Analysis of A une jeune fille

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



Vous qui ne savez pas combien l'enfance est belle,
Enfant ! n'enviez point notre âge de douleurs,
Où le coeur tour à tour est esclave et rebelle,
Où le rire est souvent plus triste que vos pleurs.

Votre âge insouciant est si doux qu'on l'oublie !
Il passe, comme un souffle au vaste champ des airs,
Comme une voix joyeuse en fuyant affaiblie,
Comme un alcyon sur les mers.

Oh ! ne vous hâtez point de mûrir vos pensées !
Jouissez du matin, jouissez du printemps ;
Vos heures sont des fleurs l'une à l'autre enlacées ;
Ne les effeuillez pas plus vite que le temps.

Laissez venir les ans ! Le destin vous dévoue,
Comme nous, aux regrets, à la fausse amitié,
A ces maux sans espoir que l'orgueil désavoue,
A ces plaisirs qui font pitié.

Riez pourtant ! du sort ignorez la puissance
Riez ! n'attristez pas votre front gracieux,
Votre oeil d'azur, miroir de paix et d'innocence,
Qui révèle votre âme et réfléchit les cieux !


Scheme ABAB ABAB BBBB CDCD BBBB
Poetic Form Quatrain  (80%)
Metre 1111111011 11110111 1011101111 10101111111 110100111111 11110111111 1111111 111111 111111111111 1111110 111111111 111111101 1111010111 11101111 011111111 011111 1111111 111111 11111111100 111011111111
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 928
Words 161
Sentences 13
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 138
Words per stanza (avg) 34
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

51 sec read
72

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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