The Greek Boy
All is a ruin where rage knew no bounds:Chio is levelled, and loathed by the hounds,For shivered yest'reen was her lance;Sulphurous vapors envenom the placeWhere her true beauties of Beauty's true raceWere lately linked close in the dance.
Dark is the desert, with one single soul;Cerulean eyes! whence the burning tears rollIn anguish of uttermost shame,Under the shadow of one shrub of May,Splashed still with ruddy drops, bent in decayWhere fiercely the hand of Lust came.
"Soft and sweet urchin, still red with the lashOf rein and of scabbard of wild Kuzzilbash,What lack you for changing your sob--If not unto laughter beseeming a child--To utterance milder, though they have defiledThe graves which they shrank not to rob?
"Would'st thou a trinket, a flower, or scarf,Would'st thou have silver? I'm ready with halfThese sequins a-shine in the sun!Still more have I money--if you'll but speak!"He spoke: and furious the cry of the Greek,"Oh, give me your dagger and gun!"
Words in this poem
- cerulean a.
- Sky-colored; blue; azure. [L. caeruleus.]
- uttermost a.
- Extreme; utmost; being; in the farthest, greatest, or highest degree; as, the uttermost extent or end. [From Utter, a.; cf. Utmost, and Outermost.]
- lust v. i.
- To list; to like. [AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.]
- beseeming n.
- Appearance; look; garb.
- trinket v. i.
- To give trinkets; hence, to court favor; to intrigue.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Greek Boy 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 Greek Boy, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/the-greek-boy.html, id L26723.
Form and metre
The Greek Boy is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCB. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
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 boundsA · houndsA · lanceB · placeC · raceC · danceB
- 2 AABCCB soulA · rollA · shameB · mayC · decayC · cameB
- 3 AABCCB lashA · kuzzilbashA · sobB · childC · defiledC · robB
- 4 AABCCB scarfA · halfA · sunB · speakC · greekC · gunB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| All is a ruin where rage knew no bounds: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Chio is levelled, and loathed by the hounds, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| For shivered yest'reen was her lance; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Sulphurous vapors envenom the place | 10 | /˘˘/˘˘/˘·· |
| Where her true beauties of Beauty's true race | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| Were lately linked close in the dance. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Dark is the desert, with one single soul; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Cerulean eyes! whence the burning tears roll | 11 | ˘/˘˘···/˘·· |
| In anguish of uttermost shame, | 8 | ·/˘·/˘˘· |
| Under the shadow of one shrub of May, | 10 | ···/······ |
| Splashed still with ruddy drops, bent in decay | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Where fiercely the hand of Lust came. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| "Soft and sweet urchin, still red with the lash | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of rein and of scabbard of wild Kuzzilbash, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| What lack you for changing your sob-- | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| If not unto laughter beseeming a child-- | 11 | ····/˘˘/˘·· |
| To utterance milder, though they have defiled | 10 | ·/˘˘/····· |
| The graves which they shrank not to rob? | 8 | ········ |
| "Would'st thou a trinket, a flower, or scarf, | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| Would'st thou have silver? I'm ready with half | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| These sequins a-shine in the sun! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Still more have I money--if you'll but speak!" | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| He spoke: and furious the cry of the Greek, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| "Oh, give me your dagger and gun!" | 8 | ····/˘·· |
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.