To His Muse
Since everything below,Doth, in this mortal state,Its tone, its fragrance, or its glowCommunicate;
Since all that lives and movesUpon the earth, bestowsOn what it seeks and what it lovesIts thorn or rose;
Since April to the treesGives a bewitching sound,And sombre night to grief gives ease,And peace profound;
Since day-spring on the flowerA fresh'ning drop confers,And the fresh air on branch and bowerIts choristers;
Since the dark wave bestowsA soft caress, imprestOn the green bank to which it goesSeeking its rest;
I give thee at this hour,Thus fondly bent o'er thee,The best of all the things in dow'rThat in me be.
Receive,-poor gift, 'tis true,Which grief, not joy, endears,--My thoughts, that like a shower of dew,Reach thee in tears.
My vows untold receive,All pure before thee laid;Receive of all the days I liveThe light or shade!
My hours with rapture fill'd,Which no suspicion wrongs;And all the blandishments distill'dFrom all my songs.
My spirit, whose essayFlies fearless, wild, and free,And hath, and seeks, to guide its wayNo star but thee.
No pensive, dreamy Muse,Who, though all else should smile,Oft as thou weep'st, with thee would choose,To weep the while.
Oh, sweetest mine! this giftReceive;--'tis throe alone;--My heart, of which there's nothing leftWhen Love is gone!
Words in this poem
- sombre n.
- Gloom; obscurity; duskiness; somberness.
- caress n.
- An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness. [F. caresse, It. carezza, LL. caritia dearness, fr. L. carus dear. See Charity.]
- imprest v. t.
- To advance on loan. Burke. [Pref. im- + prest: cf. It. imprestare. See Prest, n.]
- fondly adv.
- Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
- untold a.
- Not told; not related; not revealed; as, untold secrets.
- dreamy a.
- Abounding in dreams or given to dreaming; appropriate to, or like, dreams; visionary.
- throe n.
- Extreme pain; violent pang; anguish; agony; especially, one of the pangs of travail in childbirth, or purturition. [OE. , , AS. a threatening, oppression, suffering, perhaps influenced by Icel. a throe, a pang, a longing; cf. AS. to suffer.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To His Muse 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, To His Muse, in Poems (1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8775, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hugo-poems/to-his-muse.html, id L26768.
Form and metre
To His Muse is 48 lines in 12 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 11 of its 12 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 belowA · stateB · glowA · communicateB
- 2 ABAB movesA · bestowsB · lovesA · roseB
- 3 ABAB treesA · soundB · easeA · profoundB
- 4 ABAB flowerA · confersB · bowerA · choristersB
- 5 ABAB bestowsA · imprestB · goesA · restB
- 6 ABAB hourA · theeB · dow'rA · beB
- 7 ABAB trueA · endearsB · dewA · tearsB
- 8 ABAB receiveA · laidB · liveA · shadeB
- 9 ABAB fill'dA · wrongsB · distill'dA · songsB
- 10 ABAB essayA · freeB · wayA · theeB
- 11 ABAB museA · smileB · chooseA · whileB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Since everything below, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Doth, in this mortal state, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Its tone, its fragrance, or its glow | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Communicate; | 4 | ˘/˘· |
| Since all that lives and moves | 6 | ······ |
| Upon the earth, bestows | 6 | ····˘/ |
| On what it seeks and what it loves | 8 | ········ |
| Its thorn or rose; | 4 | ···· |
| Since April to the trees | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Gives a bewitching sound, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| And sombre night to grief gives ease, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And peace profound; | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Since day-spring on the flower | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| A fresh'ning drop confers, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And the fresh air on branch and bower | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Its choristers; | 4 | ···· |
| Since the dark wave bestows | 6 | ····˘/ |
| A soft caress, imprest | 6 | ··˘/˘/ |
| On the green bank to which it goes | 8 | ········ |
| Seeking its rest; | 4 | /˘·· |
| I give thee at this hour, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Thus fondly bent o'er thee, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The best of all the things in dow'r | 8 | ········ |
| That in me be. | 4 | ···· |
| Receive,-poor gift, 'tis true, | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Which grief, not joy, endears,-- | 6 | ····˘/ |
| My thoughts, that like a shower of dew, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Reach thee in tears. | 4 | ···· |
| My vows untold receive, | 6 | ··˘/˘/ |
| All pure before thee laid; | 6 | ······ |
| Receive of all the days I live | 8 | ˘/······ |
| The light or shade! | 4 | ···· |
| My hours with rapture fill'd, | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Which no suspicion wrongs; | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| And all the blandishments distill'd | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| From all my songs. | 4 | ···· |
| My spirit, whose essay | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Flies fearless, wild, and free, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And hath, and seeks, to guide its way | 8 | ········ |
| No star but thee. | 4 | ···· |
| No pensive, dreamy Muse, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Who, though all else should smile, | 6 | ······ |
| Oft as thou weep'st, with thee would choose, | 8 | ········ |
| To weep the while. | 4 | ···· |
| Oh, sweetest mine! this gift | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Receive;--'tis throe alone;-- | 6 | ˘/··˘/ |
| My heart, of which there's nothing left | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When Love is gone! | 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.