Victor Hugo: More Strong than Time
SINCE I have set my lips to your full cup, my sweet,Since I my pallid face between your hands have laid,Since I have known your soul, and all the bloom of it,And all the perfume rare, now buried in the shade;
Since it was given to me to hear one happy while,The words wherein your heart spoke all its mysteries,Since I have seen you weep, and since I have seen you smile,Your lips upon my lips, and your eyes upon my eyes;
Since I have known above my forehead glance and gleam,A ray, a single ray, of your star, veiled always,Since I have felt the fall, upon my lifetime’s stream,Of one rose petal plucked from the roses of your days;
I now am bold to say to the swift changing hours,Pass, pass upon your way, for I grow never old,Fleet to the dark abysm with all your fading flowers,One rose that none may pluck, within my heart I hold.
Your flying wings may smite, but they can never spillThe cup fulfilled of love, from which my lips are wet;My heart has far more fire than you have frost to chill,My soul more love than you can make my soul forget.
Words in this poem
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- veiled a.
- Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden.
- lifetime n.
- The time that life continues.
- abysm n.
- An abyss; a gulf. [OF. abisme; F. abime, LL. abyssimus, a superl. of L. abyssus; Gr. Abyss.]
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- spill n.
- A bit of wood split off; a splinter. [sq. root170. Cf. Spell a splinter.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Victor Hugo: More Strong than Time is in the public domain. This text is taken from Ballads and Lyrics of Old France, with Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #795, the Andrew Lang 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: Various, Victor Hugo: More Strong than Time, in Ballads and Lyrics of Old France (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #795, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lang-old-france/more-strong-than-time.html, id L26909.
Form and metre
Victor Hugo: More Strong than Time is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is alexandrines, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in alexandrines.
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 sweetA · laidB · itA · shadeB
- 2 ABAB whileA · mysteriesB · smileA · eyesB
- 3 ABAB gleamA · alwaysB · streamA · daysB
- 4 ABAB hoursA · oldB · flowersA · holdB
- 5 ABAB spillA · wetB · chillA · forgetB
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 alexandrines. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| SINCE I have set my lips to your full cup, my sweet, | 12 | ············ |
| Since I my pallid face between your hands have laid, | 12 | ···/˘······· |
| Since I have known your soul, and all the bloom of it, | 12 | ············ |
| And all the perfume rare, now buried in the shade; | 12 | ···˘/··/˘··· |
| Since it was given to me to hear one happy while, | 12 | ···/·····/˘· |
| The words wherein your heart spoke all its mysteries, | 12 | ·········/˘˘ |
| Since I have seen you weep, and since I have seen you smile, | 13 | ············· |
| Your lips upon my lips, and your eyes upon my eyes; | 13 | ············· |
| Since I have known above my forehead glance and gleam, | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| A ray, a single ray, of your star, veiled always, | 12 | ···/˘·····/· |
| Since I have felt the fall, upon my lifetime’s stream, | 12 | ·········/·· |
| Of one rose petal plucked from the roses of your days; | 13 | ···/˘···/˘··· |
| I now am bold to say to the swift changing hours, | 13 | ·········/˘/˘ |
| Pass, pass upon your way, for I grow never old, | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| Fleet to the dark abysm with all your fading flowers, | 13 | ····˘/···/˘/˘ |
| One rose that none may pluck, within my heart I hold. | 12 | ············ |
| Your flying wings may smite, but they can never spill | 12 | ·/˘······/˘· |
| The cup fulfilled of love, from which my lips are wet; | 12 | ··˘/········ |
| My heart has far more fire than you have frost to chill, | 12 | ·····/······ |
| My soul more love than you can make my soul forget. | 12 | ··········˘/ |
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.