eaks.'

l.38. See the remarks, in the Introduction, on Hugo's treatment of
shadows.

_etrave_, the stern of a vessel.

_etambot_, the stern-post.

l.53. The vessel pitches as she meets the waves (_le tangage qui
brave_); the rolling throws up most foam (_le roulis qui fume_).

_eclat_, splinter.

_fauve_, savage, barbarous. See note on EVIRADNUS.

_Le dernier siecle_. "Pleine Mer" and "Plein Ciel" form a section of the
_Legende_, entitled _Vingtierne Siecle_.

_sur la Tamise_. Hugo was hostile to England. He regarded the British
Empire as one of the two great dominions the shadow of which was
oppressing the world in the middle of the nineteenth century, the
other being Russia. England embodied "l'esprit de commerce, de ruse
et d'aventure". He developed this theme with a nervous and forcible
eloquence, if not with great political insight, in _Le Rhin: Conclusion_
(published in 1842).

_portemanteaux_, davits, on which the boats are slung.

_grelin_, a hawser or warp.

_palans_, tackle for raising heavy weights; block and pulley.

_amure_, rope by means of which the lower corners of a sail are held,
'tack.'

_se le passaient_, passed it along, i.e. the ship.

_Nemrod_. Nimrod is in Hugo the incarnation of the spirit of war. Cf.
especially _La Fin de Satan: Le Glaive_.

_pavois_, as a naval term, 'bulwarks.'

_vrille_, gimlet. The conception is of some immense spiked ram.

_alcoran_, the Koran. _Al_ is the Arabic definite article.

L. 191 refers to the texts in the Koran which order the death of those
who do not accept Mahometanism.

_simoun_, simoon, the hot wind of the Sahara.

PLEIN CIEL.

_Analysis_.

The vision of a ship in the sky. What is it? It is man, who has burst
the bonds that held him to earth and risen into the clouds. It is matter
soaring through the heavens.

First lyrical passage. The passage of the ship through the sky.

Description of the life in the ship; the absence of arms; the feeling of
power and joy. Description of the ship's movement.

Second lyrical passage. The voyage amongst the stars.

Whither will man go? He has thrown off his oid nature, his past history
is buried, he aspires to immortality.

Third lyrical passage. Is man to reach Heaven without death?

No, man must remain man, but the weight has been taken from his feet.
War has vanished; man is good and just.

Fourth lyrical passage. The ship is moving towards Virtue, Knowledge,
Right, Reason, B