The New Nunnery. The People
1ST PERSON. To plead with the tsaritsa in her cellNow are they gone. Thither have gone Boris,The Patriarch, and a host of boyars.
PEASANT WOMAN. (With a child.)Drat you! Stop crying, or else the bogie-manWill carry you off. Drat you, drat you! Stop crying!
2ND PERSON. Impossible!No chance at all! Not only is the nunneryCrowded; the precincts too are crammed with people.Look what a sight! All Moscow has thronged here.See! Fences, roofs, and every single storeyOf the Cathedral bell tower, the church-domes,The very crosses are studded thick with people.
3RD PERSON. Listen! What noise is that?--The people groaned;See there! They fall like waves, row upon row--Again--again--Now, brother, 'tis our turn;Be quick, down on your knees!
THE PEOPLE. (On their knees, groaning and wailing.)Have pity on us,Our father! O, rule over us! O, beFather to us, and tsar!
PEASANT WOMAN. (With child.)Now, what's this? Just whenIt ought to cry, the child stops crying. I'll show you!Here comes the bogie-man! Cry, cry, you spoilt one!(Throws it on the ground; the child screams.)That's right, that's right!
THE PEOPLE. The crown for him! He is tsar!He has yielded!--Boris!--Our tsar!--Long live Boris!
Words in this poem
- tsaritsa n.
- The title of the empress of Russia. See Czarina. [Russ. tsaritsa. Cf. Czarina.]
- nunnery n.
- A house in which nuns reside; a cloister or convent in which women reside for life, under religious vows. See Cloister, and Convent. [OE. nonnerie, OF. nonerie, F. nonnerie, fr. nonne nun, L. nonna. See Nun.]
- tsar n.
- The title of the emperor of Russia. See Czar.
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The New Nunnery. The People 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, The New Nunnery. The People, in Boris Godunov (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5089, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pushkin-boris-godunov/the-new-nunnery-the-people.html, id L25464.
Form and metre
The New Nunnery. The People is 29 lines in 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%).
See other poems in iambic hexameter.
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.
- 3 --A---A impossible · nunnery · peopleA · here · storey · domes · peopleA
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| 1ST PERSON. To plead with the tsaritsa in her cell | 13 | ·/˘·········· |
| Now are they gone. Thither have gone Boris, | 10 | ····/˘··/˘ |
| The Patriarch, and a host of boyars. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| PEASANT WOMAN. (With a child.) | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Drat you! Stop crying, or else the bogie-man | 11 | ···/˘···/˘· |
| Will carry you off. Drat you, drat you! Stop crying! | 12 | ·/˘·······/˘ |
| 2ND PERSON. Impossible! | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘˘ |
| No chance at all! Not only is the nunnery | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Crowded; the precincts too are crammed with people. | 11 | /˘·/·····/˘ |
| Look what a sight! All Moscow has thronged here. | 10 | ·····/···· |
| See! Fences, roofs, and every single storey | 11 | ·/˘··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Of the Cathedral bell tower, the church-domes, | 10 | ··˘/˘·/··· |
| The very crosses are studded thick with people. | 12 | ·/˘/˘·/˘··/˘ |
| 3RD PERSON. Listen! What noise is that?--The people groaned; | 13 | ·/˘/˘·····/˘· |
| See there! They fall like waves, row upon row-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Again--again--Now, brother, 'tis our turn; | 10 | ˘/˘/·/˘·/· |
| Be quick, down on your knees! | 6 | ······ |
| THE PEOPLE. (On their knees, groaning and wailing.) | 11 | ·/˘···/˘·/˘ |
| Have pity on us, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Our father! O, rule over us! O, be | 10 | //˘······· |
| Father to us, and tsar! | 6 | /˘···· |
| PEASANT WOMAN. (With child.) | 6 | /˘/˘·· |
| Now, what's this? Just when | 5 | ····· |
| It ought to cry, the child stops crying. I'll show you! | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| Here comes the bogie-man! Cry, cry, you spoilt one! | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| (Throws it on the ground; the child screams.) | 8 | ········ |
| That's right, that's right! | 4 | ···· |
| THE PEOPLE. The crown for him! He is tsar! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| He has yielded!--Boris!--Our tsar!--Long live Boris! | 12 | ··/˘/˘/···/˘ |
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.