Sweet Memory of Love
As life wanes on, the passions slow depart,One with his grinning mask, one with his steel;Like to a strolling troupe of Thespian art,Whose pace decreases, winding past the hill.But naught can Love's all charming power efface,That light, our misty tracks suspended o'er,In joy thou'rt ours, more dear thy tearful grace,The young may curse thee, but the old adore.
But when the weight of years bow down the head,And man feels all his energies decline,His projects gone, himself tomb'd with the dead,Where virtues lie, nor more illusions shine,When all our lofty thoughts dispersed and o'er,We count within our hearts so near congealed,Each grief that's past, each dream, exhausted ore!As counting dead upon the battle-field.
As one who walks by the lamp's flickering blaze,Far from the hum of men, the joys of earth--Our mind arrives at last by tortuous ways,At that drear gulf where but despair has birth.E'en there, amid the darkness of that night,When all seems closing round in empty air,Is seen through thickening gloom one trembling light!'Tis Love's sweet memory that lingers there!
Words in this poem
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
- troupe n.
- A company or troop, especially the company pf performers in a play or an opera. [F., troop. See Troop.]
- thespian a.
- Of or pertaining to Thespis; hence, relating to the drama; dramatic; as, the Thespian art.
- tearful a.
- Abounding with tears; weeping; shedding tears; as, tearful eyes.
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sweet Memory of Love 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 Memory of Love, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/sweet-memory-of-love.html, id L26788.
Form and metre
Sweet Memory of Love is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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- departA · steel · artA · hill · effaceB · o'er · graceB · adore
- 2 ABAB-C-C headA · declineB · deadA · shineB · o'er · congealedC · ore · fieldC
- 3 ABABCDCD blazeA · earthB · waysA · birthB · nightC · airD · lightC · thereD
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| As life wanes on, the passions slow depart, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| One with his grinning mask, one with his steel; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Like to a strolling troupe of Thespian art, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Whose pace decreases, winding past the hill. | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| But naught can Love's all charming power efface, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘/ |
| That light, our misty tracks suspended o'er, | 10 | ··//˘·˘/˘· |
| In joy thou'rt ours, more dear thy tearful grace, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| The young may curse thee, but the old adore. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| But when the weight of years bow down the head, | 10 | ·········· |
| And man feels all his energies decline, | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| His projects gone, himself tomb'd with the dead, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| Where virtues lie, nor more illusions shine, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| When all our lofty thoughts dispersed and o'er, | 10 | ··//˘·˘/·· |
| We count within our hearts so near congealed, | 10 | ····/···˘/ |
| Each grief that's past, each dream, exhausted ore! | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| As counting dead upon the battle-field. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| As one who walks by the lamp's flickering blaze, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Far from the hum of men, the joys of earth-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Our mind arrives at last by tortuous ways, | 10 | /·˘/···/˘· |
| At that drear gulf where but despair has birth. | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| E'en there, amid the darkness of that night, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| When all seems closing round in empty air, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Is seen through thickening gloom one trembling light! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| 'Tis Love's sweet memory that lingers there! | 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.