Patria
Who smiles there? Is itA stray spirit,Or woman fair?Sombre yet soft the brow!Bow, nations, bow;O soul in air,Speak--what art thou?
In grief the fair face seems--What means those sudden gleams?Our antique pride from dreamsStarts up, and beamsIts conquering glance,--To make our sad hearts dance,And wake in woods hushed longThe wild bird's song.Angel of Day!Our Hope, Love, Stay,Thy countenanceLights land and seaEternally,Thy name is FranceOr Verity.
Fair angel in thy glassWhen vile things move or pass,Clouds in the skies amass;Terrible, alas!Thy stern commands are then:"Form your battalions, men,The flag display!"And all obey.Angel of mightSent kings to smite,The words in dark skies glance,"Mené, Mené," hissBolts that never miss!Thy name is France,Or Nemesis.
As halcyons in May,O nations, in his rayFloat and bask for aye,Nor know decay!One arm upraised to heavenSeals the past forgiven;One holds a swordTo quell hell's horde,Angel of God!Thy wings stretch broadAs heaven's expanse!To shield and freeHumanity!Thy name is France,Or Liberty!
Words in this poem
- sombre n.
- Gloom; obscurity; duskiness; somberness.
- eternally adv.
- In an eternal manner.
- verity n.
- The quality or state of being true, or real; consonance of a statement, proposition, or other thing, with fact; truth; reality. [F. vérité, L. veritas, fr. verus true. See Very.]
- nemesis n.
- The goddess of retribution or vengeance; hence, retributive justice personified; divine vengeance. [L., fr. gr. Nomad.]
- bask v. i.
- To lie in warmth; to be exposed to genial heat. [OScand. ba to bathe one's self, or perh. bakask to bake one's self, sk being reflexive. See Bath, n., Bake, v. t.]
- quell v. t.
- To take the life of; to kill. [OE. quellen to kill, AS. cwellan, causative of cwelan to die; akin to OHG. quellen to torment, Icel. kvelja. See Quail to cower.]
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Patria 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, Patria, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/patria.html, id L26806.
Form and metre
Patria is 52 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in iambic dimeter.
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 AABCCBC itA · spiritA · fairB · browC · bowC · airB · thouC
- 2 AAAABBCCDDB--B- seemsA · gleamsA · dreamsA · beamsA · glanceB · danceB · longC · songC · dayD · stayD · countenanceB · sea · eternally · franceB · verity
- 3 AAAABBCCDDEFFEF glassA · passA · amassA · alasA · thenB · menB · displayC · obeyC · mightD · smiteD · glanceE · hissF · missF · franceE · nemesisF
- 4 AA-A--BB--C--C- mayA · rayA · aye · decayA · heaven · forgiven · swordB · hordeB · god · broad · expanseC · free · humanity · franceC · liberty
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Who smiles there? Is it | 5 | ····· |
| A stray spirit, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Or woman fair? | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Sombre yet soft the brow! | 6 | /˘···· |
| Bow, nations, bow; | 4 | ·/˘· |
| O soul in air, | 4 | ···· |
| Speak--what art thou? | 4 | ···· |
| In grief the fair face seems-- | 6 | ······ |
| What means those sudden gleams? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Our antique pride from dreams | 6 | /˘/··· |
| Starts up, and beams | 4 | ···· |
| Its conquering glance,-- | 4 | ·/˘· |
| To make our sad hearts dance, | 6 | ··/··· |
| And wake in woods hushed long | 6 | ······ |
| The wild bird's song. | 4 | ···· |
| Angel of Day! | 4 | /˘·· |
| Our Hope, Love, Stay, | 4 | /··· |
| Thy countenance | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| Lights land and sea | 4 | ···· |
| Eternally, | 4 | ˘/˘˘ |
| Thy name is France | 4 | ···· |
| Or Verity. | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| Fair angel in thy glass | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| When vile things move or pass, | 6 | ······ |
| Clouds in the skies amass; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Terrible, alas! | 4 | /˘˘/ |
| Thy stern commands are then: | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| "Form your battalions, men, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| The flag display!" | 4 | ··˘/ |
| And all obey. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Angel of might | 4 | /˘·· |
| Sent kings to smite, | 4 | ···· |
| The words in dark skies glance, | 6 | ······ |
| "Mené, Mené," hiss | 3 | ··· |
| Bolts that never miss! | 4 | ··/· |
| Thy name is France, | 4 | ···· |
| Or Nemesis. | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| As halcyons in May, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| O nations, in his ray | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Float and bask for aye, | 5 | ····· |
| Nor know decay! | 4 | ··˘/ |
| One arm upraised to heaven | 6 | ·····/ |
| Seals the past forgiven; | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| One holds a sword | 4 | ···· |
| To quell hell's horde, | 4 | ···· |
| Angel of God! | 4 | /˘·· |
| Thy wings stretch broad | 4 | ···· |
| As heaven's expanse! | 5 | ·/˘˘/ |
| To shield and free | 4 | ···· |
| Humanity! | 4 | ˘/˘˘ |
| Thy name is France, | 4 | ···· |
| Or Liberty! | 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.