Have You Nothing to Say for Yourself?
Speak, if you love me, gentle maiden!Or haunt no more my lone retreat.If not for me thy heart be laden,Why trouble mine with smiles so sweet?
Ah! tell me why so mute, fair maiden,Whene'er as thus so oft we meet?If not for me thy heart be, Aideen,Why trouble mine with smiles so sweet?
Why, when my hand unconscious pressing,Still keep untold the maiden dream?In fancy thou art thus caressingThe while we wander by the stream.
If thou art pained when I am near thee,Why in my path so often stray?For in my heart I love yet fear thee,And fain would fly, yet fondly stay.
Words in this poem
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- untold a.
- Not told; not related; not revealed; as, untold secrets.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- fondly adv.
- Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Have You Nothing to Say for Yourself? 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, Have You Nothing to Say for Yourself?, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/have-you-nothing-to-say-for-yourself.html, id L26812.
Form and metre
Have You Nothing to Say for Yourself? is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in iambic 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 ABAB maidenA · retreatB · ladenA · sweetB
- 2 ABAB maidenA · meetB · aideenA · sweetB
- 3 ABAB pressingA · dreamB · caressingA · streamB
- 4 ABAB theeA · strayB · theeA · stayB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Speak, if you love me, gentle maiden! | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Or haunt no more my lone retreat. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| If not for me thy heart be laden, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Why trouble mine with smiles so sweet? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Ah! tell me why so mute, fair maiden, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Whene'er as thus so oft we meet? | 9 | ········· |
| If not for me thy heart be, Aideen, | 9 | ········· |
| Why trouble mine with smiles so sweet? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Why, when my hand unconscious pressing, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Still keep untold the maiden dream? | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| In fancy thou art thus caressing | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| The while we wander by the stream. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| If thou art pained when I am near thee, | 10 | ····˘····· |
| Why in my path so often stray? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For in my heart I love yet fear thee, | 9 | ········· |
| And fain would fly, yet fondly stay. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
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.