The Storm
As my bark in restless oceanMounts its rough and foaming hills,Whilst its waves in dark commotionPass me, hope my bosom fills.
Who, when warring clouds are gleaming,Quenches the destructive spark?Say what hand, where safety's beaming,Guides through rocks my little bark?
Thou Creator! all o'erseeing,In this scene preserv'st me dread,Thou, without whose word decreeingNot a hair falls from my head.
Thou in life hast doubly blest me,All my soul to thee's revealed,Thou amongst the great hast placed me,Be midst them my guide and shield!
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- amongst prep.
- Mixed or mingled; surrounded by. [OE. amongist, amonges, amonge, among, AS. onmang, ongemang, gemang, in a crowd or mixture. For the ending -st see Amidst. See Mingle.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Storm is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Bakchesarian Fountain and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #8192; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alexander Pushkin, The Storm, in The Bakchesarian Fountain and Other Poems (1849), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8192, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pushkin-bakchesarian/by-derjavin.html, id L25569.
Form and metre
The Storm is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
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 ABAB oceanA · hillsB · commotionA · fillsB
- 2 ABAB gleamingA · sparkB · beamingA · barkB
- 3 ABAB o'erseeingA · dreadB · decreeingA · headB
- 4 ABAB meA · revealedB · meA · shieldB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As my bark in restless ocean | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Mounts its rough and foaming hills, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Whilst its waves in dark commotion | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Pass me, hope my bosom fills. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Who, when warring clouds are gleaming, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Quenches the destructive spark? | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| Say what hand, where safety's beaming, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Guides through rocks my little bark? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Thou Creator! all o'erseeing, | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| In this scene preserv'st me dread, | 7 | ······· |
| Thou, without whose word decreeing | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Not a hair falls from my head. | 7 | ······· |
| Thou in life hast doubly blest me, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| All my soul to thee's revealed, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Thou amongst the great hast placed me, | 8 | ········ |
| Be midst them my guide and shield! | 7 | ······· |
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.