Chapter 18
46. 3. LA LIGUE, the Catholic League, a union of Catholics between 1576 and 1596, principally to secure the supremacy of their religion; it became the partisan of the Duc de Guise against Henry I. and Henry IV., fomented civil strife, allied itself with Spain, and became guilty of cruel excesses. MON HABIT 20. Socrate: the poverty of Socrates is notorious. 27. FÊTE: a person's _fête_ is the day of the saint whose name he bears.
47. 17. DES RUBANS; little bits of ribbon are worn in the buttonhole by members of the Legion of Honor, established by Napoleon in 1802. Membership in it is a purely honorary distinction, conferred by the government for conspicuous services of any kind, civil as well as military, and usually much coveted. Béranger refused all such favors from the government. 26. METTRE POUR JAMAIS HABIT BAS, i.e. _mourir_.
48. LES ÉTOILES QUI FILENT, "shooting stars" (Jan., 1820). This poem is based upon the popular superstition that connects human destinies with the stars, and interprets a shooting star as the passing of a human life.
49. 2. C'ÉTAIT À QUI LE NOURRIRAIT, each strove to outdo the other in feeding him.
50. LES SOUVENIRS DU PEUPLE. This is one of the poems that contributed to increase the prestige of the name of Napoleon. 9. BIEN ... QUE; the parts of the conjunction are sometimes thus separated.
51. 10. CHAMPAGNE, previous to the Revolution a political division of France, having Lorraine on the east and Burgundy on the south. Like most other provinces it belonged formerly to independent princes. It came to the kings of France by the marriage of Philip IV. in the last half of the thirteenth century. Since the Revolution all these historical divisions have been supplanted by the _départements_, new administrative districts intended to obliterate the old boundaries. But the old names are still familiarly used. Champagne was invaded in 1814 by an army of the powers allied against Napoléon. 18. S'ASSOIT, instead of the usual _s'assied_ of cultivated speech, is in keeping with the unlettered condition and familar tone of the speaker.
52. LES FOUS. Perhaps the word "cranks" comes nearest to giving the force of the title. 22. SAUF À, _reserving the privilege of_.
53. 5. SAINT-SIMON; Claude-Henri, comte de Saint-Simon (1760-1825), was the founder of French socialism. He demanded the application of the principle of association to the production and distribution of wealth. 13. Francois- Marie-Charles FOURIER (1772-1837), the founder of Fourierism, advocated a social reform in the direction of communism, and proposed to reorganize society in large groups, or phalanxes, living together in a perfect community in one building, called a phalanstery. Such communities as Brook Farm were attempts at a practical application of Fourier's ideas. See O. B. Frothingham's Life of George Ripley. 21. Barthélemy-Prosper ENFANTIN (1796-1864) was a follower of Saint-Simon and developed his doctrines. His means for securing the emancipation and equality of woman was the abolition of marriage.
CHARLES-HUBERT MILLEVOYE.
1782-1816.
Author of several poetical tales of chivalry and a considerable number of elegies, is remembered for hardly anything but these celebrated lines:
Works: _Oeuvres_, 5 vols., 1814-16; a collection of his _Poésies_ is published in one volume, with a notice by Sainte- Beuve.
54. LA CHUTE DES FEUILLES. 19. ÉPIDAURE; Epidaurus, a town in Argolis on the Saronic gulf, the chief seat of the worship of Aesculapius, the god of the healing art.
MADAME MARCELINE DESBORDES-VALMORE.
1786-1859.
Is still ranked well among the lyric poets of the first part of the century, though the celebrity that she enjoyed for a time has passed. Though her language still has a flavor of the eighteenth century, the note of emotion is direct and sincere. The theme that best inspired her was love--love betrayed and disappointed.
Works: Poésies, 1818; _les Pleurs_, 1833; _Pauvres Fleurs_, 1839; _Contes en vers pour les enfants_, Lyon, 1840; _Bouquets et prières_, 1843; there is a selection, with notice by Sainte-Beuve, with the title: _Poésies de Madame Desbordes-Valmore_.
For reference: Sainte-Beuve, _Portraits contemporains_, vol. ii; _Causeries du lundi_, vol. xiv; _Nouveaux lundis_, xii; these notices are collected in a volume: _Madame Desbordes-Valmore, sa vie et sa correspondance_; Montesquiou-Fezensac, _Félicité, étude sur la poésie de Marceline Desbordes-Valmore_, 1894.
57. LES ROSES DE SAADI. Saadi (1195-1296) was a Persian poet; one of his works is the Gulistan, or Garden of Roses.
ALPHONSE-MARIE-LOUIS DE LAMARTINE. 1790-1869
The first great poet of the century and still one of the greatest. He passed a quiet youth in the shelter of home influences on his father's estate near Mâcon, receiving his most lasting impressions from his mother's instruction, from the fields and woods, and from certain favorite books, among which were the Bible and Ossian. This education was supplemented by a visit to Italy in 1811-12, memorable for the episode of Graziella, and a short service in the royal guards. His first volume, the _Méditations poétiques_ (1820), was something entirely new in French letters and made him famous at once. These poems were saturated with the poet's personality and informed with his emotions; and to communicate his pervading melancholy he found the secret of lines which, while they did not yet have the color, brilliancy, and variety that the Romanticists presently gave to verse, charmed the ear with a harmony and a music unattained before. His long poems, with more or less of philosophical intention, especially _Jocelyn_ (1836), are important works, but it was as a lyric poet that he made his chief impression.
Works: _Méditations poétiques_, 1820; _Nouvelles Méditations_, 1823; _Harmonies poétiques et religieuses_, 1830; _Recueillements poétiques_, 1839; _Poésies inédites_, 1839; _Poésies inédites_, 1873; republished under the same names in various collected editions of his _Oeuvres_ since 1860.
For reference: Faguet, _Études littéraires sur le dix-neuvième siècle_, 1887; Sainte-Beuve,_ Premiers lundis_, vol. i; _Portraits contemporains_, vol. i; F. Brunetière, _Évolution de la poésie lyrique_, vol. i; _Histoire et littérature_, vol. iii, 1892; F. Reyssié, _la Jeunesse de Lamartine_, 1891; E. Deschanel, _Lamartine_, 2 vols., 1893; J. Lemaître, _les Contemporains_, vol. vi, 1896; E. Zyromski, _Lamartine poète lyrique_, 1898.
58. LE LAC. Written September 17-23, 1817; from _les Méditations poétiques_. The lake here celebrated is Lake Bourget in Savoy. Here the poet met in 1816 Mme. Charles, wife of the well known physicist, with whom he fell very much in love and who is immortalized by him under the names Julie and Elvire. She died Dec. 18, 1817. Cf. Anatole France, _l'Elvire de Lamartine_, 1893. When this poem was written Lamartine already knew that she was hopelessly ill. This experience of his colors many poems of his first two volumes. _Le Lac_ has often been set to music; most successfully by the Swiss composer Niedermeyer (1802-1861). For interesting variants in the text see Reyssié, _la Jeunesse de Lamartine_, p. 201.
L'AUTOMNE. November, 1819; from _les Méditations poétiques_.
61. 9. PEUT ÊTRE L'AVENIR, etc.; "allusion à l'attachement sérieux que le poète avait conçu pour une jeune Anglaise qui fut depuis la compagne de sa vie." (Commentaire de l'auteur.) LE SOIR. Spring of 1819; from _les Méditations poétiques_.
63. LE VALLON. Summer of 1819; from _les Méditations poétiques_. "Ce vallon est situé dans les montagnes du Dauphiné." (Commentaire de l'auteur.)
65 9. PYTHAGORE; Pythagoras, a Greek philosopher of the sixth century B.C., who is said to have taught the doctrine that the "organization of the universe is an harmonious system of numerical ratios." L'ISOLEMENT. September, 1818; from
_les Méditations poétiques_. Reyssié in the work above cited gives interesting variants for this poem.
67 LE CRUCIFIX. 1818? From _les Nouvelles Méditations_. "Mon ami M. de V(irieu), qui assistait aux derniers moments de Julie, me rapporta, de sa part, le crucifix qui avait reposé sur ses lèvres dans son agonie ... J'écrivis, après une année de silence et de deuil, cette élégie." (Commentaire de l'auteur.) Compare with this note the eleventh stanza of the poem, which points back to the time of the Graziella affair. See below.
70. ADIEU A GRAZIELLA. From _les Nouvelles Méditations_. Graziella, whose heart Lamartine won during his visit to Naples in the winter of 1811-12 and whom he abandoned, was the daughter of a Neapolitan fisherman. She died soon afterward. Later the poet idealized her and his relation to her and immortalized her memory in his works. Cf. _le Premier regret_ below.
71. LES PRÉLUDES. 1822; from _les Nouvelles Méditations_. This poem, addressed to Victor Hugo, consists of several divisions, in different meters, only the last of which is here given. It inspired the symphonic poem of Liszt by the same name.
73. HYMNE DE L'ENFANT À SON RÉVEIL. From _les Harmonies poétiques et religieuses_.
76. LE PREMIER REGRET. From _les Harmonies poétiques et religieuses_. It was inspired by the memory of Graziella. 7. MER DE SORRENTO, bay of Naples; Sorrento is a small town on the bay, south-east of Naples.
77. 27. NÉMI; the lake is in the hollow of an extinct volcano, in the Alban mountains, a few miles southeast of Rome.
81. STANCES. From _les Nouvelles Méditations_. 18. MEMNON, son of Tithonus and Eos, king of the Ethiopians, slain by Achilles. The Greeks connected with Memnon various ancient monuments and buildings, especially the great temple at Thebes and one of the colossi of Amenophis III., currently called the statue of Memnon; legend reported of it that when touched by the first rays of the dawn it gave forth a musical sound.
83. LES RÉVOLUTIONS. From _les Harmonies poétiques et religieuses_. Only the last of the three divisions of the poem is given here.
84. 20. SIBYLLES ANTIQUES; concerning the sibyls, sibylline books, and sibylline leaves consult a classical dictionary. 23. VERBE; used currently for the second person of the Trinity; here it goes back to a passage in the first division of the poem, where speaking of God's process of creation; he says:
"Son Verbe court sur le néant! Il court, et la Nature à ce Verbe qui vole Le suit en chancelant de parole en parole, Jamais, jamais demain ce qu'elle est aujourd'hui! Et la création, toujours, toujours nouvelle, Monte éternellement la symbolique échelle Que Jacob rêva devant lui! "
85. 8. LES NOEUDS, knots of nautical reckoning.
ALFRED DE VIGNY.
1797-1863.
One of the great poets of the century. He surpassed most, if not all, of his fellow Romanticists in the intellectual quality of his verse. His lyrics are not merely the product of a moment of passion or of a passing emotion; the strings of his lyre were not set vibrating by every breeze that blew. The personal emotion from which the lyric springs was with him subjected to the action of an intellectual solvent, was generalized and made almost impersonal before it was given form and expression. For this reason partly the bulk of his poetry is small, not exceeding the limits of one small volume. But there are few poems that one would be content to lose. One should read, besides the two given here, _Moïse, la Maison du Berger_ and _la Mort du loup_. De Vigny's influence on the poetry of the latter half of the century has been considerable.
Works: _Poèmes_, 1822; _Poèmes antiques et modernes_, 1826; _les Destinées_, 1864; in the Oeuvres complètes_, of which several editions have appeared, the _Poésies_ make one volume.
For reference : Sainte-Beuve, _Portraits contemporains_, vol. II; E. Caro, _Poètes et romanciers_, 1888 ; E. Faguet, _Études littéraires sur le dix-neuvième siècle_, 1887 ; F.Brunetière, _Évolution de la poésie lyrique_, vol. ii ; Dorison, Alfred de Vigny, poète philosophe, 1891 ; M. Paléologue, _Alfred de Vigny_, 1891.
86. LE COR. 1828. The story of the surprise of the rearguard of Charlemagne by the Moors and of the death of Roland (Orlando in the Italian poems) is told in the Chanson de Roland (end of the eleventh century), the finest of the old French heroic poems. 19. FRAZONA ; this name is not found on ordinary maps or in descriptions of this region. MARBORÉ, a mountain of the Pyrenees. 21. GAVES, name given in the Pyrenees to streams that descend from the mountains.
87. 11. RONCEVAUX, a Spanish village at the entrance to one of the passes of the Pyrenees. 14. OLIVIER, Oli- ver, like Roland and Turpin mentioned later, one of the twelve peers of Charlemagne, standard figures in the old French poems that deal with Charlemagne.
88. 4. LUZ, ARGELÈS, villages in the department of Hautes- Pyrénées. 6. ADOUR, a river of France rising in the Pyrenees and flowing into the Bay of Biscay. 15. SAINT Denis is the patron saint of France. 24. Obéron, king of the fairies in mediaeval folk-lore; cf. _A Midsummernight's Dream_.
89. LA BOUTEILLE À LA MER, 1853. Bears the sub-title: _Conseil à un jeune homme inconnu_. 19. Chatterton (1752-1770), the precocious English poet who, failing to get recognition for his talents, was reduced to destitution and ended his life by poison. Wordsworth wrote of him in
_The Leech-Gatherer_:
"I thought of Chatterton, the marvellous Boy, The sleepless Soul that perished in his pride."
For de Vigny he stood almost as the type of the poet; he used his career as literary material in the narrative _Stello_ (1832) and in the drama _Chatterton_ (1835). Gilbert, see p. 320. He is also brought into _Stello_. MALFILÂTRE (1732-1767), a French poet who was tempted by the praise given to his ode, _le Soleil fixe au milieu des planètes_, to try a literary career at Paris and died in great poverty. He has passed wrongly for an unappreciated genius.
9O. 27. TERRE-DE-FEU, Terra del Fuego.
91. 6. CES PICS NOIRS, _les pics San-Diego, San-Ildefonso_. (Author's note.) 13. Reims, a city in Champagne, the center of the champagne trade. 25. Aï, a town in Champagne, near Reims, noted for its wine; the name is also applied to the wine.
8. DES FLORIDES; in speaking of both coasts of Florida the French formerly used the plural.
VICTOR HUGO.
1802-1885.
The foremost literary figure of the century in France. His commanding influence as the chief of the Romantic school and the champion of a revolution in literary doctrine and practice has led to his being generally considered in connection with the movement to which he gave such a powerful impulse. But he was not merely a great party chief and a great influence. He was also a great poet, and a great lyric poet. He was that by reason of the breadth and variety of his lyric performance, the surprising mastery of form that he showed, the new capacities for picturesque expression that he discovered in the language or created for it, the new possibilities of rhythm and melody that he opened to it, and the range, power, and sincerity of many of the thoughts and feelings to which he gave so sonorous and musical a body. No doubt in a large part of his early work, as _les Orientales_, the body was more to him than the spirit that it lodged. Poetry to him was an art that had its technical side, like any other. The development of its technical resources had a charm of its own, and he had the artist's delight in skillful and exquisite workmanship. The
mastery that he attained was so perfect, he seemed so fully to exhibit the utmost capacities of the language for the most various effects of rhythm and harmony, that Théodore de Banville said of _la Légende des siècles_ that it must be the Bible and the Gospel of every writer of French verse. But he did not stop with the dexterity and virtuosity of the craftsman. More and more he used the mastery that he had achieved not for the mere pleasure of practicing or exhibiting it, but to give fitting and adequate expression to feelings and to thoughts. The domestic affections, the love of country, and the mystery of death had the deepest hold upon him, and whenever he approaches these themes he is almost sure to be genuine and sincere. His pity for the poor and unfortunate was very tender, and was the real spring of a great deal of his democracy, and he had a fine gift of wrathful indignation, which was called into exercise especially by Napoleon III. No part of his lyrical production is more spontaneous and genuine than many poems of _Les Châtiments_. There was from the first a bent towards philosophical reflection observable in him, and in the latter part of his life, beginning with _les Contemplations_ and _la Légende des siècles_, it preponderated more and more over the lyrical impulse, though the latter was never reduced to silence for long.
Works: _Odes et Poésies diverses_, 1822; _Nouvelles Odes_, 1824; _Odes et Ballades_, 1826, 1828; _les Orientales_, 1829; _les Feuilles d'Automne_, 1831; _les Chants du crépuscule_, 1835; _les Voix intérieures_, 1837; _les Rayons et les ombres_, 1840; _les Châtiments_, 1853; _les Contemplations_, 1856; _la Légende des siècles_, 1859, 1876, 1883; _les Chansons des rues et des bois_, 1865; _l'Année terrible_, 1872; _l'Art d'être grandpère_, 1876; _les Quatre Vents de l'esprit_, 1881; _Toute la lyre_, 1889, 1893. The most convenient form in which they are now to be found is the _ne varietur_ edition of Hetzel-Quantin in 16mo, at two francs a volume; the volumes correspond to those given above, except that the first three are all included in the one _Odes et Ballades_.
For reference: Sainte-Beuve, _Portraits contemporains_, vol. i; E. Caro, _Poètes et romanciers_, 1888; A. Barbou, _Victor Hugo_, 1882; E. Dupuy, _Victor Hugo, l'homme et le poète_, 1887; L. Mabilleau, _Victor Hugo_, 1893 ; E. Biré, _Victor Hugo avant 1830_, 1883; _Victor Hugo après 1830_, 2 vols., 1891; _Victor Hugo après 1852_, 1894; A. C. Swinburne, _Victor Hugo_, London, 1886; C. Renouvier, _Victor Hugo, le poète_, 1893; E. Dowden, _Studies in Literature_, London, 1878; E. Faguet, _le Dix-neuvième siècle_, 1887; F. Brunetière, _Évolution de la poésie lyrique_, 2 vols., 1894.
95. LES DJINNS. August, 1828; from _les Orientales_. The poem is especially noteworthy from a technical point of view. The quiet before the descent of the spirits, their approach, their fury, their receding, and the quiet that follows, are suggested by the movement of the lines. The motto is from Dante's _Inferno_, Canto v, 46-49; he is describing the tormented spirits of the carnal malefactors "Who reason subjugate to appetite." Djinns are spirits of Mohammedan popular belief, created of fire, and both good and evil. The vowel is not nasal.
97. 25. PROPHÈTE, Mohammed.
99. ATTENTE. 1828; from _les Orientales_. The motto is Spanish, "I was waiting in despair."
100. EXTASE. November, 1828; from _les Orientales_. The motto is from the Bible, Rev. i, 10. LORSQUE L'ENFANT PARAÎT. May 18, 1830; from _les Feuilles d'Automne_. _Les Feuilles d'Automne_ were largely the reflection of the domestic affections of the poet. He had been married in 1822, and had at this time three children, Léopoldine, Charles, and Victor.
102. 17. ENNEMIS; the reference is doubtless to the literary opponents of Hugo; the struggle between the champion of tradition and the Romanticists brought many personal bitternesses. DANS L'ALCÔVE SOMBRE. Nov. 10, 1831; from _les Feuilles d'Automne_. The motto is from a poem, _la Veillée_, addressed by Sainte-Beuve to Hugo on the birth of his son François-Victor, Oct. 21, 1828.
103. 19. lys, _lis_; this spelling is usual with Victor Hugo and frequent in this century, especially with later writers.
1O4. 27. CHIMÈRE has here more the force of _cauchemar_. NOUVELLE CHANSON SUR UN VIEIL AIR. Feb. 18, 1834; from _les Chants du crépuscule_.
106. "PUISQU'ICI-BAS." May 19, 1836; from _les Voix intérieures_.
108. OCEANO NOX. July, 1836; from _les Rayons et les ombres_. The title is from Vergil, _Aen._ ii, 250: _Vertitur interea caelum et ruit Oceano nox_.
110. NUITS DE JUIN. 1837; from _les Rayons et les ombres_. "LA TOMBE DIT À LA ROSE." June 3, 1837; from _les Voix intérieures_. TRISTESSE D'OLYMPIO. October, 1837; from _les Rayons et les ombres_. See the discussion of this poem in Brunetière, _Évolution de la poésie lyrique_, i, 200 ff. His view is indicated in the following extract: "Ces grands thèmes, les plus riches de tous,--la Nature, l'Amour et la Mort,--dans le développement desquels nous sommes convenus de chercher et de vérifier la mesure du pouvoir lyrique, Hugo les mêle ou les fond ensemble, il les enchevêtre, il les complique, il les multiplie les uns par les autres, et de cette complication, admirez les effets qu'il tire.... C'est en effet ici qu'éclate, à mon avis, la supériorité de la _Tristesse d'Olympio_ sur le _Lac_ de Lamartine ou sur le _Souvenir_ de Musset, qu'on lui a si souvent, et à tort, préférés. Non pas du tout, vous le pensez bien, que je veuille nier le charme pur et pénétrant du _Lac_, ou la douloureuse et poignante éloquence du _Souvenir_! Incomparable élégie, le _Lac_ de Lamartine a pour lui la discrétion même, l'élégance, l'idéale mélancolie, la caresse ou la volupté de sa plainte; et, dans le _Souvenir_ de Musset, nous le verrons bientôt, c'est la passion même qui parle toute pure. Mais, dans la _Tristesse d'Olympio_, de même que les voix des instruments se marient dans l'orchestre, la note aiguë, déchirante et prolongée du violon à la lamentation plus profonde et plus grave de l'alto, le tumulte éclatant des cuivres aux sons plus perçants de la flûte, tandis qu'au-dessus d'eux la voix humaine continue son chant d'amour ou de colère, de haine ou d'adoration, c'est ainsi que la mélodie très simple et comme élémentaire du souvenir s'enrichit, s'augmente, se renforce, et se soutient chez Hugo d'un accompagnement d'une prodigieuse richesse, ou tout concourt ensemble, toute la nature et tout l'homme, toute la poésie de l'amour, toute celle des bois et des plaines, toute la poésie de la mort."
116. "A QUOI BON ENTENDRE." July, 1838; from the drama _Ruy Blas_, act ii, scene I.
117. CHANSON. "SI VOUS N'AVEZ RIEN À ME DIRE." May, 18--; from _les Contemplations_.
118. "QUAND NOUS HABITIONS TOUS ENSEMBLE." Sept. 4, 1844; from _les Contemplations_. The poet's daughter Léopoldine had married Charles Vacquerie in the summer of 1843. On the fourth of September of the same year she was drowned, together with her husband, in the Seine near Villequier. Her death was a great shock to Hugo, and the few verses that we have from these years are full of the bitterness of loss sweetened by remembrance of happy earlier days. Her memory is everywhere present in the _Contemplations_; compare the following poems.
119. 5. SI JEUNE ENCORE; _jeune_ refers of course to the subject; Hugo was twenty-two when Léopoldine was born. "O SOUVENIRS! PRINTEMPS! AURORE!" Villequier, Sept. 4, 1846; from _les Contemplations_. Notice the date.
120. 2. MONTLIGNON, Saint-Leu, small places just out of Paris to the north.
121. ARIOSTE, Ariosto (1474-1533), a famous Italian poet, author of _Orlando Furioso_. "DEMAIN, DÈS L'AUBE." Sept. 3, 1847; from _les Contemplations_. Notice the date. 21. DEMAIN, i.e. the anniversary of his daughter's death.
122. 2. HARFLEUR, a small town on the Channel coast, a few miles from Havre, near the mouth of the Seine. VENI, VIDI, VIXI. April, 1848; from _les Contemplations_.