Analysis of An Old-Time Lay

Victor Marie Hugo 1802 (Besançon) – 1885 (Paris)



Where your brood seven lie,
Float in calm heavenly,
Life passing evenly,
Waterfowl, waterfowl! often I dream
For a rest
Like your nest,
Skirting the stream.

Shine the sun tearfully
Ere the clouds clear fully,
Still you skim cheerfully,
Swallow, oh! swallow swift! often I sigh
For a home
Where you roam
Nearing the sky!

Guileless of pondering;
Swallow-eyes wandering;
Seeking no fonder ring
Than the rose-garland Love gives thee apart!
Grant me soon--
Blessed boon!
Home in thy heart!


Scheme ABBCDDC BBBAEEA FFFGHHG
Poetic Form
Metre 111101 101100 110100 10101011 101 111 1001 101100 101110 111100 1011011011 101 111 1001 101100 101100 101101 1011011101 111 11 1011
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 472
Words 82
Sentences 9
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 7, 7, 7
Lines Amount 21
Letters per line (avg) 18
Words per line (avg) 4
Letters per stanza (avg) 128
Words per stanza (avg) 27
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

24 sec read
52

Victor Marie Hugo

Victor Marie Hugo was a French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. He is considered one of the greatest and best known French writers. In France, Hugo's literary fame comes first from his poetry but also rests upon his novels and his dramatic achievements. Among many volumes of poetry, Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem. Outside France, his best-known works are the novels Les Misérables, 1862, and Notre-Dame de Paris, 1831. Though a committed royalist when he was young, Hugo's views changed as the decades passed; he became a passionate supporter of republicanism, and his work touches upon most of the political and social issues and artistic trends of his time. He was buried in the Panthéon. more…

All Victor Marie Hugo poems | Victor Marie Hugo Books

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