To Mary
Vainly, Mary, dost thou pray meHeedless of thy charms to live,If thou'dst have me, fair, obey thee,Thou another heart must give.
One with stern indifference steeling,That could know thee and be free,One that all thy virtues feeling,Could exist removed from thee.
That in which thine image blooming,Holds an empire all its own,Which, though thou to grief art dooming,Lives, fair maid, in thee alone;
Every thought to thee addresses,Filled by thee with visions bright,Even 'midst sorrows, pains, distresses,Thou'rt its comfort, hope, delight.
I be faithless! love avowing,To thee first I bent my knee,Even with soul thy looks endowing,First I knew it knowing thee.
Yes, my soul to thee returning,Thine own gift do I restore,Thou the offering proudly spurning,I its charm can know no more.
Do not bid me, hope resigning,My fond vows of love to cease,How can I, in silence pining,Cruel fair one, mar thy peace?
Words in this poem
- steeling n.
- The process of pointing, edging, or overlaying with steel; specifically, acierage. See Steel, v.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Mary 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, To Mary, in The Bakchesarian Fountain and Other Poems (1849), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8192, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pushkin-bakchesarian/to-mary.html, id L25573.
Form and metre
To Mary is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 meA · liveB · theeA · giveB
- 2 ABAB steelingA · freeB · feelingA · theeB
- 3 ABAB bloomingA · ownB · doomingA · aloneB
- 4 ABAB addressesA · brightB · distressesA · delightB
- 5 ABAB avowingA · kneeB · endowingA · theeB
- 6 ABAB returningA · restoreB · spurningA · moreB
- 7 ABAB resigningA · ceaseB · piningA · peaceB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Vainly, Mary, dost thou pray me | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Heedless of thy charms to live, | 7 | /˘····· |
| If thou'dst have me, fair, obey thee, | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| Thou another heart must give. | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| One with stern indifference steeling, | 9 | ···˘/˘˘/˘ |
| That could know thee and be free, | 7 | ······· |
| One that all thy virtues feeling, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Could exist removed from thee. | 8 | ·˘/˘/˘·· |
| That in which thine image blooming, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Holds an empire all its own, | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Which, though thou to grief art dooming, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Lives, fair maid, in thee alone; | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Every thought to thee addresses, | 9 | /˘˘···˘/˘ |
| Filled by thee with visions bright, | 8 | ·˘···/˘· |
| Even 'midst sorrows, pains, distresses, | 9 | /˘·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Thou'rt its comfort, hope, delight. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| I be faithless! love avowing, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| To thee first I bent my knee, | 7 | ······· |
| Even with soul thy looks endowing, | 9 | /˘····˘/˘ |
| First I knew it knowing thee. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Yes, my soul to thee returning, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Thine own gift do I restore, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Thou the offering proudly spurning, | 9 | ··/˘˘/˘/˘ |
| I its charm can know no more. | 7 | ······· |
| Do not bid me, hope resigning, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| My fond vows of love to cease, | 7 | ······· |
| How can I, in silence pining, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Cruel fair one, mar thy peace? | 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.