Tschatir Dagh
The reverent Mussulman bends low to greetYou, Tschatir Dagh, Crimea's bright-masted ship!World-altar,--minaret--the place where dipDown stairs from golden Heaven for the feet!You guard the door of God in splendor meet,Like Gabriel with holy sword on hip;In bright mist mantled from the toe to lip,Tour turban set with alien stars and sweet.
If winter rule the world, or summer's sun,If Giaour rage about, or winds are wild,Above them, Tschatir Dagh, you, changeless one,Are like to Allah, pure and undefiled;Aloft you tower from out the lowly sodTo give to men again the will of God.
Below me half a world I see outspread;Above, blue heaven; around, peaks of snow;And yet the happy pulse of life is slow,I dream of distant places, pleasures dead.The woods of Lithuania I would treadWhere happy-throated birds sing songs I know;Above the trembling marshland I would goWhere chill-winged curlews dip and call o'er head.
A tragic, lonely terror grips my heart,A longing for some peaceful, gentle place,And memories of youthful love I trace.Unto my childhood home I long to start,And yet if all the leaves my name could cryShe would not pause nor heed as she passed by.
Words in this poem
- mussulman n.
- A Mohammedan; a Moslem. [Ar. muslimin, pl. of muslim: cf. F. & Sp. musulman. See Moslem.]
- tour n.
- A going round; a circuit; hence, a journey in a circuit; a prolonged circuitous journey; a comprehensive excursion; as, the tour of Europe; the tour of France or England. [F. tour. See Turn, v. t.]
- giaour n.
- An infidel; -- a term applied by Turks to disbelievers in the Mohammedan religion, especially Christrians. [Turk. giaur an infidel, Per. gawr, another form of ghebr fire worshiper. Cf. Kaffir, Gheber .]
- changeless a.
- That can not be changed; constant; as, a changeless purpose.
- 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.]
- outspread v. t.
- To spread out; to expand; -- usually as a past part. or adj.
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Tschatir Dagh 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, Tschatir Dagh, in Sonnets from the Crimea (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27069, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mickiewicz-crimea/tschatir-dagh.html, id L15538.
Form and metre
Tschatir Dagh is 28 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABBAABBA, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 21% 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 greetA · shipB · dipB · feetA · meetA · hipB · lipB · sweetA
- 2 ABABCC sunA · wildB · oneA · undefiledB · sodC · godC
- 3 ABBAABBA outspreadA · snowB · slowB · deadA · treadA · knowB · goB · headA
- 4 ABBACC heartA · placeB · traceB · startA · cryC · byC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The reverent Mussulman bends low to greet | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| You, Tschatir Dagh, Crimea's bright-masted ship! | 11 | ····˘/˘·/˘· |
| World-altar,--minaret--the place where dip | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| Down stairs from golden Heaven for the feet! | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| You guard the door of God in splendor meet, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Like Gabriel with holy sword on hip; | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| In bright mist mantled from the toe to lip, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Tour turban set with alien stars and sweet. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| If winter rule the world, or summer's sun, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| If Giaour rage about, or winds are wild, | 9 | ········· |
| Above them, Tschatir Dagh, you, changeless one, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Are like to Allah, pure and undefiled; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Aloft you tower from out the lowly sod | 10 | ˘/·/···/˘· |
| To give to men again the will of God. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Below me half a world I see outspread; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Above, blue heaven; around, peaks of snow; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And yet the happy pulse of life is slow, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I dream of distant places, pleasures dead. | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| The woods of Lithuania I would tread | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Where happy-throated birds sing songs I know; | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Above the trembling marshland I would go | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Where chill-winged curlews dip and call o'er head. | 10 | ·········· |
| A tragic, lonely terror grips my heart, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| A longing for some peaceful, gentle place, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| And memories of youthful love I trace. | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| Unto my childhood home I long to start, | 10 | ···/······ |
| And yet if all the leaves my name could cry | 10 | ·········· |
| She would not pause nor heed as she passed by. | 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.