81. STANCES. From _les Nouvelles Méditations_. 18. MEMNON, son of Tithonus and Eos, king of the Ethiopians, slain by Achilles. The Greeks connected with Memnon various ancient monuments and buildings, especially the great temple at Thebes and one of the colossi of Amenophis III., currently called the statue of Memnon; legend reported of it that when touched by the first rays of the dawn it gave forth a musical sound. 83. LES RÉVOLUTIONS. From _les Harmonies poétiques et religieuses_. Only the last of the three divisions of the poem is given here. 84. 20. SIBYLLES ANTIQUES; concerning the sibyls, sibylline books, and sibylline leaves consult a classical dictionary. 23. VERBE; used currently for the second person of the Trinity; here it goes back to a passage in the first division of the poem, where speaking of God's process of creation; he says: "Son Verbe court sur le néant! Il court, et la Nature à ce Verbe qui vole Le suit en chancelant de parole en parole, Jamais, jamais demain ce qu'elle est aujourd'hui! Et la création, toujours, toujours nouvelle, Monte éternellement la symbolique échelle Que Jacob rêva devant lui! " 85. 8. LES NOEUDS, knots of nautical reckoning. ALFRED DE VIGNY. 1797-1863. One of the great poets of the century. He surpassed most, if not all, of his fellow Romanticists in the intellectual quality of his verse. His lyrics are not merely the product of a moment of passion or of a passing emotion; the strings of his lyre were not set vibrating by every breeze that blew. The personal emotion from which the lyric springs was with him subjected to the action of an intellectual solvent, was generalized and made almost impersonal before it was given form and expression. For this reason partly the bulk of his poetry is small, not exceeding the limits of one small volume. But there are few poems that one would be content to lose. One should read, besides the two given here, _Moïse, la Maison du Berger_ and _la Mort du loup_. De Vigny's influence on the poetry of the latter half of the century has been considerable. Works: _Poèmes_, 1822; _Poèmes antiques et modernes_, 1826; _les Destinées_, 1864; in the Oeuvres complètes_, of which several editions have appeared, the _Poésies_ make one volume. For reference : Sainte-Beuve, _Portraits contemporains_, vol. II; E. Caro, _Poètes et romanciers_, 1888 ; E. Faguet, _Études littéraires sur le dix-neuvième siècle_, 1887 ; F.Brunetière, _Évolution de la poésie lyrique_, vol. ii ; Dorison, Alfred de Vigny, poète philosophe, 1891 ; M. Paléologue, _Alfred de Vigny_, 1891.