The Portrait of a Child
That brow, that smile, that cheek so fair,Beseem my child, who weeps and plays:A heavenly spirit guards her ways,From whom she stole that mixture rare.Through all her features shining mild,The poet sees an angel there,The father sees a child.
And by their flame so pure and bright,We see how lately those sweet eyesHave wandered down from Paradise,And still are lingering in its light.
All earthly things are but a shadeThrough which she looks at things above,And sees the holy Mother-maid,Athwart her mother's glance of love.
She seems celestial songs to hear,And virgin souls are whispering near.Till by her radiant smile deceived,I say, "Young angel, lately given,When was thy martyrdom achieved?And what name lost thou bear in heaven?"
Words in this poem
- beseem v. i.
- To seem; to appear; to be fitting.
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- martyrdom n.
- The condition of a martyr; the death of a martyr; the suffering of death on account of adherence to the Christian faith, or to any cause. [Martyr + -dom.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Portrait of a Child 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 Portrait of a Child, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/the-portrait-of-a-child.html, id L26708.
Form and metre
The Portrait of a Child is 21 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABBACAC fairA · playsB · waysB · rareA · mildC · thereA · childC
- 2 A--A brightA · eyes · paradise · lightA
- 3 ABAB shadeA · aboveB · maidA · loveB
- 4 AAB-B- hearA · nearA · deceivedB · given · achievedB · heaven
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| That brow, that smile, that cheek so fair, | 8 | ········ |
| Beseem my child, who weeps and plays: | 8 | ˘/······ |
| A heavenly spirit guards her ways, | 8 | ·/˘˘/··· |
| From whom she stole that mixture rare. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Through all her features shining mild, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The poet sees an angel there, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The father sees a child. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And by their flame so pure and bright, | 8 | ········ |
| We see how lately those sweet eyes | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Have wandered down from Paradise, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And still are lingering in its light. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| All earthly things are but a shade | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Through which she looks at things above, | 8 | ········ |
| And sees the holy Mother-maid, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Athwart her mother's glance of love. | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| She seems celestial songs to hear, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And virgin souls are whispering near. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Till by her radiant smile deceived, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| I say, "Young angel, lately given, | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| When was thy martyrdom achieved? | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| And what name lost thou bear in heaven?" | 9 | ·······/˘ |
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.