On a Flemish Window-Pane
Within thy cities of the olden timeDearly I love to list the ringing chime,Thou faithful guardian of domestic worth,Noble old Flanders! where the rigid NorthA flush of rich meridian glow doth feel,Caught from reflected suns of bright Castile.The chime, the clinking chime! To Fancy's eye--Prompt her affections to personify--It is the fresh and frolic hour, arrayedIn guise of Andalusian dancing maid,Appealing by a crevice fine and rare,As of a door oped in "th' incorporal air."She comes! o'er drowsy roofs, inert and dull,Shaking her lap, of silv'ry music full,Rousing without remorse the drones abed,Tripping like joyous bird with tiniest tread,Quiv'ring like dart that trembles in the targe,By a frail crystal stair, whose viewless margeBears her slight footfall, tim'rous half, yet free,In innocent extravagance of gleeThe graceful elf alights from out the spheres,While the quick spirit--thing of eyes and ears--As now she goes, now comes, mounts, and anonDescends, those delicate degrees upon,Hears her melodious spirit from step to step run on.
Words in this poem
- olden a.
- Old; ancient; as, the olden time.
- chime n.
- The harmonious sound of bells, or of musical instruments. [OE. chimbe, prop., cymbal, OF. cymbe, cymble, in a dialectic form, chymble, F. cymbale, L. cymbalum, fr. Gr. Cymbal.]
- personify v. t.
- To regard, treat, or represent as a person; to represent as a rational being. [Person + -fy: cf. F. personnifier.]
- appealing a.
- That appeals; imploring.
- incorporal a.
- Immaterial; incorporeal; spiritual. Sir W. Raleigh. [L. incorporalis. See In- not, and Corporal, and cf. Incorporeal.]
- abed adv.
- In bed, or on the bed. [Pref. a- in, on + bed.]
- targe n.
- A shield or target. [F. Cf. Target.]
- viewless a.
- Not perceivable by the eye; invisible; unseen.
- marge n.
- Border; margin; edge; verge. [F. marge. See Margin.]
- footfall n.
- A setting down of the foot; a footstep; the sound of a footstep.
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- anon adv.
- Straightway; at once. [OE. anoon, anon, anan, lit., in one (moment), fr. AS. on in + an one. See On and One.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On a Flemish Window-Pane 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, On a Flemish Window-Pane, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/on-a-flemish-window-pane.html, id L26782.
Form and metre
On a Flemish Window-Pane is 25 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 64% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 AA----BBCCDD--EEFFGGHH-II timeA · chimeA · worth · north · feel · castile · eyeB · personifyB · arrayedC · maidC · rareD · airD · dull · full · abedE · treadE · targeF · margeF · freeG · gleeG · spheresH · earsH · anon · uponI · onI
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Within thy cities of the olden time | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Dearly I love to list the ringing chime, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Thou faithful guardian of domestic worth, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Noble old Flanders! where the rigid North | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| A flush of rich meridian glow doth feel, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Caught from reflected suns of bright Castile. | 11 | ··˘/˘······ |
| The chime, the clinking chime! To Fancy's eye-- | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Prompt her affections to personify-- | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| It is the fresh and frolic hour, arrayed | 10 | ·····/˘/˘/ |
| In guise of Andalusian dancing maid, | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| Appealing by a crevice fine and rare, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| As of a door oped in "th' incorporal air." | 11 | ······˘/˘˘· |
| She comes! o'er drowsy roofs, inert and dull, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Shaking her lap, of silv'ry music full, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Rousing without remorse the drones abed, | 10 | /˘··˘/··˘/ |
| Tripping like joyous bird with tiniest tread, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Quiv'ring like dart that trembles in the targe, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| By a frail crystal stair, whose viewless marge | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Bears her slight footfall, tim'rous half, yet free, | 10 | ···/······ |
| In innocent extravagance of glee | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/˘˘·· |
| The graceful elf alights from out the spheres, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| While the quick spirit--thing of eyes and ears-- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| As now she goes, now comes, mounts, and anon | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Descends, those delicate degrees upon, | 10 | ˘/·/˘˘˘/·· |
| Hears her melodious spirit from step to step run on. | 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.