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."