After the Coup d'État
Before foul treachery and heads hung down,I'll fold my arms, indignant but serene.Oh! faith in fallen things--be thou my crown,My force, my joy, my prop on which I lean:
Yes, whilst he's there, or struggle some or fall,O France, dear France, for whom I weep in vain.Tomb of my sires, nest of my loves--my all,I ne'er shall see thee with these eyes again.
I shall not see thy sad, sad sounding shore,France, save my duty, I shall all forget;Amongst the true and tried, I'll tug my oar,And rest proscribed to brand the fawning set.
O bitter exile, hard, without a term,Thee I accept, nor seek nor care to knowWho have down-truckled 'mid the men deemed firm,And who have fled that should have fought the foe.
If true a thousand stand, with them I stand;A hundred? 'tis enough: we'll Sylla brave;Ten? put my name down foremost in the band;One?--well, alone--until I find my grave.
Words in this poem
- indignant a.
- Affected with indignation; wrathful; passionate; irate; feeling wrath, as when a person is exasperated by unworthy or unjust treatment, by a mean action, or by a degrading accusation. [L. indignans, -antis, p. pr. of indignari to be indignant, disdain. See Indign.]
- 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,]
- amongst prep.
- Mixed or mingled; surrounded by. [OE. amongist, amonges, amonge, among, AS. onmang, ongemang, gemang, in a crowd or mixture. For the ending -st see Amidst. See Mingle.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
After the Coup d'État is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, the various hands translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Victor Hugo, After the Coup d'État, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/after-the-coup-d-etat.html, id L26805.
Form and metre
After the Coup d'État is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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.
- 1 ABAB downA · sereneB · crownA · leanB
- 2 ABAB fallA · vainB · allA · againB
- 3 ABAB shoreA · forgetB · oarA · setB
- 4 ABAB termA · knowB · firmA · foeB
- 5 ABAB standA · braveB · bandA · graveB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Before foul treachery and heads hung down, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| I'll fold my arms, indignant but serene. | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| Oh! faith in fallen things--be thou my crown, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| My force, my joy, my prop on which I lean: | 10 | ·········· |
| Yes, whilst he's there, or struggle some or fall, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| O France, dear France, for whom I weep in vain. | 10 | ·········· |
| Tomb of my sires, nest of my loves--my all, | 10 | ·········· |
| I ne'er shall see thee with these eyes again. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| I shall not see thy sad, sad sounding shore, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| France, save my duty, I shall all forget; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Amongst the true and tried, I'll tug my oar, | 10 | ·········· |
| And rest proscribed to brand the fawning set. | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| O bitter exile, hard, without a term, | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| Thee I accept, nor seek nor care to know | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Who have down-truckled 'mid the men deemed firm, | 10 | ····˘····· |
| And who have fled that should have fought the foe. | 10 | ·········· |
| If true a thousand stand, with them I stand; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| A hundred? 'tis enough: we'll Sylla brave; | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| Ten? put my name down foremost in the band; | 10 | ·····/···· |
| One?--well, alone--until I find my grave. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
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.