Boris, Patriarch, Boyars
BORIS. Thou, father Patriarch, all ye boyars!My soul lies bare before you; ye have seenWith what humility and fear I tookThis mighty power upon me. Ah! How heavyMy weight of obligation! I succeedThe great Ivans; succeed the angel tsar!--O Righteous Father, King Of kings, look downFrom Heaven upon the tears of Thy true servants,And send on him whom Thou hast loved, whom ThouExalted hast on earth so wondrously,Thy holy blessing. May I rule my peopleIn glory, and like Thee be good and righteous!To you, boyars, I look for help. Serve meAs ye served him, what time I shared your labours,Ere I was chosen by the people's will.BOYARS. We will not from our plighted oath depart.
BORIS. Now let us go to kneel before the tombsOf Russia's great departed rulers. ThenBid summon all our people to a feast,All, from the noble to the poor blind beggar.To all free entrance, all most welcome guests.
PRINCE VOROTINSKY. (Stopping Shuisky.)You rightly guessed.SHUISKY. Guessed what?
VOROTINSKY. Why, you remember--The other day, here on this very spot.
SHUISKY. No, I remember nothing.
VOROTINSKY. When the peopleFlocked to the Virgin's Field, thou said'st--
SHUISKY. 'Tis notThe time for recollection. There are timesWhen I should counsel you not to remember,But even to forget. And for the rest,I sought but by feigned calumny to prove thee,The truelier to discern thy secret thoughts.But see! The people hail the tsar--my absenceMay be remarked. I'll join them.
VOROTINSKY. Wily courtier!
Words in this poem
- tsar n.
- The title of the emperor of Russia. See Czar.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
- rightly adv.
- Straightly; directly; in front. [AS. richtlice.]
- courtier n.
- One who is in attendance at the court of a prince; one who has an appointment at court. [From Court.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Boris, Patriarch, Boyars is in the public domain. This text is taken from Boris Godunov: a drama in verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #5089; 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, Boris, Patriarch, Boyars, in Boris Godunov (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5089, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pushkin-boris-godunov/boris-patriarch-boyars.html, id L25465.
Form and metre
Boris, Patriarch, Boyars is 38 lines in 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ----------A---A- boyars · seen · took · heavy · succeed · tsar · down · servants · thou · wondrously · peopleA · righteous · me · labours · willA · depart
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 |
|---|---|---|
| BORIS. Thou, father Patriarch, all ye boyars! | 12 | /˘·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| My soul lies bare before you; ye have seen | 10 | ·········· |
| With what humility and fear I took | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| This mighty power upon me. Ah! How heavy | 11 | ·/˘/·····/˘ |
| My weight of obligation! I succeed | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| The great Ivans; succeed the angel tsar!-- | 10 | ··/˘˘/·/˘· |
| O Righteous Father, King Of kings, look down | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| From Heaven upon the tears of Thy true servants, | 11 | ·/·······/˘ |
| And send on him whom Thou hast loved, whom Thou | 10 | ·········· |
| Exalted hast on earth so wondrously, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| Thy holy blessing. May I rule my people | 11 | ·/˘/˘····/˘ |
| In glory, and like Thee be good and righteous! | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| To you, boyars, I look for help. Serve me | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| As ye served him, what time I shared your labours, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Ere I was chosen by the people's will. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| BOYARS. We will not from our plighted oath depart. | 12 | ˘/····//˘·˘/ |
| BORIS. Now let us go to kneel before the tombs | 12 | /˘·········· |
| Of Russia's great departed rulers. Then | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘· |
| Bid summon all our people to a feast, | 10 | ·/˘·//˘··· |
| All, from the noble to the poor blind beggar. | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| To all free entrance, all most welcome guests. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| PRINCE VOROTINSKY. (Stopping Shuisky.) | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| You rightly guessed. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| SHUISKY. Guessed what? | 4 | ···· |
| VOROTINSKY. Why, you remember-- | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| The other day, here on this very spot. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| SHUISKY. No, I remember nothing. | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| VOROTINSKY. When the people | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Flocked to the Virgin's Field, thou said'st-- | 9 | ·˘··/˘··· |
| SHUISKY. 'Tis not | 4 | ···· |
| The time for recollection. There are times | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| When I should counsel you not to remember, | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| But even to forget. And for the rest, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| I sought but by feigned calumny to prove thee, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The truelier to discern thy secret thoughts. | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| But see! The people hail the tsar--my absence | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| May be remarked. I'll join them. | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| VOROTINSKY. Wily courtier! | 9 | ····/˘/˘˘ |
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