Victor Hugo

1
Victor Hugo

• Novelist, poet, and dramatist, the most important
  of French Romantic writers . In his preface to
  his historical play CROMWELL (1827) Hugo wrote
  that romanticism is the liberalism of literature.
  Hugo developed his own version of the historical
  novel, combining concrete, historical details
  with vivid, melodramatic, even feverish
  imagination.

2

• Hugo's father was an officer in Napoleon's army,
  an enthusiastic republican and ruthless
  professional soldier, who loved dangers and
  adventures. After the marriage of his parents had
  collapsed, he was raised by his mother. He began
  in early adolescence to write verse tragedies and
  poetry, and translated Virgil . At the age of
  sixteen he noted "Many a great poet is often /
  Nothing but a literary giraffe / How great he
  seems in front, / How small he is behind!

3

• Victor Hugo lead an extraordinary life during a
  crucial turning point in world history. Hugo's
  literary works and later, his political career
  weilded great influence and eventually catapulted
  his reputation around the world brining him much
  controversy. He spent much of his life in France
  with the exception of his 19 year exile, but his
  poetry , novels , and plays touched the lives of
  people from around the globe and continues to
  attract new admirers.

4

• More Strong Than Time
• Since I have set my lips to your full cup, my
  sweet,
• Since I my pallid face between your hands have
  laid,
• Since I have known your soul, and all the bloom
  of it,
• And all the perfume rare, now buried in the
  shade
• Since it was given to me to hear on happy while,
• The words wherein your heart spoke all its
  mysteries,
• Since I have seen you weep, and since I have
  seen you smile,

5

• Your lips upon my lips, and your eyes upon my
  eyes
• Since I have known above my forehead glance and
  gleam
• A ray, a single ray, of your star, veiled always,
  
• Since I have felt the fall, upon my lifetime's
  stream,
• Of one rose petal plucked from the roses of your
  days
• I now am bold to say to the swift changing
  hours,
• Pass, pass upon your way, for I grow never old,

6

• Fleet to the dark abysm with all your fading
  flowers,
• One rose that none may pluck, within my heart I
  hold.
• Your flying wings may smite, but they can never
  spill
• The cup fulfilled of love, from which my lips are
  wet
• My heart has far more fire than you can frost to
  chill,
• My soul more love than you can make my soul
  forget.