On Hearing the Princess Royal Sing
In thine abode so highWhere yet one scarce can breathe,Dear child, most tenderlyA soft song thou dost wreathe.
Thou singest, little girl--Thy sire, the King is he:Around thee glories whirl,But all things sigh in thee.
Thy thought may seek not wingsOf speech; dear love's forbidden;Thy smiles, those heavenly things,Being faintly born, are chidden.
Thou feel'st, poor little Bride,A hand unknown and chillClasp thine from out the wideDeep shade so deathly still.
Thy sad heart, wingless, weak,Is sunk in this black shadeSo deep, thy small hands seek,Vainly, the pulse God made.
Thou art yet but highness, thouThat shaft be majesty:Though still on thy fair browSome faint dawn-flush may be,
Child, unto armies dear,Even now we mark heaven's lightDimmed with the fume and fearAnd glory of battle-might.
Thy godfather is he,Earth's Pope,--he hails thee, child!Passing, armed men you seeLike unarmed women, mild.
As saint all worship thee;Thyself even hast the strongThrill of divinityMingled with thy small song.
Each grand old warriorGuards thee, submissive, proud;Mute thunders at thy doorSleep, that shall wake most loud.
Around thee foams the wildBright sea, the lot of kings.Happier wert thou, my child,I' the woods a bird that sings!
Words in this poem
- abode n.
- Act of waiting; delay. [OE. abad, abood, fr. abiden to abide. See Abide. For the change of vowel, cf. abode, imp. of abide.]
- 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]
- tenderly adv.
- In a tender manner; with tenderness; mildly; gently; softly; in a manner not to injure or give pain; with pity or affection; kindly.
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
- deathly a.
- Deadly; fatal; mortal; destructive.
- highness n.
- The state of being high; elevation; loftiness. [AS. heáhnes.]
- fume n.
- Exhalation; volatile matter (esp. noxious vapor or smoke) ascending in a dense body; smoke; vapor; reek; as, the fumes of tobacco. [L. fumus; akin to Skr. dh smoke, dh to shake, fan a flame, cf. Gr. fum smoke, F. fumée. Cf. Dust, n., Femerell, Thyme.]
- unarmed a.
- Not armed or armored; having no arms or weapons. [Pref. un- not + armed.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- 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
On Hearing the Princess Royal Sing 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 Hearing the Princess Royal Sing, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/on-hearing-the-princess-royal-sing.html, id L26846.
Form and metre
On Hearing the Princess Royal Sing is 44 lines in 11 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 9 of its 11 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
See other poems in iambic 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 -A-A high · breatheA · tenderly · wreatheA
- 2 ABAB girlA · heB · whirlA · theeB
- 3 ABAB wingsA · forbiddenB · thingsA · chiddenB
- 4 ABAB brideA · chillB · wideA · stillB
- 5 ABAB weakA · shadeB · seekA · madeB
- 6 ABAB thouA · majestyB · browA · beB
- 7 ABAB dearA · lightB · fearA · mightB
- 8 ABAB heA · childB · seeA · mildB
- 9 ABAB theeA · strongB · divinityA · songB
- 10 -A-A warrior · proudA · door · loudA
- 11 ABAB wildA · kingsB · childA · singsB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| In thine abode so high | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Where yet one scarce can breathe, | 6 | ······ |
| Dear child, most tenderly | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| A soft song thou dost wreathe. | 6 | ······ |
| Thou singest, little girl-- | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Thy sire, the King is he: | 6 | ·/···· |
| Around thee glories whirl, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But all things sigh in thee. | 6 | ······ |
| Thy thought may seek not wings | 6 | ······ |
| Of speech; dear love's forbidden; | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Thy smiles, those heavenly things, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Being faintly born, are chidden. | 7 | //˘···· |
| Thou feel'st, poor little Bride, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A hand unknown and chill | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Clasp thine from out the wide | 6 | ······ |
| Deep shade so deathly still. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Thy sad heart, wingless, weak, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Is sunk in this black shade | 6 | ······ |
| So deep, thy small hands seek, | 6 | ······ |
| Vainly, the pulse God made. | 6 | /˘···· |
| Thou art yet but highness, thou | 7 | ····/˘· |
| That shaft be majesty: | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Though still on thy fair brow | 6 | ······ |
| Some faint dawn-flush may be, | 6 | ······ |
| Child, unto armies dear, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Even now we mark heaven's light | 7 | /···/˘· |
| Dimmed with the fume and fear | 6 | ······ |
| And glory of battle-might. | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Thy godfather is he, | 6 | ·/·˘·· |
| Earth's Pope,--he hails thee, child! | 6 | ······ |
| Passing, armed men you see | 6 | /˘···· |
| Like unarmed women, mild. | 6 | ·˘//˘· |
| As saint all worship thee; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Thyself even hast the strong | 6 | ˘//··· |
| Thrill of divinity | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| Mingled with thy small song. | 6 | /˘···· |
| Each grand old warrior | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Guards thee, submissive, proud; | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Mute thunders at thy door | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Sleep, that shall wake most loud. | 6 | ······ |
| Around thee foams the wild | 6 | ······ |
| Bright sea, the lot of kings. | 6 | ······ |
| Happier wert thou, my child, | 6 | /˘···· |
| I' the woods a bird that sings! | 7 | ······· |
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.