The Patience of the People
How often have the people said: "What's power?"Who reigns soon is dethroned? each fleeting hourHas onward borne, as in a fevered dream,Such quick reverses, like a judge supreme--Austere but just, they contemplate the endTo which the current of events must tend.Self-confidence has taught them to forbear,And in the vastness of their strength, they spare.Armed with impunity, for one in vainResists a nation, they let others reign.
Words in this poem
- contemplate v. t.
- To look at on all sides or in all its bearings; to view or consider with continued attention; to regard with deliberate care; to meditate on; to study. [L. contemplatus, p.p. of contemplari to contemplate; con- + templum a space for observation marked out by the augur. See Temple.]
- impunity n.
- Exemption or freedom from punishment, harm, or loss. [L. impunitas, fr. impunis without punishment; pref. im- not + poena punishment: cf. F. impunité. See Pain.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Patience of the People 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 Patience of the People, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/the-patience-of-the-people.html, id L26737.
Form and metre
The Patience of the People is 10 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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.
- 1 AABBCCDDEE powerA · hourA · dreamB · supremeB · endC · tendC · forbearD · spareD · vainE · reignE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How often have the people said: "What's power?" | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| Who reigns soon is dethroned? each fleeting hour | 11 | ····˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Has onward borne, as in a fevered dream, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Such quick reverses, like a judge supreme-- | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| Austere but just, they contemplate the end | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| To which the current of events must tend. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Self-confidence has taught them to forbear, | 10 | ·/˘˘····˘/ |
| And in the vastness of their strength, they spare. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Armed with impunity, for one in vain | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| Resists a nation, they let others reign. | 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.