Picture of Victor Hugo and his Family
Middle Years
Victor fell in love despite his mother's wishes to a childhood friend named Adele. They married in 1822 after his mother's death. In 1823 they had their first child named Leopold who died when he was just an infant. On August 28th 1824 they had their second child names Lepoldine followed by Charles on November 4th 1826, Francois-Victor on October 28th 1828 and ending on August 24th 1830 with Adele who was named after her mother.
Hugo's oldest daughter had drowned shortly after she was married at the age of nineteen in 1843. The death had left Victor devastated. he had learned of Lepoldine's death in a newspaper he had read when he was traveling with his mistress. He later wrote about what he had felt about his daughter's death in a poem called A Villequier.
Excerpt from A Villequier Poem
Now that, seated at the edge of the waves,
moved by this superb and tranquil horizon,
I can
examine deep truths inside me
and look at the flowers that are on
the lawn;
Now, O God! that I have the somber
calm
to be able from now on
to
look with my eyes on the stone where I know in the shadow
she is
sleeping forever;
-Victor Hugo
moved by this superb and tranquil horizon,
I can
examine deep truths inside me
and look at the flowers that are on
the lawn;
Now, O God! that I have the somber
calm
to be able from now on
to
look with my eyes on the stone where I know in the shadow
she is
sleeping forever;
-Victor Hugo