The Giant in Glee
Ho, warriors! I was reared in the land of the Gauls;O'er the Rhine my ancestors came bounding like ballsOf the snow at the Pole, where, a babe, I was bathedEre in bear and in walrus-skin I was enswathed.
Then my father was strong, whom the years lowly bow,--A bison could wallow in the grooves of his brow.He is weak, very old--he can scarcely uptearA young pine-tree for staff since his legs cease to bear;
But here's to replace him!--I can toy with his axe;As I sit on the hill my feet swing in the flax,And my knee caps the boulders and troubles the trees.How they shiver, yea, quake if I happen to sneeze!
I was still but a springald when, cleaving the Alps,I brushed snowy periwigs off granitic scalps,And my head, o'er the pinnacles, stopped the fleet clouds,Where I captured the eagles and caged them by crowds.
There were tempests! I blew them back into their source!And put out their lightnings! More than once in a course,Through the ocean I went wading after the whale,And stirred up the bottom as did never a gale.
Fond of rambling, I hunted the shark 'long the beach,And no osprey in ether soared out of my reach;And the bear that I pinched 'twixt my finger and thumb,Like the lynx and the wolf, perished harmless and dumb.
But these pleasures of childhood have lost all their zest;It is warfare and carnage that now I love best:The sounds that I wish to awaken and hearAre the cheers raised by courage, the shrieks due to fear;
When the riot of flames, ruin, smoke, steel and blood,Announces an army rolls along as a flood,Which I follow, to harry the clamorous ranks,Sharp-goading the laggards and pressing the flanks,Till, a thresher 'mid ripest of corn, up I standWith an oak for a flail in my unflagging hand.
Rise the groans! rise the screams! on my feet fall vain tearsAs the roar of my laughter redoubles their fears.I am naked. At armor of steel I should joke--True, I'm helmed--a brass pot you could draw with ten yoke.
I look for no ladder to invade the king's hall--I stride o'er the ramparts, and down the walls fall,Till choked are the ditches with the stones, dead and quick,Whilst the flagstaff I use 'midst my teeth as a pick.
Oh, when cometh my turn to succumb like my prey,May brave men my body snatch away from th' arrayOf the crows--may they heap on the rocks till they loomLike a mountain, befitting a colossus' tomb!
Words in this poem
- babe n.
- An infant; a young child of either sex; a baby. [Cf. Ir. bab, baban, W. baban, maban.]
- springald a.
- An active, springly young man. [Scot. springald, springel, fr. Scot. & E. spring.]
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- granitic a.
- Like granite in composition, color, etc.; having the nature of granite; as, granitic texture. [Cf. F. granitique.]
- caged a.
- Confined in, or as in, a cage; like a cage or prison.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
- zest n.
- A piece of orange or lemon peel, or the aromatic oil which may be squeezed from such peel, used to give flavor to liquor, etc. [F. zeste, probably fr. L. schistos split, cleft, divided, Gr. Schism.]
- carnage n.
- Flesh of slain animals or men. [F. carnage, LL. carnaticum tribute of animals, flesh of animals, fr. L. caro, carnis, flesh. See Carnal.]
- harry v. i.
- To make a predatory incursion; to plunder or lay waste.
- thresher n.
- One who, or that which, thrashes grain; a thrashing machine.
- stride v. t.
- To walk with long steps, especially in a measured or pompous manner. [AS. stridan to stride, to strive; akin to LG. striden, OFries. strida to strive, D. strijden to strive, to contend, G. streiten, OHG. stritan; of uncertain orig]
- flagstaff n.
- A staff on which a flag is hoisted.
- succumb v. t.
- To yield; to submit; to give up unresistingly; as, to succumb under calamities; to succumb to disease. [L. succumbere; sub under + cumbere (in comp.), akin to cubare to lie down. See Incumbent, Cubit.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Giant in Glee 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 Giant in Glee, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/the-giant-in-glee.html, id L26710.
Form and metre
The Giant in Glee is 46 lines in 11 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 10 of its 11 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in anapaestic 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 AABB gaulsA · ballsA · bathedB · enswathedB
- 2 AABB bowA · browA · uptearB · bearB
- 3 AABB axeA · flaxA · treesB · sneezeB
- 4 AABB alpsA · scalpsA · cloudsB · crowdsB
- 5 AABB sourceA · courseA · whaleB · galeB
- 6 AABB beachA · reachA · thumbB · dumbB
- 7 AABB zestA · bestA · hearB · fearB
- 8 AABBCC bloodA · floodA · ranksB · flanksB · standC · handC
- 9 AABB tearsA · fearsA · jokeB · yokeB
- 10 AABB hallA · fallA · quickB · pickB
- 11 AABB preyA · arrayA · loomB · tombB
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Ho, warriors! I was reared in the land of the Gauls; | 12 | ·/˘········· |
| O'er the Rhine my ancestors came bounding like balls | 12 | ····/·˘·/˘·· |
| Of the snow at the Pole, where, a babe, I was bathed | 12 | ············ |
| Ere in bear and in walrus-skin I was enswathed. | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| Then my father was strong, whom the years lowly bow,-- | 12 | ··/˘·····/˘· |
| A bison could wallow in the grooves of his brow. | 12 | ·/˘·/˘······ |
| He is weak, very old--he can scarcely uptear | 12 | ···/˘···/˘˘/ |
| A young pine-tree for staff since his legs cease to bear; | 12 | ············ |
| But here's to replace him!--I can toy with his axe; | 12 | ····/······· |
| As I sit on the hill my feet swing in the flax, | 12 | ············ |
| And my knee caps the boulders and troubles the trees. | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| How they shiver, yea, quake if I happen to sneeze! | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| I was still but a springald when, cleaving the Alps, | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| I brushed snowy periwigs off granitic scalps, | 12 | ··/˘····˘/˘· |
| And my head, o'er the pinnacles, stopped the fleet clouds, | 12 | ·····/˘˘···· |
| Where I captured the eagles and caged them by crowds. | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
| There were tempests! I blew them back into their source! | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| And put out their lightnings! More than once in a course, | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| Through the ocean I went wading after the whale, | 12 | ··/˘··/˘···· |
| And stirred up the bottom as did never a gale. | 12 | ····/˘··/˘·· |
| Fond of rambling, I hunted the shark 'long the beach, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
| And no osprey in ether soared out of my reach; | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
| And the bear that I pinched 'twixt my finger and thumb, | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| Like the lynx and the wolf, perished harmless and dumb. | 12 | ······/˘/˘·· |
| But these pleasures of childhood have lost all their zest; | 12 | ··/˘·/······ |
| It is warfare and carnage that now I love best: | 12 | ··/··/˘····· |
| The sounds that I wish to awaken and hear | 11 | ······˘/˘·· |
| Are the cheers raised by courage, the shrieks due to fear; | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| When the riot of flames, ruin, smoke, steel and blood, | 12 | ··/˘··/˘···· |
| Announces an army rolls along as a flood, | 12 | ˘/˘·/˘·˘/··· |
| Which I follow, to harry the clamorous ranks, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘˘· |
| Sharp-goading the laggards and pressing the flanks, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Till, a thresher 'mid ripest of corn, up I stand | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| With an oak for a flail in my unflagging hand. | 12 | ········˘/˘· |
| Rise the groans! rise the screams! on my feet fall vain tears | 12 | ············ |
| As the roar of my laughter redoubles their fears. | 12 | ·····/˘˘/˘·· |
| I am naked. At armor of steel I should joke-- | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
| True, I'm helmed--a brass pot you could draw with ten yoke. | 12 | ············ |
| I look for no ladder to invade the king's hall-- | 12 | ····/˘·˘/··· |
| I stride o'er the ramparts, and down the walls fall, | 11 | ····/······ |
| Till choked are the ditches with the stones, dead and quick, | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| Whilst the flagstaff I use 'midst my teeth as a pick. | 12 | ··/········· |
| Oh, when cometh my turn to succumb like my prey, | 12 | ··/˘···˘/··· |
| May brave men my body snatch away from th' array | 12 | ····/˘·˘/·˘/ |
| Of the crows--may they heap on the rocks till they loom | 12 | ············ |
| Like a mountain, befitting a colossus' tomb! | 12 | ··/˘˘/˘·˘/˘· |
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.