The Girl of Otaheite
Forget? Can I forget the scented breathOf breezes, sighing of thee, in mine ear;The strange awaking from a dream of death,The sudden thrill to find thee coming near?Our huts were desolate, and far awayI heard thee calling me throughout the day,No one had seen thee pass,Trembling I came. Alas!Can I forget?
Once I was beautiful; my maiden charmsDied with the grief that from my bosom fell.Ah! weary traveller! rest in my loving arms!Let there be no regrets and no farewell!Here of thy mother sweet, where waters flow,Here of thy fatherland we whispered low;Here, music, praise, and prayerFilled the glad summer air.Can I forget?
Forget? My dear old home must I forget?And wander forth and hear my people weep,Far from the woods where, when the sun has set,Fearless but weary to thy arms I creep;Far from lush flow'rets and the palm-tree's moanI could not live. Here let me rest alone!Go! I must follow nigh,With thee I'm doomed to die,Never forget!
Words in this poem
- fatherland n.
- One's native land; the native land of one's fathers or ancestors. [Imitated fr. D. vaderland. See Father, and Land.]
- lush a.
- Full of juice or succulence. [Prob. an abbrev. of lushious, fr. luscious.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Girl of Otaheite 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 Girl of Otaheite, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/the-girl-of-otaheite.html, id L26703.
Form and metre
The Girl of Otaheite is 27 lines in 3 stanzas of 9 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 ABABCCDD- breathA · earB · deathA · nearB · awayC · dayC · passD · alasD · forget
- 2 ABABCCDD- charmsA · fellB · armsA · farewellB · flowC · lowC · prayerD · airD · forget
- 3 ABABCCDDA forgetA · weepB · setA · creepB · moanC · aloneC · nighD · dieD · forgetA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Forget? Can I forget the scented breath | 10 | ˘/··˘/·/˘· |
| Of breezes, sighing of thee, in mine ear; | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| The strange awaking from a dream of death, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| The sudden thrill to find thee coming near? | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Our huts were desolate, and far away | 10 | /··/˘···˘/ |
| I heard thee calling me throughout the day, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| No one had seen thee pass, | 6 | ······ |
| Trembling I came. Alas! | 7 | /˘˘··˘/ |
| Can I forget? | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Once I was beautiful; my maiden charms | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Died with the grief that from my bosom fell. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Ah! weary traveller! rest in my loving arms! | 11 | ·/˘/˘···/˘· |
| Let there be no regrets and no farewell! | 10 | ····˘/···/ |
| Here of thy mother sweet, where waters flow, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Here of thy fatherland we whispered low; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Here, music, praise, and prayer | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Filled the glad summer air. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Can I forget? | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Forget? My dear old home must I forget? | 10 | ˘/······˘/ |
| And wander forth and hear my people weep, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Far from the woods where, when the sun has set, | 10 | ·········· |
| Fearless but weary to thy arms I creep; | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Far from lush flow'rets and the palm-tree's moan | 10 | ·········· |
| I could not live. Here let me rest alone! | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Go! I must follow nigh, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| With thee I'm doomed to die, | 6 | ······ |
| Never forget! | 4 | /˘˘/ |
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.