Page:The life and writings of Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) (IA lifewritingsofal00spurrich).pdf/303

 the book is of course Dumas's, and some of the chapters appeared in his different "Impressions de Voyage."

Dumas the poet is perhaps best represented by "Charles VII. et ses grands Vassaux," and by "Christine"; but M. Glinel has collected a considerable number of fugitive poems, most of which appeared in the "Psyche." They prove what, indeed, Dumas's tragedy-dramas show, that he had le mouvement, la couleur et l'image, and expressed passion with a rare vigour and warmth. "Although lacking a sure knowledge of syntax," says Parigot, "and deficient in mastery of form, he sparkled with gaiety and youth, even in verse. The man who wrote the lion chase, the dream of the desert, and the fifth act of 'Charles VII.'; the 'spirituel' couplets in 'L'Alchimiste,' and, above all, the prologue to 'Caligula' is not a poet to be despised." What, indeed, did this marvellous man attempt, that he did not in some degree achieve? Of the thirty or forty poems thus preserved, the elegy on the death of General Foy, the dithyrambe "Canaris," in praise of that heroic Greek, and the verses to Hugo and Sainte-Beuve, deserve mention. In selecting one of Dumas's poems for quotation, we have chosen what we believe to be one of the best and most typical.