INTRODUCTION

Victor-Marie Hugo was born at Besançon in 1802. He was the son of a military commander of the empire, and the varied résidence of the family, especially in Italy and Spain, made on the boy a deep impression which is reflected in his works. Great literary activity characterized him from the first. Some of his odes received honorable mention before he was eighteen, and his first volume of poems, Odes et Poésies Diverses, published in 1822, obtained for him a pension, ,and thus provided means for his marriage. His genius and energy soon made him the recognized leader of the romantic school. In 1841 he became a member of the Academy.

About this time, he began to take an active interest in politics, and was elected deputy of Paris in 1848. The coup d'état of Louis Napoléon drove him into exile, from which he did not return until 1870. The closing years of his Hfe were crowned with the admiration and honor of his countrymen. He dîed at Paris in 1885.

The poetical works of Victor Hugo reflect the development of his genius. The luxuriant growth of his early lyric ability, shown in Odes et Ballades (1826), and Les Orientales (1829), passes into a calm mastery in Les Feuilles d'Automne (1831). Les Chants du Crépuscule (183s), Les Voix Intérieures (1837), Les Rayons et les Ombres (1840), lead up to Les Contemplations (1856), which marks his greatest power as a lyric poet.