The Pass Across the Abyss in the Tschufut-Kale
Pray! Pray! Let loose the bridle. Look not down!The humble horse alone has wisdom here.He knows where blackest the abysses leerAnd where the path in safety leads us down.Pray, and look upward to the mountain's crown!The deep below is endless where you peer;Stretch not the hand out as you pass, for fearThe added weight of that might plunge you down.
And check your thoughts' free flight, too, while you go;Let all of Fancy's fluttering sails be furledHere where Death watches o'er the riven world.
I lived to cross the bridge of ancient snow!But what I saw my tongue no more can tell,The angels only could rehearse that well.
Behold blue Heaven in that deep abyss!The sea is that! Behold the long waves shine!Watch how they rock that giant bird divine,Whose swinging white wings wide horizons kiss.Is that an iceberg in the blue abyss?No, no--a cloud! Watch how 'tis veiling fineThe sea, the land, out-blotting every lineTo drown it all in darkness soon I wis.
The lightning comes now! Frightful is its sweep.But softly--softly! Watch my spur--my whip!I'll leap across unto that chasm's lip.What still and chilling sternness great cliffs keep!Down there light calls to me. Soon there I'll be.Uncanny is such loneliness to me.
Words in this poem
- iceberg n.
- A large mass of ice, generally floating in the ocean. [Prob. of Scand. origin; cf. Dan. iisbierg, Sw. isberg, properly, a mountain of ice. See Ice, and Berg.]
- veiling n.
- A veil; a thin covering; also, material for making veils.
- frightful a.
- Full of fright; affrighted; frightened.
- sternness n.
- The quality or state of being stern.
- uncanny a.
- Not canny; unsafe; strange; weird; ghostly.
- loneliness n.
- The condition of being lonely; solitude; seclusion.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Pass Across the Abyss in the Tschufut-Kale 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, The Pass Across the Abyss in the Tschufut-Kale, in Sonnets from the Crimea (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27069, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mickiewicz-crimea/the-pass-across-the-abyss-in-the-tschufut-kale.html, id L15539.
Form and metre
The Pass Across the Abyss in the Tschufut-Kale is 28 lines in 5 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 64% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 18% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 downA · hereB · leerB · downA · crownA · peerB · fearB · downA
- 2 -AA go · furledA · worldA
- 3 -AA snow · tellA · wellA
- 4 ABBAABBA abyssA · shineB · divineB · kissA · abyssA · fineB · lineB · wisA
- 5 ABBACC sweepA · whipB · lipB · keepA · beC · meC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pray! Pray! Let loose the bridle. Look not down! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The humble horse alone has wisdom here. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| He knows where blackest the abysses leer | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| And where the path in safety leads us down. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Pray, and look upward to the mountain's crown! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The deep below is endless where you peer; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Stretch not the hand out as you pass, for fear | 10 | ·········· |
| The added weight of that might plunge you down. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And check your thoughts' free flight, too, while you go; | 10 | ·········· |
| Let all of Fancy's fluttering sails be furled | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Here where Death watches o'er the riven world. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| I lived to cross the bridge of ancient snow! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But what I saw my tongue no more can tell, | 10 | ·········· |
| The angels only could rehearse that well. | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/·· |
| Behold blue Heaven in that deep abyss! | 10 | ˘/·/˘···˘/ |
| The sea is that! Behold the long waves shine! | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Watch how they rock that giant bird divine, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Whose swinging white wings wide horizons kiss. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Is that an iceberg in the blue abyss? | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| No, no--a cloud! Watch how 'tis veiling fine | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The sea, the land, out-blotting every line | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| To drown it all in darkness soon I wis. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The lightning comes now! Frightful is its sweep. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| But softly--softly! Watch my spur--my whip! | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| I'll leap across unto that chasm's lip. | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| What still and chilling sternness great cliffs keep! | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Down there light calls to me. Soon there I'll be. | 10 | ·········· |
| Uncanny is such loneliness to me. | 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.