The Leap of Roushan Beg
Mounted on Kyrat strong and fleet,His chestnut steed with four white feet,Roushan Beg, called Kurroglou,Son of the road and bandit chief,Seeking refuge and relief,Up the mountain pathway flew.
Such was Kyrat's wondrous speed,Never yet could any steedReach the dust-cloud in his course.More than maiden, more than wife,More than gold and next to lifeRoushan the Robber loved his horse.
In the land that lies beyondErzeroum and Trebizond,Garden-girt his fortress stood;Plundered khan, or caravanJourneying north from Koordistan,Gave him wealth and wine and food.
Seven hundred and fourscoreMen at arms his livery wore,Did his bidding night and day.Now, through regions all unknown,He was wandering, lost, alone,Seeking without guide his way.
Suddenly the pathway ends,Sheer the precipice descends,Loud the torrent roars unseen;Thirty feet from side to sideYawns the chasm; on air must rideHe who crosses this ravine.
Following close in his pursuit,At the precipice's foot,Reyhan the Arab of OrfahHalted with his hundred men,Shouting upward from the glen,"La Illah illa Allah!"
Gently Roushan Beg caressedKyrat's forehead, neck, and breast;Kissed him upon both his eyes;Sang to him in his wild way,As upon the topmost spraySings a bird before it flies.
"O my Kyrat, O my steed,Round and slender as a reed,Carry me this peril through!Satin housings shall be thine,Shoes of gold, O Kyrat mine,O thou soul of Kurroglou!
"Soft thy skin as silken skein,Soft as woman's hair thy mane,Tender are thine eyes and true;All thy hoofs like ivory shine,Polished bright; O, life of mine,Leap, and rescue Kurroglou!"
Kyrat, then, the strong and fleet,Drew together his four white feet,Paused a moment on the verge,Measured with his eye the space,And into the air's embraceLeaped as leaps the ocean surge.
As the ocean surge o'er sandBears a swimmer safe to land,Kyrat safe his rider bore;Rattling down the deep abyssFragments of the precipiceRolled like pebbles on a shore.
Roushan's tasselled cap of redTrembled not upon his head,Careless sat he and upright;Neither hand nor bridle shook,Nor his head he turned to look,As he galloped out of sight.
Flash of harness in the air,Seen a moment like the glareOf a sword drawn from its sheath;Thus the phantom horseman passed,And the shadow that he castLeaped the cataract underneath.
Reyhan the Arab held his breathWhile this vision of life and deathPassed above him. "Allahu!"Cried he. "In all KoordistanLives there not so brave a manAs this Robber Kurroglou!"
Words in this poem
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
- bandit n.
- An outlaw; a brigand. [It. bandito outlaw, p.p. of bandire to proclaim, to banish, to proscribe, LL. bandire, bannire. See Ban an edict, and cf. Banish.]
- pathway n.
- A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- girt v. t.
- To gird; to encircle; to invest by means of a girdle; to measure the girth of; as, to girt a tree. [From Girt, n., cf. Girth, v.]
- khan n.
- A king; a prince; a chief; a governor; -- so called among the Tartars, Turks, and Persians, and in countries now or formerly governed by them. [Pers. & Tart. khan.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- fourscore a.
- Four times twenty; eighty. [Four + core, n.]
- 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.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- allah n.
- The name of the Supreme Being, in use among the Arabs and the Mohammedans generally. [contr. fr. the article al the + ilah God.]
- 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,]
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Leap of Roushan Beg 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 Leap of Roushan Beg, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/the-leap-of-roushan-beg.html, id L17788.
Form and metre
The Leap of Roushan Beg is 84 lines in 14 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 11 of its 14 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 AABCCB fleetA · feetA · kurroglouB · chiefC · reliefC · flewB
- 2 AABCCB speedA · steedA · courseB · wifeC · lifeC · horseB
- 3 AA-BB- beyondA · trebizondA · stood · caravanB · koordistanB · food
- 4 AABCCB fourscoreA · woreA · dayB · unknownC · aloneC · wayB
- 5 AABCCB endsA · descendsA · unseenB · sideC · rideC · ravineB
- 6 ---AA- pursuit · foot · orfah · menA · glenA · allah
- 7 AABCCB caressedA · breastA · eyesB · wayC · sprayC · fliesB
- 8 AABCCB steedA · reedA · throughB · thineC · mineC · kurroglouB
- 9 AABCCB skeinA · maneA · trueB · shineC · mineC · kurroglouB
- 10 AABCCB fleetA · feetA · vergeB · spaceC · embraceC · surgeB
- 11 AABCCB sandA · landA · boreB · abyssC · precipiceC · shoreB
- 12 AABCCB redA · headA · uprightB · shookC · lookC · sightB
- 13 AABCCB airA · glareA · sheathB · passedC · castC · underneathB
- 14 AA-BB- breathA · deathA · allahu · koordistanB · manB · kurroglou
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Mounted on Kyrat strong and fleet, | 8 | /˘······ |
| His chestnut steed with four white feet, | 8 | ·/······ |
| Roushan Beg, called Kurroglou, | 7 | ······· |
| Son of the road and bandit chief, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Seeking refuge and relief, | 7 | /˘/˘·˘/ |
| Up the mountain pathway flew. | 7 | ··/˘/·· |
| Such was Kyrat's wondrous speed, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Never yet could any steed | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Reach the dust-cloud in his course. | 7 | ······· |
| More than maiden, more than wife, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| More than gold and next to life | 7 | ······· |
| Roushan the Robber loved his horse. | 9 | ···/˘·˘·· |
| In the land that lies beyond | 7 | ······· |
| Erzeroum and Trebizond, | 7 | ······· |
| Garden-girt his fortress stood; | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Plundered khan, or caravan | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Journeying north from Koordistan, | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| Gave him wealth and wine and food. | 7 | ······· |
| Seven hundred and fourscore | 7 | /˘/˘·/˘ |
| Men at arms his livery wore, | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Did his bidding night and day. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Now, through regions all unknown, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| He was wandering, lost, alone, | 8 | ··/˘˘·˘/ |
| Seeking without guide his way. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Suddenly the pathway ends, | 7 | /˘˘·/·· |
| Sheer the precipice descends, | 7 | ··/˘˘˘/ |
| Loud the torrent roars unseen; | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Thirty feet from side to side | 7 | /˘····· |
| Yawns the chasm; on air must ride | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| He who crosses this ravine. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Following close in his pursuit, | 8 | /˘˘···˘/ |
| At the precipice's foot, | 7 | ··/˘˘˘· |
| Reyhan the Arab of Orfah | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Halted with his hundred men, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Shouting upward from the glen, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| "La Illah illa Allah!" | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Gently Roushan Beg caressed | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Kyrat's forehead, neck, and breast; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Kissed him upon both his eyes; | 7 | ······· |
| Sang to him in his wild way, | 7 | ······· |
| As upon the topmost spray | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Sings a bird before it flies. | 7 | ······· |
| "O my Kyrat, O my steed, | 7 | ······· |
| Round and slender as a reed, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Carry me this peril through! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Satin housings shall be thine, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Shoes of gold, O Kyrat mine, | 7 | ······· |
| O thou soul of Kurroglou! | 7 | ······· |
| "Soft thy skin as silken skein, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Soft as woman's hair thy mane, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Tender are thine eyes and true; | 7 | /˘····· |
| All thy hoofs like ivory shine, | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Polished bright; O, life of mine, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Leap, and rescue Kurroglou!" | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Kyrat, then, the strong and fleet, | 7 | ······· |
| Drew together his four white feet, | 8 | ·˘/˘···· |
| Paused a moment on the verge, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Measured with his eye the space, | 7 | /˘····· |
| And into the air's embrace | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Leaped as leaps the ocean surge. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| As the ocean surge o'er sand | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Bears a swimmer safe to land, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Kyrat safe his rider bore; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Rattling down the deep abyss | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Fragments of the precipice | 7 | /˘··/˘˘ |
| Rolled like pebbles on a shore. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Roushan's tasselled cap of red | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Trembled not upon his head, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Careless sat he and upright; | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Neither hand nor bridle shook, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Nor his head he turned to look, | 7 | ······· |
| As he galloped out of sight. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Flash of harness in the air, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Seen a moment like the glare | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Of a sword drawn from its sheath; | 7 | ······· |
| Thus the phantom horseman passed, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| And the shadow that he cast | 7 | ··/···· |
| Leaped the cataract underneath. | 9 | ·˘·/˘˘·˘/ |
| Reyhan the Arab held his breath | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| While this vision of life and death | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Passed above him. "Allahu!" | 7 | ······· |
| Cried he. "In all Koordistan | 7 | ······· |
| Lives there not so brave a man | 7 | ······· |
| As this Robber Kurroglou!" | 7 | ··/˘··· |
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