The Humble Home
The Church is vast; its towering pride, its steeples loom on high;The bristling stones with leaf and flower are sculptured wondrously;The portal glows resplendent with its "rose,"And 'neath the vault immense at evening swarmFigures of angel, saint, or demon's form,As oft a fearful world our dreams disclose.But not the huge Cathedral's height, nor yet its vault sublime,Nor porch, nor glass, nor streaks of light, nor shadows deep with time;Nor massy towers, that fascinate mine eyes;No, 'tis that spot--the mind's tranquillity--Chamber wherefrom the song mounts cheerily,Placed like a joyful nest well nigh the skies.
Yea! glorious is the Church, I ween, but Meekness dwelleth here;Less do I love the lofty oak than mossy nest it bear;More dear is meadow breath than stormy wind:And when my mind for meditation's meant,The seaweed is preferred to the shore's extent,--The swallow to the main it leaves behind.
Words in this poem
- towering a.
- Very high; elevated; rising aloft; as, a towering height.
- 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.
- cheerily adv.
- In a cheery manner.
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- ween v. i.
- To think; to imagine; to fancy. [OE. wenen, AS. w, fr. w hope, expectation, opinion; akin to D. waan, OFries. w, OS. & OHG. wan, G. wahn delusion, Icel. van hope, expectation, Goth. w, and D. w]
- meekness n.
- The quality or state of being meek.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Humble Home 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 Humble Home, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/the-humble-home.html, id L26777.
Form and metre
The Humble Home is 18 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 --ABBACCD--D high · wondrously · roseA · swarmB · formB · discloseA · sublimeC · timeC · eyesD · tranquillity · cheerily · skiesD
- 2 AABCCB hereA · bearA · windB · meantC · extentC · behindB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The Church is vast; its towering pride, its steeples loom on high; | 14 | ·····/˘··/˘··· |
| The bristling stones with leaf and flower are sculptured wondrously; | 14 | ·/˘····/·/˘··· |
| The portal glows resplendent with its "rose," | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| And 'neath the vault immense at evening swarm | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| Figures of angel, saint, or demon's form, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| As oft a fearful world our dreams disclose. | 10 | ···/˘·/·˘/ |
| But not the huge Cathedral's height, nor yet its vault sublime, | 14 | ····˘/˘·····˘/ |
| Nor porch, nor glass, nor streaks of light, nor shadows deep with time; | 14 | ·········/···· |
| Nor massy towers, that fascinate mine eyes; | 10 | ·/˘/·/˘··· |
| No, 'tis that spot--the mind's tranquillity-- | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Chamber wherefrom the song mounts cheerily, | 11 | /˘······/˘˘ |
| Placed like a joyful nest well nigh the skies. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Yea! glorious is the Church, I ween, but Meekness dwelleth here; | 14 | ·/˘······/˘/˘· |
| Less do I love the lofty oak than mossy nest it bear; | 14 | ·····/˘··/˘··· |
| More dear is meadow breath than stormy wind: | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| And when my mind for meditation's meant, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| The seaweed is preferred to the shore's extent,-- | 11 | ·/··˘/···˘/ |
| The swallow to the main it leaves behind. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
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.