Song
I through gay and brilliant placesLong my wayward course had bound,Oft had gazed on beauteous faces,But no loved one yet had found.
Careless, onward did I saunter,Seeking no beloved to see,Rather dreading such encounter,Wishing ever to be free.
Thus from all temptation fleeing,Hoped I long unchecked to rove,'Till the fair Louisa seeing,--Who can see her, and not love?
Sol, his splendid robes arrayed in,Just behind the hills was gone,When one eve I saw the maidenTripping o'er the verdant lawn.
Of a strange, tumultuous feeling,As I gazed I felt the sway,And, with brain on fire and reeling,Homeward quick I bent my way.
Through my bosom rapid darting,Love 'twas plain I could not brave,And with boasted freedom parting,I became Louisa's slave.
Words in this poem
- wayward a.
- Taking one's own way; disobedient; froward; perverse; willful. [OE. weiward, for aweiward, i. e., turned away. See Away, and -ward.]
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- homeward a.
- Being in the direction of home; as, the homeward way.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song 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, Song, in The Bakchesarian Fountain and Other Poems (1849), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8192, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pushkin-bakchesarian/song.html, id L25558.
Form and metre
Song is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 placesA · boundB · facesA · foundB
- 2 -A-A saunter · seeA · encounter · freeA
- 3 A-A- fleeingA · rove · seeingA · love
- 4 AAAA inA · goneA · maidenA · lawnA
- 5 ABAB feelingA · swayB · reelingA · wayB
- 6 ABAB dartingA · braveB · partingA · slaveB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I through gay and brilliant places | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Long my wayward course had bound, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Oft had gazed on beauteous faces, | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| But no loved one yet had found. | 8 | ···˘···· |
| Careless, onward did I saunter, | 8 | /˘/˘··/˘ |
| Seeking no beloved to see, | 8 | /˘·˘/˘·· |
| Rather dreading such encounter, | 8 | /˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Wishing ever to be free. | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Thus from all temptation fleeing, | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| Hoped I long unchecked to rove, | 8 | ·˘··˘/·· |
| 'Till the fair Louisa seeing,-- | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| Who can see her, and not love? | 7 | ······· |
| Sol, his splendid robes arrayed in, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/· |
| Just behind the hills was gone, | 7 | ······· |
| When one eve I saw the maiden | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Tripping o'er the verdant lawn. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Of a strange, tumultuous feeling, | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| As I gazed I felt the sway, | 8 | ···˘···· |
| And, with brain on fire and reeling, | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| Homeward quick I bent my way. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Through my bosom rapid darting, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Love 'twas plain I could not brave, | 7 | ······· |
| And with boasted freedom parting, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| I became Louisa's slave. | 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.