Jersey
Dear Jersey! jewel jubilant and green,'Midst surge that splits steel ships, but sings to thee!Thou fav'rest Frenchmen, though from England seen,Oft tearful to that mistress "North Countree";Returned the third time safely here to be,I bless my bold Gibraltar of the Free.
Yon lighthouse stands forth like a fervent friend,One who our tempest buffets back with zest,And with twin-steeple, eke our helmsman's end,Forms arms that beckon us upon thy breast;Rose-posied pillow, crystallized with spray,Where pools pellucid mirror sunny ray.
A frigate fretting yonder smoothest sky,Like pauseless petrel poising o'er a wreck,Strikes bright athwart the dearly dazzled eye,Until it lessens to scarce certain speck,'Neath Venus, sparkling on the agate-sprinkled beach,For fisher's sailing-signal, just and true,Until Aurora frights her from the view.
In summer, steamer-smoke spreads as thy veil,And mists in winter sudden screen thy sight,When at thy feet the galley-breakers wailAnd toss their tops high o'er the lofty flightOf horrid storm-worn steps with shark-like bite,That only ope to swallow up in spite.
But penitent in calm, thou givest a balm,To many a man who's felt thy rage,And many a sea-bird--thanks be heard!--Thou shieldest--sea-bird--exiled bard and sage.
Words in this poem
- jubilant a.
- Uttering songs of triumph; shouting with joy; triumphant; exulting. [L. jubilans, -antis, p. pr. of jubilare to shout for joy: cf. F. jubila. See Jubilate.]
- tearful a.
- Abounding with tears; weeping; shedding tears; as, tearful eyes.
- gibraltar n.
- A strongly fortified town on the south coast of Spain, held by the British since 1704; hence, an impregnable stronghold.
- fervent a.
- Hot; glowing; boiling; burning; as, a fervent summer. [F. fervent, L. fervens, -entis. p.pr. of fervere o the boiling hot, to boil, glow.]
- zest n.
- A piece of orange or lemon peel, or the aromatic oil which may be squeezed from such peel, used to give flavor to liquor, etc. [F. zeste, probably fr. L. schistos split, cleft, divided, Gr. Schism.]
- beckon v. t.
- To make a significant sign to; hence, to summon, as by a motion of the hand.
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- 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]
- aurora n.
- The rising light of the morning; the dawn of day; the redness of the sky just before the sun rises. [L. aurora, for ausosa, akin to Gr. ushas, and E. east.]
- horrid a.
- Rough; rugged; bristling. [L. horridus. See Horror, and cf. Ordure.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Jersey 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, Jersey, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/jersey.html, id L26849.
Form and metre
Jersey is 29 lines in 5 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABBB, in 2 of the 5 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 ABABBB greenA · theeB · seenA · countreeB · beB · freeB
- 2 ABABCC friendA · zestB · endA · breastB · sprayC · rayC
- 3 ABAB-CC skyA · wreckB · eyeA · speckB · beach · trueC · viewC
- 4 ABABBB veilA · sightB · wailA · flightB · biteB · spiteB
- 5 -A-A balm · rageA · heard · sageA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dear Jersey! jewel jubilant and green, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| 'Midst surge that splits steel ships, but sings to thee! | 10 | ·········· |
| Thou fav'rest Frenchmen, though from England seen, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Oft tearful to that mistress "North Countree"; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Returned the third time safely here to be, | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| I bless my bold Gibraltar of the Free. | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Yon lighthouse stands forth like a fervent friend, | 10 | ·/·····/˘· |
| One who our tempest buffets back with zest, | 10 | ··//˘/˘··· |
| And with twin-steeple, eke our helmsman's end, | 10 | ···/˘·//·· |
| Forms arms that beckon us upon thy breast; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Rose-posied pillow, crystallized with spray, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Where pools pellucid mirror sunny ray. | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| A frigate fretting yonder smoothest sky, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Like pauseless petrel poising o'er a wreck, | 11 | ····/˘/˘··· |
| Strikes bright athwart the dearly dazzled eye, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Until it lessens to scarce certain speck, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| 'Neath Venus, sparkling on the agate-sprinkled beach, | 12 | ·/˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| For fisher's sailing-signal, just and true, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Until Aurora frights her from the view. | 10 | ·········· |
| In summer, steamer-smoke spreads as thy veil, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And mists in winter sudden screen thy sight, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| When at thy feet the galley-breakers wail | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And toss their tops high o'er the lofty flight | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of horrid storm-worn steps with shark-like bite, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| That only ope to swallow up in spite. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| But penitent in calm, thou givest a balm, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| To many a man who's felt thy rage, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| And many a sea-bird--thanks be heard!-- | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Thou shieldest--sea-bird--exiled bard and sage. | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
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