Part I: Section 8
But now, her last gay dance is over,And dark forebodings o'er her hover,For at the morn a stranger loverWaits for the daughter of Gudàl.A marriage yoke, a plighted hand,New kinsmen, unfamiliar land.Poor child, to be a husband's thrall!And ofttime doubt, all unaware,Laid on her heart a dumb distress,But all her motions were so fair,So full of seeming want of care,Brimful of simple artlessness,That had the Demon, wending by,Beheld her then, he might have spurnedAll his fell purposes, and turnedTo Heaven with a repentant sigh.
Words in this poem
- hover n.
- A cover; a shelter; a protection. Carew. C. Kingsley. [Etymol. doubtful.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- unaware a.
- Not aware; not noticing; giving no heed; thoughtless; inattentive.
- brimful a.
- Full to the brim; completely full; ready to overflow.
- artlessness n.
- The quality of being artless, or void of art or guile; simplicity; sincerity.
- repentant a.
- Penitent; sorry for sin. [F. repentant.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Part I: Section 8 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 8, in The Demon (1918), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lermontov-demon/1-8.html, id L28461.
Form and metre
Part I: Section 8 is 16 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 -AA-BB-CDCCDEFFE over · hoverA · loverA · gudàl · handB · landB · thrall · unawareC · distressD · fairC · careC · artlessnessD · byE · spurnedF · turnedF · sighE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| But now, her last gay dance is over, | 8 | ········ |
| And dark forebodings o'er her hover, | 9 | ··˘/˘··/˘ |
| For at the morn a stranger lover | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Waits for the daughter of Gudàl. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A marriage yoke, a plighted hand, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| New kinsmen, unfamiliar land. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Poor child, to be a husband's thrall! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And ofttime doubt, all unaware, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Laid on her heart a dumb distress, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| But all her motions were so fair, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| So full of seeming want of care, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Brimful of simple artlessness, | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| That had the Demon, wending by, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Beheld her then, he might have spurned | 8 | ˘/······ |
| All his fell purposes, and turned | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| To Heaven with a repentant sigh. | 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.