Angel or Demon
Angel or demon! thou,--whether of lightThe minister, or darkness--still dost swayThis age of ours; thine eagle's soaring flightBears us, all breathless, after it away.The eye that from thy presence fain would stray,Shuns thee in vain; thy mighty shadow thrownRests on all pictures of the living day,And on the threshold of our time alone,Dazzling, yet sombre, stands thy form, Napoleon!
Thus, when the admiring stranger's steps exploreThe subject-lands that 'neath Vesuvius be,Whether he wind along the enchanting shoreTo Portici from fair Parthenope,Or, lingering long in dreamy reverie,O'er loveliest Ischia's od'rous isle he stray,Wooed by whose breath the soft and am'rous seaSeems like some languishing sultana's lay,A voice for very sweets that scarce can win its way.
Him, whether Paestum's solemn fane detain,Shrouding his soul with meditation's power;Or at Pozzuoli, to the sprightly strainOf tarantella danced 'neath Tuscan tower,Listening, he while away the evening hour;Or wake the echoes, mournful, lone and deep,Of that sad city, in its dreaming bowerBy the volcano seized, where mansions keepThe likeness which they wore at that last fatal sleep;
Or be his bark at Posillippo laid,While as the swarthy boatman at his sideChants Tasso's lays to Virgil's pleased shade,Ever he sees, throughout that circuit wide,From shaded nook or sunny lawn espied,From rocky headland viewed, or flow'ry shore,From sea, and spreading mead alike descried,The Giant Mount, tow'ring all objects o'er,And black'ning with its breath th' horizon evermore!
Words in this poem 18
- breathless a.
- Spent with labor or violent action; out of breath.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- sombre n.
- Gloom; obscurity; duskiness; somberness.
- napoleon n.
- A French gold coin of twenty francs, or about $3.86. [From the Emperor Napoleon 1.]
- admiring a.
- Expressing admiration; as, an admiring glance.
- explore v. t.
- To seek for or after; to strive to attain by search; to look wisely and carefully for. [L. explorare to explore; ex out+plorare to cry out aloud,prob. orig., to cause to flow; perh. akin to E. flow: cf. F. explorer.]
- parthenope n.
- One of the Sirens, who threw herself into the sea, in despair at not being able to beguile Ulysses by her songs.
- dreamy a.
- Abounding in dreams or given to dreaming; appropriate to, or like, dreams; visionary.
- reverie n.
- A loose or irregular train of thought occurring in musing or mediation; deep musing; daydream. [F. réverie, fr. rêver to dream, rave, be light-headed. Cf. Rave.]
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- fane n.
- A temple; a place consecrated to religion; a church. [L. fanum a place dedicated to some deity, a sanctuary, fr. fari to speak. See Fame.]
- shrouding n.
- The shrouds. See Shroud, n., 7.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- boatman n.
- A man who manages a boat; a rower of a boat.
- nook n.
- A narrow place formed by an angle in bodies or between bodies; a corner; a recess; a secluded retreat. [OE. nok; cf. Gael. & Ir. niuc.]
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Angel or Demon 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, Angel or Demon, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/angel-or-demon.html, id L26748.
Form and metre
Angel or Demon is 36 lines in 4 stanzas of 9 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABBCBCC, the Spenserian stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in the Spenserian stanza, 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 ABABBCBCC lightA · swayB · flightA · awayB · strayB · thrownC · dayB · aloneC · napoleonC
- 2 ABABBCBCC exploreA · beB · shoreA · parthenopeB · reverieB · strayC · seaB · layC · wayC
- 3 ABABBCBCC detainA · powerB · strainA · towerB · hourB · deepC · bowerB · keepC · sleepC
- 4 ABABBCBCC laidA · sideB · shadeA · wideB · espiedB · shoreC · descriedB · o'erC · evermoreC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Angel or demon! thou,--whether of light | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| The minister, or darkness--still dost sway | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| This age of ours; thine eagle's soaring flight | 10 | ···/·/˘/˘· |
| Bears us, all breathless, after it away. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| The eye that from thy presence fain would stray, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Shuns thee in vain; thy mighty shadow thrown | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| Rests on all pictures of the living day, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And on the threshold of our time alone, | 10 | ···/··/·˘/ |
| Dazzling, yet sombre, stands thy form, Napoleon! | 11 | /˘·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Thus, when the admiring stranger's steps explore | 11 | ···˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The subject-lands that 'neath Vesuvius be, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Whether he wind along the enchanting shore | 11 | ····˘/·˘/˘· |
| To Portici from fair Parthenope, | 9 | ········· |
| Or, lingering long in dreamy reverie, | 11 | ·/˘˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| O'er loveliest Ischia's od'rous isle he stray, | 11 | ··········· |
| Wooed by whose breath the soft and am'rous sea | 10 | ·········· |
| Seems like some languishing sultana's lay, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| A voice for very sweets that scarce can win its way. | 12 | ···/˘······· |
| Him, whether Paestum's solemn fane detain, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Shrouding his soul with meditation's power; | 11 | /˘····˘/˘/˘ |
| Or at Pozzuoli, to the sprightly strain | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of tarantella danced 'neath Tuscan tower, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Listening, he while away the evening hour; | 10 | /˘··˘/·/˘/ |
| Or wake the echoes, mournful, lone and deep, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Of that sad city, in its dreaming bower | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| By the volcano seized, where mansions keep | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| The likeness which they wore at that last fatal sleep; | 12 | ·/˘······/˘· |
| Or be his bark at Posillippo laid, | 10 | ·········· |
| While as the swarthy boatman at his side | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Chants Tasso's lays to Virgil's pleased shade, | 10 | ·/···/˘·˘· |
| Ever he sees, throughout that circuit wide, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| From shaded nook or sunny lawn espied, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| From rocky headland viewed, or flow'ry shore, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| From sea, and spreading mead alike descried, | 9 | ···/˘·˘/· |
| The Giant Mount, tow'ring all objects o'er, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And black'ning with its breath th' horizon evermore! | 12 | ······˘/˘/˘· |
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