Analysis of They Say:

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



They say:'Be prudent' - and then comes this dithyramb:
Who thinks to strike Nero
'Tiptoes in and does not first cry out an iamb
'Nor make a bugle blow

'Remember Ettenheim - abduction of great fame;
'Do not hurry your task.
'But be like Chereas who in the shadows came
Alone, silent, in mask.

'Those who follow prudence achieve their ev'ry aim
'Walk hidden in the shade…'
I'll leave to those who seek a long life to proclaim
Cowardice virtue made.


Scheme ABAB CDCD CECE
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 11110011110 111110 1001111111 110101 0101010111 111011 111110011 011001 11101001111 110001 111111011101 100101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 445
Words 84
Sentences 4
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 114
Words per stanza (avg) 27
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

25 sec read
85

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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