Part II: Section 9
"False, vicious spirit of unrest,What brings thee here on midnight quest?Who dwell within are none of thine.Hell may not flaunt her presence here,Let not thine impious tread draw nearTo my dear love, to this pure shrine.What is thy quest?""Nay, she is mine!"The Fiend replied with smile abhorrent,And straightway jealous fury turnedAll gentler thoughts back to the torrentOf hate, wherein he late had burned."Thou, guardian angel, com'st too lateTo filch from me my worshippers—She's mine—go, leave her to her fate,For thou art not my judge—nor hers.Proud seraph, hence—mine, mine, all mine!See on her heart my seal's impress.Here is no more thy holy shrine,For where I love, there I possess."The seraph with sad glance beholdingThe hapless victim where she lies,Slowly his rainbow wings unfolding,Vanished in ether of the skies.
Words in this poem
- unrest n.
- Want of rest or repose; unquietness; sleeplessness; uneasiness; disquietude.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- flaunt n.
- Anything displayed for show.
- abhorrent a.
- Abhorring; detesting; having or showing abhorrence; loathing; hence, strongly opposed to; as, abhorrent thoughts. [L. abhorens, -rentis, p. pr. of abhorrere.]
- straightway adv.
- Immediately; without loss of time; without delay.
- filch v. t.
- To steal or take privily (commonly, that which is of little value); to pilfer. [Cf. AS. feol to stick to, OHG. felhan, felahan, to hide, Icel. fela, Goth. filhan to hide, bury, Prov. E. feal to hide slyly, OE. felen.]
- beholding a.
- Obliged; beholden.
- hapless a.
- Without hap or luck; luckless; unfortunate; unlucky; unhappy; as, hapless youth; hapless maid.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Part II: 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 II: Section 9, in The Demon (1918), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lermontov-demon/2-9.html, id L28478.
Form and metre
Part II: Section 9 is 24 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 AABCCBABDEDEF-F-BGBGHIHI unrestA · questA · thineB · hereC · nearC · shrineB · questA · mineB · abhorrentD · turnedE · torrentD · burnedE · lateF · worshippers · fateF · hers · mineB · impressG · shrineB · possessG · beholdingH · liesI · unfoldingH · skiesI
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "False, vicious spirit of unrest, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| What brings thee here on midnight quest? | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Who dwell within are none of thine. | 8 | ········ |
| Hell may not flaunt her presence here, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Let not thine impious tread draw near | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| To my dear love, to this pure shrine. | 8 | ········ |
| What is thy quest?" | 4 | ···· |
| "Nay, she is mine!" | 4 | ···· |
| The Fiend replied with smile abhorrent, | 9 | ··˘/··˘/˘ |
| And straightway jealous fury turned | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| All gentler thoughts back to the torrent | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Of hate, wherein he late had burned. | 8 | ········ |
| "Thou, guardian angel, com'st too late | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To filch from me my worshippers— | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| She's mine—go, leave her to her fate, | 8 | ········ |
| For thou art not my judge—nor hers. | 8 | ········ |
| Proud seraph, hence—mine, mine, all mine! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| See on her heart my seal's impress. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Here is no more thy holy shrine, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For where I love, there I possess." | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The seraph with sad glance beholding | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| The hapless victim where she lies, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Slowly his rainbow wings unfolding, | 9 | /˘·/··˘/˘ |
| Vanished in ether of the skies. | 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.