Beloved Name
The lily's perfume pure, fame's crown of light,The latest murmur of departing day,Fond friendship's plaint, that melts at piteous sight,The mystic farewell of each hour at flight,The kiss which beauty grants with coy delay,--
The sevenfold scarf that parting storms bestowAs trophy to the proud, triumphant sun;The thrilling accent of a voice we know,The love-enthralled maiden's secret vow,An infant's dream, ere life's first sands be run,--
The chant of distant choirs, the morning's sigh,Which erst inspired the fabled Memnon's frame,--The melodies that, hummed, so trembling die,--The sweetest gems that 'mid thought's treasures lie,Have naught of sweetness that can match HER NAME!
Low be its utterance, like a prayer divine,Yet in each warbled song be heard the sound;Be it the light in darksome fanes to shine,The sacred word which at some hidden shrine,The selfsame voice forever makes resound!
O friends! ere yet, in living strains of flame,My muse, bewildered in her circlings wide,With names the vaunting lips of pride proclaim,Shall dare to blend the one, the purer name,Which love a treasure in my breast doth hide,--
Must the wild lay my faithful harp can sing,Be like the hymns which mortals, kneeling, hear;To solemn harmonies attuned the string,As, music show'ring from his viewless wing,On heavenly airs some angel hovered near.
Words in this poem
- plaint n.
- Audible expression of sorrow; lamentation; complaint; hence, a mournful song; a lament. Chaucer."The Psalmist's mournful plaint." [OE. plainte, pleynte, F. plainte, fr. L. plangere, planctum (plancta, fem. p.p.), to beat, beat the breast, lament. Cf. Complain, Plague, Plangent.]
- sevenfold a.
- Repeated seven times; having seven thicknesses; increased to seven times the size or amount.
- trophy n.
- A sign or memorial of a victory raised on the field of battle, or, in case of a naval victory, on the nearest land. Sometimes trophies were erected in the chief city of the conquered people. [F. trophée (cf. It. & Sp. trofeo), L. tropaeum, trophaeum, Gr. Trope.]
- thrilling a.
- Causing a thrill; causing tremulous excitement; deeply moving; as, a thrilling romance.
- darksome a.
- Dark; gloomy; obscure; shaded; cheerless.
- selfsame a.
- Precisely the same; the very same; identical. [Self, a. + same.]
- 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,]
- viewless a.
- Not perceivable by the eye; invisible; unseen.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Beloved Name 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, Beloved Name, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/beloved-name.html, id L26707.
Form and metre
Beloved Name is 30 lines in 6 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAAB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABAAB lightA · dayB · sightA · flightA · delayB
- 2 ABA-B bestowA · sunB · knowA · vow · runB
- 3 ABAAB sighA · frameB · dieA · lieA · nameB
- 4 ABAAB divineA · soundB · shineA · shrineA · resoundB
- 5 ABAAB flameA · wideB · proclaimA · nameA · hideB
- 6 ABAAB singA · hearB · stringA · wingA · nearB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The lily's perfume pure, fame's crown of light, | 10 | ·/·˘/····· |
| The latest murmur of departing day, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Fond friendship's plaint, that melts at piteous sight, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘˘· |
| The mystic farewell of each hour at flight, | 10 | ·/˘·/··/·· |
| The kiss which beauty grants with coy delay,-- | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| The sevenfold scarf that parting storms bestow | 11 | ·/˘···/˘·˘/ |
| As trophy to the proud, triumphant sun; | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| The thrilling accent of a voice we know, | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| The love-enthralled maiden's secret vow, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| An infant's dream, ere life's first sands be run,-- | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The chant of distant choirs, the morning's sigh, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Which erst inspired the fabled Memnon's frame,-- | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/·· |
| The melodies that, hummed, so trembling die,-- | 10 | ·/˘···/˘˘· |
| The sweetest gems that 'mid thought's treasures lie, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Have naught of sweetness that can match HER NAME! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Low be its utterance, like a prayer divine, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Yet in each warbled song be heard the sound; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Be it the light in darksome fanes to shine, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The sacred word which at some hidden shrine, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The selfsame voice forever makes resound! | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··/ |
| O friends! ere yet, in living strains of flame, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| My muse, bewildered in her circlings wide, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| With names the vaunting lips of pride proclaim, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Shall dare to blend the one, the purer name, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Which love a treasure in my breast doth hide,-- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Must the wild lay my faithful harp can sing, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Be like the hymns which mortals, kneeling, hear; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| To solemn harmonies attuned the string, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘˘/·· |
| As, music show'ring from his viewless wing, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| On heavenly airs some angel hovered near. | 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.