POEMS
By Victor Hugo
1888
[Transcription note: One poem uses an a with a macron over it, this has been rendered as ä, which is not used in this text for any other purpose.]
CONTENTS.
Memoir of Victor Marie Hugo
EARLY POEMS.
Moses on the Nile--Dublin University Magazine Envy and Avarice--American Keepsake
ODES.--1818-28.
King Louis XVII--Dublin University Magazine The Feast of Freedom--"Father Prout" (F.S. Mahony) Genius--Mrs. Torre Hulme The Girl of Otaheite--Clement Scott Nero's Incendiary Song--H.J. Williams Regret--Fraser's Magazine The Morning of Life Beloved Name--Caroline Bowles (Mrs. Southey) The Portrait of a Child--Dublin University Magazine
BALLADES.--1823-28.
The Grandmother--"Father Prout" (F.S. Mahony) The Giant in Glee--Foreign Quart. Rev. (adapted) The Cymbaleer's Bride--"Father Prout" (F.S. Mahony) Battle of the Norsemen and the Gaels Madelaine The Fay and the Peri--Asiatic Journal
LES ORIENTALES.--1829
The Scourge of Heaven--I.N. Fazakerley Pirates' Song The Turkish Captive--W.D., Tait's Edisiburgh Mag. Moonlight on the Bosphorus--John L. O'Sullivan The Veil--"Father Prout" (F.S. Mahony) The Favorite Sultana The Pasha and the Dervish The Lost Battle--W.D., Bentley's Miscel., 1839 The Greek Boy Zara, the Bather--John L. O'Sullivan Expectation--John L. O'Sullivan The Lover's Wish--V., Eton Observer The Sacking of the City--John L. O'Sullivan Noormahal the Fair The Djinns--John L. O'Sullivan The Obdurate Beauty--John L. O'Sullivan Don Rodrigo Cornflowers--H.L. Williams Mazeppa--H.L. Williams The Danube in Wrath--Fraser's Magazine Old Ocean--R.C. Ellwood My Napoleon--H.L. Williams
LES FEUILLES D'AUTOMNE.--1831.
The Patience of the People--G.W.M. Reynolds Dictated before the Rhone Glacier--Author of "Critical Essays" The Poet's Love for Liveliness--Fraser's Magazine Infantile Influence--Henry Highton, M.A. The Watching Angel--Foreign Quarterly Review Sunset--Toru Dutt The Universal Prayer--Henry Highton, M.A. The Universal Prayer--C., Tait's Magazine
LES CHANTS DU CRÉPUSCULE.--1849.
Prelude to "The Songs of Twilight"--G.W.M. Reynolds The Land of Fable--G.W.M. Rrynolds The Three Glorious Days--Elizabeth Collins Tribute to the Vanquished--Fraser's Magazine Angel or Demon--Fraser's Magazine The Eruption of Vesuvius--Fraser's Magazine Marriage and Feasts--G.W.M. Reynolds The Morrow of Grandeur--Fraser's Magazine The Eaglet Mourned--Fraser's Magazine Invocation--G.W.M. Reynolds Outside the Ball-room--G.W.M. Reynolds Prayer for France--J.S. Macrae To Canaris, the Greek Patriot--G.W.M. Reynolds Poland--G.W.M. Reynolds Insult not the Fallen--W.C.K. Wilde Morning--W.M. Hardinge Song of Love--Toru Dutt Sweet Charmer--H.B. Farnie More Strong than Time--A. Lang Roses and Butterflies--W.C. Westbrook A Simile--Fanny Kemble-Butler The Poet to his Wife
LES VOIX INTÉRIEURES.--1840.
The Blinded Bourbons--Fraser's Magazine To Albert Dürer--Mrs. Newton Crosland To his Muse--Fraser's Magazine The Cow--Toru Dutt Mothers--Dublin University Magazine To some Birds Flown away--Mrs. Newton Crosland My Thoughts of Ye--Dublin University Magazine The Beacon in the Storm Love's Treacherous Pool The Rose and the Grave--A. Lang
LES RAYONS ET LES OMBRES.--1840.
Holyrood Palace--Fraser's Magazine The Humble Home--Author of "Critical Essays" The Eighteenth Century--Author of "Critical Essays" Still be a Child--Dublin University Magazine The Pool and the Soul--R.F. Hodgson Ye Mariners who Spread your Sails--Author of "Critical Essays" On a Flemish Window-Pane--Fraser's Magazine The Preceptor--E.E. Frewer Gastibelza--H.L. Williams Guitar Song--Evelyn Jerrold Come when I Sleep--Wm. W. Tomlinson Early Love Revisited--Author of "Critical Essays" Sweet Memory of Love--Author of "Critical Essays" The Marble Faun--William Young A Love for Winged Things Baby's Seaside Grave
LES CHÂTIMENTS.--1853.
Indignation! Imperial Revels--H.L.W. Poor Little Children Apostrophe to Nature Napoleon "The Little" Fact or Fable--H.L.W. A Lament--Edwin Arnold, C.S.I. No Assassination The Despatch of the Doom The Seaman's Song The Retreat from Moscow--Toru Dutt The Ocean's Song--Toru Dutt The Trumpets of the Mind--Toru Dutt After the Coup d'État--Toru Dutt Patria The Universal Republic
LES CONTEMPLATIONS.--1830-56.
The Vale to You, to Me the Heights--H.L.W Childhood--Nelson R. Tyerman Satire on the Earth How Butterflies are Born--A. Lang Have You Nothing to Say for Yourself?--C.H. Kenny Inscription for a Crucifix Death, in Life The Dying Child to its Mother--Bp. Alexander Epitaph--Nelson R. Tyerman St. John--Nelson R. Tyerman The Poet's Simple Faith--Prof. E. Dowden I am Content
LA LÉGENDE DES SIÈCLES.
Cain--Dublin University Magazine Boaz Asleep--Bp. Alexander Song of the German Lanzknecht--H.L.W. King Canute--R. Garnett King Canute--Dublin University Magazine The Boy-King's Prayer--Dublin University Magazine Eviradnus--Mrs. Newton Crosland The Soudan, the Sphinxes, the Cup, the Lamp--Bp. Alexander A Queen Five Summers Old--Bp. Alexander Sea Adventurers' Song The Swiss Mercenaries--Bp. Alexander The Cup on the Battle-Field--Toru Dutt How Good are the Poor--Bp. Alexander
LA VOIX DE GUERNESEY.
Mentana--Edwin Arnold, C.S.I.
LES CHANSONS DES RUES ET DES BOIS.
Love of the Woodland Shooting Stars
L'ANNÉE TERRIBLE.
To Little Jeanne--Marwaod Tucker To a Sick Child during the Siege of Paris--Lucy H. Hooper The Carrier Pigeon Toys and Tragedy Mourning--Marwood Tucker The Lesson of the Patriot Dead--H.L.W. The Boy on the Barricade--H.L.W. To His Orphan Grandchildren--Marwood Tucker To the Cannon "Victor Hugo"
L'ART D'ÊTRE GRANDPÈRE.
The Children of the Poor--Dublin University Magazine The Epic of the Lion--Edwin Arnold, C.S.I.
LES QUATRE VENTS DE L'ESPRIT.
On Hearing the Princess Royal Sing--Nelson R. Tyerman My Happiest Dream An Old-Time Lay Jersey Then, most, I Smile The Exile's Desire The Refugee's Haven
VARIOUS PIECES.
To the Napoleon Column--Author of "Critical Essays" Charity--Dublin University Magazine Sweet Sister--Mrs. B. Somers The Pity of the Angels The Sower--Toru Dutt Oh, Why not be Happy?--Leopold Wray Freedom and the World Serenade--Henry F. Chorley An Autumnal Simile To Cruel Ocean Esmeralda in Prison Lover's Song--Ernest Oswald Coe A Fleeting Glimpse of a Village--Fraser's Magazine Lord Rochester's Song The Beggar's Quatrain--H.L.C., London Society The Quiet Rural Church A Storm Simile
DRAMATIC PIECES.
The Father's Curse--Fredk. L. Slous Paternal Love--Fanny Kemble-Butler The Degenerate Gallants--Lord F. Leveson Gower The Old and the Young Bridegroom--Charles Sherry The Spanish Lady's Love--C. Moir The Lover's Sacrifice--Lord F. Leveson Gower The Old Man's Love--C. Moir The Roll of the De Silva Race--Lord F. Leveson Gower The Lover's Colloquy--Lord F. Leveson Gower Cromwell and the Crown--Leitch Ritchie Milton's Appeal to Cromwell First Love--Fanny Kemble-Butler The First Black Flag--Democratic Review The Son in Old Age--Foreign Quarterly Review The Emperor's Return--Athenaum
Victor in Poesy, Victor in Romance, Cloud-weaver of phantasmal hopes and fears, French of the French, and Lord of human tears; Child-lover; Bard whose fame-lit laurels glance Darkening the wreaths of all that would advance, Beyond our strait, their claim to be thy peers; Weird Titan by thy winter weight of years As yet unbroken, Stormy voice of France!
TENNYSON.
MEMOIR OF VICTOR MARIE HUGO.
Towards the close of the First French Revolution, Joseph Leopold Sigisbert Hugo, son of a joiner at Nancy, and an officer risen from the ranks in the Republican army, married Sophie Trébuchet, daughter of a Nantes fitter-out of privateers, a Vendean royalist and devotee.
Victor Marie Hugo, their second son, was born on the 26th of February, 1802, at Besançon, France. Though a weakling, he was carried, with his boy-brothers, in the train of their father through the south of France, in pursuit of Fra Diavolo, the Italian brigand, and finally into Spain.
Colonel Hugo had become General, and there, besides being governor over three provinces, was Lord High Steward at King Joseph's court, where his eldest son Abel was installed as page. The other two were educated for similar posts among hostile young Spaniards under stern priestly tutors in the Nobles' College at Madrid, a palace become a monastery. Upon the English advance to free Spain of the invaders, the general and Abel remained at bay, whilst the mother and children hastened to Paris.
Again, in a house once a convent, Victor and his brother Eugène were taught by priests until, by the accident of their roof sheltering a comrade of their father's, a change of tutor was afforded them. This was General Lahorie, a man of superior education, main supporter of Malet in his daring plot to take the government into the Republicans' hands during the absence of Napoleon I. in Russia. Lahorie read old French and Latin with Victor till the police scented him out and led him to execution, October, 1812.
School claimed the young Hugos after this tragical episode, where they were oddities among the humdrum tradesmen's sons. Victor, thoughtful and taciturn, rhymed profusely in tragedies, "printing" in his books, "Châteaubriand or nothing!" and engaging his more animated brother to flourish the Cid's sword and roar the tyrant's speeches.