Russia
The Russian Empire, as you see,Is governed by an Autocrat,A sort of human target heFor anarchists to practise at;And much relieved most people areNot to be lodging with the Czar.
The Russian lets his whiskers grow,Smokes cigarettes at meal-times, andImbibes more 'vodki' than 'il faut';A habit which (I understand)Enables him with ease to tellHis name, which nobody could spell.
The climate here is cold, with snow,And you go driving in a sleigh,With bells and all the rest, you know,Just like a Henry Irving play;While, all around you, glare the eyesOf secret officers and spies!
The Russian prisons have no drains,No windows or such things as that;You have no playthings there but chains,And no companion but a rat;When once behind the dungeon door,Your friends don't see you any more.
I further could enlarge, 'tis true,But fear my trembling pen confines;I have no wish to travel toSiberia and work the mines.(In Russia you must write with care,Or the police will take you there.)
Words in this poem
- nobody n.
- No person; no one; not anybody. [No, a. + body.]
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- dungeon n.
- A close, dark prison, commondonjon or keep of a castle, these being used as prisons. [OE. donjoun highest tower of a castle, tower, prison, F. donjon tower or platform in the midst of a castle, turret, or closet on the top of a house, a keep of a]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Russia is in the public domain. This text is taken from Verse and Worse, Project Gutenberg ebook #36702; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Harry Graham, Russia, in Verse and Worse (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36702, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/graham-verse-and-worse/russia.html, id L23311.
Form and metre
Russia is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCC seeA · autocratB · heA · atB · areC · czarC
- 2 ABABCC growA · andB · fautA · understandB · tellC · spellC
- 3 ABABCC snowA · sleighB · knowA · playB · eyesC · spiesC
- 4 ABABCC drainsA · thatB · chainsA · ratB · doorC · moreC
- 5 ABABCC trueA · confinesB · toA · minesB · careC · thereC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The Russian Empire, as you see, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Is governed by an Autocrat, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A sort of human target he | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| For anarchists to practise at; | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| And much relieved most people are | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Not to be lodging with the Czar. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The Russian lets his whiskers grow, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Smokes cigarettes at meal-times, and | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Imbibes more 'vodki' than 'il faut'; | 8 | ˘/······ |
| A habit which (I understand) | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Enables him with ease to tell | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| His name, which nobody could spell. | 8 | ···/···· |
| The climate here is cold, with snow, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And you go driving in a sleigh, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With bells and all the rest, you know, | 8 | ········ |
| Just like a Henry Irving play; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| While, all around you, glare the eyes | 8 | ········ |
| Of secret officers and spies! | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| The Russian prisons have no drains, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| No windows or such things as that; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| You have no playthings there but chains, | 8 | ···/···· |
| And no companion but a rat; | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| When once behind the dungeon door, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Your friends don't see you any more. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I further could enlarge, 'tis true, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| But fear my trembling pen confines; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| I have no wish to travel to | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Siberia and work the mines. | 8 | ˘/˘˘···· |
| (In Russia you must write with care, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Or the police will take you there.) | 8 | ··˘/···· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.