Analysis of Esmeralda In Prison

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



[OPERA OF 'ESMERALDA,' ACT IV., 1836.]

Phoebus, is there not this side the grave,
Power to save
Those who're loving? Magic balm
That will restore to me my former calm?
Is there nothing tearful eye
Can e'er dry, or hush the sigh?
I pray Heaven day and night,
As I lay me down in fright,
To retake my life, or give
All again for which I'd live!
Phoebus, hasten from the shining sphere
To me here!
Hither hasten, bring me Death; then Love
May let our spirits rise, ever-linked, above!


Scheme A AABBXACCAAXXAA
Poetic Form Tetractys  (27%)
Metre 101111 101111101 1011 11010101 1101111101 1110101 11011101 1110101 1111101 1111111 1011111 101010101 111 101011111 111010110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 475
Words 94
Sentences 9
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 1, 14
Lines Amount 15
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 183
Words per stanza (avg) 45
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

28 sec read
50

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…

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