Pirates' Song
We're bearing fivescore Christian dogsTo serve the cruel drivers:Some are fair beauties gently born,And some rough coral-divers.We hardy skimmers of the seaAre lucky in each sally,And, eighty strong, we send alongThe dreaded Pirate Galley.
A nunnery was spied ashore,We lowered away the cutter,And, landing, seized the youngest nunEre she a cry could utter;Beside the creek, deaf to our oars,She slumbered in green alley,As, eighty strong, we sent alongThe dreaded Pirate Galley.
"Be silent, darling, you must come--The wind is off shore blowing;You only change your prison dullFor one that's splendid, glowing!His Highness doats on milky cheeks,So do not make us dally"--We, eighty strong, who send alongThe dreaded Pirate Galley.
She sought to flee back to her cell,And called us each a devil!We dare do aught becomes Old Scratch,But like a treatment civil,So, spite of buffet, prayers, and calls--Too late her friends to rally--We, eighty strong, bore her alongUnto the Pirate Galley.
The fairer for her tears profuse,As dews refresh the flower,She is well worth three purses full,And will adorn the bower--For vain her vow to pine and dieThus torn from her dear valley:She reigns, and we still row alongThe dreaded Pirate Galley.
Words in this poem
- nunnery n.
- A house in which nuns reside; a cloister or convent in which women reside for life, under religious vows. See Cloister, and Convent. [OE. nonnerie, OF. nonerie, F. nonnerie, fr. nonne nun, L. nonna. See Nun.]
- highness n.
- The state of being high; elevation; loftiness. [AS. heáhnes.]
- dally v. i.
- To waste time in effeminate or voluptuous pleasures, or in idleness; to fool away time; to delay unnecessarily; to tarry; to trifle. [OE. , dailien; cf. Icel. pylja to talk, G. dallen, dalen, dahlen, to trifle, talk nonsense, OSw. tule a droll or funny man; or AS. dol foolish, E. dull.]
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- buffet n.
- A cupboard or set of shelves, either movable or fixed at one side of a room, for the display of plate, china, etc., a sideboard. [F. buffet, LL. bufetum; of uncertain origin; perh. fr. the same source as E. buffet a blow, the root meaning to puff, hence (cf. puffed up) the idea of ostentat]
- rally v. t.
- To collect, and reduce to order, as troops dispersed or thrown into confusion; to gather again; to reunite. [OF. ralier, F. rallier, fr. L. pref. re- + ad + ligare to bind. See Ra-, and 1st Ally.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Pirates' Song 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, Pirates' Song, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/pirates-song.html, id L26716.
Form and metre
Pirates' Song is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 -A-A-B-B dogs · driversA · born · diversA · sea · sallyB · along · galleyB
- 2 -A-A-B-B ashore · cutterA · nun · utterA · oars · alleyB · along · galleyB
- 3 -A-A-BAB come · blowingA · dull · glowingA · cheeks · dallyB · alongA · galleyB
- 4 AA-A-B-B cellA · devilA · scratch · civilA · calls · rallyB · along · galleyB
- 5 -A-A-B-B profuse · flowerA · full · bowerA · die · valleyB · along · galleyB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| We're bearing fivescore Christian dogs | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| To serve the cruel drivers: | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Some are fair beauties gently born, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And some rough coral-divers. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| We hardy skimmers of the sea | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Are lucky in each sally, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And, eighty strong, we send along | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The dreaded Pirate Galley. | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| A nunnery was spied ashore, | 7 | ·/˘··˘/ |
| We lowered away the cutter, | 8 | ·/˘˘/·/˘ |
| And, landing, seized the youngest nun | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Ere she a cry could utter; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Beside the creek, deaf to our oars, | 8 | ˘/····/· |
| She slumbered in green alley, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| As, eighty strong, we sent along | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The dreaded Pirate Galley. | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| "Be silent, darling, you must come-- | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The wind is off shore blowing; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| You only change your prison dull | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| For one that's splendid, glowing! | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| His Highness doats on milky cheeks, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| So do not make us dally"-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| We, eighty strong, who send along | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The dreaded Pirate Galley. | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| She sought to flee back to her cell, | 8 | ········ |
| And called us each a devil! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| We dare do aught becomes Old Scratch, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| But like a treatment civil, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| So, spite of buffet, prayers, and calls-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Too late her friends to rally-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| We, eighty strong, bore her along | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Unto the Pirate Galley. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| The fairer for her tears profuse, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| As dews refresh the flower, | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| She is well worth three purses full, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And will adorn the bower-- | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| For vain her vow to pine and die | 8 | ········ |
| Thus torn from her dear valley: | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| She reigns, and we still row along | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The dreaded Pirate Galley. | 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.