A Lament

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



'O paths whereon wild grasses wave,
O valleys, hillsides, forests hoar!
Why are ye silent as the grave?'
'For one who came, and comes no more!'

'Why is thy window closed of late?
And why thy garden in its sere?
O house! where doth thy master wait?'
'I only know he is not here.'

'Good dog, thou watchest; yet no hand
Will feed thee. In the house is none.
Whom weepest thou, child?' 'My father.' 'And,
O wife! whom weepest thou?' 'The Gone.'

'Where is he gone?' 'Into the dark.'
'O sad and ever-plaining surge!
Whence art thou?' 'From the convict-bark.'
'And why thy mournful voice?' 'A dirge.'

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
68

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CXCX XXXX DEDE
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 589
Words 124
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

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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