The Dagger

Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov 1814 (Moscow) – 1841 (Pyatigorsk, Caucasus Oblast)



I like you well, O trusty dagger mine,
My comrade wrought of cool Damascus steel!
Forged were you by the Georgian with revenge in the mind,
By the Circassian free - for war were you made keen.

A lily-white hand it was gave you to me -
You were affection's keepsake, its last gift...
Not blood, but pearl-like tears born of the agony
Of bitter parting down your blade ran swift.

Her dark eyes rested, full of secret pain,
Of sadness and of mystery, upon
My face, and like yourself when lit by flickering flame,
Now clouded and turned dull, now glowed and shone.

O dagger, love's mute pledge, you will my true
Friend stay, and an example set to me, a wanderer:
For faithful, yes, and firm of soul like you
I'll be like you that tempered was by fire.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

43 sec read
43

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXX ABAB XXXX CDCD
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 754
Words 143
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov

Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837 and the greatest figure in Russian Romanticism. more…

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    "The Dagger" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/28221/the-dagger>.

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