The full-face figures refer to the pages; the ordinary figures to the
lines.

N.B. For the poets before MALHERBE the spelling has not been
modernized. Some uniformity however has been sought, and accents are
used when they affect final vowels.


CHARLES D'ORLÉANS.

1391-1465.

Father of Louis XII, was taken prisoner in the battle of Agincourt
(1415) and passed the next twenty-five years of his life in captivity
in England. In this long leisure he developed his talent for poetry,
and on his return to France he made his residence at Blois a
gathering-point for men of letters. His poetical work marks the
utmost attainment in outward grace of expression in the treatment of
conventional subjects in the traditional fixed forms. Now and then
there is a more personal strain which suggests the more distinctly
modern lyric of Villon; but he is not to be compared with Villon in
originality of view, sincerity of feeling, or directness and intensity
of utterance.

His works were not published till the eighteenth century. The
best edition is that of Ch. d'Héricault, 2 vols., 1874 (Nouvelle
collection Jannet-Picard). Charles d'Orléans also wrote some of his
poems in English; these were published by G. W. Taylor in 1827 for the
Roxburghe Club.

For reference : Constant Beaufils, Étude sur la vie et les poésies de
Charles d'Orléans, 1861; Robert Louis Stevenson, Familiar Studies of
Men and Books, London, 1882.

1. BALLADE. For the form of the ballade see the remarks on
versification, p. xxi. 2. ESTOYE, étais; for initial e from
escf. esveillera, l. 14, Esté, 3, 8. 3. AVOIENT, avaient; in
the imperfect and conditional oi, from an earlier ei, continued
to be written till late in the eighteenth century, long after in
pronunciation it had come to have the value of ai. 4. HAYENT,
haïssent, y is found frequently in the older spelling for i,
especially when final. 5. DESCONFORT= découragement. 8. SI FAIS =
ainsi je fais; the omission of the pronoun is common at this time;
cf. 8, 24, direz. 10. NE ... NE = ni ... ni. GREVANCE = dommage,
malheur. 14. ACCORT,accord. 16. SOYENT, soient; here of two
syllables, in modern verse of one. 17. VEOIR, voir; here of two
syllables. 22. SORT, evil spell. 24. LOING, loin.

2. I. VUEIL, veux, HOIR = héritier. 5. NUL NE PORTE= que nul ne
porte. 6. VENT, vend. MARCHIÉ, marché. 7. TIENGNE = tienne.
POUR TOUT VOIR = vraiment; let every one consider it a certain
fact. RONDEL. For the form of the rondel see the remarks on
versification, p. xxi. II. AVECQUES, avec. 12. COMBIEN QUE = bien
que. 17. RAPAISE = s'apaise. 19. TANTOST = bientôt; s before
l, m, n, and t has regularly disappeared; cf. vestu, 24,
beste, 26, bruslerent, 4, 26, mesme, 5, 22, maistre, 6,1.
RONDEL. "Le Temps a laissié son manteau." 22. LAISSIÉ, laissé. 24.
BROUDERYE, broderie. 25. LUYANT, luisant, CLER, clair.

3. 4. LIVRÉE could be used now in the body of the line only before
a word beginning with a vowel. 6. ABILLE, habille. RONDEL. "Les
Fourriers d'Esté sont venus." 13. VERT, feminine ; in adjectives of
two endings of the Latin third declension, like grandis, fortis,
viridis, the feminine ending eis due to the influence of adjectives
of three endings, and does not appear in Old French. 16. PIEÇA =
naguère. 18. PRENEZ PAÏS, take to the country, i.e. depart. 19.
YVER, hiver.

4. RONDEL. "Dieu! qu'il la fait bon regarder." 2. SÇAY, sais; c
was introduced into the forms of savoir under the mistaken notion
that it was connected with scire. 4. UNG, un.


FRANÇOIS VILLON.

1431-146-?.

Poet and vagabond, he led a most irregular life, twice narrowly
escaped hanging, and composed many of his poems in prison. He was a
poet of great originality, for he broke away from the conventional
subjects and the allegorizing habit of the Middle Ages and gave to the
lyric a personal note and a depth and poignancy of feeling that made
it almost a new creation, though he still adhered mainly to the
traditional forms and showed a special preference for the ballade.
Most of his ballades are introduced into his main works, the Petit
Testament and the Grand Testament, which are entirely personal in
contents.

His works were first published in 1489; Marot prepared an edition in
the following century, Paris, 1533; they were not reprinted in the
seventeenth century; convenient recent editions are those of P.
L. Jacob (Paul Lacroix), 1854; P. Jannet (Nouvelle collection
Jannet-Picard) and A. Longnon, 1892.

For reference: A. Longnon, Étude biographique sur François Villon,
1877; Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi, vol. xiv; Th. Gautier, les
Grotesques; J. Lemaître, Impressions de théâtre, troisième série,
1889 ; Robert Louis Stevenson, Familiar Studies of Men and Books,
London, 1882.

4. BALLADE DES DAMES DU TEMPS JADIS. Dante Gabriel Rossetti has
translated this ballade, which is perhaps the most famous one in the
language. 6. DICTES, dites, n'en = ni en ; in Old French ne
could be used for the simple alternative 'or.' 7. FLORA; a late
tradition made of the Roman goddess of flowers and spring a wealthy
and beautiful woman. 8. ARCHIPIDIA, perhaps Hipparchia is meant;
THAIS, an Athenian beauty of the fourth century B.C. 10. ECHO, the
nymph of classical mythology. MAINE, mène. 11. ESTAN, étang. 13.
ANTAN, last year (from Latin ante annum); Rossetti translates
"yesteryear". 14. HELOÏS, Heloise, or Eloise. 16. ESBAILLART, Abelard
(1079-1142), a French scholar and philosopher, whose love for the
beautiful and accomplished Heloise, one of his pupils, has passed
into legend, which has quite transformed the fact. SAINCT-DENYS,
Saint-Denis, only four and one half miles from Paris, celebrated for
the cathedral of Saint-Denis in which are the tombs of the kings of
France. Abelard resided for a time in the abbey of Saint-Denis. 17.
ESSOYNE = peine. 18. ROYNE, reine; Marguerite de Bourgogne, wife
of Louis le Hutin, is meant, the heroine of the legend of the Tour
de Nesle, according to which she had her numerous lovers killed and
thrown into the Seine. Buridan was more fortunate and escaped; he was
afterwards a learned professor of the University of Paris. She herself
was strangled in prison in 1314. 21. LA ROYNE BLANCHE, Blanche de
Castille, mother of Saint Louis. 22. SEREINE, sirène. 23. BERTHE AU
GRAND PIED, celebrated in the chansons de geste, was the mother of
Charlemagne. BIETRIS, Beatrix de Provence, married in 1245 to Charles,
son of Louis VIII. ALLYS, Alix de Champagne, married in 1160 to Louis
le Jeune. 24. HAREMBOURGES, Eremburge, daughter of Elie de la Flèche,
count of Maine, who died in 1110. 25. JEHANNE, Joan of Arc, who was
burned at the stake at Rouen in 1431.

5.
1. N'ENQUEREZ, do not seek to know. SEPMAINE,semaine. 3. QUE ...
NE, lest. REMAINE = reste. LAY ou PLUSTOST RONDEAU. 8. SE, si.
12. DEVIE = meure. 13. VOIRE = vraiment. JE CONNAIS TOUT FORS
QUE MOI-MEME. 15. LAICT. lait. 21. BESONGNE = travaille. CHOMME,
chôme. 24. GONNE, gown, a monk's garment.

6. 3. PIPEUR, one who whistles in imitation of birds ; je congnois
pipeur qui jargonne, I know the tricks of the bird-catcher. 4. FOLZ
NOURRIZ DE CRESME, refers perhaps to the pampered court jesters. 7.
MULLET, mulet. 10. GECT, a counter for counting and adding (qui
nombre et somme). 12. BOESMES, Bohemians; la faults des Boesmes
is the heresy of the followers of John Huss (1369- 1415) and Jerome
of Prague (1375-1416). 16. COULEREZ ET BLESMES = teints colorés et
blêmes»


CLEMENT MAROT.

1497-1544.

He abandoned the law to live at court and write verses. After his
first successes, he became page in the household of Marguerite of
Navarre, and continued to enjoy her protection and that of her
brother, Francis I., though this could not save him, when accused
of heresy because of the welcome that he gave to the ideas of the
Reformation, from the necessity of twice fleeing to Italy for safety.
In spite of some deeper notes and in spite of his translation of the
first fifty Psalms, which is used in French Protestant churches, he
was by no means a religious reformer. He was essentially a court poet,
putting into graceful verse, ballades, rondeaux, epistles, epigrams,
etc., the trifles, jests, sallies, and elegant badinage that delighted
courtly society.

Works: l'Adolescence Clémentine, 1532; Oeuvres de Clément Marot,
Lyon, 1538; Trente Psaumes de David, 1541; Cinquante Psaumes de
David, 1543 ; les Oeuvres de Clément Marot, Lyon, 1544; Oeuvres
complètes de Clément Marot, par M. Guiffrey, 1876-81 (only part has
appeared); Oeuvres complètes, par P. Jannet, 4 vols., 1868-72;
Oeuvres choisies, par E. Voizard, 1890.

For reference: E. Scherer, Études littéraires sur la littérature
contemporaine, vol. viii; Emile Faguet, le Seizième siècle, 1893;
H. Morley, C. Marot and other studies, London, 1871.

RONDEAU. For the form see the remarks on versification.

20. SE DEMENOIT, expressed itself. 21. C'ESTOIT DONNÉ TOUTE LA TERRE
RONDE, i.e. it was as if one had given. 23. "They loved each other for
the heart alone."

24. SI A JOUIR ON VENOIT, if one's love was returned. 25.
s'entretenoit, kept faith.

7 2. FEINCTS, feints. OYT, from ouïr. 3. Qui = si quelqu'un. ME
FONDE, rely.


PIERRE DE RONSARD.

1524-1585.

The greatest French poet of the Renaissance, he entered the household
of the Duke of Orleans at the age of ten, spent three years as page
of James V. of Scotland, and traveled much about Europe on various
embassies. At eighteen, attacked by deafness, he withdrew to the
college of Coqueret and was won to poetry by study of the ancients. It
was then that a common love for the classical literatures and a common
zeal for imitating their beauties in French bound him to the other
young men who with him called themselves the Pleiad and set themselves
to the task of renewing French literature in the image of the
literatures of antiquity. In 1550, the year after the appearance of
the manifesto of the young school, the Défense et Illustration de la
langue française of du Bellay, he published a volume of odes. His
fame was instant and immense; he returned in glory to court, and for
forty years the authority of his example was hardly questioned. His
talent was exercised in almost all kinds of verse, chansons, sonnets,
elegies, eclogues, hymns, epistles, and even in the epic, where,
however, his experiment, la Franciade, was a complete failure,
abandoned when but four of the proposed twelve cantos were finished.
But his genius was essentially lyric. The ode was his special
contribution to French verse; in it he followed the classical form
with its divisions into strophe, antistrophe, and epode, sometimes in
direct imitation of Pindar, Anacreon, Theocritus, or Horace. His best
work is that in which he freed himself most fully from the influence
of a model. His deepest and truest note's are those that celebrate the
pleasures of this life, the delights of nature, and the inevitable
"cold obstruction" of death.

Works: Odes and Bocage, 1550; Amours, Odes, book v, 1552,
1553; Hymnes, 1555, book ii, 1556; Meslanges, 1555, book ii, 1559;
Oeuvres (Amours, Odes, Poèmes, Hymnes), 4 vols., 1560; Oeuvres,
i vol., 1584; recent editions are Oeuvres complètes, par P.
Blanchemain, 8 vols., 1857-67 (Bibliothèque elzévirienne); par
Marty-Laveaux, 6 vols., 1887 ff.; Oeuvres choisies, avec notice de
Sainte-Beuve, I vol.

For reference: Excellent biographical study by Marty-Laveaux in his
edition of the works; Émile Faguet, le Seizième siècle, 1893 ;
Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi, vol. xii.

7. A CASSANDRE. 8. DESCLOSE, opened. 10. A POINT PERDU; ne was
not, and still is not always, required in the question; cf. 164,
22. VESPREE = soir; cf. vêpre. 13. LAS, hélas. 20. FLEURONNE=
fleurit.

8. CHANSON. 27. AMOUR, Cupid. 1. CHENEVIERE = chanvre. 3. MY-NUD,
half naked. 19. FOL LE PELICAN; cf. for another use of this popular
notion about the pelican the famous picture in the Nuit de mai of
Alfred de Musset, 150, 12 ff. A HÉLÈNE. 26. OYANT, from ouïr. 27.
DESJA, déjà. 29. BENISSANT VOSTRE NOM, etc., i.e. congratulating you
on being immortalized by the poet's praise.

9. 2. OMBRES MYRTEUX, shadows of the myrtles. ÉLÉGIE. 8. VENDEMOIS,
one of the old divisions of France, on the Loire. It was the
birth-place of Ronsard. 10. REMORS; has here rather the sense of
regret. 13. AGEZ, agés the spelling -ez for -és was usual.
22. CHEF = tête. 23. DE RECHEF = de nouveau. 24. PERRUQUE =
chevelure. 26. VERDS, strong, supple.

10. DIEU VOUS GARD. 7. GARD, the form of the present subjunctive
regularly descended from the Latin subjunctive in verbs of the first
conjugation. The ending e, added later, is due to analogy. 8.
VISTES ARONDELLES, vites (rapides) hirondelles. 10. TOURTRES =
tourterelles. 12. VERDELETS, verts; such diminutives were quite
in favor in the language of the time; cf. rossignolet, nouvelet,
fleurettes. 15. BOUTONS JADIS COGNUS, etc., i.e. the hyacinth and the
narcissus. 29. AU PRIX DE, in comparison with.

11. A UN AUBESPIN. 6. LAMBRUNCHE, a wild vine. 10. PERTUIS, holes.
12. AVETTES = abeilles. 30. RUER = jeter.

12. ÉLÉGIE CONTRE LES BÛCHERONS DE LA FORÊT DE GASTINE. Cf. the
poem by Laprade, p. 192. Gastine is in Haut-Poitou, in the present
department of Deux-Sèvres. 14. PERSÉ, percé. 15. MASTIN, mâtin.
21. PANS, used by Ronsard in the plural as if he thought them a kind
of being, like Satyrs. 22. FANS, now written faons, but still
pronounced as if spelled fans. 24. PREMIER, used adverbially. 26.
ESTONNER in the older language expressed a physical shock; to stun.
28. NEUVAINE, composed of nine. TROPE, troupe; the nine muses.
Calliope was the muse of epic poetry, and Euterpe the muse of music
and lyric poetry.

13. 3. ALTEREZ, BRUSLEZ, ETHEREZ, see note on agez, 9, 13. 8.
DORDONEENS, referring to the forest of Dordona, in Epirus, where
oracles were rendered from oak trees. According to Greek traditions
the first men lived on acorns and raw flesh. 16. ET QU'EN CHANGEANT DE
FORME, etc., and that it will change its form and put on a new one.


JOACHIM DU BELLAY.

1525-1560.

After Ronsard the foremost poet of the Pleiad. He was of an
illustrious family, but, cut off from a brilliant public career by
ill health and deafness, he sought consolation in letters. He even
preceded Ronsard in inaugurating the literary reform, issuing the
manifesto of the new movement, his Défense et Illustration de la
langue française, his collection of sonnets called Olive, and a
Recueil de poésies, all in 1549. Shortly afterwards he accompanied
his cousin, Cardinal du Bellay, to Rome; the admiration which the
historic associations of the city excited in him and his disgust
at the intrigues of the court and the corruptions of Italian life,
mingled with homesickness for the pleasant sights and quiet air of his
native Anjou, inspired the two collections of sonnets which are his
best, the Antiquités romaines, translated by Spenser in 1591, and
the Regrets.

Works: Olive, Recueil de poésies, 1549; Premier livre des
antiquités de Rome, 1558; Jeux rustiques, 1558; les Regrets,
1559 ; Oeuvres, 1569. Recent editions are : Oeuvres complètes, par
Marty-Laveaux, 2 vols., 1866-67; Oeuvres choisies, par Becq de
Fouquières, 1876.

For reference: Léon Séché, Joachim du Bellay, 1880; E. Faguet, le
Seizième siècle, 1893 ; Sainte-Beuve, Nouveaux lundis, vol. xiii;
Walter Pater, The Renaissance, London, 1873.

13. L'IDÉAL. This is from the first collection of sonnets, Olive.
The influence of Petrarch is evident. Compare also the lines of the
sestet with the final stanzas of Lamartine's Isolement, p. 65. 22.
En 1'eternel = dans l'éternité.

14. L'AMOUR DU CLOCHER. From the Regrets. 8. cestuy, old form of
demonstrative, celui. The reference is of course to Jason. 9. USAGE,
experience. 11. QUAND REVERRAY-JE, etc., cf. Homer's Odyssey, I, 58.
18. LOYRE, the name of the river is now feminine. 19. LIRÉ, a little
village in Anjou, was the birth-place of du Bellay. D'UN VANNEUR DE
BLÉ AUX VENTS. From the collection entitled Jeux rustiques.


15. 8. CESTE, cette. 10. J'AHANNE = je me fatigue.


AGRIPPA D'AUBIGNÉ.

1550-1630.

Soldier as well as poet, he was a leader of the Huguenots in the wars
that ended with the accession of Henry IV. After the assassination of
Henry IV., his safety became more and more threatened in France, and
he withdrew finally to Geneva. His main work is a long descriptive
and narrative poem, but in many parts essentially lyrical, les
Tragiques, a fierce picture of France in the civil wars. In his
lyrics, which comprise stances, odes, and élégies, he is a
follower of the tradition of Ronsard.

Works: Les Tragiques, 1616; a recent edition is by L. Lalanne, 1857;
also in the Oeuvres complètes, par MM. Reaume et de Caussade, 4
vols., 1873-77.

For reference: Pergameni, la Satire au seizième siècle et les
Tragiques d'Agrippa d'Aubignê, 1881; E. Faguet, le Seizième siècle,
1893.

15. L'HYVER. 14. IRONDELLES, hirondelles. 19. N'ESLOIGNE, ne
s'éloigne de.

16. 2. COMME IL FIT, i.e. comme il alluma des flammes. 10. SEREINES,
sirènes. 14. USAGE, fruition.


JEAN BERTAUT.

1552-1611.

A man by no means of the poetic stature of Ronsard, du Bellay, and
D'Aubigné; he found great favor in his day, but his lyric note was not
powerful enough to endure long. He is most successful in the graceful
expression of a natural melancholy, as in the example here given. He
was a follower, in moderation, of the Pleiad.

Works : Recueil des oeuvres poétiques de J. Bertaut, l601; appeared
again enlarged in 1605 ; Recueil de quelques vers amoureux, 1602 :
both collections are included in Oeuvres poétiques, 1620; a
recent edition is edited by A. Chenevière, 1891 (Bibliothèque
elzévirienne). CHANSON. 27. DEMEURE, delay.

17. 4. FAY, fais.

23. VOY, vois.

25. VY, vis.


MATHURIN REGNIER.

1573-1613.

Though bred to the church and early settled in a good living, he led
a life that was hardly edifying. He possessed brilliant talents, but
failed to make the most of them. He was indolent and fond of good
living, and was restive under discipline, as is evident in his work
and in his irritation at Malherbe. He had a gift of keen observation,
and his satires excelled in interest what he composed in the more
lyrical forms of ode and elegy.

Works : Oeuvres, 1608, 1612 ; recent editions are those of Viollet
le Duc, 1853 (Bibliothèque elzévirienne), and E. Courbet, 1875.

For reference : J. Vianey, Mathurin Régnier, 1896.


FRANÇOIS DE MALHERBE.

1555-1628.

He marks an epoch in the history of French letters. Boileau's famous
phrase, "enfin Malherbe vint," dates from him the beginning of worthy
French poetry. What did begin with him was that tradition of refinement,
elegance, polish and perfect propriety of phrase that continued to rule
French literature for two centuries. He lent the influence of a very
positive voice to the growing demand for a standard of authority in
grammar and versification and for recognized canons of criticism. The
lyrical impulse in him was small, but some of his lines live in virtue
of the finished propriety and harmony of expression.

Works: Oeuvres, 1628; the best edition is that of L. Lalanne, 5 vols.,
1862-69 {Collection des Grands Écrivains).

For reference: G. Allais, Malherbe, 1891; F. Brunot, la Doctrine
de Malherbe, 1891; F. Brunetière, l'Évolution des genres, vol. i,
1890; Études critiques sur l'histoire de la littérature française,
vol. v, 1893.

21. CONSOLATION À M. DU PÉRIER. 5. TITHON, Tithonus, who obtained from
the gods immortality but not eternal youth. After age had completely
wasted and shriveled him he was changed into a grasshopper. 6. PLUTON,
Pluto, god of the nether world, the abode of the dead. 8. ARCHÉMORE,
Archemorus or Opheltes, son of Lycurgus, king of Nemea, died in
infancy from the bite of a serpent.

22. I. FRANÇOIS, Francis I.; his oldest son, Francis, born in 1517,
died suddenly in 1526, and Charles V. was suspected of having had him
poisoned, and dire vengeance was wreaked upon the person of Sebastian
de Montecuculli, cupbearer of Charles V. The suspicions proved to be
wholly groundless. 5. ALCIDE, Alcides, by which name Hercules was known
till he consulted the oracle of Delphi. 9. LA DURANCE, a river in
southwestern France, flowing into the Rhone below Avignon. After
beginning an agressive campaign in this part of France in the summer of
1536, the Spaniards were in September forced to a disastrous retreat.
13. DE MOI, for my own part; Malherbe had lost his first two children,
 Henry in 1587 and Jourdaine in 1599. 27. LOUVRE; the palace of the
Louvre, begun in 1541 by Francis

I. on the site of a royal château built by Philip Augustus, and added
to by his successors, was a royal residence until the Revolution.

23. CHANSON. 20. en sa liberté, i.e. free from her pursuit. PARAPHRASE
DU PSAUME CXLV. This is Psalm CXLVI in our English Bible.


JEAN RACINE.

1639-1699.

A dramatic genius of the highest order. But besides being a great
dramatist he was a consummate master of language. The choruses in
Esther and Athalie are excellent examples of the kind of lyric that
the tendencies represented by Malherbe permitted. The extract here
given is from Esther, Act III. The approach to the language of the
Psalms is evident throughout.


JEAN-BAPTISTE ROUSSEAU.

1670-1741.

The chief representative of the serious lyric in the eighteenth
century. This ode is a favorable example of the form which lyric
utterance assumed in this philosophizing century and under the
tradition of poetic dignity and propriety.

27. ODE À LA FORTUNE. 16. SYLLA (138-78 B.C.), the enemy of Marius and
author of the bloody proscription against the adherents of his rival.
17. ALEXANDRE, Alexander the Great. 18. ATTILA, king of the Huns from
434 to 453, who ravaged southern and western Europe from 450 to 452
and was known as "the scourge of God."

28. 16. LE RETOUR, i.e. the adverse turn.


ÉVARISTE-DÉSIRÉ DESFORGES DE PARNY.

1753-1814.

He wrote mostly in a lighter and erotic vein. He had many admirers
in his day who styled him the French Tibullus. His influence is
perceptible in the style of Lamartine.

Works: Poésies érotiques, 1778; Opuscules poétiques, 1779,
enlarged in succeeding editions; les Rosicroix, 1807; Oeuvres, 5
vols., 1808; Oeuvres choisies, 1827.

For reference : Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi, vol. xv;
Portraits contemporains, vol. iv; George Saintsbury, Miscellaneous
Essays, London, 1892.


NICOLAS GILBERT.

1751-1780.

He has often been compared with Chatterton and has owed much of his
fame to the unfounded legend that he was a child of genius brought to
an untimely death by poverty and lack of recognition. His satires on
the vices of his time enjoyed a temporary reputation, but his real
legacy to posterity is the well-known lines here given.

Works: Oeuvres complètes, 1788, and frequently thereafter.


ROUGET DE L'ISLE.

1760-1836.

Though he wrote much in both prose and verse, nothing of his lives
except the Marseillaise, which has become the national song of
France. He composed both words and music in the night of April 25,
1792, while he was an officer of engineers at Strassburg. The last
stanza vas added later by another hand. The name, la Marseillaise,
comes from the fact that it was introduced to Paris by the troops from
Marseilles.

Works: Essais en vers et en prose, 1796.

For reference: J. Tiersot, Rouget de l'Isle, son oeuvre, sa vie,
1892.

32. LA MARSEILLAISE. 6. Beuillé, François-Claude Amour, marquis de
(1739-1800), a devoted royalist, who planned the flight of Louis XVI.
When the king was captured at Varennes he fled to England, where he
died.


MARIE-ANDRÉ CHÉNIER.

1762-1794.

The most genuine poet of the eighteenth century. Born at Constantinople
of a Greek mother, he knew Greek early and fed himself on the Greek
poets, imbibing something of their spirit. His elegies, idyls, and odes
are not mere repetitions of the conventional commonplaces, but new,
original, and vigorous in idea and expression. He anticipated the
Romanticists in breaking over the received rules of versification and
in giving greater flexibility and variety to the Alexandrine line.

Works : Poésies, first published by H. de Latouche, 1819; later
editions are by Becq de Fouquières, 1862 and 1872; G. de Chénier, with
new material, 3 vols., 1874; by Louis Moland, 2 vols., 1878-79.

For reference: Sainte-Beuve, Portraits littéraires, vol. i;
Portraits contemporains, vols, ii and v; Causeries du lundi, vol.
iv; Nouveaux lundis, vol. iii; E. Faguet, le Dix- huitième siècle,
1890; E. Caro, la Fin du dix-huitième siècle, vol. ii, 1882; J.
Haraszti, la Poésie d'André Chénier, 1892.

32. LA JEUNE CAPTIVE. This, as well as the Iambes following, was
written in the Saint-Lazare prison shortly before Chénier was sent
to the guillotine. The young captive was Mlle. Aimée de Coigny; she
escaped the guillotine and afterwards married M. de Montrond; she died
in 1820.

33. 18. PHILOMÈLE; Philomela was daughter of Pandion, king of Athens.
Pursued by Tereus, king of Thrace, she was changed into a nightingale.
The name is frequently employed in poetry for the nightingale.

34. 16. PALÈS, a Roman divinity of flocks and shepherds.

35. IAMBES. 23. BAVUS, a conventional name; it is not clear who was in
the poet's mind.


MARIE-JOSEPH CHENIER.

1764-1811.

A younger brother of André Chénier, enjoyed a great reputation as a
dramatic poet and critic. Aside from the Chant du départ, which had
a reputation approaching that of the Marseillaise, he is hardly to
be considered as a lyric poet.

Works: Oeuvres complètes, 8 vols., 1823-1826; Poésies, 1844.

37. LE CHANT du DÉPART. 9. De BARRA, DE VIALA; Agricole Viala and
François-Joseph Barra (properly Bara) were both young boys, thirteen
and fourteen years of age, who fell fighting with the revolutionary
armies, the former in the Vendée, the latter near Avignon. To both the
Convention voted the honors of burial in the Pantheon. Their names are
often coupled, as here.


ANTOINE-VINCENT ARNAULT.

1766-1834.

He wrote a number of tragedies and a collection of fables that were
admired in their day, but his name is best preserved for the larger
public by this brief elegy, which is found in most anthologies. The
circumstances attending its composition, on the eve of his departure
from France after his banishment in January, 1816, are related by
Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi, vol. vii, in the course of his
notice of Arnault, which should be consulted.


FRANÇOIS-RENÉ, VICOMTE DE CHAUTEAUBRIAND.

1768-1848.

An enormous literary force at the beginning of this century; M. E.
Faguet calls him the "greatest date in French letters since the
Pleiad." But the instrument of his power was prose. His attempts in
verse were poor. Yet he exercised a direct influence towards the
renewal of lyric poetry, as has been indicated in the introduction.

For reference: E. Faguet, Études littéraires sur le dix-neuvième
siècle, 1887 ; F. Brunetière, l'Évolution de la poésie lyrique au
dix-neuvième siècle, vol. i, 1894.

39. LE MONTAGNARD EXILÉ. Introduced into the prose tale, le Dernier
des Abencérages (1807). "J'en avais composé les paroles pour un air
des montagnes d'Auvergne remarquable par sa douceur et sa simplicité."
(Author's note.) 24. la Dore, a rapid stream in the department Puy-
de-Dôme, flowing into the Allier. 27. l'airain, i.e. the bell.


MARIE-ANTOINE DÉSAUGIERS.

1772-1827.

He represents a domain of the lyric that has always been industriously
tilled in France, that of the chanson. The tradition of the song
is distinctly bacchanalian, and rarely has it claimed serious
consideration as literature. But Désaugiers now and then foreshadows
the larger and more serious treatment the chanson was to receive at
the hands of Béranger and Dupont.

Works: Chansons et Poésies diverses, 3 vols., 1808-1816; a Choix de
chansons appeared in 1858; another in 1859, and others since.

For reference: Sainte-Beuve, Portraits contemporains, vol. v; George
Saintsbury, Miscellaneous Essays, London, 1892.


CHARLES NODIER.

1780-1844.

Promoted the romantic movement by his personal contact with the group
of young writers that he drew around him more than by what he himself
wrote. He was one of those who felt and transmitted the influence of
Germany. He is better known by his stories than by his verse.

Works : Essais d'un jeune barde, 1804 ; Poésies diverses, 1827.

For reference : Mme. Mennessier-Nodier, Charles Nodier, épisodes et
souvenirs de sa vie, 1867 ; Sainte-Beuve, Portraits littéraires,
vol. i.


PIERRE-JEAN DE BÉRANGER.

1780-1857.

The first in rank of the chansonniers. The chanson in his hands took
on a breadth, a meaning, and a seriousness that it had never before
possessed, and that make him secure of a place in the literature of
his country. He used the song largely as a vehicle for his political
opinions, even as a political weapon. The object of his attack was the
monarchy of the restoration and the pre-revolutionary ideas which it
tried to revive, and his weapon was formidable because it was so
well fitted to be caught up and wielded by the masses of the people.
Béranger was popular in the more original sense of the word. He
appealed to the masses by his ideas, which were those of the average
man, and by the form which he gave them and the efficient aid of the
current airs to which he wedded them, so that his words not only
reached the ears of an audience far wider than that of the readers of
books, but found a lodgment in their memories. Works: The successive
collections of Chansons appeared in 1815, 1821, 1825, 1828, 1833;
Oevres posthumes, and Oeuvres complètes, 2 vols., 1857.

For reference: Saint-Beuve, Portraits contemporains, vol. i;
Causeries du lundi, vols, ii, xv; Nouveaux lundis, vol. i; E.
Caro, Poètes et romanciers, 1888; C. Coquelin in The Century, vol.
xxiv, with portraits.

43. LE ROI D'YVETOT (May, 1813) is perhaps the most famous of his
songs. Yvetot is a small town in Normandy, near Havre. The lords of
Yvetot were given the title of king in the fifteenth century. The
reference of the song to Napoleon is clear.

44. 11. BAN; lever le ban means to call out one's vassals or
subjects. 13. TIRER AU BLANC, to shoot at a target.

45. LE VILAIN. 30.LE LÉOPARD; the French heralds describe the device
of the English coat of arms as a lion léopardé; so the French often
use the leopard as a symbol for the English.

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.

123. LE CHANT DE CEUX QUI S'EN VONT SUR MER. Dated: En mer, 1er août,
1852. This and the next following poems, from les Châtiments, are
the expression of the poet's hatred for Napoleon III. This volume
was the direct fruit of his exile in consequence of his determined
opposition to the imperial ambitions of Napoleon. He had been active
in trying to organize resistance after the coup d'état, and with
difficulty had evaded arrest and escaped to Brussels. After the
publication of his denunciatory volume, Napoléon le Petit, the
Belgian government expelled him. and he took refuge first in England,
whence he passed immediately to the island of Jersey, where he
arrived on the fifth of August, 1852. In 1855 residence in Jersey was
forbidden him and he removed to Guernsey, where he continued to reside
till the downfall of Napoleon I.

124. LUNA. July, 1853. 23. L'AN QUATRE-VINGT-ONZE, 1791, the beginning
of the French Revolution.

126. LE CHASSEUR NOIR. September, 1853. 27. SAINT ANTOINE; Saint
Anthony (250-356) was a native of Upper Egypt, withdrew to the desert,
and gave his life up to ascetic devotion in solitude and voluntary
poverty. Legend represents him as beset by tempting demons.

128. LUX. December, 1853. 9. Capets; the kings of France from the
accession of Hugh Capet in 987 to that of the house of Valois with
Philip VI. in 1328 were Capets.

129. ULTIMA VERBA. December, 1853. 4. Mandrin, a notorious bandit,
executed in 1755.

130. 3. Louvre, see note p. 318. 22. Sylla, see note p. 319. CHANSON.
"Proscrit, regarde les roses." May, 1854; from les Quatre Vents de
l'esprit, livre lyrique. Concerning the inexact rhyme semai: mai,
rare with Hugo, see Revue politique et littéraire, July 16, 1881.

132. EXIL. Between 1868 and 1881; from les Quatre Vents de l'esprit,
livre lyrique. 5. COLOMBE, his daughter Léopoldine. 6. ET TOI, MÈRE;
Mme Victor Hugo died in 1868. SAISON DES SEMAILLES. LE SOIR. From les
Chansons des rues et des bois. The poem is not dated; the volume
appeared in 1865.

133. 2. LABOURS, plowed fields. This seems almost to have been
written for the well-known painting of "The Sower" by Millet,
exhibited in 1850. However, Millet's sower is a young man. UN HYMNE
HARMONIEUX. From les Quatre Vents de l'esprit, the poem bears no
date.

134. PROMENADE DANS LES ROCHERS. From les Quatre Vents de l'esprit;
not dated.


AUGUSTE BRIZEUX.

1803-1858.

He is remembered for his simple and touching poems, full of the
landscape and of the rural life of his native Brittany. He also
translated Dante's Divine Comedy.

Works: Marie, 1835; les Ternaires, 1841 (the title of this
collection was later changed to la Fleur d'or); les Bretons, 1845;
Histoires poétiques, 1855; Oeuvres complètes, 1861, 2 vols.;
Oeuvres, 4 vols., 1879-84.

For reference: Sainte-Beuve, Portraits contemporains, vols, ii and
iii; Lecigne, Brizeux, sa vie et ses oeuvres, Lille, 1898.


AUGUSTE BARBIER.

1805-1880.

He secured immediate fame by the vigorous satire of his first work,
Iambes, and he is probably still best remembered for this, though
later volumes, especially Il Pianto, contain work of more perfect
finish.

Works: Iambes, 1831; La Popularité, 1831; Lazare, 1833; Il
Pianto, 1833 (these are now included in one volume, Iambes et
poèmes); Nouvelles Satires, 1837; Chants civils et religieux, 1841;
Rimes héroïques, 1843; Sylves, 1865.

For reference: Sainte-Beuve, Portraits contemporains, vol. ii.

138. L'IDOLE. May, 1831. The whole poem consists of five parts.


2. MESSIDOR, one of the months of the revolutionary calender,
beginning with the nineteenth of June. It was the first of the summer
months.


MADAME D'AGOULT.

1806-1876.

Marie-Sophie Catherine de Flavigny, comtesse d'Agoult, wrote under
the pseudonym Daniel Stern. Her work is mainly in prose, in history,
criticism and fiction, but she wrote a few lyrics marked by deep and
true sentiment. A biographical notice by L. de Ronchand will be found
in the second edition of her Esquisses morales, 1880.


FÉLIX ARVERS.

1806-1851.

He wrote mainly for the stage, and left but one volume of poems, Mes
Heures perdues, which are all forgotten save this famous sonnet. The
lady who inspired it is said to have been the daughter of Charles
Nodier, afterwards Mme. Mennessier-Nodier. Mes Heures perdues was
reprinted in 1878, with a notice of Arvers by Th. de Banville.


GÉRARD DE NERVAL.

1808-1855.

Gérard Labrunie, known in letters as Gérard de Nerval, was one of the
group of young Romanticists who gathered around Hugo. Symptoms of
insanity developed early, and at different times he was an inmate
of an asylum. He finally committed suicide. He felt profoundly the
influence of German literature, and his lyrics show something of this
in the spiritual quality of their sentiment.

Works: Élégies nationales et satires politiques, 1827; translation
of Goethe's Faust, 1828; la Bohême galante, 1856; Oeuvres
completes, 5 vols., 1868.

For reference: Th. Gautier, Histoire du romantisme; Portraits et
souvenirs littéraires; Arvède Barine, Névrosés, 1898.

140. FANTAISIE. Gioacchino Antonio ROSSINI (1792-1868), one of the
foremost Italian composers of the century, author of William Tell
(1829), and other well-known operas. Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART was a
native of Austria, and one of the greatest musical geniuses that ever
lived. Among his works are the operas Le Nozze di Figaro (1786),
Don Giovanni (1787), Die Zauberflöte (1791); the famous Requiem;
the symphony in G minor, etc. Karl Maria von WEBER (1786-1826),
one of the founders of German as opposed to Italian opera. Der
Freischütz is his most famous work.


HÉGÉSIPPE MOREAU.

1810-1838.

In his short and unhappy struggle with poverty and illness he produced
a few graceful short stories and a thin volume of verse, le Myosotis
(1838), that reveals a genuine, though not remarkable, lyric gift.
See Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi, vol. iv. The poems of le
Myosotis, and some others, now make vol. ii. of his Oeuvres
complètes, 2 vols., 1890-91.

141. LA FERMIÈRE. This poem was sent as a New Year's gift to Madame
Guérard, who had taken the poet in and entertained him when ill.

142. 31. FILS DE LA VIERGE, "débris de toiles d'araignée que le vent
emporte"; air-thread, gossamer.


ALFRED DE MUSSET.

1810-1857.

A lyric poet of a comparatively narrow range, but within it
surpassingly genuine and spontaneous. Almost his only theme was the
passion of love, in some form or degree. But what he lacked in breadth
he made up in the directness and intensity of his accent, and these
eminently lyric qualities give his lyrics a distinction among those of
his country. He began as a Romanticist, but soon grew away from the
school of Hugo as it developed. With his negligence of form and his
surrender to the passion of the moment, he is the opposite of Gautier;
and the poets of the later school which derives from Gautier have
neglected and depreciated him.

Works: Contes d'Espagne et d'Italie, 1830; le Spectacle dans un
fauteuil, 1833; after this most of his poems appeared in the Revue
des Deux Mondes; they are now collected in Premières poésies, 1
vol., containing the poems of the first two volumes and a few others,
and Poésies nouvelles, 1 vol., containing the Nuits, and the later
poems.

For reference: P. de Musset, Biographie d'Alfred de Musset 1877
(naturally partial); A. Barine, Alfred de Musset, 1893; Spoelberch
de Lovenjoul, la Véritable histoire de "Elle et Lui" 1897;
Sainte-Beuve, Portraits contemporains, vol. ii; Causeries du lundi,
vols, i and xiii; E. Montégut, Nos Morts contemporains, 1883; E.
Faguet, le Dix-neuvième siècle, 1887; F. Brunetière, Évolution
de la poésie lyrique, vol. i, 1894; M. Clouard, Bibliographie des
oeuvres d'Alfred de Musset, 1883; O. L. Kuhns, Sélections from
de Musset, Boston, 1895, for the sympathetic and interesting
introduction.

143. Au LECTEUR. This sonnet was prefixed in 1840 to a new edition of
his poems.

145. STANCES. 1828; from Contes d'Espagne et d'Italie.
3. VESPRÉES; see note on 7, 10. LA NUIT DE MAI. May 1835. The
poet's liaison with the novelist George Sand, begun in 1833, and
culminating in the Italian journey of 1834, with its successions of
passion, violent ruptures, and penitent reconciliations, was the
profoundest experience of his life, and the inspiration of many of
his poems, including the famous Nuits of May, August, October and
December.

146. 21. PARESSEUX ENFANT; the charge of indolence had often already
been brought against Musset; cf. ton oisiveté, 150. 3.

147. 29. ARGOS, the capital of Argolis, in the Peloponnesus. PTÉLEON,
Pteleum, an ancient town of Thessaly (Iliad ii, 697.) 30. MESSA, city
and harbor of Laconia (Iliad ii, 582); Homer's epithet is "abounding
in doves." 31. PÉLION, a mountain in Thessaly ; Homer (Iliad ii, 757)
calls it "quivering with leaves."

148. 1. TITARÈSE, a river in Thessaly. Homer's epithet (Iliad ii, 751)
is "lovely". 3. OLOOSSONE, a city in Thessaly, called "white" also by
Homer (Iliad ii, 739). Camyre, no doubt Homer's Kameiros (Iliad ii,
656), which he calls "shining." It was situated on the island of
Rhodes; Musset neglects the geographical fact in bringing it into
connection with Oloossone.

149. 6. SON TERTRE VERT, St. Helena.

150. 13. LORSQUE LE PÉLICAN; this passage is one of the most famous of
French poetry. Compare Ronsard's reference to the pelican, p. 8,
1. 19. With this view of the poet's lot and mission compare that
expressed in les Montreurs of Leconte de Lisle, p. 199, and in
l'Art of Gautier, p. 190. The fable of the pelican giving his blood
to his young is current in the literature of the middle ages.

152. LA NUIT DE DÉCEMBRE. November, 1835. 18. ÉGLANTINE; a wild rose
was one of the prizes given the victors in the poetical contests
called the Jeux Floraux held at Toulouse; it symbolizes distinction
in poetry.

153. 11. UN HAILLON DE OURPRE EN LAMBEAU symbolizes the power of youth
wasted in debauchery. 12. MYRTE; the myrtle was sacred to Venus.

154. 10. PISE, Pisa. 14. BRIGUES, a small town in the Rhone valley in
Switzerland, at the foot of the Simplon pass. 16. GÊNES, Genoa. 17.
VEVAY, a town on Lake Geneva. 19. LIDO, an island between Venice and
the sea, a favorite resort of the inhabitants of the city. Musset
calls it affreux, because with it he associated his quarrel with
George Sand.

159. STANCES À LA MALIBRAN. October, 1836. 11. MARIA FELICITÀ,
daughter and pupil of Manuel Garcia, afterwards Madame Malibran, by
which name she is remembered, was a remarkable singer (1808-1836).

24. PARTHÉNON: the Parthenon, completed in 438 B.C., was built under
the direction of Phidias, who was also the sculptor of the colossal
statue of Athena within the temple. The most famous work of Praxiteles
Was the statue of Aphrodite of Cnidus, not extant, but represented in
the Venus of the Capitol and the Venus de Medicis.

160. 26. CORILLA, a character in one of Rossini's operas. 27. ROSINA,
heroine of Rossini's Il Barbiere di Seviglia (1816). 29. LE SAULE,
the song of "The Willow" in Rossini's Otello (1816); cf. Shakspere's
Othello, iv, 3.

161. 9. LONDRE, usually spelled Londres; the s is omitted here for
the metre. 21. GÊRICAULT, an important French painter (1790-1824); his
most famous picture is Le Radeau de la Méduse, now in the Louvre.
CUVIER, a great

French naturalist (1769-1852).

162. 3. ROBERT, Léopold (1794-1835), a French painter of merit.
BELLINI, Vincenzo (1802-1835), an Italian composer of operas; among
his works are La Somnambula (1831), Norma (1831), and I Puritani
(1835). 5. CARREL, Armand (1800-1836), a French publicist, fatally
wounded in a duel with Émile de Girardin.

163. 18. LA PASTA; Giuditta Pasta (1798-1865) was one of the famous
sopranos of her day; for her Bellini wrote La Somnambula and
Norma.

164. CHANSON DE BARBERINE. From the comedy Barberine (1836).

165. CHANSON DE FORTUNIO. From le Chandelier ( 1836), where it is
sung by a character named Fortunio. 25. MA MIE, instead of m'amie;
this is a remnant of what was the regular practice in the earliest
period of French, the use of the feminine forms, ma, ta, sa, with
elision of the vowel, before nouns beginning with a vowel; the
substitution of the masculine forms in such cases begins in the
twelfth century.

166. 167. TRISTESSE. June 14, 1840. "RAPPELLE-TOI." 1842. SOUVENIR.
February, 1841. This poem is of the same order of thought as le Lac
of Lamartine and the Tristesse d'Olympia of Victor Hugo; see note on
the latter poem.

169. 17. DANTE, POURQUOI DIS-TU; the passage referred to is in the
Inferno, canto v, 1. 121 ; Francesca da Rimini (in French Françoise)
begins the short and immortal story of her love for Paolo with these
words :

        "There is no greater sorrow
    Than to be mindful of the happy time
    In misery."

170. 24. PIÉ, an old spelling of pied, used here to satisfy the
rules of rhyme. Cf. following page, 1. 26.

172.17. MA SEULE AMIE. George Sand. The latest revelations from the
correspondence of George Sand and Musset give us a more favorable view
of her part in their unhappy affair and fail to justify the terms in
which he refers to her here. See the volume of Vicomte de Spoelberch
de Lovenjoul cited among the works for reference.

174. SUR UNE MORTE. October, 1842; the lady referred to was the
Princess Belgiojoso (1808-1871), who after the unsuccessful movement
for Italian liberty in 1831 left Italy and resided in Paris, where
Musset came often to her salon, i. LA NUIT, one of the famous
allegorical statues made by Michaelangelo for the tombs of Giuliano
and Lorenzo de Medici.

175 A M. VICTOR HUGO. April. 26, 1843. CHANSON. "ADIEU, SUZON." 1844.


THÉOPHILE GAUTIER.

1811-1872.

One of the most important poets of the century, though he can not be
called in any large sense one of the greatest. His importance is due
to the emphasis that he placed on the element of form both by his
precept and by his practice. The directness and sincerity of the
emotional cry are lost sight of in the pursuit of exquisite and
perfect workmanship in the representation of outward beauty. L'Art,
p. 190, sums up his poetic art. Later poetry has been profoundly
influenced by this doctrine. His natural gifts adapted him perfectly
to the rôle that he played, for, while he was without great
intellectual depth or emotional intensity, he had a rare power of
seeing the forms and colors of things.

Works: Poésies, 1830; Albertus, 1833; la Comédie de la mort,
1838; the preceding were republished in one volume with additions
in 1845; Émaux et Camées, 1852; Poésies nouvelles, 1863; in the
edition of his Oeuvres complètes the Poésies complètes make two
volumes, Emaux et Camées, one.

For reference : E. Bergerat, Théophile Gautier, 1879; M. Du Camp,
Théophile Gautier, 1890; Vicomte Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, Histoire
des oeuvres de Th. Gautier, 2 vols., 1887; Sainte-Beuve, Premiers
lundis, ii; Portraits contemporains, ii, v; Nouveaux lundis, vi;
E, Faguet, XIXe siècle, 1887; Brunetière, Évolution de la poésie
lyrique, vol. ii.

177. VOYAGE. From the Poésies of 1830. The line of the motto from La
Fontaine is from the one-act comedy Clymene, line 35. Catullus 87-47
B.c.) was a Latin poet whose lyrics show intensity of feeling and rare
grace of expression. The lines here quoted are from the Carmina,
xlvi. The idea of the poem is quite characteristic of Gautier, who
delighted especially in the picturesque aspects of travel, as his
famous descriptions of foreign lands show (Voyage en Espagne, Voyage
en Russie, Voyage en Italie, etc.).

178. 17. ENRAYE, puts on the brakes. Of the other poems of Gautier
here given all but CHOC DE CAVALIERS, LES COLOMBES, LAMENTO,
TRISTESSE, and LA CARAVANE are from Émaux et Camées; these five will
be found in vol. i of the Poésies completes under the title Poésies
diverses.

186. PREMIER SOURIRE DU PRINTEMPS. 15. HOUPPE DE CYGNE, powder puff.

188. L'AVEUGLE, i. LES PUITS DE VENISE; the dungeons of Venice are
famous.

189. LE MERLE. 18. The Arve joins the Rhone just after the latter
issues from Lake Geneva. The water of the Rhone is very clear and
blue, while that of the Arve, especially when swollen by rain and
melted snow, is muddy and grayish-yellow.

19O. 4. mettre en démeure, to summon by legal process.

191. L'ART, i. CARRARE, PAROS, marbles especially fine and white and
adapted for statuary, the former from Carrara, Italy, the latter from
Paros, an island in the Aegean Sea. 21. NIMBE TRILOBE; the Virgin was
often represented in early paintings with a halo of three rounded
lobes, in the shape of a trefoil, symbolizing the Trinity.


VICTOR DE LAPRADE.

1812-1883.

A poet of elevation and purity, whose worth is rather greater than his
reputation, which has been somewhat eclipsed by that of his greater
contemporaries.

Works: Psyché, 1840; Odes et Poèmes, 1844; Pointes évangéliques,
1852; Symphonies, 1855; Idylles héroïques, 1858; Pernette,
1868; Poèmes civiques, 1873; le Livre d'un père, 1878; collected
edition, Oeuvres poétiques, 4 vols., 1886-89.

For reference: E. Biré, Victor de Laprade, sa vie et ses oeuvres,
1886; Sainte-Beuve, Nouveaux lundis, vol. i; E. Caro, Poètes et
romanciers, 1888.

193. A UN GRAND ARBRE. 1840; from Odes et Poèmes. 5. CYBÈLE, or
Rhea, goddess of the earth. LE DROIT D'AÎNESSE. 1875; from le Livre
d'un père. 15. ÉCHERRA, from échoir.


MME. ACKERMANN.

1813-1890.

Louise-Victorine Choquet, who became Mme. Paul Ackermann by her
marriage in 1844 and was left a widow

in 1846, lived a life of great retirement and seclusion. Her work,
the fruit of long solitude, bears the impress of a strong, reflective
mind. It is deeply linged with pessimism.

Works: Contes et poésies, 1863; Poésies philosophiques, 1874;
collected in one volume, Poésies, 1877.

For reference: Comte d'Haussonville, Mme. Ackermann, d'après des
lettres et des papiers inédits, 1891.


CHARLES-MARIE LECONTE DE LISLE.

1818-1894.

Born on the island of Bourbon, the tropical landscape that was
familiar to his boyhood recurs constantly in his poems. Coming to
France to complete his studies and to reside, he became the master
spirit among the poets of the middle of the century and the recognized
leader of the Parnassiens. From the beginning he protested vigorously
against the Romanticists of 1830, not only as making an immodest and
on the whole vulgar display of self (cf. les Montreurs, p. 199), but
also as inevitably falling short of artistic perfection because, being
possessed, or at least moved, by the emotion they were expressing,
they could not be wholly masters of the instrument of expression. To
be thus wholly master of the resources of poetic art one must be quite
untroubled by one's own personal joys and sorrows, have the brain
clear and free. This call to the poet to rid himself of the personal
element was emphasized by the reflection that individual emotions are
of little importance or interest, being dwarfed by the collective life
of humanity in general, which in turn is overshadowed by the vast
phenomenon of life as a whole, while this again is but a transient
vapor on the face of the immense universe. So the poetic creed of
an impersonal and impassive art was more or less blended with a
materialism pervaded with a buddhistic pessimism that is vexed and
wearied with the vain motions of this human world, and longs for the
rest of Nirvana; and this vexation and weariness frequently rise to a
poignant intensity. However far he may then be thought to be from the
impassive impersonality of his doctrine, there is but one opinion as
to his rare command of form and the exquisite perfection of his art,
which have won for him the epithet impeccable.

Works: Poèmes antiques, 1853; Poèmes et poésies, 1855; Poésies
complètes, 1858 (contains the two previous collections); Poèmes
barbares, 1862; Poèmes tragiques, 1884; Derniers poèmes, 1894. He
was also an industrious translator of the Greek poets and of Horace.

For reference: P. Bourget, Nouveaux essais de psychologie
contemporaine, 1885; J. Lemaître, les Contemporains, vol. ii, 1887;
F. Brunetière, Évolution de la poésie lyrique, vol. ii, 1894; also
in Contemporary Review, vol. lxvi.

199. LES MONTREURS. From Poèmes barbares. MIDI and NOX are from the
Poèmes antiques. The poems from L'ECCLÉSIASTE to REQUIES inclusive,
and also LE MANCHY, are from the Poèmes barbares. The rest, except
the last, are from the Poèmes tragiques.

203. LA VERANDAH, I. HÛKA, oriental pipe.

215. SI L'AURORE. 10. PITONS, mountain peaks; the word is used in the
French colonies. 21. VARANGUE, a kind of porch, cf. verandah.

LE MANCHY. A manchy is a kind of sedan-chair, or litter.

217. LE FRAIS MATIN DORAIT. 28. LETCHIS, a tropical plant.

218. TRE FILA D'ORO. The words of the title, which is Italian, are
found in the final line of each stanza, trois fils d'or.


CHARLES BAUDELAIRE.

1821-1867.

His was a perverse nature, endowed with rare gifts which he
persistently abused. Pure physical sensation supplied a large part of
the material for his poetry, and among the senses it was especially
the one that has the remotest association with ideas that he drew upon
most constantly - the sense of smell. In his desperate search for new
and strange sensations he went the round of violent and exhausting
dissipations, and as his senses flagged he spurred them with all sorts
of stimulants. Meanwhile he observed himself curiously ; the result
in his poems is an impression of peculiarly wilful depravity. They
reflect his physical and mental experience, are always without
sobriety, often lacking in sanity. The title, les Fleurs du mal, is
both appropriate and suggestive; they invite no epithets so much as
"unhealthy" and "unwholesome."

He was extremely fond of Edgar A. Poe, and translated his works.

Works: les Fleurs du mal, 1857, new edition, 1861; Oeuvres
posthumes, 1887.

For reference : Gautier, Portraits et souvenirs littéraires;
E. Crépet, Oeuvres posthumes et correspondance inédite de Ch.
Baudelaire, précédées d'une étude biographique, 1887; Bourget,
Essais de psychologie contemporaine, 1883, F. Brunetière in Revue
des Deux Mondes, Sept. 1st, 1892; Henry James, French Poets and
Novelists, London, 1884; George Saintsbury, Miscellaneous Essays,
London, 1892.

The poems given here are all from les Fleurs du mal.

221. 19. BOUCHER; François Boucher (1703-1770) was a painter of
pastoral and genre subjects.


PIERRE DUPONT.

1821-1870.

He enjoyed a moment of great popularity about 1848, paid for since by
being too much forgotten. His chansons are simple, sincere, and sweet,
breathing a delight in rural life and sympathy with the lot of the
poor. Works: Chansons, 1860; Chansons et poésies is the title of the
current edition of his poems.

For reference: Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi, vol. iv.


ANDRÉ LEMOYNE.

1822.


Has achieved especial success by his poetic descriptions of nature,
which proceed from a close and loving observation and a quick
responsiveness to her moods. Works: Stella Maris. - Ecce Homo, etc.,
1860; les Roses d'Antan, 1865; les Charmeuses, 1867; Légendes des
Bois et Chansons marines, 1871; Fleurs des ruines, 1888; Fleurs du
soir, 1893.

232. 12. CHANSON MARINE. CAP FRÈHEL, on the north coast of Brittany,
just south of the Channel Islands. 24. GRANVILLE and AVRANCHES are
small towns on the Channel coast, between St. Malo and Cherbourg. 26.
The ORNE and VIRE are small streams flowing northward into the Channel
in the same region.


THEODORE DE BANVILLE.

1823-1891.

A precocious and voluminous writer, who delighted in playing with the
technical difficulties of lyric forms. His devotion to form was his
chief excellence and gave him a considerable influence on the group of
Parnassiens. He was especially responsible for the revival of the
fixed forms of the older French poetry. He took up and developed the
dictum of Saint-Beuve that rhyme is "l'unique harmonie du vers" and
his Odes funambulesques sought even to make it a main means of comic
effect. His work is deficient in substance.

Works : Les Cariatides, 1842; les Stalactites, 1846; Odelettes,
1856; Odes funambulesques, 1857; les Exilés, 1860; Idylles
prussiennes, 1871; les Princesses, 1874; Sonnailles et
Clochettes, 1890; Dans la fournaise. Dernières poésies, 1892.

For reference: Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi, vol. xiv; J.
Lemaître, les Contemporains, vol. i, 1886; A. Lang, Essays in
Little, London, 1891.

234. LA CHANSON DE MA MIE. MA MIE, see note on 165, 25.

235. BALLADE DES PENDUS. From the comedy Gringoire (1866). 20.
FLORE, the Roman goddess of fruits and flowers. 26. du roi Louis
; Louis XI. (1461-1487), whose measures to break down feudalism and
establish the power of the monarchy are notorious.


HENRI DE BORNIER.

1825.

Primarily a dramatic poet, he obtained one of the striking successes
of the latter half of the century by his drama la Fille de Roland
(1875) which, evoking memories of recent disaster and the dearest
hopes of France, deeply touched the patriotic sentiment of his
country. His lyric poems make but one volume.

Works: Les Premières Feuilles, 1845; the volume Poésiescomplètes,
1881, contains, besides the poems of the first volume, a number
that appeared at intervals, several of which received prizes from
the Academy, as l'Isthme de Suez, 1861, and la France dans
l'extrême Orient, 1863; Poésies complètes, new edition, 1894.


ANDRE THEURIET.

1833.

Though now best known as a novelist, he began as a poet, and it is not
certain that he will not finally be best remembered for his verse.
His eyes and his sympathies are for the woods and fields and for the
simple toilers whose lives lie close to them. He has instilled into
his poems something of the odors of the forest and of the soil.

Works: Le Chemin des bois, 1867 ; les Paysans de l'Argonne, 1792.
1871; le Bleu et le Noir, 1873; le Livre de la Payse, 1882.

For reference: E. Besson, André Theuriet, sa vie et ses oeuvres,
1890.

237. BRUNETTE. From le Bleu et le Noir.

238. LES PAYSANS. From le Livre de la Payse.



GEORGES LAFENESTRE.

1837.

Though he is perhaps more widely known as a critic of art than as a
poet, his poems have a certain distinction by reason of their deep and
serious thought and their clear and noble expression.

Works: Les Espérances, 1864; Idylles et Chansons, 1874. The poems
here given are from Idylles et Chansons.

240. 21. MICHEL-ANGE, Michaelangelo.


FÉLIX FRANK.

1837.

He is chiefly known to the world of scholars by his studies in
literary history and his editions of writers of the Renaissance.

Works : Chants de colère, 1871; le Poème de la Jeunesse, 1876; la
Chanson d'amour, 1885.

243. C'ÉTAIT UN VIEUX LOGIS. From le Poème de la Jeunesse.


ARMAND SILVESTRE.

1838.

A prolific writer of both prose and verse. He has a rich gift of
style, but he appeals to his reader more often by the sensuous charm
of his lines than by their originality or depth.

Works: Rimes neuves et vieilles, 1866; Renaissances, 1870; la
Gloire du souvenir, 1872; these three volumes are collected in
Premières poésies, 1875; la Chanson des heures,1878; les Ailes
d'or, 1880; le Pays des roses, 1882; le Chemin des étoiles, 1885:
Roses d'octobre, 1889; l'Or des couchants, 1892; les Aurores
lointaines, 1895.

For reference: J. Lemaître, les Contemporains, vol. ii, 1887.

245. LE PÈLERINAGE. From les Ailes d'or.


ALBERT GLATIGNY.

1839-1873.

Led a wandering and adventurous life. He was at different times actor
in a travelling company, prompter, and writer. In his poems he shows
a native gift of expression that made him a favorite of the
Parnassiens.

Works: Les Vignes folles, 1857; les flèches d'or, 1864; Gilles et
Pasquins, 1872.

For reference: J. Lazare, A. Glatigny, sa vie, son oeuvre; Catulle
Mendès, Légende du Parnasse contemporain, 1884.


SULLY PRUDHOMME.

1839.

René-François-Armand Prudhomme, known as Sully Prudhomme, combines the
artistic punctiliousness of a Parnassien with sincere emotion and
a deeply philosophic mind. The intellectual quality of his work is
conspicuous, but hardly less so the grace and finish of its form. It
bears deep traces of the influence of the scientific movement of our
time and of the transformation it has wrought in our ideas of man and
nature and their relations. The personal emotion from which his lyrics
spring appears always intellectually illumined, with its background of
scientific corollaries and logical consequences. It is not abandoned
to itself, to wreak itself on expression, but is checked by the
challenge of doubt or scientific curiosity or moral scruple. His
verse thus unites in rare degree the qualities of lyrical impulse and
philosophical reflection.

Works: Stances et Poèmes, 1865; les Épreuves, 1866; les
Solitudes, 1869; les Destins, 1872; les Vaines Tendresses, 1875;
la Justice, 1878; le Prisme, 1886; le Bonheur, 1888; these have
appeared in a new edition as Oeuvres, 5 vols., 1883-1888.

For reference: J. Lemaître, les Contemporains, vol. i, 1886; E.
Caro, Poètes et romanciers, 1888; G. Paris, Penseurs et poètes,
1896; F. Brunetière, Évolution de la poésie lyrique, vol. ii, 1894.

The first eleven poems are from Stances et Poèmes. LES DANAÏDES, UN
SONGE and LE RENDEZ VOUS are from les Épreuves; LA VOIE LACTÉE
is from les Solitudes; REPENTIR, from Impressions de la Guerre
(1872;) CE QUI DURE, LES INFIDÈLES, LES AMOURS TERRESTRES and
L'ALPHABET, from les Vaines Tendresses; and the last two sonnets,
from la Justice.

255. LE LEVER DU SOLEIL. 5. Hellade, Hellas, country inhabited
by the Hellenes, or Greeks, a name at first given to a district of
Thessaly, later to all Greece.

257. LES DANAÏDES. The Danaïdes were the fifty daughters of Danaus,
twin-brother of Aegyptus, whose fifty sons they married and then
murdered. As a punishment they were condemned to pour water forever
into a sieve. 2. Théano, Callidie, Amymone, Agavé are names of
four of the daughters.


ALPHONSE DAUDET.

1840-1897.

Though of world-wide fame as a brilliant novelist, he introduced
himself to the public by a volume of verse, les Amoureuses, which
contains many poems delicate in sentiment and exquisite in style.


HENRI CAZALIS (JEAN LAHOR).

1840.

The poems of Henri Cazalis, who has preferred to give his later works
to the public under the nom de plume Jean Lahor, have the grave
pessimism of Leconte de Lisle, but with more of buddhistic
resignation. They are often sustained by a high moral fortitude, and
though they are clothed in a less rich and brilliant garment than
the poems of Leconte de Lisle, they have a charm of their own,
"inquiétant et pénétrant," says Paul Bourget, "comme celui des
tableaux de Burne Jones et de la musique tzigane, des romans de
Tolstoi et des lieder de Heine."

Works: Vita tristis, 1865 (under the pseudonym Jean Caselli;)
Mélancholia, 1866; le Livre du néant, 1872; l'Illusion, 1875;
the preceding were collected in one volume and published under the
name Jean Lahor and with the title l'Illusion, 1888; under the
same name, le Cantique des cantiques, a translation of the Song of
Solomon, 1885; les Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, 1896.

For reference; J. Lemaître, les Contemporains, vol. iv.


CHARLES FRÉMINE.


1841.

He holds an honorable place among the poetae minores by poems
distinguished for the sincerity and simple truth of their record of
nature and humble experience.

Works: Floréal, 1870; Vieux Airs et Jeunes Chansons. 1884;
Bouquet d'automne, 1890.


FRANÇOIS COPPÉE.

1842.

He is especially the poet of the vie des humbles. His talent is not
pre-eminently lyric, and he has tended to escape

from the lyric domain in different directions, into the narrative
poem, the drama, and the novel, in each of which he has achieved
success. He is probably the most popular living French poet.

Works: Le Reliquaire, 1866; Intimités, 1868; Poèmes modernes,
1869; les Humbles, 1872; Promenades et intérieurs, 1872; le
Cahier rouge, 1874; Olivier, 1875; l'Exilée, 1876; les Mois,
1877; Contes en vers et poésies diverses, 1881 and 1887;

Poèmes et récits, 1886; Arrière-saison, 1887; les Paroles
sincères, 1890; Oeuvres, 5 vols., 1885-91.

For reference: M. de Lescure, François Coppée; L'Homme, la Vie, et
l'Oeuvre (1842-1889), 1889; J. Lemaître, les Contemporains, vol. i,
1886; F. Brunetière. Évolution de la poésie lyrique, vol. ii, 1894;
Alcée Fortier, Sept Grands Auteurs du XIXe Siècle, Boston, 1889.

271. JUIN. From les Mois.

272. L'HOROSCOPE. From le Reliquaire.

273. L'ATTENTE. From Poèmes modernes.

275. CHANSON D'EXIL, "QUAND VOUS ME MONTREZ UNE ROSE," LIED and
ÉTOILES FILANTES are from l'Exilée.

277. A UN ÉLÉGIAQUE. From Contes en vers et poésies diverses. The
story of the Spartan boy and the fox may be found in Plutarch's
Lycurgus, 18. The idea should be compared with the artistic doctrine
of the impassibles.


JOSÉ-MARIA DE HEREDIA.

l842.

He was born in Cuba, but was educated and has resided in France. He
attracted notice among the Parnassiens by the degree of perfection
with which he rendered in words the element of plastic beauty and the
rare finish and precision of his style. He has used almost exclusively
the form of the sonnet, to which he has given a new power and
amplitude.

Works: Les Trophies, 1893 (many of the sonnets composing this volume
had appeared in the Revue des Deux Mondes and elsewhwere and had
long been admired).

For reference: J. Lemaitre, les Contemorains, vol. ii, 1887; F.
Brunetière, Évolution de la poésie lyrique, vol. ii, 1894; M. de
Vogüé, Devant le siècle, 1896; Edmund Gosse, Critical Kit-Kats,
New York, 1896.

278. ANTOINE ET CLÉOPÂTRE. LE CYDNUS. This is the name of the river on
which Tarsus is situated. 18. LAGIDE; the line of the Ptolemies, to
which Cleopatra belonged, was descended from Lagus; the first Ptolemy
was commonly called the son of Lagus.

279. 18. BUBASTE ET SAÏS; Bubastis and Saïs were ancient cities of
importance in the Delta of the Nile.

280. 6. LES CONQUÉRANTS. PALOS, the famous Spanish port from which
Columbus sailed. MOGUER, a small town a little above Palos. 9.
CIPANGO, the name given by Marco Polo in the account of his travels to
an island or islands east of Asia, supposed to be Japan.


PAUL VERLAINE.

1844-1896.

The most striking and original figure among the poets of the latter
half of the century. In the irregularity of his life he might count
as a modern Rutebeuf or Villon. He certainly possessed a rich poetic
endowment, which only occasionally produced what it seemed capable
of. He began under the influence of the Parnassiens, but his most
characteristic work is as far removed as possible from the plastic
objectivity of that school. He pursues the expression of the most
elusive sensations, and is so little concerned about clear ideas and
precise forms and outlines that even grammatical coherence often
fails, and the mind gropes in a mist of unintelligibility - in which
direction, however, his disciples have gone very far beyond him. But
in the rendering of pure feeling and sensation, in direct emotional
appeal of tone and accent, he discovered powerful secrets for his
verse that others have not known. He seems now to have been one of the
original poetic forces of the century.

Works: Poèmes saturniens, 1866; Fêtes galantes, 1869; la Bonne
Chanson, 1870; Romances sans paroles, 1874; Sagesse, 1881; Jadis
et naguère, 1885; Amour, 1888; Parallèlement, 1889; Bonheur,
1891; Chansons pour elle, 1891; Dans les limbes, 1894; Chair,
1896; Invectives, 1896; selections from the volumes to and including
Bonheur are given in Choix de poésies, 1891.

For reference: Ch. Morice, Paul Verlaine, l'homme et l'oeuvre; J.
Lemaître, in Revue Bleue, Jan. 7, 1888; F. Brunetière, Évolution de
la poésie Iyrique, vol. ii, 1894; A. Cohn, in The Bookman, vol. i,
with portraits.

28O. COLLOQUE SENTIMENTAL. From Fêtes galantes.

288. 1. The quotation is from Dante's Purgatorio, canto iii, 79-84.
ART POÉTIQUE. From Jadis et naguère.

289. UN VEUF PARLE and PARABOLES are from Amour.

291. PARABOLES. 1. LE POISSON; the use of the fish in Christian art as
a symbol of Christ is well known. Its origin is commonly said to be in
the initials of the Greek [Greek: Iaesus Christos Theou Tios Sotaer]
which make the word Ichthus (fish). 2. L'ÂNON; cf. St. Mark xi. 3.
LES PORCS, etc.; cf. St. Mark v, 13.


ÉMILE BERGERAT.

1845.

Widely known under the name of Caliban as the alert and witty
chroniqueur of the Figaro and as the facile rhymester of its lyre
comique, has written a few serious poems of direct and vigorous
expression, especially under the inspiration of the memory of the war
of 1870-71.

Works: Poèmes de la guerre, 1871; la Lyre comique, 1889.

291. PAROLES DORÉES. 17. CYLINDRE, the cylinder or toothed roller of
the hand-organ.


FRANÇOIS FABIÉ.

1846.

The son of poor peasants, he has perpetuated the scenes and the simple
life of his boyhood and the poverty and rude toil of his country home
in verse of deep, pure, and tender feeling.

Works: La Poésie des Bêtes, 1886; le Clocher, 1887; la Bonne
terre, 1889; Voix rustiques, 1892; these are collected in the
edition of Poésies, 2 vols., 1891-94. 293. LES GENÊTS. From le
Clocher.


PAUL DÉROULÈDE.

1846.

Politician, as well as man of letters, he is known especially for
his war lyrics, which have achieved a wide popularity. They are
recommended more by the vigor of their patriotic sentiment than by
their technical qualities.

Works: Chants du Soldat, 1872; Nouveaux Chants du Soldat, 1875;
Marches et Sonneries, 1881; Refrains militaires, 1888; Chants du
Paysan, 1894.

For reference: G. Larroumet, Études de littérature et d'art vol.
iii.

296. LE BON GÎTE. From Nouveaux Chants du Soldat.


GEORGES BOUTELLEAU.

1846.

He has won the attention of the smaller public of men of letters by
the finish and delicacy of the short poems, which justify the titles
of the volumes in which they have been collected by suggesting the art
of the miniature painter and the worker in stained glass.

Works: Poèmes en miniature, 1881; le Vitrail, 1887; les

Cimes, 1893.

297. LE COLIBRI. From Poèmes en miniature.

298. LES DEUX OMBRES. From le Vitrail.


LOUIS TIERCELIN.

1849.

His work is distinguished by sentiment that is usually pure and sweet,
sometimes deep and tender.

Works: Les Asphodèles, 1873; l'Oasis, 1880; les Anniversaires,
1887; les Cloches, 1891; Sur la Harpe, 1897.

298. LE PETIT ENFANT. From l'Oasis. For the form of the triolet see
the remarks on versification.


GUY DE MAUPASSANT.

1850-1893.

This famous master of the short story began his literary career, like
Daudet, Theuriet, and Bourget, with a volume of verse. Des Vers,
1880.


PAUL BOURGET.

1852.

Like Maupassant, he early forsook poetry for the novel, and for
literary criticism. His verse, like his prose, is the work of a
psychologist, who observes and analyzes his own experiences. He is
never so far possessed by his emotion as to cease to inspect it
curiously. In the restlessness of his spirit, the unsettled currents
of his moral atmosphere, his doubts and longings, he represents a
large fraction of his generation.

Works: La Vie inquiète, 1874; Edel, 1878; les Aveux, 1882;
collected in two volumes with the title Poésies, 1885-87.

For reference: J. Lemaître, les Contemporains, vol. ii, 1887; A. N.
van Daell, Extraits choisis des oeuvres de Paul Bourget, Boston,
1894 (introduction and lettre autobiographique).

302. PRAETERITA is from la Vie inquiète; the other poems here given
are from les Aveux. 13, 14; the second of November, jour des
Trépasses, is in the church calendar the day of the special
commemoration of the dead.


ABEL HERMANT.

1862.

Another who seems to have been won from poetry to the novel, in which
field he has achieved some striking successes. His one volume of
verse is les Mépris, 1883. See G. Pellissier, Nouveaux essais de
littérature contemporaine, 1895.

305. L'ÉTOILE. 17. LE CHALDÉEN; see St. Matthew ii, i-ii.