The Book of Jade · Chapter
Song of India explained
The speaker, now in India with Zulaikha, reflects on leaving the weary North behind and finding peace and exotic fulfillment beside the Ganges.
What happens
The speaker, now in India with Zulaikha, reflects on leaving the weary North behind and finding peace and exotic fulfillment beside the Ganges. He praises Zulaikha's beauty and the sensual, dreamlike atmosphere, invoking opium, hashish, and oriental luxuries as symbols of escape and eternal rest.
Themes in this chapter
Orientalism and Exotic Escapism
India is portrayed as a dreamlike paradise of heavy scents, languid afternoons, and sensual pleasures, contrasting with the weary North.
Eroticism and the Femme Fatale
Zulaikha is described with intoxicating beauty, her caresses compared to opium and hashish, embodying a femme fatale who offers oblivion.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“Now at the last, Zulaikha, all my sorrows olden Are farther off than Europe or than China seem”
Finally, Zulaikha, my past sorrows feel as distant as Europe or China.
The speaker emphasizes the complete separation from his former life.
“Thou art the fragrant wine, the paradisal lotus, Thou art the opium.”
You are the sweet wine, the heavenly lotus, and the opium.
Zulaikha is equated with intoxicating and narcotic substances, symbolizing sensual escape.
“The caravan departeth to the desert slowly, There far afar to seek through endless time the holy Mirages of their dreams.”
The caravan slowly leaves for the desert, forever chasing the sacred illusions of their dreams.
The caravan's journey mirrors the human quest for unattainable spiritual or sensual fulfillment.