Evening Meditations
Nature in silence sank, and deep repose,Behind the mountain, Sol had ceased to glare,Timid the moon with modest lustre rose,Willing as though my misery to share.The past was quick presented to my mind,A gentle languor calmed each throbbing vein,My poor heart trembled as the leaves from wind,My melting soul owned melancholy's reign.Plain did each action of my life appear,Each feeling bade some fellow feeling start,On my parched bosom fell the flowing tear,And cooled the burning anguish of my heart.Moments of bliss, I cried, ah! whither flown?When Friendship breathed to me her soothing sighs,Twice have the fields with golden harvests shone,And still her blest return stern Fate denies!Cynthia, thou seest me lone my course pursue,Hopeless here roving, grief my only guide,Evenings long past thou call'st to Fancy's view,Forcing the tear down my pale cheek to glide.Friendless, of love bereft, what now my joy?Void are my heart and soul, a prey to pain,To love, to be beloved, can never cloy,But all on earth besides, alas! is vain!
Words in this poem
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- lustre n.
- A period of five years; a lustrum. [L. lustrum: cf. F. lustre.]
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- 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.]
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- friendless a.
- Destitute of friends; forsaken. [AS. freóndleás.]
- cloy v. t.
- To fill or choke up; to stop up; to clog. [OE. cloer to nail up, F. clouer, fr. OF. clo nail, F. clou, fr. L. clavus nail. Cf. 3d Clove.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Evening Meditations 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, Evening Meditations, in The Bakchesarian Fountain and Other Poems (1849), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8192, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pushkin-bakchesarian/evening-meditations.html, id L25566.
Form and metre
Evening Meditations is 24 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDBEBEFGFGHIHIJDJD. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 ABABCDCDBEBEFGFGHIHIJDJD reposeA · glareB · roseA · shareB · mindC · veinD · windC · reignD · appearB · startE · tearB · heartE · flownF · sighsG · shoneF · deniesG · pursueH · guideI · viewH · glideI · joyJ · painD · cloyJ · vainD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nature in silence sank, and deep repose, | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| Behind the mountain, Sol had ceased to glare, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Timid the moon with modest lustre rose, | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘· |
| Willing as though my misery to share. | 10 | /˘···/˘˘·· |
| The past was quick presented to my mind, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| A gentle languor calmed each throbbing vein, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| My poor heart trembled as the leaves from wind, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| My melting soul owned melancholy's reign. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘· |
| Plain did each action of my life appear, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Each feeling bade some fellow feeling start, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| On my parched bosom fell the flowing tear, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And cooled the burning anguish of my heart. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Moments of bliss, I cried, ah! whither flown? | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| When Friendship breathed to me her soothing sighs, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Twice have the fields with golden harvests shone, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And still her blest return stern Fate denies! | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| Cynthia, thou seest me lone my course pursue, | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| Hopeless here roving, grief my only guide, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Evenings long past thou call'st to Fancy's view, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Forcing the tear down my pale cheek to glide. | 10 | /˘········ |
| Friendless, of love bereft, what now my joy? | 10 | /˘··˘/···· |
| Void are my heart and soul, a prey to pain, | 10 | ·········· |
| To love, to be beloved, can never cloy, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| But all on earth besides, alas! is vain! | 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.