Madelaine
List to me, O Madelaine!Now the snows have left the plain,Which they warmly cloaked.Come into the forest groves,Where the notes that Echo lovesAre from horns evoked.
Come! where Springtide, Madelaine,Brings a sultry breath from Spain,Giving buds their hue;And, last night, to glad your eye,Laid the floral marquetry,Red and gold and blue.
Would I were, O Madelaine,As the lamb whose wool you trainThrough your tender hands.Would I were the bird that whirlsRound, and comes to peck your curls,Happy in such bands.
Were I e'en, O Madelaine,Hermit whom the herd disdainIn his pious cell,When your purest lips unfoldSins which might to all be told,As to him you tell.
Would I were, O Madelaine,Moth that murmurs 'gainst your pane,Peering at your rest,As, so like its woolly wing,Ceasing scarce its fluttering,Heaves and sinks your breast.
If you seek it, Madelaine,You may wish, and not in vain,For a serving host,And your splendid hall of stateShall be envied by the great,O'er the Jew-King's boast.
If you name it, Madelaine,Round your head no more you'll trainSimple marguerites,No! the coronet of peers,Whom the queen herself oft fears,And the monarch greets.
If you wish, O Madelaine!Where you gaze you long shall reign--For I'm ruler here!I'm the lord who asks your handIf you do not bid me standLoving shepherd here!
Words in this poem
- warmly adv.
- In a warm manner; ardently.
- springtide n.
- The time of spring; springtime. Thomson.
- marquetry n.
- Inlaid work; work inlaid with pieces of wood, shells, ivory, and the like, of several colors. [F. marqueterie, from marqueter to checker, inlay, fr. marque mark, sign; of German origin. See Mark a sign.]
- pane n.
- The narrow edge of a hammer head. See Peen. [F. panne.]
- 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]
- heaves n.
- A disease of horses, characterized by difficult breathing, with heaving of the flank, wheezing, flatulency, and a peculiar cough; broken wind.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Madelaine 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, Madelaine, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/madelaine.html, id L26713.
Form and metre
Madelaine is 48 lines in 8 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCB. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 AABCCB madelaineA · plainA · cloakedB · grovesC · lovesC · evokedB
- 2 AABCCB madelaineA · spainA · hueB · eyeC · marquetryC · blueB
- 3 AABCCB madelaineA · trainA · handsB · whirlsC · curlsC · bandsB
- 4 AABCCB madelaineA · disdainA · cellB · unfoldC · toldC · tellB
- 5 AABCCB madelaineA · paneA · restB · wingC · flutteringC · breastB
- 6 AABCCB madelaineA · vainA · hostB · stateC · greatC · boastB
- 7 AABCCB madelaineA · trainA · margueritesB · peersC · fearsC · greetsB
- 8 AABCCB madelaineA · reignA · hereB · handC · standC · hereB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| List to me, O Madelaine! | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Now the snows have left the plain, | 7 | ······· |
| Which they warmly cloaked. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Come into the forest groves, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Where the notes that Echo loves | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Are from horns evoked. | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Come! where Springtide, Madelaine, | 7 | ··/˘/˘˘ |
| Brings a sultry breath from Spain, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Giving buds their hue; | 5 | /˘··· |
| And, last night, to glad your eye, | 7 | ······· |
| Laid the floral marquetry, | 7 | ··/˘/˘˘ |
| Red and gold and blue. | 5 | ····· |
| Would I were, O Madelaine, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| As the lamb whose wool you train | 7 | ······· |
| Through your tender hands. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Would I were the bird that whirls | 7 | ······· |
| Round, and comes to peck your curls, | 7 | ······· |
| Happy in such bands. | 5 | /˘··· |
| Were I e'en, O Madelaine, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Hermit whom the herd disdain | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| In his pious cell, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| When your purest lips unfold | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Sins which might to all be told, | 7 | ······· |
| As to him you tell. | 5 | ····· |
| Would I were, O Madelaine, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Moth that murmurs 'gainst your pane, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Peering at your rest, | 5 | /˘··· |
| As, so like its woolly wing, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Ceasing scarce its fluttering, | 7 | /˘··/˘˘ |
| Heaves and sinks your breast. | 5 | ····· |
| If you seek it, Madelaine, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| You may wish, and not in vain, | 7 | ······· |
| For a serving host, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And your splendid hall of state | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Shall be envied by the great, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| O'er the Jew-King's boast. | 5 | ····· |
| If you name it, Madelaine, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Round your head no more you'll train | 7 | ······· |
| Simple marguerites, | 5 | /˘·˘/ |
| No! the coronet of peers, | 7 | ··/˘/·· |
| Whom the queen herself oft fears, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| And the monarch greets. | 5 | ··/·· |
| If you wish, O Madelaine! | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Where you gaze you long shall reign-- | 7 | ······· |
| For I'm ruler here! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| I'm the lord who asks your hand | 7 | ······· |
| If you do not bid me stand | 7 | ······· |
| Loving shepherd here! | 5 | /˘/˘· |
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.