Analysis of The Genesis of the Butterfly

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



The dawn is smiling on the dew that covers
The tearful roses; lo, the little lovers
That kiss the buds, and all the flutterings
In jasmine bloom, and privet, of white wings,
That go and come, and fly, and peep and hide,
With muffled music, murmured far and wide.
Ah, the Spring time, when we think of all the lays
That dreamy lovers send to dreamy mays,
Of the fond hearts within a billet bound,
Of all the soft silk paper that pens wound,
The messages of love that mortals write
Filled with intoxication of delight,
Written in April and before the May time
Shredded and flown, playthings for the wind's playtime,
We dream that all white butterflies above,
Who seek through clouds or waters souls to love,
And leave their lady mistress in despair,
To flit to flowers, as kinder and more fair,
Are but torn love-letters, that through the skies
Flutter, and float, and change to butterflies


Scheme AAABCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 01110101110 01010101010 11010101 010101111 1101010101 1101010101 10111111101 1101011101 1011010101 1101110111 0100111101 110010101 10010001011 100111011 111111001 1111110111 0111010001 11110110011 1111101101 100101110
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 896
Words 161
Sentences 2
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 20
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 701
Words per stanza (avg) 159
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 17, 2023

48 sec read
117

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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