Mahony)_
Battle of the Norsemen and the Gaels
Madelaine
The Fay and the Peri--_Asiatic Journal_
LES ORIENTALES.
Battle of the Norsemen and the Gaels
Madelaine
The Fay and the Peri--_Asiatic Journal_
LES ORIENTALES.
Hugo - Poems
?
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Poems, by Victor Hugo
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www. gutenberg. org
Title: Poems
Author: Victor Hugo
Release Date: August, 2005 [EBook #8775]
This file was first posted on August 12, 2003
Last Updated: May 5, 2013
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POEMS ***
Produced by Stan Goodman and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
POEMS
By Victor Hugo
1888
[Transcription note: One poem uses an a with a macron over it, this
has been rendered as a, which is not used in this text for any other
purpose. ]
CONTENTS.
Memoir of Victor Marie Hugo
EARLY POEMS.
Moses on the Nile--_Dublin University Magazine_
Envy and Avarice--_American Keepsake_
ODES. --1818-28.
King Louis XVII--_Dublin University Magazine_
The Feast of Freedom--_"Father Prout" (F. S. Mahony)_
Genius--_Mrs. Torre Hulme_
The Girl of Otaheite--_Clement Scott_
Nero's Incendiary Song--_H. J. Williams_
Regret--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Morning of Life
Beloved Name--_Caroline Bowles (Mrs. Southey)_
The Portrait of a Child--_Dublin University Magazine_
BALLADES. --1823-28.
The Grandmother--_"Father Prout" (F. S. Mahony)_
The Giant in Glee--_Foreign Quart. Rev. (adapted)_
The Cymbaleer's Bride--_"Father Prout" (F. S. Mahony)_
Battle of the Norsemen and the Gaels
Madelaine
The Fay and the Peri--_Asiatic Journal_
LES ORIENTALES. --1829
The Scourge of Heaven--_I. N. Fazakerley_
Pirates' Song
The Turkish Captive--_W. D. , Tait's Edisiburgh Mag. _
Moonlight on the Bosphorus--_John L. O'Sullivan_
The Veil--_"Father Prout" (F. S. Mahony)_
The Favorite Sultana
The Pasha and the Dervish
The Lost Battle--_W. D. , Bentley's Miscel_. , 1839
The Greek Boy
Zara, the Bather--_John L. O'Sullivan_
Expectation--_John L. O'Sullivan _
The Lover's Wish--_V. , Eton Observer_
The Sacking of the City--_John L. O'Sullivan_
Noormahal the Fair
The Djinns--_John L. O'Sullivan_
The Obdurate Beauty--_John L. O'Sullivan_
Don Rodrigo
Cornflowers--_H. L. Williams_
Mazeppa--_H. L. Williams_
The Danube in Wrath--_Fraser's Magazine_
Old Ocean--_R. C. Ellwood_
My Napoleon--_H. L. Williams_
LES FEUILLES D'AUTOMNE. --1831.
The Patience of the People--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Dictated before the Rhone Glacier--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
The Poet's Love for Liveliness--_Fraser's Magazine_
Infantile Influence--_Henry Highton, M. A. _
The Watching Angel--_Foreign Quarterly Review_
Sunset--_Toru Dutt_
The Universal Prayer--_Henry Highton, M. A. _
The Universal Prayer--_C. , Tait's Magazine_
LES CHANTS DU CREPUSCULE. --1849.
Prelude to "The Songs of Twilight"--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
The Land of Fable--_G. W. M. Rrynolds_
The Three Glorious Days--_Elizabeth Collins_
Tribute to the Vanquished--_Fraser's Magazine_
Angel or Demon--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Eruption of Vesuvius--_Fraser's Magazine_
Marriage and Feasts--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
The Morrow of Grandeur--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Eaglet Mourned--_Fraser's Magazine_
Invocation--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Outside the Ball-room--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Prayer for France--_J. S. Macrae_
To Canaris, the Greek Patriot--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Poland--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Insult not the Fallen--_W. C. K. Wilde_
Morning--_W. M. Hardinge_
Song of Love--_Toru Dutt_
Sweet Charmer--_H. B. Farnie_
More Strong than Time--_A. Lang_
Roses and Butterflies--_W. C. Westbrook_
A Simile--_Fanny Kemble-Butler_
The Poet to his Wife
LES VOIX INTERIEURES. --1840.
The Blinded Bourbons--_Fraser's Magazine_
To Albert Durer--_Mrs. Newton Crosland_
To his Muse--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Cow--_Toru Dutt_
Mothers--_Dublin University Magazine_
To some Birds Flown away--_Mrs. Newton Crosland_
My Thoughts of Ye--_Dublin University Magazine_
The Beacon in the Storm
Love's Treacherous Pool
The Rose and the Grave--_A. Lang_
LES RAYONS ET LES OMBRES. --1840.
Holyrood Palace--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Humble Home--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
The Eighteenth Century--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
Still be a Child--_Dublin University Magazine_
The Pool and the Soul--_R. F. Hodgson_
Ye Mariners who Spread your Sails--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
On a Flemish Window-Pane--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Preceptor--_E. E. Frewer_
Gastibelza--_H. L. Williams_
Guitar Song--_Evelyn Jerrold_
Come when I Sleep--_Wm. W. Tomlinson_
Early Love Revisited--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
Sweet Memory of Love--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
The Marble Faun--_William Young_
A Love for Winged Things
Baby's Seaside Grave
LES CHATIMENTS. --1853.
Indignation!
Imperial Revels--_H. L. W. _
Poor Little Children
Apostrophe to Nature
Napoleon "The Little"
Fact or Fable--_H. L. W. _
A Lament--_Edwin Arnold, C. S. I. _
No Assassination
The Despatch of the Doom
The Seaman's Song
The Retreat from Moscow--_Toru Dutt_
The Ocean's Song--_Toru Dutt_
The Trumpets of the Mind--_Toru Dutt_
After the Coup d'Etat--_Toru Dutt_
Patria
The Universal Republic
LES CONTEMPLATIONS. --1830-56.
The Vale to You, to Me the Heights--_H. L. W_
Childhood--_Nelson R. Tyerman_
Satire on the Earth
How Butterflies are Born--_A. Lang_
Have You Nothing to Say for Yourself? --_C. H. Kenny_
Inscription for a Crucifix
Death, in Life
The Dying Child to its Mother--_Bp. Alexander_
Epitaph--_Nelson R. Tyerman_
St. John--_Nelson R. Tyerman_
The Poet's Simple Faith--_Prof. E. Dowden_
I am Content
LA LEGENDE DES SIECLES.
Cain--_Dublin University Magazine_
Boaz Asleep--_Bp. Alexander_
Song of the German Lanzknecht--_H. L. W. _
King Canute--_R. Garnett_
King Canute--_Dublin University Magazine_
The Boy-King's Prayer--_Dublin University Magazine_
Eviradnus--_Mrs. Newton Crosland_
The Soudan, the Sphinxes, the Cup, the Lamp--_Bp. Alexander_
A Queen Five Summers Old--_Bp. Alexander_
Sea Adventurers' Song
The Swiss Mercenaries--_Bp. Alexander_
The Cup on the Battle-Field--_Toru Dutt_
How Good are the Poor--_Bp. Alexander_
LA VOIX DE GUERNESEY.
Mentana--_Edwin Arnold, C. S. I. _
LES CHANSONS DES RUES ET DES BOIS.
Love of the Woodland
Shooting Stars
L'ANNEE TERRIBLE.
To Little Jeanne--_Marwaod Tucker_
To a Sick Child during the Siege of Paris--_Lucy H. Hooper_
The Carrier Pigeon
Toys and Tragedy
Mourning--_Marwood Tucker_
The Lesson of the Patriot Dead--_H. L. W. _
The Boy on the Barricade--_H. L. W. _
To His Orphan Grandchildren--_Marwood Tucker_
To the Cannon "Victor Hugo"
L'ART D'ETRE GRANDPERE.
The Children of the Poor--_Dublin University Magazine_
The Epic of the Lion--_Edwin Arnold, C. S. I. _
LES QUATRE VENTS DE L'ESPRIT.
On Hearing the Princess Royal Sing--_Nelson R. Tyerman_
My Happiest Dream
An Old-Time Lay
Jersey
Then, most, I Smile
The Exile's Desire
The Refugee's Haven
VARIOUS PIECES.
To the Napoleon Column--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
Charity--_Dublin University Magazine_
Sweet Sister--_Mrs. B. Somers_
The Pity of the Angels
The Sower--_Toru Dutt_
Oh, Why not be Happy? --_Leopold Wray_
Freedom and the World
Serenade--_Henry F. Chorley_
An Autumnal Simile
To Cruel Ocean
Esmeralda in Prison
Lover's Song--_Ernest Oswald Coe_
A Fleeting Glimpse of a Village--_Fraser's Magazine_
Lord Rochester's Song
The Beggar's Quatrain--_H. L. C. , London Society_
The Quiet Rural Church
A Storm Simile
DRAMATIC PIECES.
The Father's Curse--_Fredk. L. Slous_
Paternal Love--_Fanny Kemble-Butler_
The Degenerate Gallants--_Lord F. Leveson Gower_
The Old and the Young Bridegroom--_Charles Sherry_
The Spanish Lady's Love--_C. Moir_
The Lover's Sacrifice--_Lord F. Leveson Gower_
The Old Man's Love--_C. Moir_
The Roll of the De Silva Race--_Lord F. Leveson Gower_
The Lover's Colloquy--_Lord F. Leveson Gower_
Cromwell and the Crown--_Leitch Ritchie_
Milton's Appeal to Cromwell
First Love--_Fanny Kemble-Butler_
The First Black Flag--_Democratic Review_
The Son in Old Age--_Foreign Quarterly Review_
The Emperor's Return--_Athenaum_
Victor in Poesy, Victor in Romance,
Cloud-weaver of phantasmal hopes and fears,
French of the French, and Lord of human tears;
Child-lover; Bard whose fame-lit laurels glance
Darkening the wreaths of all that would advance,
Beyond our strait, their claim to be thy peers;
Weird Titan by thy winter weight of years
As yet unbroken, Stormy voice of France!
TENNYSON.
MEMOIR OF VICTOR MARIE HUGO.
Towards the close of the First French Revolution, Joseph Leopold Sigisbert
Hugo, son of a joiner at Nancy, and an officer risen from the ranks in the
Republican army, married Sophie Trebuchet, daughter of a Nantes fitter-out
of privateers, a Vendean royalist and devotee.
Victor Marie Hugo, their second son, was born on the 26th of February,
1802, at Besancon, France. Though a weakling, he was carried, with his
boy-brothers, in the train of their father through the south of France,
in pursuit of Fra Diavolo, the Italian brigand, and finally into Spain.
Colonel Hugo had become General, and there, besides being governor over
three provinces, was Lord High Steward at King Joseph's court, where his
eldest son Abel was installed as page. The other two were educated for
similar posts among hostile young Spaniards under stern priestly tutors
in the Nobles' College at Madrid, a palace become a monastery. Upon the
English advance to free Spain of the invaders, the general and Abel
remained at bay, whilst the mother and children hastened to Paris.
Again, in a house once a convent, Victor and his brother Eugene were taught
by priests until, by the accident of their roof sheltering a comrade of
their father's, a change of tutor was afforded them. This was General
Lahorie, a man of superior education, main supporter of Malet in his daring
plot to take the government into the Republicans' hands during the absence
of Napoleon I. in Russia. Lahorie read old French and Latin with Victor
till the police scented him out and led him to execution, October, 1812.
School claimed the young Hugos after this tragical episode, where they
were oddities among the humdrum tradesmen's sons. Victor, thoughtful and
taciturn, rhymed profusely in tragedies, "printing" in his books,
"Chateaubriand or nothing! " and engaging his more animated brother to
flourish the Cid's sword and roar the tyrant's speeches.
In 1814, both suffered a sympathetic anxiety as their father held out at
Thionville against the Allies, finally repulsing them by a sortie.
Mahony)_
Battle of the Norsemen and the Gaels
Madelaine
The Fay and the Peri--_Asiatic Journal_
LES ORIENTALES. --1829
The Scourge of Heaven--_I. N. Fazakerley_
Pirates' Song
The Turkish Captive--_W. D. , Tait's Edisiburgh Mag. _
Moonlight on the Bosphorus--_John L. O'Sullivan_
The Veil--_"Father Prout" (F. S. Mahony)_
The Favorite Sultana
The Pasha and the Dervish
The Lost Battle--_W. D. , Bentley's Miscel_. , 1839
The Greek Boy
Zara, the Bather--_John L. O'Sullivan_
Expectation--_John L. O'Sullivan _
The Lover's Wish--_V. , Eton Observer_
The Sacking of the City--_John L. O'Sullivan_
Noormahal the Fair
The Djinns--_John L. O'Sullivan_
The Obdurate Beauty--_John L. O'Sullivan_
Don Rodrigo
Cornflowers--_H. L. Williams_
Mazeppa--_H. L. Williams_
The Danube in Wrath--_Fraser's Magazine_
Old Ocean--_R. C. Ellwood_
My Napoleon--_H. L. Williams_
LES FEUILLES D'AUTOMNE. --1831.
The Patience of the People--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Dictated before the Rhone Glacier--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
The Poet's Love for Liveliness--_Fraser's Magazine_
Infantile Influence--_Henry Highton, M. A. _
The Watching Angel--_Foreign Quarterly Review_
Sunset--_Toru Dutt_
The Universal Prayer--_Henry Highton, M. A. _
The Universal Prayer--_C. , Tait's Magazine_
LES CHANTS DU CREPUSCULE. --1849.
Prelude to "The Songs of Twilight"--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
The Land of Fable--_G. W. M. Rrynolds_
The Three Glorious Days--_Elizabeth Collins_
Tribute to the Vanquished--_Fraser's Magazine_
Angel or Demon--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Eruption of Vesuvius--_Fraser's Magazine_
Marriage and Feasts--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
The Morrow of Grandeur--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Eaglet Mourned--_Fraser's Magazine_
Invocation--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Outside the Ball-room--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Prayer for France--_J. S. Macrae_
To Canaris, the Greek Patriot--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Poland--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Insult not the Fallen--_W. C. K. Wilde_
Morning--_W. M. Hardinge_
Song of Love--_Toru Dutt_
Sweet Charmer--_H. B. Farnie_
More Strong than Time--_A. Lang_
Roses and Butterflies--_W. C. Westbrook_
A Simile--_Fanny Kemble-Butler_
The Poet to his Wife
LES VOIX INTERIEURES. --1840.
The Blinded Bourbons--_Fraser's Magazine_
To Albert Durer--_Mrs. Newton Crosland_
To his Muse--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Cow--_Toru Dutt_
Mothers--_Dublin University Magazine_
To some Birds Flown away--_Mrs. Newton Crosland_
My Thoughts of Ye--_Dublin University Magazine_
The Beacon in the Storm
Love's Treacherous Pool
The Rose and the Grave--_A. Lang_
LES RAYONS ET LES OMBRES. --1840.
Holyrood Palace--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Humble Home--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
The Eighteenth Century--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
Still be a Child--_Dublin University Magazine_
The Pool and the Soul--_R. F. Hodgson_
Ye Mariners who Spread your Sails--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
On a Flemish Window-Pane--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Preceptor--_E. E. Frewer_
Gastibelza--_H. L. Williams_
Guitar Song--_Evelyn Jerrold_
Come when I Sleep--_Wm. W. Tomlinson_
Early Love Revisited--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
Sweet Memory of Love--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
The Marble Faun--_William Young_
A Love for Winged Things
Baby's Seaside Grave
LES CHATIMENTS. --1853.
Indignation!
Imperial Revels--_H. L. W. _
Poor Little Children
Apostrophe to Nature
Napoleon "The Little"
Fact or Fable--_H. L. W. _
A Lament--_Edwin Arnold, C. S. I. _
No Assassination
The Despatch of the Doom
The Seaman's Song
The Retreat from Moscow--_Toru Dutt_
The Ocean's Song--_Toru Dutt_
The Trumpets of the Mind--_Toru Dutt_
After the Coup d'Etat--_Toru Dutt_
Patria
The Universal Republic
LES CONTEMPLATIONS. --1830-56.
The Vale to You, to Me the Heights--_H. L. W_
Childhood--_Nelson R. Tyerman_
Satire on the Earth
How Butterflies are Born--_A. Lang_
Have You Nothing to Say for Yourself? --_C. H. Kenny_
Inscription for a Crucifix
Death, in Life
The Dying Child to its Mother--_Bp. Alexander_
Epitaph--_Nelson R. Tyerman_
St. John--_Nelson R. Tyerman_
The Poet's Simple Faith--_Prof. E. Dowden_
I am Content
LA LEGENDE DES SIECLES.
Cain--_Dublin University Magazine_
Boaz Asleep--_Bp. Alexander_
Song of the German Lanzknecht--_H. L. W. _
King Canute--_R. Garnett_
King Canute--_Dublin University Magazine_
The Boy-King's Prayer--_Dublin University Magazine_
Eviradnus--_Mrs. Newton Crosland_
The Soudan, the Sphinxes, the Cup, the Lamp--_Bp. Alexander_
A Queen Five Summers Old--_Bp. Alexander_
Sea Adventurers' Song
The Swiss Mercenaries--_Bp. Alexander_
The Cup on the Battle-Field--_Toru Dutt_
How Good are the Poor--_Bp. Alexander_
LA VOIX DE GUERNESEY.
Mentana--_Edwin Arnold, C. S. I. _
LES CHANSONS DES RUES ET DES BOIS.
Love of the Woodland
Shooting Stars
L'ANNEE TERRIBLE.
To Little Jeanne--_Marwaod Tucker_
To a Sick Child during the Siege of Paris--_Lucy H. Hooper_
The Carrier Pigeon
Toys and Tragedy
Mourning--_Marwood Tucker_
The Lesson of the Patriot Dead--_H. L. W. _
The Boy on the Barricade--_H. L. W. _
To His Orphan Grandchildren--_Marwood Tucker_
To the Cannon "Victor Hugo"
L'ART D'ETRE GRANDPERE.
The Children of the Poor--_Dublin University Magazine_
The Epic of the Lion--_Edwin Arnold, C. S. I. _
LES QUATRE VENTS DE L'ESPRIT.
On Hearing the Princess Royal Sing--_Nelson R. Tyerman_
My Happiest Dream
An Old-Time Lay
Jersey
Then, most, I Smile
The Exile's Desire
The Refugee's Haven
VARIOUS PIECES.
To the Napoleon Column--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
Charity--_Dublin University Magazine_
Sweet Sister--_Mrs. B. Somers_
The Pity of the Angels
The Sower--_Toru Dutt_
Oh, Why not be Happy? --_Leopold Wray_
Freedom and the World
Serenade--_Henry F. Chorley_
An Autumnal Simile
To Cruel Ocean
Esmeralda in Prison
Lover's Song--_Ernest Oswald Coe_
A Fleeting Glimpse of a Village--_Fraser's Magazine_
Lord Rochester's Song
The Beggar's Quatrain--_H. L. C. , London Society_
The Quiet Rural Church
A Storm Simile
DRAMATIC PIECES.
The Father's Curse--_Fredk. L. Slous_
Paternal Love--_Fanny Kemble-Butler_
The Degenerate Gallants--_Lord F. Leveson Gower_
The Old and the Young Bridegroom--_Charles Sherry_
The Spanish Lady's Love--_C. Moir_
The Lover's Sacrifice--_Lord F. Leveson Gower_
The Old Man's Love--_C. Moir_
The Roll of the De Silva Race--_Lord F. Leveson Gower_
The Lover's Colloquy--_Lord F. Leveson Gower_
Cromwell and the Crown--_Leitch Ritchie_
Milton's Appeal to Cromwell
First Love--_Fanny Kemble-Butler_
The First Black Flag--_Democratic Review_
The Son in Old Age--_Foreign Quarterly Review_
The Emperor's Return--_Athenaum_
Victor in Poesy, Victor in Romance,
Cloud-weaver of phantasmal hopes and fears,
French of the French, and Lord of human tears;
Child-lover; Bard whose fame-lit laurels glance
Darkening the wreaths of all that would advance,
Beyond our strait, their claim to be thy peers;
Weird Titan by thy winter weight of years
As yet unbroken, Stormy voice of France!
TENNYSON.
MEMOIR OF VICTOR MARIE HUGO.
Towards the close of the First French Revolution, Joseph Leopold Sigisbert
Hugo, son of a joiner at Nancy, and an officer risen from the ranks in the
Republican army, married Sophie Trebuchet, daughter of a Nantes fitter-out
of privateers, a Vendean royalist and devotee.
Victor Marie Hugo, their second son, was born on the 26th of February,
1802, at Besancon, France. Though a weakling, he was carried, with his
boy-brothers, in the train of their father through the south of France,
in pursuit of Fra Diavolo, the Italian brigand, and finally into Spain.
Colonel Hugo had become General, and there, besides being governor over
three provinces, was Lord High Steward at King Joseph's court, where his
eldest son Abel was installed as page. The other two were educated for
similar posts among hostile young Spaniards under stern priestly tutors
in the Nobles' College at Madrid, a palace become a monastery. Upon the
English advance to free Spain of the invaders, the general and Abel
remained at bay, whilst the mother and children hastened to Paris.
Again, in a house once a convent, Victor and his brother Eugene were taught
by priests until, by the accident of their roof sheltering a comrade of
their father's, a change of tutor was afforded them. This was General
Lahorie, a man of superior education, main supporter of Malet in his daring
plot to take the government into the Republicans' hands during the absence
of Napoleon I. in Russia. Lahorie read old French and Latin with Victor
till the police scented him out and led him to execution, October, 1812.
School claimed the young Hugos after this tragical episode, where they
were oddities among the humdrum tradesmen's sons. Victor, thoughtful and
taciturn, rhymed profusely in tragedies, "printing" in his books,
"Chateaubriand or nothing! " and engaging his more animated brother to
flourish the Cid's sword and roar the tyrant's speeches.
In 1814, both suffered a sympathetic anxiety as their father held out at
Thionville against the Allies, finally repulsing them by a sortie. This was
pure loyalty to the fallen Bonaparte, for Hugo had lost his all in Spain,
his very savings having been sunk in real estate, through King Joseph's
insistence on his adherents investing to prove they had "come to stay. "
The Bourbons enthroned anew, General Hugo received, less for his neutrality
than thanks to his wife's piety and loyalty, confirmation of his title
and rank, and, moreover, a fieldmarshalship. Abel was accepted as a page,
too, but there was no money awarded the ex-Bonapartist--money being what
the Eaglet at Reichstadt most required for an attempt at his father's
throne--and the poor officer was left in seclusion to write consolingly
about his campaigns and "Defences of Fortified Towns. "
Decidedly the pen had superseded the sword, for Victor and Eugene were
scribbling away in ephemeral political sheets as apprenticeship to
founding a periodical of their own.
Victor's poetry became remarkable in _La Muse Francaise_ and _Le
Conservateur Litteraire_, the odes being permeated with Legitimist and
anti-revolutionary sentiments delightful to the taste of Madam Hugo, member
as she was of the courtly Order of the Royal Lily.
In 1817, the French Academy honorably mentioned Victor's "Odes on the
Advantages of Study," with a misgiving that some elder hand was masked
under the line ascribing "scant fifteen years" to the author. At the
Toulouse Floral Games he won prizes two years successively. His critical
judgment was sound as well, for he had divined the powers of Lamartine.
His "Odes," collected in a volume, gave his ever-active mother her
opportunity at Court. Louis XVIII. granted the boy-poet a pension of
1,500 francs.
It was the windfall for which the youth had been waiting to enable him to
gratify his first love. In his childhood, his father and one M. Foucher,
head of a War Office Department, had jokingly betrothed a son of the one
to a daughter of the other. Abel had loftier views than alliance with a
civil servant's child; Eugene was in love elsewhere; but Victor had fallen
enamored with Adele Foucher. It is true, when poverty beclouded the Hugos,
the Fouchers had shrunk into their mantle of dignity, and the girl had
been strictly forbidden to correspond with her child-sweetheart.
He, finding letters barred out, wrote a love story ("Hans of Iceland") in
two weeks, where were recited his hopes, fears, and constancy, and this
book she could read.
It pleased the public no less, and its sale, together with that of the
"Odes" and a West Indian romance, "Buck Jargal," together with a royal
pension, emboldened the poet to renew his love-suit. To refuse the
recipient of court funds was not possible to a public functionary.
M. Foucher consented to the betrothal in the summer of 1821.
So encloistered had Mdlle. Adele been, her reading "Hans" the exceptional
intrusion, that she only learnt on meeting her affianced that he was
mourning his mother. In October, 1822, they were wed, the bride nineteen,
the bridegroom but one year the elder.
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www. gutenberg. org
Title: Poems
Author: Victor Hugo
Release Date: August, 2005 [EBook #8775]
This file was first posted on August 12, 2003
Last Updated: May 5, 2013
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POEMS ***
Produced by Stan Goodman and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
POEMS
By Victor Hugo
1888
[Transcription note: One poem uses an a with a macron over it, this
has been rendered as a, which is not used in this text for any other
purpose. ]
CONTENTS.
Memoir of Victor Marie Hugo
EARLY POEMS.
Moses on the Nile--_Dublin University Magazine_
Envy and Avarice--_American Keepsake_
ODES. --1818-28.
King Louis XVII--_Dublin University Magazine_
The Feast of Freedom--_"Father Prout" (F. S. Mahony)_
Genius--_Mrs. Torre Hulme_
The Girl of Otaheite--_Clement Scott_
Nero's Incendiary Song--_H. J. Williams_
Regret--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Morning of Life
Beloved Name--_Caroline Bowles (Mrs. Southey)_
The Portrait of a Child--_Dublin University Magazine_
BALLADES. --1823-28.
The Grandmother--_"Father Prout" (F. S. Mahony)_
The Giant in Glee--_Foreign Quart. Rev. (adapted)_
The Cymbaleer's Bride--_"Father Prout" (F. S. Mahony)_
Battle of the Norsemen and the Gaels
Madelaine
The Fay and the Peri--_Asiatic Journal_
LES ORIENTALES. --1829
The Scourge of Heaven--_I. N. Fazakerley_
Pirates' Song
The Turkish Captive--_W. D. , Tait's Edisiburgh Mag. _
Moonlight on the Bosphorus--_John L. O'Sullivan_
The Veil--_"Father Prout" (F. S. Mahony)_
The Favorite Sultana
The Pasha and the Dervish
The Lost Battle--_W. D. , Bentley's Miscel_. , 1839
The Greek Boy
Zara, the Bather--_John L. O'Sullivan_
Expectation--_John L. O'Sullivan _
The Lover's Wish--_V. , Eton Observer_
The Sacking of the City--_John L. O'Sullivan_
Noormahal the Fair
The Djinns--_John L. O'Sullivan_
The Obdurate Beauty--_John L. O'Sullivan_
Don Rodrigo
Cornflowers--_H. L. Williams_
Mazeppa--_H. L. Williams_
The Danube in Wrath--_Fraser's Magazine_
Old Ocean--_R. C. Ellwood_
My Napoleon--_H. L. Williams_
LES FEUILLES D'AUTOMNE. --1831.
The Patience of the People--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Dictated before the Rhone Glacier--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
The Poet's Love for Liveliness--_Fraser's Magazine_
Infantile Influence--_Henry Highton, M. A. _
The Watching Angel--_Foreign Quarterly Review_
Sunset--_Toru Dutt_
The Universal Prayer--_Henry Highton, M. A. _
The Universal Prayer--_C. , Tait's Magazine_
LES CHANTS DU CREPUSCULE. --1849.
Prelude to "The Songs of Twilight"--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
The Land of Fable--_G. W. M. Rrynolds_
The Three Glorious Days--_Elizabeth Collins_
Tribute to the Vanquished--_Fraser's Magazine_
Angel or Demon--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Eruption of Vesuvius--_Fraser's Magazine_
Marriage and Feasts--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
The Morrow of Grandeur--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Eaglet Mourned--_Fraser's Magazine_
Invocation--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Outside the Ball-room--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Prayer for France--_J. S. Macrae_
To Canaris, the Greek Patriot--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Poland--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Insult not the Fallen--_W. C. K. Wilde_
Morning--_W. M. Hardinge_
Song of Love--_Toru Dutt_
Sweet Charmer--_H. B. Farnie_
More Strong than Time--_A. Lang_
Roses and Butterflies--_W. C. Westbrook_
A Simile--_Fanny Kemble-Butler_
The Poet to his Wife
LES VOIX INTERIEURES. --1840.
The Blinded Bourbons--_Fraser's Magazine_
To Albert Durer--_Mrs. Newton Crosland_
To his Muse--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Cow--_Toru Dutt_
Mothers--_Dublin University Magazine_
To some Birds Flown away--_Mrs. Newton Crosland_
My Thoughts of Ye--_Dublin University Magazine_
The Beacon in the Storm
Love's Treacherous Pool
The Rose and the Grave--_A. Lang_
LES RAYONS ET LES OMBRES. --1840.
Holyrood Palace--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Humble Home--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
The Eighteenth Century--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
Still be a Child--_Dublin University Magazine_
The Pool and the Soul--_R. F. Hodgson_
Ye Mariners who Spread your Sails--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
On a Flemish Window-Pane--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Preceptor--_E. E. Frewer_
Gastibelza--_H. L. Williams_
Guitar Song--_Evelyn Jerrold_
Come when I Sleep--_Wm. W. Tomlinson_
Early Love Revisited--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
Sweet Memory of Love--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
The Marble Faun--_William Young_
A Love for Winged Things
Baby's Seaside Grave
LES CHATIMENTS. --1853.
Indignation!
Imperial Revels--_H. L. W. _
Poor Little Children
Apostrophe to Nature
Napoleon "The Little"
Fact or Fable--_H. L. W. _
A Lament--_Edwin Arnold, C. S. I. _
No Assassination
The Despatch of the Doom
The Seaman's Song
The Retreat from Moscow--_Toru Dutt_
The Ocean's Song--_Toru Dutt_
The Trumpets of the Mind--_Toru Dutt_
After the Coup d'Etat--_Toru Dutt_
Patria
The Universal Republic
LES CONTEMPLATIONS. --1830-56.
The Vale to You, to Me the Heights--_H. L. W_
Childhood--_Nelson R. Tyerman_
Satire on the Earth
How Butterflies are Born--_A. Lang_
Have You Nothing to Say for Yourself? --_C. H. Kenny_
Inscription for a Crucifix
Death, in Life
The Dying Child to its Mother--_Bp. Alexander_
Epitaph--_Nelson R. Tyerman_
St. John--_Nelson R. Tyerman_
The Poet's Simple Faith--_Prof. E. Dowden_
I am Content
LA LEGENDE DES SIECLES.
Cain--_Dublin University Magazine_
Boaz Asleep--_Bp. Alexander_
Song of the German Lanzknecht--_H. L. W. _
King Canute--_R. Garnett_
King Canute--_Dublin University Magazine_
The Boy-King's Prayer--_Dublin University Magazine_
Eviradnus--_Mrs. Newton Crosland_
The Soudan, the Sphinxes, the Cup, the Lamp--_Bp. Alexander_
A Queen Five Summers Old--_Bp. Alexander_
Sea Adventurers' Song
The Swiss Mercenaries--_Bp. Alexander_
The Cup on the Battle-Field--_Toru Dutt_
How Good are the Poor--_Bp. Alexander_
LA VOIX DE GUERNESEY.
Mentana--_Edwin Arnold, C. S. I. _
LES CHANSONS DES RUES ET DES BOIS.
Love of the Woodland
Shooting Stars
L'ANNEE TERRIBLE.
To Little Jeanne--_Marwaod Tucker_
To a Sick Child during the Siege of Paris--_Lucy H. Hooper_
The Carrier Pigeon
Toys and Tragedy
Mourning--_Marwood Tucker_
The Lesson of the Patriot Dead--_H. L. W. _
The Boy on the Barricade--_H. L. W. _
To His Orphan Grandchildren--_Marwood Tucker_
To the Cannon "Victor Hugo"
L'ART D'ETRE GRANDPERE.
The Children of the Poor--_Dublin University Magazine_
The Epic of the Lion--_Edwin Arnold, C. S. I. _
LES QUATRE VENTS DE L'ESPRIT.
On Hearing the Princess Royal Sing--_Nelson R. Tyerman_
My Happiest Dream
An Old-Time Lay
Jersey
Then, most, I Smile
The Exile's Desire
The Refugee's Haven
VARIOUS PIECES.
To the Napoleon Column--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
Charity--_Dublin University Magazine_
Sweet Sister--_Mrs. B. Somers_
The Pity of the Angels
The Sower--_Toru Dutt_
Oh, Why not be Happy? --_Leopold Wray_
Freedom and the World
Serenade--_Henry F. Chorley_
An Autumnal Simile
To Cruel Ocean
Esmeralda in Prison
Lover's Song--_Ernest Oswald Coe_
A Fleeting Glimpse of a Village--_Fraser's Magazine_
Lord Rochester's Song
The Beggar's Quatrain--_H. L. C. , London Society_
The Quiet Rural Church
A Storm Simile
DRAMATIC PIECES.
The Father's Curse--_Fredk. L. Slous_
Paternal Love--_Fanny Kemble-Butler_
The Degenerate Gallants--_Lord F. Leveson Gower_
The Old and the Young Bridegroom--_Charles Sherry_
The Spanish Lady's Love--_C. Moir_
The Lover's Sacrifice--_Lord F. Leveson Gower_
The Old Man's Love--_C. Moir_
The Roll of the De Silva Race--_Lord F. Leveson Gower_
The Lover's Colloquy--_Lord F. Leveson Gower_
Cromwell and the Crown--_Leitch Ritchie_
Milton's Appeal to Cromwell
First Love--_Fanny Kemble-Butler_
The First Black Flag--_Democratic Review_
The Son in Old Age--_Foreign Quarterly Review_
The Emperor's Return--_Athenaum_
Victor in Poesy, Victor in Romance,
Cloud-weaver of phantasmal hopes and fears,
French of the French, and Lord of human tears;
Child-lover; Bard whose fame-lit laurels glance
Darkening the wreaths of all that would advance,
Beyond our strait, their claim to be thy peers;
Weird Titan by thy winter weight of years
As yet unbroken, Stormy voice of France!
TENNYSON.
MEMOIR OF VICTOR MARIE HUGO.
Towards the close of the First French Revolution, Joseph Leopold Sigisbert
Hugo, son of a joiner at Nancy, and an officer risen from the ranks in the
Republican army, married Sophie Trebuchet, daughter of a Nantes fitter-out
of privateers, a Vendean royalist and devotee.
Victor Marie Hugo, their second son, was born on the 26th of February,
1802, at Besancon, France. Though a weakling, he was carried, with his
boy-brothers, in the train of their father through the south of France,
in pursuit of Fra Diavolo, the Italian brigand, and finally into Spain.
Colonel Hugo had become General, and there, besides being governor over
three provinces, was Lord High Steward at King Joseph's court, where his
eldest son Abel was installed as page. The other two were educated for
similar posts among hostile young Spaniards under stern priestly tutors
in the Nobles' College at Madrid, a palace become a monastery. Upon the
English advance to free Spain of the invaders, the general and Abel
remained at bay, whilst the mother and children hastened to Paris.
Again, in a house once a convent, Victor and his brother Eugene were taught
by priests until, by the accident of their roof sheltering a comrade of
their father's, a change of tutor was afforded them. This was General
Lahorie, a man of superior education, main supporter of Malet in his daring
plot to take the government into the Republicans' hands during the absence
of Napoleon I. in Russia. Lahorie read old French and Latin with Victor
till the police scented him out and led him to execution, October, 1812.
School claimed the young Hugos after this tragical episode, where they
were oddities among the humdrum tradesmen's sons. Victor, thoughtful and
taciturn, rhymed profusely in tragedies, "printing" in his books,
"Chateaubriand or nothing! " and engaging his more animated brother to
flourish the Cid's sword and roar the tyrant's speeches.
In 1814, both suffered a sympathetic anxiety as their father held out at
Thionville against the Allies, finally repulsing them by a sortie.
Mahony)_
Battle of the Norsemen and the Gaels
Madelaine
The Fay and the Peri--_Asiatic Journal_
LES ORIENTALES. --1829
The Scourge of Heaven--_I. N. Fazakerley_
Pirates' Song
The Turkish Captive--_W. D. , Tait's Edisiburgh Mag. _
Moonlight on the Bosphorus--_John L. O'Sullivan_
The Veil--_"Father Prout" (F. S. Mahony)_
The Favorite Sultana
The Pasha and the Dervish
The Lost Battle--_W. D. , Bentley's Miscel_. , 1839
The Greek Boy
Zara, the Bather--_John L. O'Sullivan_
Expectation--_John L. O'Sullivan _
The Lover's Wish--_V. , Eton Observer_
The Sacking of the City--_John L. O'Sullivan_
Noormahal the Fair
The Djinns--_John L. O'Sullivan_
The Obdurate Beauty--_John L. O'Sullivan_
Don Rodrigo
Cornflowers--_H. L. Williams_
Mazeppa--_H. L. Williams_
The Danube in Wrath--_Fraser's Magazine_
Old Ocean--_R. C. Ellwood_
My Napoleon--_H. L. Williams_
LES FEUILLES D'AUTOMNE. --1831.
The Patience of the People--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Dictated before the Rhone Glacier--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
The Poet's Love for Liveliness--_Fraser's Magazine_
Infantile Influence--_Henry Highton, M. A. _
The Watching Angel--_Foreign Quarterly Review_
Sunset--_Toru Dutt_
The Universal Prayer--_Henry Highton, M. A. _
The Universal Prayer--_C. , Tait's Magazine_
LES CHANTS DU CREPUSCULE. --1849.
Prelude to "The Songs of Twilight"--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
The Land of Fable--_G. W. M. Rrynolds_
The Three Glorious Days--_Elizabeth Collins_
Tribute to the Vanquished--_Fraser's Magazine_
Angel or Demon--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Eruption of Vesuvius--_Fraser's Magazine_
Marriage and Feasts--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
The Morrow of Grandeur--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Eaglet Mourned--_Fraser's Magazine_
Invocation--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Outside the Ball-room--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Prayer for France--_J. S. Macrae_
To Canaris, the Greek Patriot--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Poland--_G. W. M. Reynolds_
Insult not the Fallen--_W. C. K. Wilde_
Morning--_W. M. Hardinge_
Song of Love--_Toru Dutt_
Sweet Charmer--_H. B. Farnie_
More Strong than Time--_A. Lang_
Roses and Butterflies--_W. C. Westbrook_
A Simile--_Fanny Kemble-Butler_
The Poet to his Wife
LES VOIX INTERIEURES. --1840.
The Blinded Bourbons--_Fraser's Magazine_
To Albert Durer--_Mrs. Newton Crosland_
To his Muse--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Cow--_Toru Dutt_
Mothers--_Dublin University Magazine_
To some Birds Flown away--_Mrs. Newton Crosland_
My Thoughts of Ye--_Dublin University Magazine_
The Beacon in the Storm
Love's Treacherous Pool
The Rose and the Grave--_A. Lang_
LES RAYONS ET LES OMBRES. --1840.
Holyrood Palace--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Humble Home--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
The Eighteenth Century--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
Still be a Child--_Dublin University Magazine_
The Pool and the Soul--_R. F. Hodgson_
Ye Mariners who Spread your Sails--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
On a Flemish Window-Pane--_Fraser's Magazine_
The Preceptor--_E. E. Frewer_
Gastibelza--_H. L. Williams_
Guitar Song--_Evelyn Jerrold_
Come when I Sleep--_Wm. W. Tomlinson_
Early Love Revisited--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
Sweet Memory of Love--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
The Marble Faun--_William Young_
A Love for Winged Things
Baby's Seaside Grave
LES CHATIMENTS. --1853.
Indignation!
Imperial Revels--_H. L. W. _
Poor Little Children
Apostrophe to Nature
Napoleon "The Little"
Fact or Fable--_H. L. W. _
A Lament--_Edwin Arnold, C. S. I. _
No Assassination
The Despatch of the Doom
The Seaman's Song
The Retreat from Moscow--_Toru Dutt_
The Ocean's Song--_Toru Dutt_
The Trumpets of the Mind--_Toru Dutt_
After the Coup d'Etat--_Toru Dutt_
Patria
The Universal Republic
LES CONTEMPLATIONS. --1830-56.
The Vale to You, to Me the Heights--_H. L. W_
Childhood--_Nelson R. Tyerman_
Satire on the Earth
How Butterflies are Born--_A. Lang_
Have You Nothing to Say for Yourself? --_C. H. Kenny_
Inscription for a Crucifix
Death, in Life
The Dying Child to its Mother--_Bp. Alexander_
Epitaph--_Nelson R. Tyerman_
St. John--_Nelson R. Tyerman_
The Poet's Simple Faith--_Prof. E. Dowden_
I am Content
LA LEGENDE DES SIECLES.
Cain--_Dublin University Magazine_
Boaz Asleep--_Bp. Alexander_
Song of the German Lanzknecht--_H. L. W. _
King Canute--_R. Garnett_
King Canute--_Dublin University Magazine_
The Boy-King's Prayer--_Dublin University Magazine_
Eviradnus--_Mrs. Newton Crosland_
The Soudan, the Sphinxes, the Cup, the Lamp--_Bp. Alexander_
A Queen Five Summers Old--_Bp. Alexander_
Sea Adventurers' Song
The Swiss Mercenaries--_Bp. Alexander_
The Cup on the Battle-Field--_Toru Dutt_
How Good are the Poor--_Bp. Alexander_
LA VOIX DE GUERNESEY.
Mentana--_Edwin Arnold, C. S. I. _
LES CHANSONS DES RUES ET DES BOIS.
Love of the Woodland
Shooting Stars
L'ANNEE TERRIBLE.
To Little Jeanne--_Marwaod Tucker_
To a Sick Child during the Siege of Paris--_Lucy H. Hooper_
The Carrier Pigeon
Toys and Tragedy
Mourning--_Marwood Tucker_
The Lesson of the Patriot Dead--_H. L. W. _
The Boy on the Barricade--_H. L. W. _
To His Orphan Grandchildren--_Marwood Tucker_
To the Cannon "Victor Hugo"
L'ART D'ETRE GRANDPERE.
The Children of the Poor--_Dublin University Magazine_
The Epic of the Lion--_Edwin Arnold, C. S. I. _
LES QUATRE VENTS DE L'ESPRIT.
On Hearing the Princess Royal Sing--_Nelson R. Tyerman_
My Happiest Dream
An Old-Time Lay
Jersey
Then, most, I Smile
The Exile's Desire
The Refugee's Haven
VARIOUS PIECES.
To the Napoleon Column--_Author of "Critical Essays"_
Charity--_Dublin University Magazine_
Sweet Sister--_Mrs. B. Somers_
The Pity of the Angels
The Sower--_Toru Dutt_
Oh, Why not be Happy? --_Leopold Wray_
Freedom and the World
Serenade--_Henry F. Chorley_
An Autumnal Simile
To Cruel Ocean
Esmeralda in Prison
Lover's Song--_Ernest Oswald Coe_
A Fleeting Glimpse of a Village--_Fraser's Magazine_
Lord Rochester's Song
The Beggar's Quatrain--_H. L. C. , London Society_
The Quiet Rural Church
A Storm Simile
DRAMATIC PIECES.
The Father's Curse--_Fredk. L. Slous_
Paternal Love--_Fanny Kemble-Butler_
The Degenerate Gallants--_Lord F. Leveson Gower_
The Old and the Young Bridegroom--_Charles Sherry_
The Spanish Lady's Love--_C. Moir_
The Lover's Sacrifice--_Lord F. Leveson Gower_
The Old Man's Love--_C. Moir_
The Roll of the De Silva Race--_Lord F. Leveson Gower_
The Lover's Colloquy--_Lord F. Leveson Gower_
Cromwell and the Crown--_Leitch Ritchie_
Milton's Appeal to Cromwell
First Love--_Fanny Kemble-Butler_
The First Black Flag--_Democratic Review_
The Son in Old Age--_Foreign Quarterly Review_
The Emperor's Return--_Athenaum_
Victor in Poesy, Victor in Romance,
Cloud-weaver of phantasmal hopes and fears,
French of the French, and Lord of human tears;
Child-lover; Bard whose fame-lit laurels glance
Darkening the wreaths of all that would advance,
Beyond our strait, their claim to be thy peers;
Weird Titan by thy winter weight of years
As yet unbroken, Stormy voice of France!
TENNYSON.
MEMOIR OF VICTOR MARIE HUGO.
Towards the close of the First French Revolution, Joseph Leopold Sigisbert
Hugo, son of a joiner at Nancy, and an officer risen from the ranks in the
Republican army, married Sophie Trebuchet, daughter of a Nantes fitter-out
of privateers, a Vendean royalist and devotee.
Victor Marie Hugo, their second son, was born on the 26th of February,
1802, at Besancon, France. Though a weakling, he was carried, with his
boy-brothers, in the train of their father through the south of France,
in pursuit of Fra Diavolo, the Italian brigand, and finally into Spain.
Colonel Hugo had become General, and there, besides being governor over
three provinces, was Lord High Steward at King Joseph's court, where his
eldest son Abel was installed as page. The other two were educated for
similar posts among hostile young Spaniards under stern priestly tutors
in the Nobles' College at Madrid, a palace become a monastery. Upon the
English advance to free Spain of the invaders, the general and Abel
remained at bay, whilst the mother and children hastened to Paris.
Again, in a house once a convent, Victor and his brother Eugene were taught
by priests until, by the accident of their roof sheltering a comrade of
their father's, a change of tutor was afforded them. This was General
Lahorie, a man of superior education, main supporter of Malet in his daring
plot to take the government into the Republicans' hands during the absence
of Napoleon I. in Russia. Lahorie read old French and Latin with Victor
till the police scented him out and led him to execution, October, 1812.
School claimed the young Hugos after this tragical episode, where they
were oddities among the humdrum tradesmen's sons. Victor, thoughtful and
taciturn, rhymed profusely in tragedies, "printing" in his books,
"Chateaubriand or nothing! " and engaging his more animated brother to
flourish the Cid's sword and roar the tyrant's speeches.
In 1814, both suffered a sympathetic anxiety as their father held out at
Thionville against the Allies, finally repulsing them by a sortie. This was
pure loyalty to the fallen Bonaparte, for Hugo had lost his all in Spain,
his very savings having been sunk in real estate, through King Joseph's
insistence on his adherents investing to prove they had "come to stay. "
The Bourbons enthroned anew, General Hugo received, less for his neutrality
than thanks to his wife's piety and loyalty, confirmation of his title
and rank, and, moreover, a fieldmarshalship. Abel was accepted as a page,
too, but there was no money awarded the ex-Bonapartist--money being what
the Eaglet at Reichstadt most required for an attempt at his father's
throne--and the poor officer was left in seclusion to write consolingly
about his campaigns and "Defences of Fortified Towns. "
Decidedly the pen had superseded the sword, for Victor and Eugene were
scribbling away in ephemeral political sheets as apprenticeship to
founding a periodical of their own.
Victor's poetry became remarkable in _La Muse Francaise_ and _Le
Conservateur Litteraire_, the odes being permeated with Legitimist and
anti-revolutionary sentiments delightful to the taste of Madam Hugo, member
as she was of the courtly Order of the Royal Lily.
In 1817, the French Academy honorably mentioned Victor's "Odes on the
Advantages of Study," with a misgiving that some elder hand was masked
under the line ascribing "scant fifteen years" to the author. At the
Toulouse Floral Games he won prizes two years successively. His critical
judgment was sound as well, for he had divined the powers of Lamartine.
His "Odes," collected in a volume, gave his ever-active mother her
opportunity at Court. Louis XVIII. granted the boy-poet a pension of
1,500 francs.
It was the windfall for which the youth had been waiting to enable him to
gratify his first love. In his childhood, his father and one M. Foucher,
head of a War Office Department, had jokingly betrothed a son of the one
to a daughter of the other. Abel had loftier views than alliance with a
civil servant's child; Eugene was in love elsewhere; but Victor had fallen
enamored with Adele Foucher. It is true, when poverty beclouded the Hugos,
the Fouchers had shrunk into their mantle of dignity, and the girl had
been strictly forbidden to correspond with her child-sweetheart.
He, finding letters barred out, wrote a love story ("Hans of Iceland") in
two weeks, where were recited his hopes, fears, and constancy, and this
book she could read.
It pleased the public no less, and its sale, together with that of the
"Odes" and a West Indian romance, "Buck Jargal," together with a royal
pension, emboldened the poet to renew his love-suit. To refuse the
recipient of court funds was not possible to a public functionary.
M. Foucher consented to the betrothal in the summer of 1821.
So encloistered had Mdlle. Adele been, her reading "Hans" the exceptional
intrusion, that she only learnt on meeting her affianced that he was
mourning his mother. In October, 1822, they were wed, the bride nineteen,
the bridegroom but one year the elder.
