Ce livre, c'est le reste effrayant de Babel;
C'est la lugubre Tour des Choses, l'édifice
Du bien, du mal, des pleurs, des deuils, des sacrifices,
Fier jadis, dominant les lointains horizons,
Aujourd'hui n'ayant plus que de hideux tronçons
Épars, couchés, perdus dans l'obscure vallée;
C'est l'épopée humaine, âpre, immense—écroulée.
The poet's view of the problem of evil and the destiny of humanity becomes clearer if the Légende is read in connexion with the two poems mentioned in the Preface to the volume of 1859, as designed to form with it an immense trilogy: Dieu and La Fin de Satan. Neither was published till after the poet's death, and the latter was left in an unfinished condition. But they were both planned in the days when, isolated on his rock and severed from active life, the poet meditated on the deep questions of life and death. They were meant to be, the one the prelude, and the other the sequel of his poem of humanity. The leading thought of Dieu is the falseness of all the positive systems of religion which have burdened or inspired humanity, and the truth that
'Dieu n'a qu'un front: Lumière; et n'a qu'un nom: Amour,'
though it is only death which will fully reveal that light.