The Ocean's Song
We walked amongst the ruins famed in storyOf Rozel-Tower,And saw the boundless waters stretch in gloryAnd heave in power.
O ocean vast! we heard thy song with wonder,Whilst waves marked time."Appeal, O Truth!" thou sang'st with tone of thunder,"And shine sublime!
"The world's enslaved and hunted down by beagles,--To despots sold,Souls of deep thinkers, soar like mighty eagles,The Right uphold.
"Be born; arise; o'er earth and wild waves boundingPeoples and suns!Let darkness vanish;--tocsins be resounding,And flash, ye guns!
"And you,--who love no pomps of fog, or glamour,Who fear no shocks,Brave foam and lightning, hurricane and clamor,Exiles--the rocks!"
Words in this poem
- amongst prep.
- Mixed or mingled; surrounded by. [OE. amongist, amonges, amonge, among, AS. onmang, ongemang, gemang, in a crowd or mixture. For the ending -st see Amidst. See Mingle.]
- glamour n.
- A charm affecting the eye, making objects appear different from what they really are. [Scot. glamour, glamer; cf. Icel. glámeggdr one who is troubled with the glaucoma; or Icel. glam-s weakness of sight, glamour; glamr name of the moon, also of a ]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Ocean's Song 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 Ocean's Song, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/the-ocean-s-song.html, id L26803.
Form and metre
The Ocean's Song is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 97%).
See other poems in iambic hexameter.
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 ABAB storyA · towerB · gloryA · powerB
- 2 ABAB wonderA · timeB · thunderA · sublimeB
- 3 ABAB beaglesA · soldB · eaglesA · upholdB
- 4 ABAB boundingA · sunsB · resoundingA · gunsB
- 5 ABAB glamourA · shocksB · clamorA · rocksB
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| We walked amongst the ruins famed in story | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Of Rozel-Tower, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| And saw the boundless waters stretch in glory | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| And heave in power. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| O ocean vast! we heard thy song with wonder, | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| Whilst waves marked time. | 4 | ···· |
| "Appeal, O Truth!" thou sang'st with tone of thunder, | 11 | ˘/·······/˘ |
| "And shine sublime! | 4 | ··˘/ |
| "The world's enslaved and hunted down by beagles,-- | 11 | ··˘/·/˘··/˘ |
| To despots sold, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Souls of deep thinkers, soar like mighty eagles, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| The Right uphold. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| "Be born; arise; o'er earth and wild waves bounding | 11 | ··˘/·····/˘ |
| Peoples and suns! | 4 | /˘·· |
| Let darkness vanish;--tocsins be resounding, | 11 | ·/˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| And flash, ye guns! | 4 | ···· |
| "And you,--who love no pomps of fog, or glamour, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Who fear no shocks, | 4 | ···· |
| Brave foam and lightning, hurricane and clamor, | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Exiles--the rocks!" | 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.