The Lover's Sacrifice
DONNA SOL. Together let us fly!
HERNANI. Together? No! the hour is past for flight.Dearest, when first thy beauty smote my sight,I offered, for the love that bade me live,Wretch that I was, what misery had to give:My wood, my stream, my mountain. Bolder grown,By thy compassion to an outlaw shown,The outlaw's meal beneath the forest shade,The outlaw's couch far in the greenwood glade,I offered. Though to both that couch be free,I keep the scaffold block reserved for me.
DONNA SOL. And yet you promised?
HERNANI (falls on his knee.) Angel! in this hour,Pursued by vengeance and oppressed by power--Even in this hour when death prepares to closeIn shame and pain a destiny of woes--Yes, I, who from the world proscribed and cast,Have nursed one dark remembrance of the past,E'en from my birth in sorrow's garment clad,Have cause to smile and reason to be glad;For you have loved the outlaw and have shedYour whispered blessings on his forfeit head.
DONNA SOL. Let me go with you.
HERNANI. No! I will not rendFrom its fair stem the flower as I descend.Go--I have smelt its perfume. Go--resumeAll that this grasp has brushed away of bloom.Wed the old man,--believe that ne'er we met;I seek my shade--be happy, and forget!
Words in this poem
- donna n.
- A lady; madam; mistress; -- the title given a lady in Italy. [It. donna, L. domina. See Don, Dame.]
- hernani n.
- A thin silk or woolen goods, for women's dresses, woven in various styles and colors.
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- greenwood n.
- A forest as it appears is spring and summer.
- glade n.
- An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. [Prob. of Scand. origin, and akin to glad, a.; cf. also W. golead, goleuad, a lighting, illumination, fr. goleu light, clear, bright, goleu fwlch glade, lit., a ]
- clad v.
- To clothe. Holland.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Lover's Sacrifice 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 Lover's Sacrifice, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/the-lover-s-sacrifice.html, id L26875.
Form and metre
The Lover's Sacrifice is 29 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 90% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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.
- 2 AABBCCDDEE flightA · sightA · liveB · giveB · grownC · shownC · shadeD · gladeD · freeE · meE
- 4 AABBCCDDEE hourA · powerA · closeB · woesB · castC · pastC · cladD · gladD · shedE · headE
- 6 AABBCC rendA · descendA · resumeB · bloomB · metC · forgetC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| DONNA SOL. Together let us fly! | 9 | /˘·˘/˘··· |
| HERNANI. Together? No! the hour is past for flight. | 13 | ˘/˘˘/˘··/···· |
| Dearest, when first thy beauty smote my sight, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| I offered, for the love that bade me live, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Wretch that I was, what misery had to give: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| My wood, my stream, my mountain. Bolder grown, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| By thy compassion to an outlaw shown, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/·· |
| The outlaw's meal beneath the forest shade, | 10 | ·/·····/˘· |
| The outlaw's couch far in the greenwood glade, | 10 | ·/·····/·· |
| I offered. Though to both that couch be free, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| I keep the scaffold block reserved for me. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| DONNA SOL. And yet you promised? | 9 | /˘····/˘˘ |
| HERNANI (falls on his knee.) Angel! in this hour, | 12 | ˘/˘····/˘··/ |
| Pursued by vengeance and oppressed by power-- | 11 | ˘/·/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| Even in this hour when death prepares to close | 10 | /··/··˘/·· |
| In shame and pain a destiny of woes-- | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Yes, I, who from the world proscribed and cast, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Have nursed one dark remembrance of the past, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| E'en from my birth in sorrow's garment clad, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Have cause to smile and reason to be glad; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For you have loved the outlaw and have shed | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Your whispered blessings on his forfeit head. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| DONNA SOL. Let me go with you. | 8 | /˘······ |
| HERNANI. No! I will not rend | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| From its fair stem the flower as I descend. | 10 | ·····/··˘/ |
| Go--I have smelt its perfume. Go--resume | 10 | ·····˘/·˘/ |
| All that this grasp has brushed away of bloom. | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Wed the old man,--believe that ne'er we met; | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| I seek my shade--be happy, and forget! | 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.