Sunrise

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



Foul times there are when nations spiritless
Throw honour away
For tinsel glory, to base happiness
A mournful prey.

Then from the nations, fain of lustful rest,
Dull slavery's dreams,
All virtue ebbs, as from a sponge tight-prest
Clear water streams.

Then men, to vice and folly docile slaves,
Aye lowly inclined,
Ape the vile, fearful reed that stoops and waves
For every wind.

Then feasts and kisses; naught that saith the soul
Stirs shame or dread;
One drinks, one eats, one sings, one skips,—is foul
And comforted.

Crime, ministered to by loathsome lackeys, reigns;
Yea, 'neath God's fires
Laughs; and ye shiver, sombre dread remains
Of glorious sires.

All life seems foul, with vice intoxicate,
Aye, thus to be.—
Sudden a clarion unto all winds elate
Peals liberty!

And the dull world whose soul this blast doth smite,
Is like to one
Drunken all night, up-staggering 'neath the light
O' the risen sun!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 07, 2023

48 sec read
78

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CACA ADAD XXXX AAAA EFEF CGXG
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 897
Words 158
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 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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