Views and Reviews: Essays in appreciation: LiteratureHenley, William Ernest
History
Views and Reviews: Essays in appreciation: Literature
Henley, William Ernest
English literature -- History and criticism; Literature -- History and criticism
true that his work is as wholly lacking in the radiant sanity of
Shakespeare's as it is in the exquisite good sense of Voltaire's, it is
also true that he left the world far richer than he found it.
What Lives of Him.
To select an anthology from his work were surely the pleasantest of
tasks. One richer in grace and passion and sweetness might he chosen out
of Musset; one wrought more truly of the finer stuff of humanity as well
as more bountifully touched with tact and dignity and temper from the
work of Tennyson. But the Hugo selection would combine the rarest
technical merits with a set of interests all its own. It would give, for
instance, the _Stella_ of the _Chatiments_ and the _Pauvres Gens_ of the
_Legende_. On one page would be found that admirable _Souvenir de la
Nuit du Quatre_, which is at once the impeachment and the condemnation of
the Coup d'Etat; and on another the little epic of _Eviradnus_, with its
immortal serenade, a culmination of youth and romance and love:
'Si tu veux, faisons un reve.
Montons sur deux palefrois.
Tu m'emmenes, je t'enleve.
L'oiseau chante dans les bois.
. . . . .
Allons-nous-en par l'Autriche!
Nous aurons l'aube a nos fronts.
Je serai grand et toi riche,
Puisque nous nous aimerons.
. . . . .
Tu seras dame et moi comte.
Viens, mon oeeur s'epanouit.
Viens, nous conterons ce conte
Aux etoiles de la nuit.'
Here, a summary of all the interests of romanticism, would be the
complaint of Gastibelza:
'Un jour d'ete, ou tout etait lumiere,
Vie et douceur,
Elle s'en vint jouer dans la riviere
Avec sa soeur.
Je vis le pied de sa jeune compagne
Et son genou . . .--
Le vent qui vient a travers la montagne
Me rendra fou!'--
here the adorable _Vieille Chanson du Jeune Temps_:
'Rose, droite sur ses hanches,
Leva son beau bras tremblant
Pour prendre une mure aux branches:
Je ne vis pas son bras blanc.
Une eau courait, fraiche et creuse,
Sur les mousses de velours;
Et la nature amoureuse
Dormait dans les grands bois sourds.'--
and here, not unworthy to be remembered with _Proud Maisie_, that
wonderful harmony of legend and superstition and the facts and dreams of
common life, the death-song of Fantine:
'Nous acheterons de bien belles choses,
En nous promenant le long de faubourgs.
La Vierge-Marie aupres de mon poele
Est venue hier, en manteau brode,
Et m'a dit: Voici, cache sous mon voile,
Le petit qu'un jour tu m'as demande.
Courez a la ville; ayez de la toile,
Achetez du fil, achetez un de.
Les bluets sont bleus, les roses sont roses,
Les bluets sont bleus, j'aime mes amours.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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