Hugo on Shakespeare

Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, Volume 1, Issue 37, 13 December 1901, Page 3

Hugo on Shakespeare

A remarkable and hitherto unpublished e?say by Yic-tor Hugo sees the light in tlie September "North " American EevieAv,'"' The subject is .Shakespeare, about wham the great French poet writ s: : —

"After three centuries mankind has something to say to one who has long been insulted. It lias seemed as if Shakespeare were standing upon t' c soil of Eranoe; Paris has risen; tie poets, the arti.-ts, the histori ns, have Stretched out their hands to t"iis phantom by whose sid^ the poets have seen Hamlet, the artists Prospero, and the h'storians Julius Ca>sar.

"Thedrunken savag-c, the.baife.irous harlequin, the mountebank Shakespeare lias appeared, and only the lijht irhieh surrounds In'm has been visible; the ridicule of two ecu tin ie.> h s ended in dazzling radiance, ar.d. France- has wied: 'Welco.ne genius.' C&lory has assumed a definite shape.

"Shakespeare' %ho druiiken savage! Ravage, yet, but the inhabitant of the virgin foi%st, v, drunken, indeed, but with the ;dea.. He is a giant, bene.ith fche boughs of onoi-n.^us trees who liolds a greajt golden cup, and the light which he drinks is reflected in his evvs.

"Shakespeare, tike Aeschylus, like J!ob ; . like, "Isaiah, is on© of the sovereigns of thought; and of poesy, who sufficient for the All Mysterious,, have the depth of oifatioa itself, and who, like creation itsoliv . i?r>-nslate and illustnue this Mopth by a profusion of forms atj-0 iinrui.'es. springing from the darkness, i'1 Jlowers, in leaves,, and. in Ivin^6tr. .r-rr. *