The Blinded Bourbons
Who then, to them had told the Future's story?Or said that France, low bowed before their glory,One day would mindful beOf them and of their mournful fate no more,Than of the wrecks its waters have swept o'erThe unremembering sea?
That their old Tuileries should see the fallOf blazons from its high heraldic hall,Dismantled, crumbling, prone;Or that, o'er yon dark Louvre's architraveA Corsican, as yet unborn, should graveAn eagle, then unknown?
That gay St. Cloud another lord awaited,Or that in scenes Le Nôtre's art createdFor princely sport and ease,Crimean steeds, trampling the velvet glade,Should browse the bark beneath the stately shadeOf the great Louis' trees?
Words in this poem
- mindful a.
- Bearing in mind; regardful; attentive; heedful; observant.
- unborn a.
- Not born; no yet brought into life; being still to appear; future.
- glade n.
- An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. [Prob. of Scand. origin, and akin to glad, a.; cf. also W. golead, goleuad, a lighting, illumination, fr. goleu light, clear, bright, goleu fwlch glade, lit., a ]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Blinded Bourbons 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, The Blinded Bourbons, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/the-blinded-bourbons.html, id L26766.
Form and metre
The Blinded Bourbons is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 AABCCB storyA · gloryA · beB · moreC · o'erC · seaB
- 2 AABCCB fallA · hallA · proneB · architraveC · graveC · unknownB
- 3 AABCCB awaitedA · createdA · easeB · gladeC · shadeC · treesB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Who then, to them had told the Future's story? | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Or said that France, low bowed before their glory, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| One day would mindful be | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Of them and of their mournful fate no more, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Than of the wrecks its waters have swept o'er | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The unremembering sea? | 7 | ······· |
| That their old Tuileries should see the fall | 9 | ········· |
| Of blazons from its high heraldic hall, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Dismantled, crumbling, prone; | 7 | ˘/˘/˘˘· |
| Or that, o'er yon dark Louvre's architrave | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| A Corsican, as yet unborn, should grave | 10 | ·/˘˘··//·· |
| An eagle, then unknown? | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| That gay St. Cloud another lord awaited, | 11 | ····˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Or that in scenes Le Nôtre's art created | 10 | ·······˘/˘ |
| For princely sport and ease, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Crimean steeds, trampling the velvet glade, | 9 | ˘/·/˘·/˘· |
| Should browse the bark beneath the stately shade | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of the great Louis' trees? | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.