Analysis of Trumpets Of The Mind
Victor Marie Hugo 1802 (Besançon) – 1885 (Paris)
Sound, sound forever, clarions of thought!
When Joshua 'gainst the high-walled city fought,
He marched around it with his banner high,
His troops in serried order following nigh,
But not a sword was drawn, no shaft outsprang;
Only the trumpets the shrill onset rang.
At the first blast, smiled scornfully the king,
And at the second sneered, half-wondering:
'Hop'st thou with noise my stronghold to break down?'
At the third round the ark of old renown
Swept forward, still the trumpets sounding loud,
And then the troops with ensigns waving proud.
Stepped out upon the old walls children dark,
With horns to mock the notes and hoot the ark.
At the fourth turn, braving the Israelites,
Women appeared upon the crenelated heights--
Those battlements embrowned with age and rust--
And hurled upon the Hebrews stones and dust,
And spun and sang when weary of the game.
At the fifth circuit came the blind and lame,
And with wild uproar clamorous and high
Railed at the clarion ringing to the sky.
At the sixth time, upon a tower's tall crest,
So high that there the eagle built his nest,
So hard that on it lightning lit in vain,
Appeared in merriment the king again:
'These Hebrew Jews musicians are, me-seems!'
He scoffed, loud laughing, 'but they live on dreams.'
The princes laughed submissive to the king,
Laughed all the courtiers in their glittering ring,
And thence the laughter spread through all the town.
At the seventh blast the city walls fell down.
Scheme | AABBCCCC DDEECCFFGGHHBBIIXXJJCCD D |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010111 11001011101 1101111101 1101101001 110111111 100100111 10111101 0101011100 1111111111 1011011101 1101010101 010111101 1101011101 1111010101 101110010 10010101001 110011101 010101101 0101110101 1011010101 0111101 11010010101 10110101011 1111010111 1111110101 01010101 1101010111 1111011111 0101010101 110100011001 0101011101 10101010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,437 |
Words | 256 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 23, 1 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 385 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 84 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:16 min read
- 78 Views
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"Trumpets Of The Mind" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37836/trumpets-of-the-mind>.
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