My Happiest Dream
I love to look, as evening fails,On vestals streaming in their veils,Within the fane past altar rails,Green palms in hand.My darkest moods will always clearWhen I can fancy children near,With rosy lips a-laughing--dear,Light-dancing band!
Enchanting vision, too, displayed,That of a sweet and radiant maid,Who knows not why she is afraid,--Love's yet unseen!Another--rarest 'mong the rare--To see the gaze of chosen fairReturn prolonged and wistful stareOf eager een.
But--dream o'er all to stir my soul,And shine the brightest on the roll,Is when a land of tyrant's tollBy sword is rid.I say not dagger--with the swordWhen Right enchampions the horde,All in broad day--so that the bardMay sing the victor with the starredBayard and Cid!
Words in this poem
- streaming a.
- Sending forth streams.
- fane n.
- A temple; a place consecrated to religion; a church. [L. fanum a place dedicated to some deity, a sanctuary, fr. fari to speak. See Fame.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- wistful a.
- Longing; wishful; desirous. [For wishful; perhaps influenced by wistly, which is probably corrupted from OE. wisly certainly (from Icel. viss certain, akin to E. wit). See Wish.]
- horde n.
- A wandering troop or gang; especially, a clan or tribe of a nomadic people migrating from place to place for the sake of pasturage, plunder, etc.; a predatory multitude. Thomson. [F. horde (cf. G. horde), fr. Turk. ord, ordi, camp; of Tartar origin.]
- starred a.
- Adorned or studded with stars; bespangled. [From Star.]
- bayard n.
- Etym: [OF. bayard, baiart, bay horse; bai bay + -ard. See Bay, a., and -ard.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
My Happiest Dream 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, My Happiest Dream, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/my-happiest-dream.html, id L26847.
Form and metre
My Happiest Dream is 25 lines in 3 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AAABCCCB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
See other poems in iambic 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 AAABCCCB failsA · veilsA · railsA · handB · clearC · nearC · dearC · bandB
- 2 AAABCCCB displayedA · maidA · afraidA · unseenB · rareC · fairC · stareC · eenB
- 3 AAABCCDDB soulA · rollA · tollA · ridB · swordC · hordeC · bardD · starredD · cidB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I love to look, as evening fails, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| On vestals streaming in their veils, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Within the fane past altar rails, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Green palms in hand. | 4 | ···· |
| My darkest moods will always clear | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| When I can fancy children near, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| With rosy lips a-laughing--dear, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Light-dancing band! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Enchanting vision, too, displayed, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| That of a sweet and radiant maid, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Who knows not why she is afraid,-- | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Love's yet unseen! | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Another--rarest 'mong the rare-- | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| To see the gaze of chosen fair | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Return prolonged and wistful stare | 8 | ˘/˘/·/˘· |
| Of eager een. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| But--dream o'er all to stir my soul, | 8 | ········ |
| And shine the brightest on the roll, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Is when a land of tyrant's toll | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| By sword is rid. | 4 | ···· |
| I say not dagger--with the sword | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When Right enchampions the horde, | 7 | ······· |
| All in broad day--so that the bard | 8 | ········ |
| May sing the victor with the starred | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Bayard and Cid! | 4 | /˘·· |
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.