The Favorite Sultana
To please you, Jewess, jewel!I have thinned my harem out!Must every flirting of your fanPresage a dying shout?
Grace for the damsels tenderWho have fear to hear your laugh,For seldom gladness gilds your lipsBut blood you mean to quaff.
In jealousy so zealous,Never was there woman worse;You'd have no roses but those grownAbove some buried corse.
Am I not pinioned firmly?Why be angered if the doorRepulses fifty suing maidsWho vainly there implore?
Let them live on--to envyMy own empress of the world,To whom all Stamboul like a dogLies at the slippers curled.
To you my heroes lowerThose scarred ensigns none have cowed;To you their turbans are depressedThat elsewhere march so proud.
To you Bassora offersHer respect, and TrebizondeHer carpets richly wrought, and spiceAnd gems, of which you're fond.
To you the Cyprus templesDare not bar or close the doors;For you the mighty Danube sendsThe choicest of its stores.
Fear you the Grecian maidens,Pallid lilies of the isles?Or the scorching-eyed sand-roverFrom Baalbec's massy piles?
Compared with yours, oh, daughterOf King Solomon the grand,What are round ebon bosoms,High brows from Hellas' strand?
You're neither blanched nor blackened,For your tint of olive's clear;Yours are lips of ripest cherry,You are straight as Arab spear.
Hence, launch no longer lightningOn these paltry slaves of ours.Why should your flow of tears be matchedBy their mean life-blood showers?
Think only of our banquetsBrought and served by charming girls,For beauties sultans must adornAs dagger-hilts the pearls.
Words in this poem
- jewess n.
- A Hebrew woman.
- harem n.
- The apartments or portion of the house allotted to females in Mohammedan families. [Ar.haram, orig., anything forbidden of sacred, fr. harama to forbid, prohibit.]
- quaff v. t.
- To drink with relish; to drink copiously of; to swallow in large draughts. [For quach, fr. Gael. & Ir. cuach a drinking cup; cf. L. caucus a drinking vessel. Cf. Quaigh.]
- corse n.
- A living body or its bulk. [OF. cors, F. corps. See Corpse.]
- pinioned a.
- Having wings or pinions.
- suing n.
- The process of soaking through anything. [Cf. F. suer to sweat, L. sudare.]
- cyprus n.
- A thin, transparent stuff, the same as, or corresponding to, crape. It was either white or black, the latter being most common, and used for mourning. [OE. cipres, cypirs; perh. so named as being first manufactured in Cyprus. Cf. Cipers.]
- scorching a.
- Burning; parching or shriveling with heat.
- rover n.
- One who practices robbery on the seas; a pirate. [D. roover a robber. See Rove, v. i.]
- massy a.
- Compacted into, or consisting of, a mass; having bulk and weight ot substance; ponderous; bulky and heavy; weight; heavy; as, a massy shield; a massy rock.
- solomon n.
- One of the kings of Israel, noted for his superior wisdom and magnificent reign; hence, a very wise man.
- ebon a.
- Consisting of ebony.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Favorite Sultana 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 Favorite Sultana, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/the-favorite-sultana.html, id L26720.
Form and metre
The Favorite Sultana is 52 lines in 13 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 jewel · outA · fan · shoutA
- 2 -A-A tender · laughA · lips · quaffA
- 3 AA-- zealousA · worseA · grown · corse
- 4 -A-A firmly · doorA · maids · imploreA
- 5 -A-A envy · worldA · dog · curledA
- 6 -A-A lower · cowedA · depressed · proudA
- 7 -A-A offers · trebizondeA · spice · fondA
- 8 -A-A temples · doorsA · sends · storesA
- 9 -A-A maidens · islesA · rover · pilesA
- 10 -A-A daughter · grandA · bosoms · strandA
- 11 -A-A blackened · clearA · cherry · spearA
- 12 -A-A lightning · oursA · matched · showersA
- 13 -A-A banquets · girlsA · adorn · pearlsA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| To please you, Jewess, jewel! | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| I have thinned my harem out! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Must every flirting of your fan | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Presage a dying shout? | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Grace for the damsels tender | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Who have fear to hear your laugh, | 7 | ······· |
| For seldom gladness gilds your lips | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| But blood you mean to quaff. | 6 | ······ |
| In jealousy so zealous, | 7 | ·/˘˘·/˘ |
| Never was there woman worse; | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| You'd have no roses but those grown | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Above some buried corse. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Am I not pinioned firmly? | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Why be angered if the door | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Repulses fifty suing maids | 8 | ˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Who vainly there implore? | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Let them live on--to envy | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| My own empress of the world, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| To whom all Stamboul like a dog | 8 | ········ |
| Lies at the slippers curled. | 7 | ···/˘·˘ |
| To you my heroes lower | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Those scarred ensigns none have cowed; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| To you their turbans are depressed | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| That elsewhere march so proud. | 6 | ·/···· |
| To you Bassora offers | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Her respect, and Trebizonde | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Her carpets richly wrought, and spice | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And gems, of which you're fond. | 6 | ······ |
| To you the Cyprus temples | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Dare not bar or close the doors; | 7 | ······· |
| For you the mighty Danube sends | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The choicest of its stores. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Fear you the Grecian maidens, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Pallid lilies of the isles? | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Or the scorching-eyed sand-rover | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| From Baalbec's massy piles? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Compared with yours, oh, daughter | 7 | ˘/···/˘ |
| Of King Solomon the grand, | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| What are round ebon bosoms, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| High brows from Hellas' strand? | 6 | ······ |
| You're neither blanched nor blackened, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| For your tint of olive's clear; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Yours are lips of ripest cherry, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| You are straight as Arab spear. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Hence, launch no longer lightning | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| On these paltry slaves of ours. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Why should your flow of tears be matched | 8 | ········ |
| By their mean life-blood showers? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Think only of our banquets | 8 | ·/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Brought and served by charming girls, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| For beauties sultans must adorn | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| As dagger-hilts the pearls. | 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.