Victor Hugo (Feb. 26, 1802-May 22, 1885) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, statesman, human activist and possibly the most influential writer of the Romantic Movement in France. Hugo is sometimes called the greatest poet. His best-known works outside France are the novels Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris (translated in English as “The Hunchback of Notre Dame).

Victor Hugo is thought by many as the best poet of French romanticism (a style in the 1800’s that emphasized a free form of writing, expressed strong emotions and experiences of the common people). He had such an incredible talent that it was easy for him to produce a lot of plays, poems and novels.

His work touches upon most of the political and social issues of his time. He was a fervent defender of freedom, social injustice and freedom of the press and spoke against the death penalty.

When Louis Napoléon (Napoléon III) seized complete power in 1851 and established an anti-parliamentary constitution, Hugo openly declared him a traitor to France. Fearing for his life, he fled to Brussels, then the channel island of Jersey and finally settled with his family on the island of Guernsey where he lived in exile until 1870.

He was able to convince the government of Queen Victoria to spare the lives of six Irish people convicted of terrorist activities and his influence was credited in the elimination of the death penalty from the constitutions of Geneva, Portugal and Columbia.

His writing had a deep impact on others writers. His humanism inspired the Russian writer Tolstoy in particular.

He had a great love and compassion for children as reflected in a lot of his works.

Even though Napoleon III granted amnesty to all political exiles in 1859, Hugo declined, as it meant he would have had to reduce his criticisms of the government. It was only after Napoléon III fell from power and the Third Republic was proclaimed that Hugo decided to return to his homeland in 1870, where he was elected to the National Assembly and the Senate.

Victor Hugo’s death on 22 May 1885, at the age of 83, brought intense national mourning. He was not only revered in French literature but was also internationally recognized as a statesman who had helped preserve and shape the Third Republic and democracy in France. More than two million people followed his funeral procession in Paris from the Arc de Triomphe to the Panthéon where he was buried. He shares a crypt with two other great French writers Alexandre Dumas and Emile Zola.

Now that you have read Victor Hugo's short biography, read one of his poems below and think about its meaning. Then write 2 paragraphs in English in the box provided.

In the first paragraph, tell your teacher what you think about Victor Hugo and his influence in the world.

In the second paragraph give your opinion of the poem. Make sure the words are yours. The paragraphs should have at least 5 sentences each.

Les Enfants Pauvres
Prenez garde à ce petit être ;
Il est bien grand, il contient Dieu.
Les enfants sont, avant de naître,
Des lumières dans le ciel bleu.

Dieu nous les offre en sa largesse ;
Ils viennent ; Dieu nous en fait don ;
Dans leur rire il met sa sagesse
Et dans leur baiser son pardon.

Leur douce clarté nous effleure.
Hélas, le bonheur est leur droit.
S'ils ont faim, le paradis pleure.
Et le ciel tremble, s'ils ont froid.

La misère de l'innocence
Accuse l'homme vicieux.
L'homme tient l'ange en sa puissance.
Oh ! quel tonnerre au fond des cieux,

Quand Dieu, cherchant ces êtres frêles
Que dans l'ombre où nous sommeillons
Il nous envoie avec des ailes,
Les retrouve avec des haillons !

some help: Prenez garde = be careful

en sa largesse = in his kindness

nous en fait don = offers them to us

effleurer = to touch lightly

hélas = alas

frêle = frail

sommeillons = (we) doze

haillons = in rags

pauvre = poor

TRANSLATION:

The Poor Children
(or the Children of the Poor)

Take heed of this small child of earth;
He is great; he hath in him God most high.
Children before their fleshly birth
Are lights alive in the blue sky.

In our light bitter world of wrong
They come; God gives us them awhile.
His speech is in their stammering tongue,
And his forgiveness in their smile.

Their sweet light rests upon our eyes.
Alas! their right to joy is plain.
If they are hungry Paradise
Weeps, and, if cold, Heaven thrills with pain.

The want that saps their sinless flower
Speaks judgment on sin's ministers.
Man holds an angel in his power.
Ah! deep in Heaven what thunder stirs,

When God seeks out these tender things
Whom in the shadow where we sleep
He sends us clothed about with wings,
And finds them ragged babes that weep!

This English translation of "The Poor Children" was composed by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909).