The Demon
Lermontov's poem of the fallen angel who falls in love with a mortal woman in the Caucasus, in a rhymed English version of 1918.
What this poem is
Demon (Russian: Демон) is a poem by Mikhail Lermontov, written in several versions in the years 1829 to 1839. It is considered a masterpiece of European Romantic poetry.
Lermontov began work on the poem when he was about 14 or 15 but completed it only during his Caucasus exile. Lermontov wrote six major variations of the poem, and the final version was not published until 1842, after his death.
The poem is set in the Caucasus Mountains. It opens with the eponymous protagonist wandering the earth, hopeless and troubled. He dwells in infinite isolation, his immortality and unlimited power a worthless burden. Then he spies the beautiful Princess Tamara, dancing for her wedding, and in the desert of his soul wells an indescribable emotion.
The Demon, acting as a brutal and powerful tyrant, destroys his rival: at his instigation, robbers come to despoil the wedding and kill Tamara's betrothed. The Demon courts Tamara; she fears him, yet in him she sees not a demon nor an angel, but a tortured soul. First, she asks her father to send her to a monastery, understanding that she is being tormented by an evil spirit. Eventually she yields to his embrace, but his kiss is fatal. And though she is taken to Heaven, the Demon is left again "Alone in all the universe, / Abandoned, without love or hope!...".
Adapted from the Wikipedia article “Demon (poem)” (revision 1340466985), used under CC BY-SA 4.0. Laurel's own notes and measurements are not from Wikipedia.
Measured across the book
Across its 1,167 lines, 94% of stressed syllables fall on the beat (95% interval 94% to 95%). Alliteration runs at 1.01 times what shuffling the words would give (0.26 observed against 0.26 expected). 38% of the lines have a feminine ending.
Baselines and intervals are described in the methods.
Contents
About this text
Public domain. Text from The Demon, translated from the Russian of Lermontoff by Robert Burness, B.A. (Oxon.), Edinburgh: Douglas & Foulis, 1918, Internet Archive. Free to read, print, copy and reuse.