Part I: Section 1
A fallen angel once was wingingOver a sinful earth his way,And memory was ever bringingThe vision of a happier day,Telling an unforgotten storyHow once in realms of light and gloryA seraph pure and bright he shone—How the brief comet downward fleetingLoved to exchange a smile of greetingWith him, before its spark was gone.How 'mid the infant world's formationsIn caravans of cloud he rovedThrough worlds of scattered constellations—How Nature spread her lore and smiledOnce upon him, God's happy child,In days when he believed and loved.No trouble vexed his spirit then—Now endless vistas lie betweenThe blessedness beyond his kenAnd Him, who knew what might have been.
Words in this poem
- blessedness n.
- The state of being blessed; happiness; felicity; bliss; heavenly joys; the favor of God.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Part I: Section 1 is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Demon, translated from the Russian of Lermontoff by Robert Burness, B.A. (Oxon.), Edinburgh: Douglas & Foulis, 1918, Internet Archive, the Robert Burness translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mikhail Lermontov, Part I: Section 1, in The Demon (1918), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lermontov-demon/1-1.html, id L28454.
Form and metre
Part I: Section 1 is 20 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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-DD-E-EFF-G-G- wingingA · wayB · bringingA · dayB · storyC · gloryC · shone · fleetingD · greetingD · gone · formationsE · roved · constellationsE · smiledF · childF · loved · thenG · between · kenG · been
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A fallen angel once was winging | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Over a sinful earth his way, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And memory was ever bringing | 9 | ·/˘˘·/˘/˘ |
| The vision of a happier day, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Telling an unforgotten story | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| How once in realms of light and glory | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| A seraph pure and bright he shone— | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| How the brief comet downward fleeting | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| Loved to exchange a smile of greeting | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
| With him, before its spark was gone. | 8 | ········ |
| How 'mid the infant world's formations | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| In caravans of cloud he roved | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Through worlds of scattered constellations— | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| How Nature spread her lore and smiled | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Once upon him, God's happy child, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In days when he believed and loved. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| No trouble vexed his spirit then— | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Now endless vistas lie between | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The blessedness beyond his ken | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| And Him, who knew what might have been. | 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.