Sweet Charmer
Though heaven's gate of light uncloses,Thou stirr'st not--thou'rt laid to rest,Waking are thy sister roses,One only dreamest on thy breast.Hear me, sweet dreamer!Tell me all thy fears,Trembling in song,But to break in tears.
Lo! to greet thee, spirits pressing,Soft music brings the gentle dove,And fair light falleth like a blessing,While my poor heart can bring thee only love.Worship thee, angels love thee, sweet woman?Yes; for that love perfects my soul.None the less of heaven that my heart is human,Blent in one exquisite, harmonious whole.
Words in this poem
- dreamer n.
- One who dreams.
- blent p. p.
- Blinded. Also (Chaucer), 3d sing. pres. Blindeth.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sweet Charmer 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, Sweet Charmer, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/sweet-charmer.html, id L26761.
Form and metre
Sweet Charmer is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABAB-C-C unclosesA · restB · rosesA · breastB · dreamer · fearsC · song · tearsC
- 2 ABAB-C-C pressingA · doveB · blessingA · loveB · woman · soulC · human · wholeC
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Though heaven's gate of light uncloses, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Thou stirr'st not--thou'rt laid to rest, | 7 | ······· |
| Waking are thy sister roses, | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| One only dreamest on thy breast. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Hear me, sweet dreamer! | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Tell me all thy fears, | 5 | ····· |
| Trembling in song, | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| But to break in tears. | 5 | ····· |
| Lo! to greet thee, spirits pressing, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Soft music brings the gentle dove, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And fair light falleth like a blessing, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| While my poor heart can bring thee only love. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Worship thee, angels love thee, sweet woman? | 10 | /˘·/˘···/˘ |
| Yes; for that love perfects my soul. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| None the less of heaven that my heart is human, | 11 | ····/····/˘ |
| Blent in one exquisite, harmonious whole. | 10 | ···/˘˘/˘˘· |
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.