Part I: Section 12
Huddled together in amazeStand the affrighted camels, eyeingThe corpses of their riders lying,And helpless on each other gaze,As bell to bell makes vain replying;Plundered the gorgeous caravan,And over every slaughtered man,Flapping their wings, foul birds of prey.No peaceful tomb awaits their clayIn graveyard 'neath monastic stonesWhere rest their fathers' dust and bones.No mother in bereaved despair,No black-veiled sister will come there,With tears and sobs and anguished prayer,To mourn a son's, a brother's loss.But 'neath the cliff, in uncouth ways,Rude hands will dig a grave, and raiseSome hasty carved memorial cross.And ivy in the summer daysWill twine around, in fond caress,An emerald net of tenderness,And weary traveller in the valeSeek rest within its holy pale.
Words in this poem
- amaze v. t.
- To bewilder; to stupefy; to bring into a maze. [Pref. a- + maze.]
- gorgeous a.
- Imposing through splendid or various colors; showy; fine; magnificent. [OF. gorgias beautiful, glorious, vain, luxurious; cf. OF. gorgias ruff, neck handkerchief, and F. gorge throat, and se pengorger to assume airs. Cf. Gorge, n.]
- graveyard n.
- A yard or inclosure for the interment of the dead; a cemetery.
- caress n.
- An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness. [F. caresse, It. carezza, LL. caritia dearness, fr. L. carus dear. See Charity.]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Part I: Section 12 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 12, in The Demon (1918), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lermontov-demon/1-12.html, id L28465.
Form and metre
Part I: Section 12 is 23 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 61% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 ABBABCCDDEEFFFGAAGA-GHH amazeA · eyeingB · lyingB · gazeA · replyingB · caravanC · manC · preyD · clayD · stonesE · bonesE · despairF · thereF · prayerF · lossG · waysA · raiseA · crossG · daysA · caress · tendernessG · valeH · paleH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Huddled together in amaze | 8 | /˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| Stand the affrighted camels, eyeing | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| The corpses of their riders lying, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And helpless on each other gaze, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| As bell to bell makes vain replying; | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Plundered the gorgeous caravan, | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| And over every slaughtered man, | 8 | ··/˘˘/˘· |
| Flapping their wings, foul birds of prey. | 8 | /˘······ |
| No peaceful tomb awaits their clay | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| In graveyard 'neath monastic stones | 8 | ·/··˘/˘· |
| Where rest their fathers' dust and bones. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| No mother in bereaved despair, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘/ |
| No black-veiled sister will come there, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With tears and sobs and anguished prayer, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To mourn a son's, a brother's loss. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But 'neath the cliff, in uncouth ways, | 8 | ·····//· |
| Rude hands will dig a grave, and raise | 8 | ········ |
| Some hasty carved memorial cross. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| And ivy in the summer days | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Will twine around, in fond caress, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| An emerald net of tenderness, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| And weary traveller in the vale | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Seek rest within its holy pale. | 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.