58. LE LAC. Written September 17-23, 1817; from _les Méditations poétiques_. The lake here celebrated is Lake Bourget in Savoy. Here the poet met in 1816 Mme. Charles, wife of the well known physicist, with whom he fell very much in love and who is immortalized by him under the names Julie and Elvire. She died Dec. 18, 1817. Cf. Anatole France, _l'Elvire de Lamartine_, 1893. When this poem was written Lamartine already knew that she was hopelessly ill. This experience of his colors many poems of his first two volumes. _Le Lac_ has often been set to music; most successfully by the Swiss composer Niedermeyer (1802-1861). For interesting variants in the text see Reyssié, _la Jeunesse de Lamartine_, p. 201. L'AUTOMNE. November, 1819; from _les Méditations poétiques_. 61. 9. PEUT ÊTRE L'AVENIR, etc.; "allusion à l'attachement sérieux que le poète avait conçu pour une jeune Anglaise qui fut depuis la compagne de sa vie." (Commentaire de l'auteur.) LE SOIR. Spring of 1819; from _les Méditations poétiques_. 63. LE VALLON. Summer of 1819; from _les Méditations poétiques_. "Ce vallon est situé dans les montagnes du Dauphiné." (Commentaire de l'auteur.) 65 9. PYTHAGORE; Pythagoras, a Greek philosopher of the sixth century B.C., who is said to have taught the doctrine that the "organization of the universe is an harmonious system of numerical ratios." L'ISOLEMENT. September, 1818; from _les Méditations poétiques_. Reyssié in the work above cited gives interesting variants for this poem. 67 LE CRUCIFIX. 1818? From _les Nouvelles Méditations_. "Mon ami M. de V(irieu), qui assistait aux derniers moments de Julie, me rapporta, de sa part, le crucifix qui avait reposé sur ses lèvres dans son agonie ... J'écrivis, après une année de silence et de deuil, cette élégie." (Commentaire de l'auteur.) Compare with this note the eleventh stanza of the poem, which points back to the time of the Graziella affair. See below. 70. ADIEU A GRAZIELLA. From _les Nouvelles Méditations_. Graziella, whose heart Lamartine won during his visit to Naples in the winter of 1811-12 and whom he abandoned, was the daughter of a Neapolitan fisherman. She died soon afterward. Later the poet idealized her and his relation to her and immortalized her memory in his works. Cf. _le Premier regret_ below. 71. LES PRÉLUDES. 1822; from _les Nouvelles Méditations_. This poem, addressed to Victor Hugo, consists of several divisions, in different meters, only the last of which is here given. It inspired the symphonic poem of Liszt by the same name. 73. HYMNE DE L'ENFANT À SON RÉVEIL. From _les Harmonies poétiques et religieuses_. 76. LE PREMIER REGRET. From _les Harmonies poétiques et religieuses_. It was inspired by the memory of Graziella. 7. MER DE SORRENTO, bay of Naples; Sorrento is a small town on the bay, south-east of Naples. 77. 27. NÉMI; the lake is in the hollow of an extinct volcano, in the Alban mountains, a few miles southeast of Rome.