Show VICTOR HUGO A biographical sketch of the distinguished french poet novelist and orator who has just died in paris Victo rMarie hugo the greatest grea teat poet of france and one of the greatest novelists orators and publicists visas a representative frenchman in the vivacity and versatility of his genius the epi brilliancy of his style and the devotion to an idea in all its practical applications the one motive which in all his constancy as well as in all his changes to actuate him was a love of liber ty political religious and intellectual and back of this as it spring was a love of mankind which transcended all bounds of condition nationality faith or even moral desert ho was by nature a revolutionist not only in polities but in society religion and literature and his influence has been great in turning the world into new paths in all these respects his life has been one of opposition and he has been suppressed proscribed and exiled perhaps more than any man of the century three kings persecuted him but he lived to them all dethroner dethroned and he died the roost honored and loved man in all france victor hugo was born at basan con france on the of february 1802 his family was boblo and had been so since 1531 his father born in Lorrain fc volun leered as a soldier under the re public in 1789 became a general under the first Napo leonand distinguished himself by his courage and brilliant exploits in arms his mother was equally remarkable a native of la vendee and some daring exploits A french writer alio had little sympathy with the family calls her a ven dee brigand tracked in the forest along with mesdames bonchamp Bon champ and Laroche she shared the adventurous existence ot her soldier husband and generally took her children with her it is said that she personally engage din the terrible struggle in the vendee under the republic we find in the verses of the poet many references to his romantic and youth wandering all oyer europe as lie says before he was born As a child he followed the imperial armies with his when hardly old enough to speak was taken tir italy and thence to his father who at the time governor province of avellino calabria was campaigning against the celebrated bandit fra deavo lo 10 after having visited florence rome and naples he returned to paris in 1809 victor hugos early life was not calculated to bring out the republicanism lican ism which characterized it his father was an im hard to sustain the tottering throne of joseph bonaparta Bon aparto in spain and his mother an ardent Loyalist sat the court of madrid these instilled in hia youthful mind the conservative sentiments which dominated his early career spain he was sent to a seminary of the nobles when he was but 10 years old he took a great interest in spanish architecture which frequently exhibited itself in his poems as also in spanish scenery and the people in 1812 he returned to france and took up his abode with bis mother and brothers in the convent of the he was next sent with his brother to a preparatory to get ready for the polytechnic institute as his father wished to make a soldier of him he early showed an inclination to write verses and although he exhibited great promis ein this line his father him to give up poetry and apply himself to mathematics he studied mathematics but did not give up poetry before he was 30 years of age his published works were numerous and his famous odes and ballads romances dramas etc flowed rapidly from his prolific pen at the age of 14 he had composed a tragedy Irta raene and two lario pieces of value the rich and the poor and the canadian in 1817 at tho age of 15 he contested for alie academic prize als though without success receiving however honorable mention be tapen 1819 and 1822 he took three prizes from the toulouse academy with the following three oace which are among bis beet and which gave biro at once his tamp the virgins of verdun henry ive statue and moses in the nile about this time chateaubriand Chateau briand took an interest inyim and offered him a place under him in the berlin em bassy which however he declined having no taste for diplomacy in 1821 his mother died leaving him for weeks inconsolable soon after he sought the hand of a whom he bad long loved a alis boucer but whose parents at first forbade the alliance on account of hie poverty he DOS as the result of hie literary labors only about and ihas father would promise him no more unless ho would consent to take up ono of the regular professions when he however published hia odes and ballads which were well received the parents of the girl expressed themselves satisfied and felt honored by the marriage which was consummated shortly before the revolution of a literary revolution took place at the head of which was victor hugo A band of young men imaginative ardent and confident sought to renovate french literature by departing from classic rules and models substituting a varied and very irregular verse for the monotonous alexandrine verses of the old school and making art more precisely conform to nature which they carried so far says a writer as to bring into prominence things disagreeable which nature herself is displeased with and teaches us to keep out of sight the new school the young france they called themselves formed the romanticists and their opponents the classicists the literary war lasted for some years and the success of the first school is seen in the floo dof dramas and tales of a terribly realistic nature which constitute recent french literature the romantic school broke with aristos tie and racine till then thought to taste and vic tor hugo published as the first great work of the new school his drama of Cromwell inthe preface of which ke 1 developed at considerable sid erable length the now theories of which the following sentence is a resume all that is in nature is in art the drama results from the combination of the sublime and the gro drama esthe expression of the modern epoch other works written acthia time are bis marion delorme the last days of a condemned criminal hernani and le roi camuse sA muse all of which created great sensations the occasion of his writing the last days of a condemned criminal according to a recent writer isas follows when hugo saw the assassin berri taken to the scaffold his blood ran cold in hia veins and his whole spirit re bolted against the horror and the unforgiving severity af capital punishment ish ment he was in those days still and ultra and found the assassins work hideous and in excusable in every sense but he could not believe in a life for a life Thi the first impression on him some years later he was walking in the square in front i of the hotel de ville one evening when he saw the executioner j dicing with the guillotine for an execution to take place on the morrow the crowd surrounded alie the brutal officer who while he greased the grooves in which the fatal knife was to fall recounted the terrors prisoner and the details ochi crime young Hu gosick at heart went home shuddering the next day he be gan to write the work named and finished it in three weeks it was published early in 1829 As a psychological study it is exceedingly powerful so strong that thousands refused to believe that it was the work of one who had never been under sentence of death the hor bors and despairs the paralysis the fantastical dreams and rude awak edings of the convict were depicted with a force yet delicacy which captivated even those who saw in the book an attempt to derogate from the majesty of the law there was never a m ore eloquent protest against capital punishment when hia hernani which is an attack on the stiff and unnatural stylo of french dramatic literature was first played at the theatre fran feb 16 1830 it caused a scene of riotous confusion the academy went so far as to lay a complaint against his attempted innovations at the foot of the throne charles sensibly replied that in matters of art he was no more than a private person the play of lc roi camuse sA muse was written during the insurrection of 1830 the farat act was written in four daye As ho lived near the garden of the Tuille ries it is said that lie was accustomed to walk there under the trees and to compose hia verse as he walked one day when liard at work on a monologue lie was interrupted by a riot which penetrated to his peaceful retreat and he was compelled to take refuge in a neighboring arcade the tide of battle followed him and the poet forgetting hia versee had to get behind some columns to protect himself from musket balag this drama was performed at the theater francais in january 1832 and the day after its production was interdicted interdict ed by the government ho continued writing many dra matic pieces of various merit and after many struggles was admitted into the academy in 1841 in 1837 louis phillippe had made an officer in the legion of honor anil in 1845 he created him a peer of france after the revolution of 1848 he wag elected to represent paria both in the constituent assembly arid in the legislative body in which he manifested strong democratic principles his progress toward liberality however has been constant ever dinces his earliest manhood and of late years h has been regarded as a leading champion of the people of all countries against whatever kind of wrongs and an impressive advocate of kunii virsal equality when napoleon committed his coup d betat ho became one of his greatest enemies and never became reconciled to his reign he was banished for life in 1851 and subsequently refused to take advantage of any pardon to return to franco till franco should become a republic when he returned to Pari the fall of napoleon he had a most enthusiastic reception iu which the whole city participated and the reappearance of the old man constant to his vows and to his liberty all these many year was the most affecting scene of the whole drama of modern france on the of february last victor hugos birthday was celebrated by the parisians Pari in a manner resembling an ovation his kindheartedness kind heartedness caused him to be loved by all the poor oppressed and condemned for whom he ever pleaded especially fer those condemned to death saving many a head from the gui lotino in liters he will live as frances greatest lyric poet and as the founder of the romantic school as it is known in france a school discarding the fetters of old time pedantry cappella Jap pella un cochon par son nom Pour quoi nocho has said in one of his verses much to the horror of old french purists victor hugo has been the poet of france victorious or defeated the poet of the warrior in the fight and of the dying soldier he has celebrated with a powerful pen the legends of french history more especially ally that of napoleon in lea orientales Orien tales he has been the poet of natures colors in the feuillet feuilles Feu illes dAu tonne he has sung happiness and true love in les contemplations he lias been the poet of reveries and youthful grace in les he has been a sort of republican isaiah the poet of vengeance in hernani he has sung grandeur in les pauvres gens pity military in qua the sacrifice of tenderness in the denouement of les Travail leurs de la mer and tho smile in LaCoc cinelle buti bove all that he has pictured sung and immortalized that living toddling brilliant adorable and adored be ing and poem the child children have played a prominent part in his works in the midst of his gigantic labors among the throng of ideas contained in of the haughty castilian pride of ruy bias of that terrible tragedy lu borgia of the grandeur of notre daic of the sufferings of marion cf the somber reverie of charles V of the martyrdom of galliart Gilli art one is moved to tear by his pictures of children as for instance when one reads of the poor paris gamin Gay roche feeding his brother or petite jeanne who is smiling while shells are exploding around the innocent prattler victor hugo was also an art ast 1st will his pencil and has left several interesting sketches in the shape of landscapes his death is a loss to humanity and will be looked upon as a national misfortune in his country tender heart ed as he was victor hugo was much tried in his lifetime one of his daughters was drowned with her husband almost under his eyes when ehe had been hardly married a year both his sons and wife were taken from him he lavished all hi love on two and to them many of his later pieros are dedicated jeanne ande orges have been immortalized in the verse of their immortal grandfather |