FRENCH EPIC POETKY. 635 



work that any poet ever undertook to compose. Victor Hugo 

 describes as follows the conception of his scheme : — 



Exprimer rinimanite dans une espece d'oeuvre cyclique; la peindtc 

 successivement et simultanement sous tous ses aspects: histoire, fable, 

 philosophic, religion, science, lesqiiels se resument en un seul et immense 

 mouvement d'ascension vers la lumiere; faire apparaitre dans une sorte de 

 miroir sombre et clair, cette grande figure une et multiple, lugubre et 

 rayonnante, faible et sacree : l' Homme. 



This conception is expressed in the opening poem, entitled, 

 La vision d'ou est sorti ce litre. The Legende is the huge epic 

 of humanity since the Creation, the tale of the long struggle 

 upwards to the Light, bound up with a number of episodic 

 poems, which figure forth its successive stages: a set of deli- 

 cately cut cameos strung upon a thread. There is little or no 

 history in it in the ordinary sense of the word ; but a good deal 

 of legend, some fiction and mythology. Hugo says himself : 

 ■' C'est I'aspect legendaire qui prevaut dans ces deux volumes." 

 The poems are cast in divers forms : allegory, narrative, vision, 

 didactic poetry, lyric poetry, all of them find a place. Biblical 

 antiquity is represented by La Sa^re de la Fcmme, Les Lions. 

 and Boo:: endormi. Greek and Roman antiquity, though some- 

 what scantily treated, present some pages of exquisite beauty in 

 Le Titan and in Les Trois Cents, which is a splendid fragment 

 on Xerxes. The Christian and Mohammedan Middle Ages are 

 given a fair share of attention ; the manly virtues of Rodrigue 

 Bivar are spoken of with great complacency in the Romancero 

 du Cid; the Chansons de geste have been laid under contribution 

 for the fine tales of Aymerillot and the Manage de Roland; in 

 Bznmdnus and Le petit Roi de Galice we find highly attractive 

 I)ortraits of knights-errant coming to the rescue of a too trustful 

 princess and an unfortunate kinglet who had fallen into a terrible 

 ambu.sh. The Quatre jours d'Elciis, IVelf and Ratbert relate the 

 gruesome atrocities perpetrated on the eve of the Renaissance. 

 Then we see the dawn of the i6th century break over Europe, 

 and in Le Satyre, Hugo personifies the revolt of the human mind 

 against antiquated prejudices. It must be acknowledged that 

 the modern times are rather summarily handled; but it is incor- 

 rect to say that the poet seems to have entirely forgotten to give 

 contemporary society its share ; and in Pleine Mer and Plein 

 del he makes a very fine attempt at foretelling the future. 

 Hugo's views of the problem of evil and the destiny of humanity 

 become a good deal clearer w-hen the Legende is read in imme- 

 diate connection with the two posthumous parts, Dien and La 

 Fin de Satan, which, according to the preface, are designed to 

 form one huge trilogy with the main part. These two parts 

 were both planned in the days of the poet's exile, when, isolated 

 on a rocky island and severed from active life, he had frequent 

 occasions to meditate on the profound questions of life and 

 death. The leading thought of the philosophical part, Dieu, 

 is the fallacy of all positive systems of religion which have 

 inspired or burdened humanity. In a very striking way, the bat 



