Part II: Section 16
On ridges of the steepest hillAbove the valley of Kishàour,The wayfarer beholdeth stillThe ruins of an ancient tower;And children tremble when their earsCatch dreadful stories that TraditionTells of that pile (Mute ApparitionRisen from the dust of other years)Grim 'mid the trees, forbidding, darklingIt looms, but in the vale belowLies a fair land with plenty sparklingAnd hum of men is hushed, and low.The noisy caravan is rumblingAnd tinkling on its distant way,The happy stream o'er pebbles tumblingScatters its smiles of glistening spray,Like wanton child, that thinketh neverOf eld or sorrow, young for ever.Ah! Nature is so fair a thing,Clad with the Sunshine and the Spring!
Gloomy that castle now, its storyHid in the annals of the past,Like some old man, enfeebled, hoary,Doomed all his dear ones to outlast.By day its denizens are hidden,But when the moonbeam glads the nightThey hum, and creep, and fly unchidden,And take their freedom and delight.Grey hermit spiders there are weavingTheir webs for silly flies' deceiving,And sportively the lizards greenPlay on the ruined roof unheeding,And wily snake from hole unseenCrawls down the crumbling staircase leadingTo where a lofty hall had been,Slow wriggling o'er the steps betweenGarret and basement, or extendedWith long striped body stretched outright,Like sword, abandoned after fightBy warrior slain, whose wars are ended.—Nowhere a shadow to remindOf those dim years so far behind,Erased by Time's slow busy fingers,And all is lonely now and wild.No memory of Gudàl still lingersNor of Tamàra, his dear child.But on the dizzy peak remainethThat lonely chapel where their bonesWere laid, and some Good Power sustainethA semblance of those pillared stones.Silent, immutable and stern,On endless duty 'fore the entryBlack, granite guardians stand on sentry,In white cuirass that seems to burnWith dazzling gleams of ice eterne.And massive icebergs without numberTower sombre frowning over all,As if the frost had charmed to slumberA vast cascade in headlong fall.And there the blizzard never wearyWhirls snow, like dust, from those gray walls,Or, howling dirges long and dreary,The ice-bound guards to duty calls.Soon as that summons calls to rallyThat lonely temple's worshippers,From bleakest east continuallyCloudland with hurricane concurs.None venture here with fearful treadTo mourn Gudàl, Tamàra dead.Kazbèk's grim barrier guards for everThe secret of its icy breast,And busy hum of men may neverBreak through their everlasting rest.
Words in this poem 23
- wayfarer n.
- One who travels; a traveler; a passenger.
- dreadful a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- darkling a.
- Becoming dark or gloomy; frowing.
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- rumbling
- a. & n. from Rumble, v. i.
- clad v.
- To clothe. Holland.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- annals n.
- A relation of events in chronological order, each event being recorded under the year in which it happened. [L. annalis (sc. liber), and more frequently in the pl. annales (sc. libri), chronicles, fr. annus year. Cf. Annual.]
- hoary a.
- White or whitish."The hoary willows."
- outlast v. t.
- To exceed in duration; to survive; to endure longer than.
- moonbeam n.
- A ray of light from the moon.
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- garret n.
- A turret; a watchtower. [OE. garite, garette, watchtower, place of lookout, OF. garite, also meaning, a place of refuge, F. guérite a place of refuge, donjon, sentinel box, fr. OF. gari]
- outright adv.
- Immediately; without delay; at once; as, he was killed outright.
- nowhere adv.
- Not anywhere; not in any place or state; as, the book is nowhere to be found. [AS. nahwær. See No, and Where.]
- remind v. t.
- To put (one) in mind of something; to bring to the remembrance of; to bring to the notice or consideration of (a person).
- pillared a.
- Supported or ornamented by pillars; resembling a pillar, or pillars.
- immutable a.
- Not mutable; not capable or susceptible of change; unchangeable; unalterable. [L. immutabilis; pref. im- not + mutabilis mutable. See Mutable.]
- sombre n.
- Gloom; obscurity; duskiness; somberness.
- cascade n.
- A fall of water over a precipice, as in a river or brook; a waterfall less than a cataract. [F. cascade, fr. It. cascata, fr. cascare to ball.]
- blizzard n.
- A gale of piercingly cold wind, usually accompanied with fine and blinding snow; a furious blast. [U. S.] [Cf. Blaze to flash. Formerly, in local use, a rattling volley; cf. "to blaze away" to fire away.]
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- rally v. t.
- To collect, and reduce to order, as troops dispersed or thrown into confusion; to gather again; to reunite. [OF. ralier, F. rallier, fr. L. pref. re- + ad + ligare to bind. See Ra-, and 1st Ally.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Part II: Section 16 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 16, in The Demon (1918), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lermontov-demon/2-16.html, id L28485.
Form and metre
Part II: Section 16 is 73 lines in 2 stanzas. 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-A-BCCBDEDEFGFGHHII hillA · kishàour · stillA · tower · earsB · traditionC · apparitionC · yearsB · darklingD · belowE · sparklingD · lowE · rumblingF · wayG · tumblingF · sprayG · neverH · everH · thingI · springI
- 2 ABABCDCDEEFEFE-FGHHGIIJKJKLMLMNOONNPQPQRSRS-T-TUUVWVW storyA · pastB · hoaryA · outlastB · hiddenC · nightD · unchiddenC · delightD · weavingE · deceivingE · greenF · unheedingE · unseenF · leadingE · been · betweenF · extendedG · outrightH · fightH · endedG · remindI · behindI · fingersJ · wildK · lingersJ · childK · remainethL · bonesM · sustainethL · stonesM · sternN · entryO · sentryO · burnN · eterneN · numberP · allQ · slumberP · fallQ · wearyR · wallsS · drearyR · callsS · rally · worshippersT · continually · concursT · treadU · deadU · everV · breastW · neverV · restW
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 |
|---|---|---|
| On ridges of the steepest hill | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Above the valley of Kishàour, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The wayfarer beholdeth still | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| The ruins of an ancient tower; | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And children tremble when their ears | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Catch dreadful stories that Tradition | 9 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Tells of that pile (Mute Apparition | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Risen from the dust of other years) | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| Grim 'mid the trees, forbidding, darkling | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| It looms, but in the vale below | 8 | ········ |
| Lies a fair land with plenty sparkling | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| And hum of men is hushed, and low. | 8 | ········ |
| The noisy caravan is rumbling | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| And tinkling on its distant way, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The happy stream o'er pebbles tumbling | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Scatters its smiles of glistening spray, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Like wanton child, that thinketh never | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Of eld or sorrow, young for ever. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Ah! Nature is so fair a thing, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Clad with the Sunshine and the Spring! | 8 | ···/···· |
| Gloomy that castle now, its story | 9 | /˘·/˘··/˘ |
| Hid in the annals of the past, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Like some old man, enfeebled, hoary, | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| Doomed all his dear ones to outlast. | 8 | ······/· |
| By day its denizens are hidden, | 9 | ···/˘˘·/˘ |
| But when the moonbeam glads the night | 8 | ···/···· |
| They hum, and creep, and fly unchidden, | 9 | ········· |
| And take their freedom and delight. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Grey hermit spiders there are weaving | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Their webs for silly flies' deceiving, | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| And sportively the lizards green | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Play on the ruined roof unheeding, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And wily snake from hole unseen | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Crawls down the crumbling staircase leading | 9 | ···/˘/·/˘ |
| To where a lofty hall had been, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Slow wriggling o'er the steps between | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Garret and basement, or extended | 9 | /˘·/˘·˘/˘ |
| With long striped body stretched outright, | 8 | ···/˘·// |
| Like sword, abandoned after fight | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| By warrior slain, whose wars are ended. | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| —Nowhere a shadow to remind | 8 | /··/··˘/ |
| Of those dim years so far behind, | 8 | ········ |
| Erased by Time's slow busy fingers, | 9 | ˘/···/˘/˘ |
| And all is lonely now and wild. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| No memory of Gudàl still lingers | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Nor of Tamàra, his dear child. | 8 | ········ |
| But on the dizzy peak remaineth | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| That lonely chapel where their bones | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Were laid, and some Good Power sustaineth | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| A semblance of those pillared stones. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Silent, immutable and stern, | 8 | /˘˘/˘˘·· |
| On endless duty 'fore the entry | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Black, granite guardians stand on sentry, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| In white cuirass that seems to burn | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| With dazzling gleams of ice eterne. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And massive icebergs without number | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Tower sombre frowning over all, | 8 | //˘/˘··· |
| As if the frost had charmed to slumber | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| A vast cascade in headlong fall. | 8 | ··˘/·/·· |
| And there the blizzard never weary | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| Whirls snow, like dust, from those gray walls, | 8 | ········ |
| Or, howling dirges long and dreary, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| The ice-bound guards to duty calls. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Soon as that summons calls to rally | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| That lonely temple's worshippers, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| From bleakest east continually | 9 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘˘ |
| Cloudland with hurricane concurs. | 8 | /˘·/˘·˘/ |
| None venture here with fearful tread | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To mourn Gudàl, Tamàra dead. | 8 | ········ |
| Kazbèk's grim barrier guards for ever | 8 | ···/˘··/ |
| The secret of its icy breast, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And busy hum of men may never | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Break through their everlasting rest. | 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.