Enfant, si j'étais roi, je donnerais l'empire (Were I a King, Child, My Empire I Would Give Thee)

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



'C'est une âme charmante.'
— Diderot

Enfant, si j'étais roi, je donnerais l'empire,
Et mon char, et mon sceptre, et mon peuple à genoux,
Et ma couronne d'or, et mes bains de porphyre,
Et mes flottes, à qui la mer ne peut suffire,
Pour un regard de vous!

Si j'étais Dieu, la terre et l'air avec les ondes,
Les anges, les démons courbés devant ma loi,
Et le profond chaos aux entrailles fécondes,
L'éternité, l'espace et les cieux et les mondes,
Pour un baiser de toi!

Were I a King, Child, My Empire I Would Give Thee

Were I a crowned monarch,
I would give my diadem—
My regal throne and sceptre,
Enriched with many a gem—
I would give my baths of porphyry,
My ships that fill the sea;
My empire, people, all, beloved!
For one sweet smile from thee!

Were I enthroned in heaven,
I would give all earth, and air,
And the angels, and the demons,
That bowed before me there—
I would give yon skies with all their worlds,
Time, space, eternity,
And the teeming depths of chaos,
For one sweet kiss from thee!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 20, 2023

59 sec read
147

Quick analysis:

Scheme AA BCBBC CXCCA D XEBEDCAD XFCFCACD
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 999
Words 191
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 2, 5, 5, 1, 8, 8

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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    "Enfant, si j'étais roi, je donnerais l'empire (Were I a King, Child, My Empire I Would Give Thee)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/37707/enfant,-si-j'étais-roi,-je-donnerais-l'empire-(were-i-a-king,-child,-my-empire-i-would-give-thee)>.

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