la légende des siecles

L.53. The vessel pitches as she meets the waves (le tangage qui brave); the rolling
throws up most foam (le roulis qui fume).
éclat, splinter.
fauve, savage, barbarous. See note on ÉVIRADNUS.
Le dernier siècle. "Pleine Mer" and "Plein Ciel" form a section of the Légende, entitled
Vingtiérne Siècle.
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.