Love of the Woodland
Orpheus, through the hellward woodHurried, ere the eve-star glowed,For the fauns' lugubrious hootsFollowed, hollow, from crookèd roots;Aeschylus, where Aetna smoked,Gods of Sicily evokedWith the flute, till sulphur taintDulled and lulled the echoes faint;Pliny, soon his style mislaid,Dogged Miletus' merry maid,As she showed eburnean limbsAll-multiplied by brooklet brims;Plautus, see! like Plutus, holdBosomfuls of orchard-gold,Learns he why that mystic coreWas sweet Venus' meed of yore?Dante dreamt (while spirits passAs in wizard's jetty glass)Each black-bossed Briarian trunkWaved live arms like furies drunk;Winsome Will, 'neath Windsor Oak,Eyed each elf that cracked a jokeAt poor panting grease-hart fast--Obese, roguish Jack harassed;At Versailles, Molière did courtCues from Pan (in heron port,Half in ooze, half treeward raised),"Words so witty, that Boileau's 'mazed!"
Foliage! fondly you attract!Dian's faith I keep intact,And declare that thy dryads danceStill, and will, in thy green expanse!
Words in this poem 15
- orpheus n.
- The famous mythic Thracian poet, son of the Muse Calliope, and husband of Eurydice. He is reputed to have had power to entrance beasts and inanimate objects by the music of his lyre.
- lugubrious a.
- Mournful; indicating sorrow, often ridiculously or feignedly; doleful; woful; pitiable; as, a whining tone and a lugubrious look. [L. lugubris, fr. lugere to mourn; cf. Gr. ruj to break.]
- dogged a.
- Sullen; morose. [Fron. Dog.]
- eburnean a.
- Made of or relating to ivory. [L. eburneus, fr. ebur ivory. See Ivory.]
- plutus n.
- The son of Jason and Ceres, and the god of wealth. He was represented as bearing a cornucopia, and as blind, because his gifts were bestowed without discrimination of merit.
- meed v. t.
- To reward; to repay. Waytt.
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- jetty v. i.
- To jut out; to project. Florio.
- winsome a.
- Cheerful; merry; gay; light-hearted. [AS. wynsum, fr. wynn joy; akin to OS. wunnia, OHG. wunna, wunni, G. wonne, Goth. wunan to rejoice (in unwunands sad), AS. wunian to dwell. Win, v. t., Wont, a.]
- windsor n.
- A town in Berkshire, England. Windsor bean. (Bot.) See under Bean.
- cracked a.
- Coarsely ground or broken; as, cracked wheat.
- obese a.
- Excessively corpulent; fat; fleshy. [L. obesus eaten away, lean; also, that has eaten itself fat, fat, stout, p.p. of obedere to devour; ob (see Ob-) + edere to eat. See Eat.]
- witty a.
- Possessed of wit; knowing; wise; skillful; judicious; clever; cunning. [AS. witig, wittig. See Wit, n.]
- fondly adv.
- Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
- intact a.
- Untouched, especially by anything that harms, defiles, or the like; uninjured; undefiled; left complete or entire. Buckle. [L. intactus; pref. in- not + tactus, p. p. of tangere to touch: cf. F. intact. See In- not, and Tact, Tangent.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love of the Woodland 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, Love of the Woodland, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/love-of-the-woodland.html, id L26833.
Form and metre
Love of the Woodland is 32 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMMNN woodA · glowedA · hootsB · rootsB · smokedC · evokedC · taintD · faintD · mislaidE · maidE · limbsF · brimsF · holdG · goldG · coreH · yoreH · passI · glassI · trunkJ · drunkJ · oakK · jokeK · fastL · harassedL · courtM · portM · raisedN · mazedN
- 2 AABB attractA · intactA · danceB · expanseB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Orpheus, through the hellward wood | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Hurried, ere the eve-star glowed, | 7 | /˘····· |
| For the fauns' lugubrious hoots | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Followed, hollow, from crookèd roots; | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Aeschylus, where Aetna smoked, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Gods of Sicily evoked | 7 | ··/˘˘˘/ |
| With the flute, till sulphur taint | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Dulled and lulled the echoes faint; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Pliny, soon his style mislaid, | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Dogged Miletus' merry maid, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| As she showed eburnean limbs | 8 | ···˘/˘˘· |
| All-multiplied by brooklet brims; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Plautus, see! like Plutus, hold | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Bosomfuls of orchard-gold, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Learns he why that mystic core | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Was sweet Venus' meed of yore? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Dante dreamt (while spirits pass | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| As in wizard's jetty glass) | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Each black-bossed Briarian trunk | 7 | ···˘··· |
| Waved live arms like furies drunk; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Winsome Will, 'neath Windsor Oak, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Eyed each elf that cracked a joke | 7 | ······· |
| At poor panting grease-hart fast-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Obese, roguish Jack harassed; | 7 | ˘//˘·˘/ |
| At Versailles, Molière did court | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Cues from Pan (in heron port, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Half in ooze, half treeward raised), | 7 | ······· |
| "Words so witty, that Boileau's 'mazed!" | 8 | ··/˘··/· |
| Foliage! fondly you attract! | 7 | /˘/˘·˘/ |
| Dian's faith I keep intact, | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| And declare that thy dryads dance | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Still, and will, in thy green expanse! | 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.