Part II: Section 11
And with words of loveHe kissed her trembling mouth with burningLips, and the impact of that fireThrilled her, as answering all her yearning,Kindling temptation and desire.Compelling eyes her vision searingScorched her like basilisks, appearingAs glittering daggers raised to smite,Mocking the dark with lurid light—Oh! Hell—her soul is thine to-night!For straight with venom of damnationThat kiss corroded to her heart,And all the midnight echoes startWith a wild shriek of consternation—A shriek that told a tale heartbreakingWhere love and agony were blended,From youth a passionate leave taking,And that young life in terror ended.
Words in this poem
- impact v. t.
- To drive close; to press firmly together: to wedge into a place. Woodward. [L. impactus, p. p. of impingere to push, strike against. See Impinge.]
- lurid a.
- Pale yellow; ghastly pale; wan; gloomy; dismal. [L. luridus.]
- damnation n.
- The state of being damned; condemnation; openly expressed disapprobation. [F. damnation, L. damnatio, fr. damnare. See Damn.]
- consternation n.
- Amazement or horror that confounds the faculties, and incapacitates for refletion; terror, combined with amaxement; dismay. [L. consternatio, fr. consternare to overome, perplex, an accessory form of consternere to trow down, prostrate; con + sternere to spread out, throw down: cf. F.]
- heartbreaking a.
- Causing overpowering sorrow.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Part II: Section 11 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 11, in The Demon (1918), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lermontov-demon/2-11.html, id L28480.
Form and metre
Part II: Section 11 is 18 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 -ABABCCDDDEFFEGHGH love · burningA · fireB · yearningA · desireB · searingC · appearingC · smiteD · lightD · nightD · damnationE · heartF · startF · consternationE · heartbreakingG · blendedH · takingG · endedH
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| And with words of love | 5 | ····· |
| He kissed her trembling mouth with burning | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Lips, and the impact of that fire | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Thrilled her, as answering all her yearning, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Kindling temptation and desire. | 9 | /˘˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Compelling eyes her vision searing | 9 | ˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Scorched her like basilisks, appearing | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| As glittering daggers raised to smite, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Mocking the dark with lurid light— | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Oh! Hell—her soul is thine to-night! | 8 | ········ |
| For straight with venom of damnation | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| That kiss corroded to her heart, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And all the midnight echoes start | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| With a wild shriek of consternation— | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| A shriek that told a tale heartbreaking | 9 | ······/·˘ |
| Where love and agony were blended, | 9 | ···/˘˘·/˘ |
| From youth a passionate leave taking, | 9 | ···/˘˘·/˘ |
| And that young life in terror ended. | 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.