Expectation
Squirrel, mount yon oak so high,To its twig that next the skyBends and trembles as a flower!Strain, O stork, thy pinion well,--From thy nest 'neath old church-bell,Mount to yon tall citadel,And its tallest donjon tower!To your mountain, eagle old,Mount, whose brow so white and cold,Kisses the last ray of even!And, O thou that lov'st to markMorn's first sunbeam pierce the dark,Mount, O mount, thou joyous lark--Joyous lark, O mount to heaven!And now say, from topmost bough,Towering shaft, and peak of snow,And heaven's arch--O, can you seeOne white plume that like a star,Streams along the plain afar,And a steed that from the warBears my lover back to me?
Words in this poem
- pinion n.
- A moth of the genus Lithophane, as L. antennata, whose larva bores large holes in young peaches and apples.
- donjon n.
- The chief tower, also called the keep; a massive tower in ancient castles, forming the strongest part of the fortifications. [See Dungeon.]
- sunbeam n.
- A beam or ray of the sun. [AS. sunnebeam.]
- towering a.
- Very high; elevated; rising aloft; as, a towering height.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Expectation 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, Expectation, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/expectation.html, id L26725.
Form and metre
Expectation is 21 lines in a single stanza. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
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 AABCCCBDD-EEE---FGG-F highA · skyA · flowerB · wellC · bellC · citadelC · towerB · oldD · coldD · even · markE · darkE · larkE · heaven · bough · snow · seeF · starG · afarG · war · meF
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Squirrel, mount yon oak so high, | 7 | /˘····· |
| To its twig that next the sky | 7 | ······· |
| Bends and trembles as a flower! | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Strain, O stork, thy pinion well,-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| From thy nest 'neath old church-bell, | 7 | ······· |
| Mount to yon tall citadel, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And its tallest donjon tower! | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| To your mountain, eagle old, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Mount, whose brow so white and cold, | 7 | ······· |
| Kisses the last ray of even! | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| And, O thou that lov'st to mark | 7 | ······· |
| Morn's first sunbeam pierce the dark, | 7 | ··/···· |
| Mount, O mount, thou joyous lark-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Joyous lark, O mount to heaven! | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| And now say, from topmost bough, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Towering shaft, and peak of snow, | 7 | /˘····· |
| And heaven's arch--O, can you see | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| One white plume that like a star, | 7 | ······· |
| Streams along the plain afar, | 7 | ·˘/··˘/ |
| And a steed that from the war | 7 | ······· |
| Bears my lover back to me? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
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.