Hope
Wonder not that I am happy,I again have seen her face,And my wildered, wandering spiritFlutters round a resting place.
Hope and anguish are enkindlingTorches in my burning breast,And the struggle fiercely ragesBetween restlessness and rest.
Would some friendly spirit tell me,Was the smiling meant for me:Was it chance, or was it purpose?Solve, O solve the mystery!
For the maiden is a riddle,Thoughts half veiled and half exprest;Sharp as is my eye I see notIf 'tis truth or but a jest.
Yes! thou art a riddle, maiden!Who its hidden sense shall tell—If a curse, or if a blessing?One it is, I know too well.
Which? The riddle, like a fetter,Pitilessly binds me round,Every struggle for my freedom,Makes me feel more tightly bound.
Doff the veil that shades thy forehead,And thy spirit's movement hides;Never can I leave thee, maiden!While that veil by thee abides.
Tho' it break my heart, I tear meFrom this dark uncertainty;Not a subject, but a masterIs our mortal destiny.
Be it so, but not for ever,When the spring's soft breezes sigh,And its flowers thy brow encircle—Who shall be thy poet—I?
He will be the earliest swallowHastening to thy window-sill;Ever circling round thy portals,Hailing thee with welcomes shrill.
In the gardens, in the meadows,Shall we not together walk;See the young earth smiling, blushing,Hear the streamlet's babbling talk.
See the flowers their petals openTo the dew-drops from above;So do thou thy heart, dear maiden,Open to the dews of love.
Words in this poem
- veiled a.
- Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden.
- jest n.
- A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- doff v. t.
- To put off, as dress; to divest one's self of; hence, figuratively, to put or thrust away; to rid one's self of. And made us doff our easy robes of peace. [Do + off. See Do, v. t., 7.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hope is in the public domain. This text is taken from Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet, by Sir John Bowring (London: Trübner & Co., 1866), Internet Archive, the John Bowring 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: Sándor Petőfi, Hope, in Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet (1866), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petofi-poems-bowring/hope.html, id L29826.
Form and metre
Hope is 48 lines in 12 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 -A-A happy · faceA · spirit · placeA
- 2 -A-A enkindling · breastA · rages · restA
- 3 AA-- meA · meA · purpose · mystery
- 4 -A-A riddle · exprestA · not · jestA
- 5 -A-A maiden · tellA · blessing · wellA
- 6 -A-A fetter · roundA · freedom · boundA
- 7 -A-A forehead · hidesA · maiden · abidesA
- 9 -A-A ever · sighA · encircle · iA
- 10 -A-A swallow · sillA · portals · shrillA
- 11 -A-A meadows · walkA · blushing · talkA
- 12 -A-A open · aboveA · maiden · loveA
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Wonder not that I am happy, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| I again have seen her face, | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| And my wildered, wandering spirit | 9 | ··/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Flutters round a resting place. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Hope and anguish are enkindling | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Torches in my burning breast, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| And the struggle fiercely rages | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Between restlessness and rest. | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| Would some friendly spirit tell me, | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| Was the smiling meant for me: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Was it chance, or was it purpose? | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Solve, O solve the mystery! | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| For the maiden is a riddle, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Thoughts half veiled and half exprest; | 8 | ···˘···· |
| Sharp as is my eye I see not | 8 | ········ |
| If 'tis truth or but a jest. | 7 | ······· |
| Yes! thou art a riddle, maiden! | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Who its hidden sense shall tell— | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| If a curse, or if a blessing? | 8 | ······/˘ |
| One it is, I know too well. | 7 | ······· |
| Which? The riddle, like a fetter, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Pitilessly binds me round, | 7 | ······· |
| Every struggle for my freedom, | 9 | /˘˘/˘··/˘ |
| Makes me feel more tightly bound. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Doff the veil that shades thy forehead, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And thy spirit's movement hides; | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Never can I leave thee, maiden! | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| While that veil by thee abides. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Tho' it break my heart, I tear me | 8 | ········ |
| From this dark uncertainty; | 7 | ···˘/˘˘ |
| Not a subject, but a master | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Is our mortal destiny. | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Be it so, but not for ever, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| When the spring's soft breezes sigh, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And its flowers thy brow encircle— | 9 | ··/˘··˘/˘ |
| Who shall be thy poet—I? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| He will be the earliest swallow | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| Hastening to thy window-sill; | 8 | /˘˘··/˘· |
| Ever circling round thy portals, | 9 | /˘/˘˘··/˘ |
| Hailing thee with welcomes shrill. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| In the gardens, in the meadows, | 8 | ··/˘··/· |
| Shall we not together walk; | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| See the young earth smiling, blushing, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Hear the streamlet's babbling talk. | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| See the flowers their petals open | 9 | ··/˘·/˘/˘ |
| To the dew-drops from above; | 7 | ······· |
| So do thou thy heart, dear maiden, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Open to the dews of love. | 7 | /˘····· |
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.