III. 39
Happy who to himself confessHis passion dares without terror;Happy who in fate uncertainBy modest hope is fondled;Happy who by foggy moonbeamsIs led to midnight joyfulAnd with faithful key who gentlyThe door unlocks of his beloved.
But for me in sad my lifeNo joy there is of secret pleasure;Hope's early flower faded is,By struggle withered is life's flower.Youth away flies melancholy,And droop with me life's roses;But by Love tho' long forgot,Forget Love's tears I cannot.
Not at once our youth is faded,Not at once our joys forsake us,And happiness we unexpectedYet embrace shall more than once;But ye, impressions never-dyingOf newly trepidating Love,And thou, first flame of Intoxication,--Not flying back are coming ye!
Words in this poem
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
III. 39 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. 39, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54991, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pushkin-poems/iii-39.html, id L25539.
Form and metre
III. 39 is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 --A--ABB life · pleasure · isA · flower · melancholy · rosesA · forgotB · cannotB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Happy who to himself confess | 8 | /˘··˘/˘/ |
| His passion dares without terror; | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| Happy who in fate uncertain | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| By modest hope is fondled; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Happy who by foggy moonbeams | 8 | /˘··/˘/· |
| Is led to midnight joyful | 7 | ···/·/˘ |
| And with faithful key who gently | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| The door unlocks of his beloved. | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| But for me in sad my life | 7 | ······· |
| No joy there is of secret pleasure; | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Hope's early flower faded is, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| By struggle withered is life's flower. | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Youth away flies melancholy, | 8 | ·˘/·/˘·˘ |
| And droop with me life's roses; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| But by Love tho' long forgot, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Forget Love's tears I cannot. | 7 | ˘/···/˘ |
| Not at once our youth is faded, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Not at once our joys forsake us, | 8 | ···/·˘/· |
| And happiness we unexpected | 9 | ·/˘˘··˘/˘ |
| Yet embrace shall more than once; | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| But ye, impressions never-dying | 9 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Of newly trepidating Love, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And thou, first flame of Intoxication,-- | 10 | ·····˘·˘/˘ |
| Not flying back are coming ye! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
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.