The Demoniac of Gadara
He hath escaped, hath plucked his chains asunder,And broken his fetters; always night and dayIs in the mountains here, and in the tombs,Crying aloud, and cutting himself with stones,Exceeding fierce, so that no man can tame him!
THE DEMONIAC from above, unseen.O Aschmedai! O Aschmedai, have pity!
Listen! It is his voice! Go warn the peopleJust landing from the lake!
O Aschmedai!Thou angel of the bottomless pit, have pity!It was enough to hurl King Solomon,On whom be peace! two hundred leagues awayInto the country, and to make him scullionIn the kitchen of the King of Maschkemen!Why dost thou hurl me here among these rocks,And cut me with these stones?
He raves and muttersHe knows not what.
THE DEMONIAC, appearing from a tomb among the rocks.The wild cock TarnegalSingeth to me, and bids me to the banquet,Where all the Jews shall come; for they have slainBehemoth the great ox, who daily croppedA thousand hills for food, and at a draughtDrank up the river Jordan, and have slainThe huge Leviathan, and stretched his skinUpon the high walls of Jerusalem,And made them shine from one end of the worldUnto the other; and the fowl Barjuchne,Whose outspread wings eclipse the sun, and makeMidnight at noon o'er all the continents!And we shall drink the wine of ParadiseFrom Adam's cellars.
O thou unclean spirit!
THE DEMONIAC, hurling down a stone.This is the wonderful Barjuchne's egg,That fell out of her nest, and broke to piecesAnd swept away three hundred cedar-trees,And threescore villages!--Rabbi Eliezer,How thou didst sin there in that seaport townWhen thou hadst carried safe thy chest of silverOver the seven rivers for her sake!I too have sinned beyond the reach of pardon.Ye hills and mountains, pray for mercy on me!Ye stars and planets, pray for mercy on me!Ye sun and moon, oh pray for mercy on me!
There is a man here of Decapolis,Who hath an unclean spirit; so that noneCan pass this way. He lives among the tombsUp there upon the cliffs, and hurls down stonesOn those who pass beneath.
Come out of him,Thou unclean spirit!
What have I to doWith thee, thou Son of God? Do not torment us.
What is thy name?
Legion; for we are many.Cain, the first murderer; and the King Belshazzar,And Evil Merodach of Babylon,And Admatha, the death-cloud, prince of PersiaAnd Aschmedai the angel of the pit,And many other devils. We are Legion.Send us not forth beyond Decapolis;Command us not to go into the deep!There is a herd of swine here in the pastures,Let us go into them.
Come out of him,Thou unclean spirit!
See how stupefied,How motionless he stands! He cries no more;He seems bewildered and in silence staresAs one who, walking in his sleep, awakesAnd knows not where he is, and looks about him,And at his nakedness, and is ashamed.
Why am I here alone among the tombs?What have they done to me, that I am naked?Ah, woe is me!
Go home unto thy friendsAnd tell them how great things the Lord hath doneFor thee, and how He had compassion on thee!
A SWINEHERD, running.The herds! the herd! O most unlucky day!They were all feeding quiet in the sun,When suddenly they started, and grew savageAs the wild boars of Tabor, and togetherRushed down a precipice into the sea!They are all drowned!
Thus righteously are punishedThe apostate Jews, that eat the flesh of swine,And broth of such abominable things!
We sacrifice a sow unto DemeterAt the beginning of harvest and anotherTo Dionysus at the vintage-time.Therefore we prize our herds of swine, and count themNot as unclean, but as things consecrateTo the immortal gods. O great magician,Depart out of our coasts; let us alone,We are afraid of thee.
Let us depart;For they that sanctify and purifyThemselves in gardens, eating flesh of swine.And the abomination, and the mouse,Shall be consumed together, saith the Lord!
Words in this poem 22
- aloud adv.
- With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- solomon n.
- One of the kings of Israel, noted for his superior wisdom and magnificent reign; hence, a very wise man.
- scullion n.
- A servant who cleans pots and kettles, and does other menial services in the kitchen. [OF. escouillon (Cot.) a dishclout, apparently for escouvillon, F. écouvillon a swab; cf. also OF. souillon a servant employed for base offices. Cf. Scovel.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- behemoth n.
- An animal, probably the hippopotamus, described in Job xl. 15- 24. [Heb. behem, fr. Egyptian P-ehe-maut hippopotamus.]
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
- jordan n.
- A pot or vessel with a large neck, formerly used by physicians and alchemists. Halliwell. [Prob. fr. the river Jordan, and shortened fr. Jordan bottle a bottle of water from the Jordan, brought back by pilgrims.]
- leviathan n.
- An aquatic animal, described in the book of Job, ch. xli., and mentioned on other passages of Scripture. [Heb. livyathan.]
- outspread v. t.
- To spread out; to expand; -- usually as a past part. or adj.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- rabbi n.
- Master; lord; teacher; -- a Jewish title of respect or honor for a teacher or doctor of the law.
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- nakedness n.
- The condition of being naked.
- swineherd n.
- A keeper of swine.
- rushed a.
- Abounding or covered with rushes.
- precipice n.
- A sudden or headlong fall. Fuller. [F. précipice, L. praecipitium, fr. praeceps, - cipitis, headlong; prae before + caput, capitis, the head. See Pre-, and Chief.]
- righteously adv.
- In a righteous manner; as, to judge righteously. [AS. rightwislice.]
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
- sanctify v. t.
- To make sacred or holy; to set apart to a holy or religious use; to consecrate by appropriate rites; to hallow. [F. sanctifier, L. sanctificare; sanctus holy + - ficare (in comp.) to make. See Saint, and -fy.]
- abomination n.
- The feeling of extreme disgust and hatred; abhorrence; detestation; loathing; as, he holds tobacco in abomination. [OE. abominacioun, -cion, F. abominatio. See Abominate.]
- saith
- 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Demoniac of Gadara is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Demoniac of Gadara, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/the-demoniac-of-gadara.html, id L17863.
Form and metre
The Demoniac of Gadara is 104 lines in 21 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.2 syllables. 30 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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.
- 6 ---A--A-------- rocks · tarnegal · banquet · slainA · cropped · draught · slainA · skin · jerusalem · world · barjuchne · make · continents · paradise · cellars
- 8 --AA-B--BCCC stone · egg · piecesA · treesA · eliezer · townB · silver · sake · pardonB · meC · meC · meC
- 13 --A--A---- many · belshazzar · babylonA · persia · pit · legionA · decapolis · deep · pastures · them
- 20 -----AA- demeter · another · time · them · consecrate · magicianA · aloneA · thee
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 |
|---|---|---|
| He hath escaped, hath plucked his chains asunder, | 11 | ··˘/····˘/˘ |
| And broken his fetters; always night and day | 11 | ·/˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Is in the mountains here, and in the tombs, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Crying aloud, and cutting himself with stones, | 11 | /˘˘/·/˘˘/·· |
| Exceeding fierce, so that no man can tame him! | 11 | ˘/˘········ |
| THE DEMONIAC from above, unseen. | 10 | ·˘/˘˘···˘/ |
| O Aschmedai! O Aschmedai, have pity! | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Listen! It is his voice! Go warn the people | 11 | /˘·······/˘ |
| Just landing from the lake! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| O Aschmedai! | 4 | ···· |
| Thou angel of the bottomless pit, have pity! | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| It was enough to hurl King Solomon, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘˘ |
| On whom be peace! two hundred leagues away | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Into the country, and to make him scullion | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| In the kitchen of the King of Maschkemen! | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Why dost thou hurl me here among these rocks, | 10 | ·········· |
| And cut me with these stones? | 6 | ······ |
| He raves and mutters | 5 | ···/˘ |
| He knows not what. | 4 | ···· |
| THE DEMONIAC, appearing from a tomb among the rocks. | 15 | ·˘/˘˘˘/˘······· |
| The wild cock Tarnegal | 6 | ······ |
| Singeth to me, and bids me to the banquet, | 11 | /˘·······/˘ |
| Where all the Jews shall come; for they have slain | 10 | ·········· |
| Behemoth the great ox, who daily cropped | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| A thousand hills for food, and at a draught | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Drank up the river Jordan, and have slain | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The huge Leviathan, and stretched his skin | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| Upon the high walls of Jerusalem, | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| And made them shine from one end of the world | 10 | ·········· |
| Unto the other; and the fowl Barjuchne, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Whose outspread wings eclipse the sun, and make | 10 | ·˘/·˘/···· |
| Midnight at noon o'er all the continents! | 10 | /······/˘˘ |
| And we shall drink the wine of Paradise | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| From Adam's cellars. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| O thou unclean spirit! | 6 | ··˘//˘ |
| THE DEMONIAC, hurling down a stone. | 10 | ·˘/˘˘/˘··· |
| This is the wonderful Barjuchne's egg, | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| That fell out of her nest, and broke to pieces | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| And swept away three hundred cedar-trees, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘· |
| And threescore villages!--Rabbi Eliezer, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/···· |
| How thou didst sin there in that seaport town | 10 | ·······/·· |
| When thou hadst carried safe thy chest of silver | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Over the seven rivers for her sake! | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| I too have sinned beyond the reach of pardon. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Ye hills and mountains, pray for mercy on me! | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·· |
| Ye stars and planets, pray for mercy on me! | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·· |
| Ye sun and moon, oh pray for mercy on me! | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| There is a man here of Decapolis, | 10 | ·········· |
| Who hath an unclean spirit; so that none | 10 | ···˘//˘··· |
| Can pass this way. He lives among the tombs | 10 | ·········· |
| Up there upon the cliffs, and hurls down stones | 10 | ·········· |
| On those who pass beneath. | 6 | ······ |
| Come out of him, | 4 | ···· |
| Thou unclean spirit! | 5 | ·˘//˘ |
| What have I to do | 5 | ····· |
| With thee, thou Son of God? Do not torment us. | 11 | ········/·· |
| What is thy name? | 4 | ···· |
| Legion; for we are many. | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| Cain, the first murderer; and the King Belshazzar, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| And Evil Merodach of Babylon, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And Admatha, the death-cloud, prince of Persia | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| And Aschmedai the angel of the pit, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And many other devils. We are Legion. | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Send us not forth beyond Decapolis; | 10 | ·········· |
| Command us not to go into the deep! | 10 | ˘/········ |
| There is a herd of swine here in the pastures, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Let us go into them. | 6 | ······ |
| Come out of him, | 4 | ···· |
| Thou unclean spirit! | 5 | ·˘//˘ |
| See how stupefied, | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| How motionless he stands! He cries no more; | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| He seems bewildered and in silence stares | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| As one who, walking in his sleep, awakes | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And knows not where he is, and looks about him, | 11 | ··········· |
| And at his nakedness, and is ashamed. | 10 | ···/˘˘··˘/ |
| Why am I here alone among the tombs? | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| What have they done to me, that I am naked? | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Ah, woe is me! | 4 | ···· |
| Go home unto thy friends | 6 | ······ |
| And tell them how great things the Lord hath done | 10 | ·········· |
| For thee, and how He had compassion on thee! | 11 | ······˘/˘·· |
| A SWINEHERD, running. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| The herds! the herd! O most unlucky day! | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| They were all feeding quiet in the sun, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| When suddenly they started, and grew savage | 11 | ·/˘˘·/˘··/˘ |
| As the wild boars of Tabor, and together | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| Rushed down a precipice into the sea! | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| They are all drowned! | 4 | ···· |
| Thus righteously are punished | 7 | ·/˘˘·/˘ |
| The apostate Jews, that eat the flesh of swine, | 11 | ·˘/˘······· |
| And broth of such abominable things! | 10 | ····˘/˘˘˘· |
| We sacrifice a sow unto Demeter | 11 | ·/˘·····˘/˘ |
| At the beginning of harvest and another | 12 | ··˘/˘·/˘·˘/˘ |
| To Dionysus at the vintage-time. | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Therefore we prize our herds of swine, and count them | 11 | ····/······ |
| Not as unclean, but as things consecrate | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| To the immortal gods. O great magician, | 11 | ··˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| Depart out of our coasts; let us alone, | 10 | ˘/··/···˘/ |
| We are afraid of thee. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Let us depart; | 4 | ··˘/ |
| For they that sanctify and purify | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Themselves in gardens, eating flesh of swine. | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘··· |
| And the abomination, and the mouse, | 10 | ··˘·˘/˘··· |
| Shall be consumed together, saith the Lord! | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
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