SAINTE-BEUVE Charles-Augustin (1804-1869).

SAINTE-BEUVE Charles-Augustin (1804-1869).
POÈME autographe, À Monsieur Victor Hugo, December 8, 1827| 2 1/2 pages in-4.
Important, long poem dedicated by Sainte-Beuve to his friend
Hugo, in the year of their first meeting.
This poem will be collected in Vie, poésies et pensées de Joseph
Delorme (1829). The 60-verse poem is composed throughout of two alexandrines, followed by a hexameter. The manuscript, unsigned, is dated December 8, 1827, with 4 corrections and changes of verse.
"Do you hear this long noise, soft as a harmony,
This cry that genius rips from the universe
Too long fought,
A sudden cry from the mute crowd,
And brings to glory the name of a great poet,
Noble friend, do you hear? [...]
If you read in my heart what I cannot read there,
And if your friendship guesses for my lyre
What cannot come out
It's enough, it's enough, until the hour when my soul
Strips off its silt and rekindles its flame
In the night of the tombs,
I'll come, the last and one of the most unworthy
To join you among the eagles and swans,
O you, one of the most beautiful!"