III. 221
In vain, dear friend, to conceal I triedThe turmoil cold of my grieving soul;Now me thou knowest; goes by the intoxication.And no longer thee I love....Vanished for aye the bewitching hours,The beautiful time has passed,Youthful desires extinguished areAnd lifeless hope is in my heart....
For the shores of thy distant homeThou hast forsaken the foreign land;In a memorable, sad hourI before thee cried long.Tho' cold my hands were growingThee back to hold they tried;And begged of thee my parting groanThe gnawing weariness not to break.
But from my bitter kisses thouThy lips away hast torn;From the land of exile drearyCalling me to another land.Thou saidst: on the day of meetingBeneath a sky forever blueOlives' shade beneath, love's kissesAgain, my friend, we shall unite.
But where, alas! the vaults of skyShining are with glimmer blue,Where 'neath the rocks the waters slumber--With last sleep art sleeping thou.And beauty thine and sufferingsIn the urnal grave have disappeared--But the kiss of meeting is also gone....But still I wait: thou art my debtor! ...
Words in this poem
- turmoil v. t.
- To harass with commotion; to disquiet; to worry.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- memorable a.
- Worthy to be remembered; very important or remarkable. [L. memorabilis, fr. memorare to bring to remembrance, fr. memor mindful, remembering. See Memory, and cf. Memorabilia.]
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- urnal a.
- Of or pertaining to an urn; effected by an urn or urns.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
III. 221 is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems With Introduction and Notes, Project Gutenberg ebook #54991; 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, III. 221, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54991, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pushkin-poems/iii-221.html, id L25541.
Form and metre
III. 221 is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in iambic 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.
- 2 ---AA--- home · land · hour · longA · growingA · tried · groan · break
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| In vain, dear friend, to conceal I tried | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| The turmoil cold of my grieving soul; | 9 | ·/····/˘· |
| Now me thou knowest; goes by the intoxication. | 13 | ···/˘···˘·˘/˘ |
| And no longer thee I love.... | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Vanished for aye the bewitching hours, | 9 | /˘···˘/˘/ |
| The beautiful time has passed, | 8 | ·/˘˘···˘ |
| Youthful desires extinguished are | 8 | /˘˘/˘/˘· |
| And lifeless hope is in my heart.... | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| For the shores of thy distant home | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thou hast forsaken the foreign land; | 9 | ··˘/˘·/˘· |
| In a memorable, sad hour | 9 | ··/˘˘˘·/˘ |
| I before thee cried long. | 6 | ······ |
| Tho' cold my hands were growing | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Thee back to hold they tried; | 6 | ······ |
| And begged of thee my parting groan | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The gnawing weariness not to break. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| But from my bitter kisses thou | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Thy lips away hast torn; | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| From the land of exile dreary | 8 | ····/·/˘ |
| Calling me to another land. | 8 | /˘··˘/˘· |
| Thou saidst: on the day of meeting | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Beneath a sky forever blue | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Olives' shade beneath, love's kisses | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Again, my friend, we shall unite. | 8 | ˘/····/· |
| But where, alas! the vaults of sky | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Shining are with glimmer blue, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Where 'neath the rocks the waters slumber-- | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| With last sleep art sleeping thou. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And beauty thine and sufferings | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| In the urnal grave have disappeared-- | 9 | ··/˘···˘/ |
| But the kiss of meeting is also gone.... | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| But still I wait: thou art my debtor! ... | 9 | ·······/˘ |
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.