Victory
How strange, in some brief interval of rest,Backward to look on her far-stretching past.To see how much is conquered and repressed,How much is gained in victory at last!The shadow is not lifted,--but her faith,Strong from life's miracles, now turns toward death.
Though much be dark where once rare splendor shone,Yet the new light has touched high peaks unguessedIn her gold, mist-bathed dawn, and one by oneNew outlooks loom from many a mountain crest.She breathes a loftier, purer atmosphere,And life's entangled paths grow straight and clear.
Nor will Death prove an all-unwelcome guest;The struggle has been toilsome to this end,Sleep will be sweet, and after labor rest,And all will be atoned with him to friend.Much must be reconciled, much justified,And yet she feels she will be satisfied.
About this text
Victory is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Emma Lazarus, Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #3295; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Emma Lazarus, Victory, in Poems, Volume I (1867–1887), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3295, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lazarus-poems/victory.html, id L01878.
Form and metre
Victory is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 11% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 ABAB-- restA · pastB · repressedA · lastB · faith · death
- 2 -A-ABB shone · unguessedA · one · crestA · atmosphereB · clearB
- 3 ABABCC guestA · endB · restA · friendB · justifiedC · satisfiedC
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 strange, in some brief interval of rest, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Backward to look on her far-stretching past. | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| To see how much is conquered and repressed, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| How much is gained in victory at last! | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| The shadow is not lifted,--but her faith, | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| Strong from life's miracles, now turns toward death. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Though much be dark where once rare splendor shone, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Yet the new light has touched high peaks unguessed | 10 | ·········· |
| In her gold, mist-bathed dawn, and one by one | 10 | ·········· |
| New outlooks loom from many a mountain crest. | 10 | ·/···/·/˘· |
| She breathes a loftier, purer atmosphere, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| And life's entangled paths grow straight and clear. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Nor will Death prove an all-unwelcome guest; | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| The struggle has been toilsome to this end, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Sleep will be sweet, and after labor rest, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And all will be atoned with him to friend. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Much must be reconciled, much justified, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And yet she feels she will be satisfied. | 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.