Mountains from the Keslov Steppe
What would Great Allah with the frozen sea?Would he of icy clouds a throne carve bright,Or would the demons of the deepest nightA bar build where the shining stars sweep free?It gleams like pagan cities fired, kings flee.When Day was anciently destroyed by NightDid Allah amid chaos fix this lightTo guide the star-worlds of eternity?
Up there I've journeyed where the winter reigns,And seen the rivers bitten black like linesOn Tschatir Dagh, where the white cloud reclines,Which not the wildest eagle's shadow stains,Where cradled under me the thunders sleepAnd Allah and the stars their watches keep.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- chaos n.
- An empty, immeasurable space; a yawning chasm. [L. chaos chaos (in senses 1 & 2), Gr. Chasm.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Mountains from the Keslov Steppe 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, Mountains from the Keslov Steppe, in Sonnets from the Crimea (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27069, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mickiewicz-crimea/mountains-from-the-keslov-steppe.html, id L15530.
Form and metre
Mountains from the Keslov Steppe is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 ABBAABB- seaA · brightB · nightB · freeA · fleeA · nightB · lightB · eternity
- 2 ABBACC reignsA · linesB · reclinesB · stainsA · sleepC · keepC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What would Great Allah with the frozen sea? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Would he of icy clouds a throne carve bright, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Or would the demons of the deepest night | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| A bar build where the shining stars sweep free? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| It gleams like pagan cities fired, kings flee. | 10 | ···/˘/˘/·· |
| When Day was anciently destroyed by Night | 10 | ···/˘˘˘/·· |
| Did Allah amid chaos fix this light | 10 | ·/˘˘//˘··· |
| To guide the star-worlds of eternity? | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Up there I've journeyed where the winter reigns, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And seen the rivers bitten black like lines | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| On Tschatir Dagh, where the white cloud reclines, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Which not the wildest eagle's shadow stains, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/·· |
| Where cradled under me the thunders sleep | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And Allah and the stars their watches keep. | 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.