Moonlight on the Bosphorus
Bright shone the merry moonbeams dancing o'er the wave;At the cool casement, to the evening breeze flung wide,Leans the Sultana, and delights to watch the tide,With surge of silvery sheen, yon sleeping islets lave.
From her hand, as it falls, vibrates the light guitar.She listens--hark! that sound that echoes dull and low.Is it the beat upon the ArchipelagoOf some long galley's oar, from Scio bound afar?
Is it the cormorants, whose black wings, one by one,Cut the blue wave that o'er them breaks in liquid pearls?Is it some hovering sprite with whistling scream that hurlsDown to the deep from yon old tower a loosened stone?
Who thus disturbs the tide near the seraglio?'Tis no dark cormorants that on the ripple float,'Tis no dull plume of stone--no oars of Turkish boat,With measured beat along the water creeping slow.
'Tis heavy sacks, borne each by voiceless dusky slaves;And could you dare to sound the depths of yon dark tide,Something like human form would stir within its side.Bright shone the merry moonbeams dancing o'er the wave.
Words in this poem
- casement n.
- A window sash opening on hinges affixed to the upright side of the frame into which it is fitted. (Poetically) A window. [Shortened fr. encasement. See Incase 1st Case, and cf. Incasement.]
- sultana n.
- The wife of a sultan; a sultaness. [It.]
- sheen v. i.
- To shine; to glisten.
- lave v. t.
- To lade, dip, or pour out. [OE. laven. See Lavish.]
- 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.]
- sprite n.
- A spirit; a soul; a shade; also, an apparition. See Spright. [OE. sprit, F. esprit, fr. L. spiritus. See Spirit, and cf. Sprightly.]
- seraglio n.
- An inclosure; a place of separation. [It. serraglio, originally, an inclosure of palisades, afterwards also, a palace, seraglio (by confusion with Per. sera\'8ba a palace, an entirely different word]
- voiceless a.
- Having no voice, utterance, or vote; silent; mute; dumb.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Moonlight on the Bosphorus 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, Moonlight on the Bosphorus, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/moonlight-on-the-bosphorus.html, id L26718.
Form and metre
Moonlight on the Bosphorus is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is alexandrines, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in alexandrines.
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 ABBA waveA · wideB · tideB · laveA
- 2 ABBA guitarA · lowB · archipelagoB · afarA
- 3 ABBA oneA · pearlsB · hurlsB · stoneA
- 4 ABBA seraglioA · floatB · boatB · slowA
- 5 -AA- slaves · tideA · sideA · wave
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 alexandrines. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Bright shone the merry moonbeams dancing o'er the wave; | 12 | ···/˘/·/˘··· |
| At the cool casement, to the evening breeze flung wide, | 12 | ···/˘··/˘··· |
| Leans the Sultana, and delights to watch the tide, | 12 | ··˘/˘·˘/···· |
| With surge of silvery sheen, yon sleeping islets lave. | 12 | ···/˘··/˘/˘· |
| From her hand, as it falls, vibrates the light guitar. | 12 | ······/˘··˘/ |
| She listens--hark! that sound that echoes dull and low. | 12 | ·/˘····/˘··· |
| Is it the beat upon the Archipelago | 12 | ········˘/˘· |
| Of some long galley's oar, from Scio bound afar? | 11 | ···/˘····˘/ |
| Is it the cormorants, whose black wings, one by one, | 12 | ···/˘˘······ |
| Cut the blue wave that o'er them breaks in liquid pearls? | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| Is it some hovering sprite with whistling scream that hurls | 12 | ···/˘··/˘··· |
| Down to the deep from yon old tower a loosened stone? | 12 | ·······/·/˘· |
| Who thus disturbs the tide near the seraglio? | 11 | ··˘/····˘/˘ |
| 'Tis no dark cormorants that on the ripple float, | 12 | ···/˘˘···/˘· |
| 'Tis no dull plume of stone--no oars of Turkish boat, | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| With measured beat along the water creeping slow. | 12 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘/˘· |
| 'Tis heavy sacks, borne each by voiceless dusky slaves; | 12 | ·/˘····/˘/˘· |
| And could you dare to sound the depths of yon dark tide, | 12 | ············ |
| Something like human form would stir within its side. | 12 | /˘·/˘······· |
| Bright shone the merry moonbeams dancing o'er the wave. | 12 | ···/˘/·/˘··· |
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.