Victor Hugo

1. Victor Hugo Sabrina Gambill 1802-1885 biography.com

2. www.mundocuriososencillo.com Early Years Born to a prominent family, Hugo’s father was one of Napoleon’s favorite generals. As a result of his work, the family traveled all over Europe, which gave Hugo world experience. His parents had a tumultuous relationship, as his father was a nationalist and his mother was a royalist. When his parents separated, Hugo lived with his mother and followed her beliefs in early life. Fell in love with his childhood friend Adele, they had known each other since they were six years old. The families did not want the marriage to happen, and Hugo waited until the death of his mother to marry Adele.

3. In 1830, Adele had an affair with Sainte-Beuve, a French critic who was a good friend of Hugo’s. The affair devastated Hugo and three years later, Hugo takes a mistress, the actress Juliette Drouet, who Hugo became Hugo’s lifetime love. Cosette in Les Miserablesand Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame are based off Juliette. When Napoleon III took control of France in 1852, Hugo was exiled. Hugo vowed that he would not return until France was restored to the people. He fled with his family to Jersey, before being expelled to Guernsey for twenty years. When Hugo returned to France, he had become the most famous writer of his generation, but put writing aside in order to focus on politics. Later Years doina-touchinghearts.blogspot.com

4. Writing Highlights Most renowned for Les Miserablesand The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hugo is one of the greatest French writers. The Hunchback of Notre Dame was Hugo’s first full-length novel, and was an instant success. Wrote all different sorts of works throughout his lifetime; novels, short stories poems, critical essays, pamphlets… and most of these centered around his political activism. Also wrote plays, which were and continue to not be very unsuccessful. In 1838, he published Ruby Blas, a tragic drama that is now considered to be his best play, but was a failure at the time. A Romantic true-and-true, Hugo’s concern in writing was depicting emotion. His passages are filled with vivid descriptions sometimes pages long. Another motif of the Romantic era is the use of nature, and Hugo employs this in “Song of Love”

5. The Hunchback of Notre Dame en.wikipedia.org

6. Overview The Hunchback of Notre Dame tells the story of the hideous Quasimodo and the beautiful Esmeralda, both who struggle to survive in the hardships of Paris. Hugo used the book as a launchpad to support his quest for social reform. For example: Quasimodo is exiled to spend his life in the cathedral because of his disfigurement, knowing only the dysfunctional love of his adopted father. Esmeralda goes from being adored by the people to despised because she is a gypsy, and this leads her to begging, where she is taken advantage of by Captain Phoebus and tried for his murder, which she did not commit.

7. Historical Context Along with The Hunchback of Notre Dame being a call to action against poverty in France, Hugo also used the book to show the cathedral of Notre Dame to the world as it was in the nineteenth century- decrepit and neglected. The book is a bird’s eye view of the city, and so the reader sees the inside of the king’s court to the prisons in order to give a complete perspective of what Paris was really like during the 15th century. Hugo spent painstaking months of research building an accurate Paris in the 15th century. All of the physical descriptions come from resources he scoured to make the book accurate.

8. “Song of Love” • If there be a velvet sward • By dewdrops pearly drest, • Where through all seasons fairies guard • Flowers by bees carest, • Where one may gather, day and night, • Roses, honeysuckle, lily white, • I fain would make of it a site • For thy foot to rest. • If there be a loving heart • Where Honor rules the breast, • Loyal and true in every part, • That changes ne'er molest, • Eager to run its noble race, • Intent to do some work of grace, • I fain would make of it a place • For thy brow to rest. • And if there be of love a dream • Rose-scented as the west, • Which shows, each time it comes, a gleam,— • A something sweet and blest,— • A dream of which heaven is the pole, • A dream that mingles soul and soul, • I fain of it would make the goal • Where thy mind should rest. « S’il est un charmant gazon »

9. Rhyme Scheme/Structure Same pattern throughout the three stanzas that follows a clear arrangement as follows: If there be a velvet sward A By dewdrops pearly drest, B Where through all seasons fairies guard A Flowers by bees carest, B Where one may gather, day and night, C Roses, honeysuckle, lily white, C I fain would make of it a siteC For thy foot to rest. B This rhyme scheme is important because it draws the reader to the last line of the stanza, which is repeated in different ways in the other two stanzas.

10. Rhyme Scheme/Structure Continued The unique structure of “Song of Love” in the translated version offers an “if/then” scenario in each stanza. If there is such a perfect utopia out there for his love, then the narrator wants to find it.

11. Although imagery and metaphor both illuminate a passage, they are not mutually exclusive. Imagery does not rely on metaphor, “Quietly in the middle of the night, they snuck into the small, close-knit town with its one post office, quaint buildings and old-fashioned customs.” The poem relies on imagery and metaphor to show the profound love of the speaker. Nature is the most powerful image presented in the poem, with constant references to flowers in the perfect place. Metaphor in stanza three, as Hugo compares the dreaminess of love to the lovely smell of the west. This phrase also contains the nature imagery. Imagery and Metaphor

12. Lyrical Poetry Lyrical poetry is large branch of poetry that contains rhyme, meter, and deep thoughts. There is often a lot of emotion and personal feelings. “Song of Love” exhibits all of the classifications of a lyrical poem with all three categories. It explores the raw emotion of love and the endless limits some will go to in order to make their love happy.

13. Love and Hate Obviously, this poem focuses on love rather than hate. The narrator would give his love anything, a beautiful place to rest both body and mind, and where they could be together. It is a very touching poem filled with the idea that love can be completely pure and devoted.

14. Diddly-Doos Hugo was also a talented artist. He painted over 4000 paintings during his lifetime. During his exile, he used painting as a creative outlet. His paintings, like his novels, are extremely realisticand detailed. EugèneDelacroix, a famous painter, once said of Hugothat if he had painted instead of wrote, he could have outshone all other painters of the time. http://www.art-prints-on-demand.com/a/hugo-victor/mydestiny1857penandinkwas.html

15. When Hugo died in 1885, he was one of the most famous people in all of Europe. It is estimated that over two million people attended his funeral procession. It was the largest funeral in French history. Hugo’s last wish was to be buried in a pauper’s coffin, and even though his request was granted, his remains now lie in the Pantheon. He shares a crypt with Alexandre Dumas and Emile Zola.