Also recommended:
gavroche.org
Napoleon.org
Hugo-Online
19th c. author links - Bib. nat. de France
Absolute Write
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Poetry
All translations copyright Geoffrey Barto, 2001-, unless otherwise indicated
FR=original French, VT=verse translation, LT=literal translation, Rd=
Read a poem together
[XML] = extensible markup language. It may not be viewable in all browsers. Information on our markup available on request.
[HTML] = hypertext markup language, the standard coding used on the internet.
Remember to click the [HTML] link if you're having problems with the regular link.
from Les Contemplations
AUTREFOIS (THE PAST)
Opening poem LT [XML]
Opening poem (in blank verse) VT [HTML]
Livre premier: Aurore
I. A ma fille / To my daughter LT [HTML]
II. Le poète s'en va dans les champs... / The poet goes off in the fields... LT [HTML]
III. Mes deux filles / My two daughters LT [HTML]
IV. Le firmament est plein de la vaste clarté / The firmament is full with brightness LT [HTML]
V. A / To Andre Chenier LT [HTML]
VI. La vie aux champs / Life in the Country LT [HTML]
XI. Lise LT [HTML]
XV. La Coccinelle / The Ladybug LT [HTML]
XXIV. Heureux l'homme, occupé de l'éternel destin / Happy the man, busy with eternal destiny LT [HTML]
Livre deuxième: L'Ame en fleur
II. Mes vers fuiraient doux et frêles / Sweet and frail, my lines would fly Rd
[HTML]
X. Mon bras pressait ta taille frêle...
/ My arm squeezed your fragile waist... LT [HTML]
XII. Eglogue LT [HTML]
XIII. Viens! - une flûte invisible... / Come! An invisible flute... LT [HTML]
XXI. Il lui disait... / He was telling her... LT [HTML]
Livre troisième: Les luttes et les rêves
I. Ecrit sur un exemplaire de la Divina Commedia / Written on a copy of the Divine Comedy Rd [HTML]
II. Melancholia: Les Misérables in miniature in progress
Introductory essay and lines 1-254 (of 336) have been posted. Commentary on the poem's sections and its relationship to Les Misérables will be added in time..
IV. Ecrit au bas d'un crucifixe / Written at the bottom of a crucifix LT [HTML]
VI. La source/The Spring LT [HTML]
IX. Jeune fille, la grâce emplit... FR [XML]
IX. Lass, at seventeen you're filled with grace... VT [HTML]
XV. Epitaphe LT [HTML]
XXV. L'enfant, voyant l'aïeule a filer occupée / The child, seeing grandma busy spinning LT [HTML]
XXX. Magnitudo parvi VT HTML]
commentary
AUJOURD'HUI (TODAY)
Livre quatrième: Pauca meae
II. 15 février 1843 / February 15, 1843 LT [HTML]
IV. Oh! je fus comme fou dans le premier moment/Oh! I was like a fool at first LT [HTML]
VI. Quand nous habitions tous ensemble / When we all lived together LT [HTML]
VIII. A qui donc sommes-nous? To whom do we belong? LT [HTML]
X. Pendant que le marin, qui calcule et qui doute / While the sailor, who calculates and doubts LT [HTML]
XIII. Veni, vidi, vixi LT [HTML]
Livre cinqième: En marche
XIX. Au poëte qui m'envoie une plume d'aigle/To the poet who sent me an eagle's feather LT [HTML]
XXII. Je payai le pêcheur qui passa son chemin / I payed the fishermen who'd come on his route LT [HTML]
Livre sixième: Au bord de l'infini
I. Le Pont / The Bridge VT [HTML]
VII. Un jour, le morne esprit... One day, the gloomy spirit... LT [HTML]
XII. Aux anges qui nous voient / To the angels that see us LT [HTML]
from Les Orientales
Pantoum malais/Malaysian Pantoum LT [HTML]
(reprinted from letter from Fouinet)
from Les Feuilles d'automne
I. "Ce siècle avait deux ans" FR [XML]
from Les Châtiments
Nox
I. C'est la date choisie... FR [XML]
I. At the bottom of your thoughts... VT [HTML]
This is the date you chose...
by Peter Hicks of Napoleon.org
Commentary by Geoffrey Barto
Livre premier : La société est sauvée
IX. L'Art et le peuple FR [XML]
IX. Art and the people LT [HTML]
Livre deuxième : L'ordre est rétabli
III. Souvenir de la nuit du 4 / Memory of the Night of the 4th LT [HTML]
V. "Puisque le juste est dans l'abîme" FR [XML]
Livre troisième : La famille est restaurée
III. Fable ou histoire FR [XML]
III. Fable or History VT [HTML]
commentary
Livre quatrième : La religion est glorifiée
II. Ce que le poëte se disait en 1848 FR [XML]
II. What the poet was telling himself in '48 VT [HTML]
XII A quatre prisonniers FR [XML]
commentary
Livre cinquième : L'autorité est sacrée
II. Chanson ("Un jour, Dieu sur sa table...") FR [XML]
II. Song ("Sitting at His table one day...") VT [HTML]
commentary
Livre sixième : La stabilité est assurée
VII. Luna FR [XML]
VII. Luna LT [HTML]
IX. Au peuple FR [XML]
XII. ("On dit: - soyez prudents...") FR [XML]
XII. ("They say: "Be prudent...") VT [HTML]
Livre septième : Les sauveurs se sauveront
VIII. Cette nuit, il pleuvait, la marée était haute... FR [HTML]
with translation FR/LT [HTML]
Lux
I ("Temps futurs! vision sublime!") FR [HTML]
La Fin FR [HTML]
Essays on Hugo and literature
by Geoffrey Barto
Victor Hugo: Author and Politician
Victor Hugo: Praised and Scorned
Hugo and Flaubert at the barricades
Hugo and Economics: Private Property
Hugo and Economics: The Worker
Thoughts on translation
Notes on French versification
Thoughts on tragedy
All essays copyright Geoffrey Barto, 2000-
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Visit gbarto.com for English verse, language information and maybe a mouse race or two.
And don't forget these other gbarto.com resources:
Les Pages Lamartine - a very few poems in English translation
The Victor Hugo Bookstore - Victor Hugo books with reviews of selected items
The Eurolanguage Bookstore - for quick solutions to learning French, Spanish, Italian and German
The Exotic Language Bookstore - from Irish to Japanese with stops including Arabic and Uzbek
The Language Pages - short previews of selected languages, including a character by character reading of the first chapter of the Tao-Te-Ching
- learn about languages, language families and how to put together your language knowledge to become a polyglot.