An Old-Time Lay
Where your brood seven lie,Float in calm heavenly,Life passing evenly,Waterfowl, waterfowl! often I dreamFor a restLike your nest,Skirting the stream.
Shine the sun tearfullyEre the clouds clear fully,Still you skim cheerfully,Swallow, oh! swallow swift! often I sighFor a homeWhere you roamNearing the sky!
Guileless of pondering;Swallow-eyes wandering;Seeking no fonder ringThan the rose-garland Love gives thee apart!Grant me soon--Blessed boon!Home in thy heart!
Words in this poem
- waterfowl n.
- Any bird that frequents the water, or lives about rivers, lakes, etc., or on or near the sea; an aquatic fowl; -- used also collectively.
- skirting n.
- A skirting board.
- cheerfully adv.
- In a cheerful manner, gladly.
- guileless a.
- Free from guile; artless.
- boon n.
- A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
An Old-Time Lay 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, An Old-Time Lay, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/an-old-time-lay.html, id L26848.
Form and metre
An Old-Time Lay is 21 lines in 3 stanzas of 7 lines each. 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.
- 1 ---ABBA lie · heavenly · evenly · dreamA · restB · nestB · streamA
- 2 A-ABCCB tearfullyA · fully · cheerfullyA · sighB · homeC · roamC · skyB
- 3 AAABCCB ponderingA · wanderingA · ringA · apartB · soonC · boonC · heartB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Where your brood seven lie, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Float in calm heavenly, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Life passing evenly, | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| Waterfowl, waterfowl! often I dream | 10 | /˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| For a rest | 3 | ··· |
| Like your nest, | 3 | ··· |
| Skirting the stream. | 4 | /˘·· |
| Shine the sun tearfully | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Ere the clouds clear fully, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Still you skim cheerfully, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Swallow, oh! swallow swift! often I sigh | 10 | /˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| For a home | 3 | ··· |
| Where you roam | 3 | ··· |
| Nearing the sky! | 4 | /˘·· |
| Guileless of pondering; | 6 | /˘·/˘˘ |
| Swallow-eyes wandering; | 6 | /˘·/˘˘ |
| Seeking no fonder ring | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Than the rose-garland Love gives thee apart! | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Grant me soon-- | 3 | ··· |
| Blessed boon! | 2 | ·· |
| Home in thy heart! | 4 | ···· |
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.