Part II: Section 1
"Oh father, father, cease upbraiding—Thine own Tamàra do not chide:Thou see'st the tears that I am shedding—How many have I shed beside!Oh father, father, tell my loversThy poor Tamàra ne'er will wed;Him, that she loves, the cold earth coversAnd in his grave her heart is dead.For since his mangled corse we carriedTo resting place beneath the hill,A cruel Fiend my soul has harriedBreaking the barriers of my will.He comes in dreams of hellish power,With fantasies to speech abhorrent—My veins throb with a fiery torrent.I fade, I wither like a flower—My soul is torn with anguish wild,I suffer, father, hour by hour.Oh, spare me, father, spare thy child,Oh, to some holy Convent send me,Bid thine infatuate daughter goWhere the Redeemer will defend meAnd grant me solace in my woe.Earth hath no happiness to give me,And from the Saviour I will crave,What time the Convent walls receive me,To find a peace—though of the grave.
Words in this poem
- corse n.
- A living body or its bulk. [OF. cors, F. corps. See Corpse.]
- abhorrent a.
- Abhorring; detesting; having or showing abhorrence; loathing; hence, strongly opposed to; as, abhorrent thoughts. [L. abhorens, -rentis, p. pr. of abhorrere.]
- throb v. i.
- To beat, or pulsate, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate; -- said of the heart, pulse, etc. [OE. ; of uncertain origin; cf. Russ. trepete a trembling, and E. trepidation.]
- redeemer n.
- One who redeems.
- solace n.
- Comfort in grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety; also, that which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; relief. [OF. solas, ssoulaz, L. solacium, solatium, fr. solari to comfort, console. Cf. Console, v. t.]
- saviour n.
- One who saves, preserves, or delivers from destruction or danger. [OE. saveour, OF. salveor, F. sauveur, fr. L. salvator to save. See Save, v.]
- crave v. t.
- To ask with earnestness or importunity; to ask with submission or humility; to beg; to entreat; to beseech; to implore. [AS. crafian; akin to Icel. krefia, Sw. kr, Dan. kr.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Part II: 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 II: Section 1, in The Demon (1918), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lermontov-demon/2-1.html, id L28470.
Form and metre
Part II: Section 1 is 27 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 -A-ABCBCDEDEFGGFHFHIJIJIKIK upbraiding · chideA · shedding · besideA · loversB · wedC · coversB · deadC · carriedD · hillE · harriedD · willE · powerF · abhorrentG · torrentG · flowerF · wildH · hourF · childH · meI · goJ · meI · woeJ · meI · craveK · meI · graveK
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Oh father, father, cease upbraiding— | 9 | ·/˘/˘·/·˘ |
| Thine own Tamàra do not chide: | 8 | ········ |
| Thou see'st the tears that I am shedding— | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| How many have I shed beside! | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Oh father, father, tell my lovers | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Thy poor Tamàra ne'er will wed; | 8 | ········ |
| Him, that she loves, the cold earth covers | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And in his grave her heart is dead. | 8 | ········ |
| For since his mangled corse we carried | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| To resting place beneath the hill, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A cruel Fiend my soul has harried | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Breaking the barriers of my will. | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| He comes in dreams of hellish power, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| With fantasies to speech abhorrent— | 9 | ·/˘˘··˘/˘ |
| My veins throb with a fiery torrent. | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| I fade, I wither like a flower— | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| My soul is torn with anguish wild, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I suffer, father, hour by hour. | 9 | ·/˘/˘/·/˘ |
| Oh, spare me, father, spare thy child, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Oh, to some holy Convent send me, | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| Bid thine infatuate daughter go | 9 | ··˘/˘·/˘· |
| Where the Redeemer will defend me | 9 | ··˘/˘·˘/· |
| And grant me solace in my woe. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Earth hath no happiness to give me, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And from the Saviour I will crave, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| What time the Convent walls receive me, | 9 | ···/˘·˘/· |
| To find a peace—though of the grave. | 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.