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.