The Victor
“De tout ce qui t’aimoit n’est-il plus rien qui t’aime?”Lamartine.
Mighty ones, Love and Death!Ye are the strong in this world of ours;Ye meet at the banquets, ye dwell midst the flowers,--Which hath the conqueror’s wreath?
Thou art the victor, Love!Thou art the fearless, the crown’d, the free,The strength of the battle is given to thee--The spirit from above!
Thou hast look’d on Death, and smiled!Thou hast borne up the reed-like and fragile formThrough the waves of the fight, through the rush of the storm,On field, and flood, and wild!
No!--Thou art the victor, Death!Thou comest, and where is that which spoke,From the depths of the eye, when the spirit woke?--Gone with the fleeting breath!
Thou comest--and what is leftOf all that loved us, to say if aughtYet loves--yet answers the burning thoughtOf the spirit lone and reft?
Silence is where thou art!Silently there must kindred meet,No smile to cheer, and no voice to greet,No bounding of heart to heart!
Boast not thy victory, Death!It is but as the cloud’s o’er the sunbeam’s power,It is but as the winter’s o’er leaf and flower,That slumber the snow beneath.
It is but as a tyrant’s reignO’er the voice and the lip which he bids be still;But the fiery thought and the lofty willAre not for him to chain!
They shall soar his might above!And thus with the root whence affection springs,Though buried, it is not of mortal things--Thou art the victor, Love!
Words in this poem
- tout v. t.
- To act as a tout. See 2d Tout. [Cant. Eng.] [See 1st Toot.]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- reft n.
- A chink; a rift. See Rift. Rom. of R.
- sunbeam n.
- A beam or ray of the sun. [AS. sunnebeam.]
- 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
The Victor is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Felicia Hemans, Project Gutenberg ebook #66785; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Felicia Hemans, The Victor, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-victor.html, id L19584.
Form and metre
The Victor is 38 lines in 10 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 7 of its 10 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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- death · oursA · flowersA · wreath
- 3 ABBA loveA · freeB · theeB · aboveA
- 4 ABBA smiledA · formB · stormB · wildA
- 5 ABBA deathA · spokeB · wokeB · breathA
- 6 ABBA leftA · aughtB · thoughtB · reftA
- 7 ABBA artA · meetB · greetB · heartA
- 8 -AA- death · powerA · flowerA · beneath
- 9 ABBA reignA · stillB · willB · chainA
- 10 ABBA aboveA · springsB · thingsB · loveA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| “De tout ce qui t’aimoit n’est-il plus rien qui t’aime?” | 12 | ············ |
| Lamartine. | 3 | ··· |
| Mighty ones, Love and Death! | 6 | /˘···· |
| Ye are the strong in this world of ours; | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Ye meet at the banquets, ye dwell midst the flowers, | 11 | ····/˘····/ |
| --Which hath the conqueror’s wreath? | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| Thou art the victor, Love! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Thou art the fearless, the crown’d, the free, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| The strength of the battle is given to thee-- | 10 | ····/˘·/·· |
| The spirit from above! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Thou hast look’d on Death, and smiled! | 7 | ······· |
| Thou hast borne up the reed-like and fragile form | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Through the waves of the fight, through the rush of the storm, | 12 | ············ |
| On field, and flood, and wild! | 6 | ······ |
| No!--Thou art the victor, Death! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Thou comest, and where is that which spoke, | 9 | ········· |
| From the depths of the eye, when the spirit woke? | 10 | ········/· |
| --Gone with the fleeting breath! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Thou comest--and what is left | 7 | ······· |
| Of all that loved us, to say if aught | 10 | ····˘····· |
| Yet loves--yet answers the burning thought | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| Of the spirit lone and reft? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Silence is where thou art! | 6 | /˘···· |
| Silently there must kindred meet, | 9 | /˘˘··/˘˘· |
| No smile to cheer, and no voice to greet, | 9 | ········· |
| No bounding of heart to heart! | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Boast not thy victory, Death! | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| It is but as the cloud’s o’er the sunbeam’s power, | 11 | ········/·/ |
| It is but as the winter’s o’er leaf and flower, | 11 | ·····/˘···/ |
| That slumber the snow beneath. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| It is but as a tyrant’s reign | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| O’er the voice and the lip which he bids be still; | 11 | ··········· |
| But the fiery thought and the lofty will | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Are not for him to chain! | 6 | ······ |
| They shall soar his might above! | 7 | ······· |
| And thus with the root whence affection springs, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Though buried, it is not of mortal things-- | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Thou art the victor, Love! | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.