Part I: Section 4
In front a glorious variationOf palpitating landscape lies,Carpets of living vegetationWhere Grusian valleys sink or rise,Glimpses of earthly Paradise,Columns of ruined minarets,And gently tinkling rivuletsMaking the happy pebbles glisten;And rosy groves where nightingalesSing their sweet loves, nor pause to listenTill amorous mates sing answering tales.There clothed with ivy, cool and wide,The sycamores spread shady arches,And in the caves when noonday parchesThe timid stag comes in to hide.Brightness and life where all rejoices,The myriad hum of Nature's voicesAll drowsy in noon's burning tide.But in the blaze of midday heat,Or in the night when zephyrs sweetWith fragrance of the rose were laden,And bright as eyes of Grusian maidenThe pale-faced stars kept watch above,Nought of magnificence could moveIn that grim angel fallen from splendourOne thought of sympathy or love,Of strength renewed or longings tender;And when he viewed the scene before him,Hatred and scorn came surging o'er him.
Words in this poem
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- noonday n.
- Midday; twelve o'clock in the day; noon.
- myriad n.
- The number of ten thousand; ten thousand persons or things. [Gr. myriade.]
- magnificence n.
- The act of doing what magnificent; the state or quality of being magnificent. Acts xix. 27. [F. magnificence, L. magnificentia. See Magnific.]
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Part I: Section 4 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 4, in The Demon (1918), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lermontov-demon/1-4.html, id L28457.
Form and metre
Part I: Section 4 is 29 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 ABAB-CCDEDEFGGFHHFIIJJKKLKLMM variationA · liesB · vegetationA · riseB · paradise · minaretsC · rivuletsC · glistenD · nightingalesE · listenD · talesE · wideF · archesG · parchesG · hideF · rejoicesH · voicesH · tideF · heatI · sweetI · ladenJ · maidenJ · aboveK · moveK · splendourL · loveK · tenderL · himM · himM
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In front a glorious variation | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| Of palpitating landscape lies, | 8 | ·/˘˘˘/·· |
| Carpets of living vegetation | 9 | /˘·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Where Grusian valleys sink or rise, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Glimpses of earthly Paradise, | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| Columns of ruined minarets, | 8 | /˘·/˘·˘/ |
| And gently tinkling rivulets | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Making the happy pebbles glisten; | 9 | /˘·/˘/˘/˘ |
| And rosy groves where nightingales | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Sing their sweet loves, nor pause to listen | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Till amorous mates sing answering tales. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| There clothed with ivy, cool and wide, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The sycamores spread shady arches, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And in the caves when noonday parches | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| The timid stag comes in to hide. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Brightness and life where all rejoices, | 9 | /˘····˘/˘ |
| The myriad hum of Nature's voices | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| All drowsy in noon's burning tide. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| But in the blaze of midday heat, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Or in the night when zephyrs sweet | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With fragrance of the rose were laden, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| And bright as eyes of Grusian maiden | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| The pale-faced stars kept watch above, | 8 | ········ |
| Nought of magnificence could move | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| In that grim angel fallen from splendour | 10 | ···/˘/˘·/˘ |
| One thought of sympathy or love, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Of strength renewed or longings tender; | 9 | ··˘/·/˘/˘ |
| And when he viewed the scene before him, | 9 | ········· |
| Hatred and scorn came surging o'er him. | 9 | /˘···/˘·· |
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.