Baktschi Serai
In ruin are the spacious, splendid hallsWith frozen forest of white columns whereThe Tartar Khan his palace builded fair,Where loneliest the shrilling cricket calls.The ivy blackens over shining wallsEnscribing in gigantic letters thereSome curse Belshazzar-like: Beware! Beware!--Then black as crepe from crested columns falls.
Within the burnished banquet room there singsThe fountain of the harem pure and clear,Just as of old it sang in twilights drear.But whither love and fame speed--on what wings?When all things else must perish these endure!Yet both are gone! The fountain ripples pure.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- beware v. t.
- To avoid; to take care of; to have a care for.
- harem n.
- The apartments or portion of the house allotted to females in Mohammedan families. [Ar.haram, orig., anything forbidden of sacred, fr. harama to forbid, prohibit.]
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
- whither adv.
- To what place; -- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou [OE. whider. AS. hwider; akin to E. where, who; cf. Goth. hvadre whither. See Who, and cf. Hither, Thither.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Baktschi Serai is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets from the Crimea, Project Gutenberg ebook #27069, the Edna Worthley Underwood 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: Adam Mickiewicz, Baktschi Serai, in Sonnets from the Crimea (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27069, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mickiewicz-crimea/baktschi-serai.html, id L15531.
Form and metre
Baktschi Serai is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 97%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBAABBA hallsA · whereB · fairB · callsA · wallsA · thereB · bewareB · fallsA
- 2 ABBACC singsA · clearB · drearB · wingsA · endureC · pureC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In ruin are the spacious, splendid halls | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| With frozen forest of white columns where | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| The Tartar Khan his palace builded fair, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Where loneliest the shrilling cricket calls. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| The ivy blackens over shining walls | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Enscribing in gigantic letters there | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| Some curse Belshazzar-like: Beware! Beware!-- | 10 | ······˘/˘/ |
| Then black as crepe from crested columns falls. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Within the burnished banquet room there sings | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The fountain of the harem pure and clear, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Just as of old it sang in twilights drear. | 10 | ·······/·· |
| But whither love and fame speed--on what wings? | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| When all things else must perish these endure! | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Yet both are gone! The fountain ripples pure. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
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.