Morning
Morning glances hither,Now the shade is past;Dream and fog fly thitherWhere Night goes at last;Open eyes and rosesAs the darkness closes;And the sound that grows isNature walking fast.
Murmuring all and singing,Hark! the news is stirred,Roof and creepers clinging,Smoke and nest of bird;Winds to oak-trees bear it,Streams and fountains hear it,Every breath and spiritAs a voice is heard.
All takes up its story,Child resumes his play,Hearth its ruddy glory,Lute its lifted lay.Wild or out of senses,Through the world immense isSound as each commencesSchemes of yesterday.
About this text
Morning 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, Morning, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/morning.html, id L26759.
Form and metre
Morning is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCCCB. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 ABABCCCB hitherA · pastB · thitherA · lastB · rosesC · closesC · isC · fastB
- 2 ABABCCCB singingA · stirredB · clingingA · birdB · itC · itC · spiritC · heardB
- 3 ABABCCCB storyA · playB · gloryA · layB · sensesC · isC · commencesC · yesterdayB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Morning glances hither, | 6 | /˘/˘/˘ |
| Now the shade is past; | 5 | ····· |
| Dream and fog fly thither | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Where Night goes at last; | 5 | ····· |
| Open eyes and roses | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| As the darkness closes; | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| And the sound that grows is | 6 | ······ |
| Nature walking fast. | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| Murmuring all and singing, | 7 | /˘˘··/˘ |
| Hark! the news is stirred, | 6 | ·····˘ |
| Roof and creepers clinging, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Smoke and nest of bird; | 5 | ····· |
| Winds to oak-trees bear it, | 6 | ······ |
| Streams and fountains hear it, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Every breath and spirit | 7 | /˘˘··/˘ |
| As a voice is heard. | 5 | ····· |
| All takes up its story, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Child resumes his play, | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| Hearth its ruddy glory, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Lute its lifted lay. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Wild or out of senses, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Through the world immense is | 6 | ···˘/· |
| Sound as each commences | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Schemes of yesterday. | 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.