Analysis of Jersey
Victor Marie Hugo 1802 (Besançon) – 1885 (Paris)
Dear Jersey! jewel jubilant and green,
'Midst surge that splits steel ships, but sings to thee!
Thou fav'rest Frenchmen, though from England seen,
Oft tearful to that mistress 'North Countree';
Returned the third time safely here to be,
I bless my bold Gibraltar of the Free.
Yon lighthouse stands forth like a fervent friend,
One who our tempest buffets back with zest,
And with twin-steeple, eke our helmsman's end,
Forms arms that beckon us upon thy breast;
Rose-posied pillow, crystallized with spray,
Where pools pellucid mirror sunny ray.
A frigate fretting yonder smoothest sky,
Like pauseless petrel poising o'er a wreck,
Strikes bright athwart the dearly dazzled eye,
Until it lessens to scarce certain speck,
'Neath Venus, sparkling on the agate-sprinkled beach,
For fisher's sailing-signal, just and true,
Until Aurora frights her from the view.
In summer, steamer-smoke spreads as thy veil,
And mists in winter sudden screen thy sight,
When at thy feet the galley-breakers wail
And toss their tops high o'er the lofty flight
Of horrid storm-worn steps with shark-like bite,
That only ope to swallow up in spite.
But penitent in calm, thou givest a balm,
To many a man who's felt thy rage,
And many a sea-bird--thanks be heard!--
Thou shieldest--sea-bird--exiled bard and sage.
Scheme | ABACBB DEDECC FGFGXCX HIHIII XJXJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101010001 1111111111 111011101 110111011 0101110111 1111010101 111110101 11101010111 0111011011 1111010111 11101011 11110101 0101010101 11111001 1101010101 0111011101 110101010101 1101010101 0101010101 0101011111 0101010111 1111010101 01111100101 1101111111 1101110101 1100011101 110011111 010011111 11111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,276 |
Words | 212 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 7, 6, 4 |
Lines Amount | 29 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 203 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:05 min read
- 76 Views
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"Jersey" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37757/jersey>.
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