, Toes, and a Large Family
- Reconciling Death: Housman’s “To an Athlete Dying Young” and Yogananda’s “The Dying Youth’s Divine Reply”
- Poetry and Meditation: The Efficacy of Silence
- Solacing Eyes: Image and Symbol
- God Speaks in a Poem: A Timeless Mystery
- Pikes Peak: A Spiritual Journey
- A Devotee’s Cry: “Speak to me now, O Lord”
- Affirmations and Poetry: The Poetry of Concentration
- Yogananda’s '”he Harvest”: Motivating the Spiritual Journey
- The Tattered Dress: Two Poems on Death
- Yogananda's “When Will He Come?”: When Will I Know Spirit?
- The Spiritual Altar: Yoga and Chanunpa
- Sri Daya Mata’s Only Love: Daya Ma’s First Book
