Roses and Butterflies
The grave receives us all:Ye butterflies and roses gay and sweetWhy do ye linger, say?Will ye not dwell together as is meet?Somewhere high in the airWould thy wing seek a home 'mid sunny skies,In mead or mossy dell--If there thy odors longest, sweetest rise.
Have where ye will your dwelling,Or breath or tint whose praise we sing;Butterfly shining bright,Full-blown or bursting rosebud, flow'r or wing.Dwell together ye fair,'Tis a boon to the loveliest given;Perchance ye then may choose your homeOn the earth or in heaven.
Words in this poem
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- dell n.
- A small, retired valley; a ravine. [AS. del, akin to E. dale; cf. D. delle, del, low ground. See Dale.]
- rosebud n.
- The flower of a rose before it opens, or when but partially open.
- boon n.
- A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Roses and Butterflies 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, Roses and Butterflies, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/roses-and-butterflies.html, id L26763.
Form and metre
Roses and Butterflies is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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-B-B all · sweetA · say · meetA · air · skiesB · dell · riseB
- 2 AA-A---- dwellingA · singA · bright · wingA · fair · given · home · heaven
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The grave receives us all: | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Ye butterflies and roses gay and sweet | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Why do ye linger, say? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Will ye not dwell together as is meet? | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Somewhere high in the air | 6 | /····· |
| Would thy wing seek a home 'mid sunny skies, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| In mead or mossy dell-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| If there thy odors longest, sweetest rise. | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Have where ye will your dwelling, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Or breath or tint whose praise we sing; | 8 | ········ |
| Butterfly shining bright, | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Full-blown or bursting rosebud, flow'r or wing. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Dwell together ye fair, | 6 | ·˘/˘·· |
| 'Tis a boon to the loveliest given; | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Perchance ye then may choose your home | 8 | ˘/······ |
| On the earth or in heaven. | 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.