Part I: Section 9
Lo! he beheld.... For one brief space,Emotion strange, expressionless,Swept in resistless torrent o'er him,As if some voice of grace divine,Across the gulf that lay before him,Had called the outcast to the shrineOf loveliness and heavenly strength.And awestruck at the wondrous sight,His thoughts in wayless labyrinthPerplexed him, as in twinkling night,Star points to star a chain extendingTo continuity unending.And riveted by power unseen,New pangs increased his punishment,Speaking in words which might have beenErstwhile his own, "Repent, repent!"He strove to tempt—the words came not—Had he his ancient wiles forgot?Nay. For were God to grant him yetHis former malice to forget,He would but scorn the gift He sent.
Words in this poem
- expressionless a.
- Destitute of expression.
- resistless a.
- Having no power to resist; making no opposition.
- outcast a.
- Cast out; degraded. [Cf. Sw. utkasta to cast out.]
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- wayless a.
- Having no road or path; pathless.
- twinkling n.
- The act of one who, or of that which, twinkles; a quick movement of the eye; a wink; a twinkle. Holland.
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- erstwhile adv.
- Till then or now; heretofore; formerly.
- repent a.
- Prostrate and rooting; -- said of stems. Gray. [L. repens, -entis, creeping, p. pr. of repere to creep.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Part I: Section 9 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 9, in The Demon (1918), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lermontov-demon/1-9.html, id L28462.
Form and metre
Part I: Section 9 is 21 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 AABCBC-D-DEE-F-FGGHHF spaceA · expressionlessA · himB · divineC · himB · shrineC · strength · sightD · labyrinth · nightD · extendingE · unendingE · unseen · punishmentF · been · repentF · notG · forgotG · yetH · forgetH · sentF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lo! he beheld.... For one brief space, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Emotion strange, expressionless, | 8 | ˘/˘·˘·˘˘ |
| Swept in resistless torrent o'er him, | 9 | ··˘/˘/˘·· |
| As if some voice of grace divine, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Across the gulf that lay before him, | 9 | ˘/······· |
| Had called the outcast to the shrine | 8 | ···/···· |
| Of loveliness and heavenly strength. | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| And awestruck at the wondrous sight, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| His thoughts in wayless labyrinth | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Perplexed him, as in twinkling night, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Star points to star a chain extending | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| To continuity unending. | 9 | ··˘/˘˘˘/˘ |
| And riveted by power unseen, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘/ |
| New pangs increased his punishment, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘˘ |
| Speaking in words which might have been | 8 | /˘······ |
| Erstwhile his own, "Repent, repent!" | 8 | /···˘/˘/ |
| He strove to tempt—the words came not— | 8 | ········ |
| Had he his ancient wiles forgot? | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Nay. For were God to grant him yet | 8 | ········ |
| His former malice to forget, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| He would but scorn the gift He sent. | 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.