636 FRENCH EPIC POETRY. 



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is made to expound atheism, the owl scepticism, the raven 

 manicheism, the vulture paganism, the griffin Christianism, and 

 the angel rationalism, while the poet himsqlf proclaims the. 

 eternal truth : " God has but one face, and that face is Light ; and 

 one name only, which is Love," but only death will fully and 

 finally reveal that light. The theme of La Fin de Satan is the 

 ultimate reconciliation of good and evil. 



The work as a whole might be appropriately called a reve- 

 lation of the maker. It appears that the choice of Hugo's 

 themes was to a large extent dictated by his own personal predi- 

 lections. Eviradniis, Ratbert, Lc Mariagc de Roland show us 

 his love of the picturesque, the heroic, the enormous, the bar- 

 barous, and the grotesque. Paiivrcs Gens, B002 endormi, Petit 

 Paul testify to his sympathy with the poor, the defenceless, and 

 the weak, to his affection for old people and for infants, so 

 profusely set forth in his poetical productions, as well as in his 

 prose works. It is with some reluctance that I terminate this 

 highly inadequate outline of a work, in which substance and 

 beauty, original thought and vivid expressions are found in such 

 perfect and harmonious combination. I hope, however, that I 

 may have succeeded in showing that the Legende constitutes the 

 most stupendous ensemble that ever poetical imagination has 

 visualised. In the grand conception of his P^'isions, Lamartin^ 

 must have had a fleeting glimpse of what passed here through 

 Hugo's mind ; but he succeeded in crystallising only his Chute 

 d'lm Ange and Jocelyn. Hugo, with his superior, puissant 

 imagination, has been capable of objectivating the whole of his 

 vision, and of shaping it into the reality of a work which will 

 hold its place among the best that the 19th century produced in 

 poetry. And what about Hugo's philosophy as displayed in the 

 Legende? He speaks of Progress, of Justice, of the Angel 

 Liberty, and the giant Light. And how does he put all these 

 before us? By declaiming against gods, kings, and priests; by 

 arousing our sympathies oji behalf of the victims like IV elf, 

 Mehaud, and Little Tsora; by extolling siiblime and generous 

 heroes like Eviradniis and Roland, who protect the helpless and 

 the weak, and who chastise the guilty ; by making crime always 

 meet with its due retribution. Critics may call these methods 

 and procedures melodramatic expedients, but these procedures 

 strike infallibly home in the minds of the public. At the call of 

 the poet's voice the vanished generations rise from the grave and 

 return to life, with all their characteristic features ; society as 

 it was under the Patriarchs, Jud?ea of the time of Christ, 

 mediaeval Italy, Spain during the brilliant era of Cid. The 

 personages are before us in distinct outlines, brushed 

 with thoroughness and accuracy : Nemrod, Charlemagne, Philip 

 II of Spain. Then there is the occasional soaring away from 

 the real world, the revelation of the mythical and apocalyptic 

 side of things, the marvellous, as far as it is compatible with the 

 enlightenment of the 19th century. And owing to the numerous- 



