Analysis of Tamara
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov 1814 (Moscow) – 1841 (Pyatigorsk, Caucasus Oblast)
Where waves of the Terek are waltzing
In Dariel's wickedest pass,
There rises from bleakest of storm crags
An ancient grey towering mass.
In this tower by mad winds assaulted,
Sat ever Tamara, the Queen--
A heavenly angel of beauty,
With a spirit of hell's own demesne.
Through the mist of the night her gold fires
Gleamed down through the valley below,
A welcome they threw to the pilgrim,
In their streaming and beckoning glow.
How clear rang the voice of Tamara!
How amorous did it invite!
The heart of the stranger enticing,
Seducing with magic delight!
The warrior was snared by her singing,
Nor noble, nor herd could withstand--
Then noiseless her portal was opened
By eunuchs of shadowy hand.
With pearls rare adorned and strange jewels,
Reposed on a billowy nest,
A prey to voluptuous longing,
Tamara awaited her guest.
With passioned and thrilling embracement,
With straining of breast unto breast,
With sighing and trembling and transport--
In lust's unrestrained, giddy zest--
So revelled 'mid desolate ruins,
Of Lovers,--past counting at least!
In their bridal night's wild distraction,
And in truth at their own death feast.
For when from the peaks of the mountains
The sun tore the night's veiling soft,
There reigned anew only the silence
On turret and casement aloft.
And only the Terek bewailing
With fury broke in on the hush,
As dashing her billows on billows
Her writhing floods onward did rush.
A youth's form her currents are bearing,
Ah vainly they murmur and swell!
A woman, a pale and a fair one--
Cries down from her tower 'Farewell!'
Her voice has the sound of faint weeping,
So amorous, tender and sweet--
As if she in love's holy rapture
Did promise of meeting repeat!
Scheme | ABBB CDXD XEXE XFAF AGXG XHAH CHXH IJKJ IXXX ALXL AMKM ANXN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (83%) |
Metre | 11101110 0111 110110111 11011001 0110111010 11001001 010010110 10101111 1011010110 11101001 010111010 011001001 111011010 11001101 011010010 01011001 0100111010 11011101 11010110 1111001 111010110 11011 011010010 01001001 110101 11011101 1100100001 0101101 11110010 11011011 011011010 00111111 111011010 01101101 110110010 1100101 010011 11010101 110010110 01011011 011010110 11011001 010010011 1110101 011011110 11001001 111011010 11011001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,658 |
Words | 294 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 112 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 11, 2023
- 1:30 min read
- 143 Views
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"Tamara" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28216/tamara>.
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