The death of Léopoldine Hugo

On September 4^th 1843, the 19-year-old daughter of French writer, Victor Hugo, drowned in the Seine.  

Léopoldine Hugo and her recent husband, Charles Vacquerie, had taken a boat onto the section of the river that passes the commune of Villequier in Normandy. They capsized and Léopoldine was pulled down by her heavy skirts. Charles died trying to save her.  

Her death impacted Hugo’s life and writing in innumerable ways. One of the poems dedicated to her memory is Demain dès l’aube (Tomorrow at dawn). The following is my own translation of the poem in prose form. Below this is the original French.

Tomorrow at dawn

Tomorrow at dawn, in the hour when the countryside whitens, I will set out. You see, I know that you are waiting for me. I will go by the forest, I will go by the mountain, I cannot stay away from you any longer.

I will walk, eyes fixed on my thoughts, seeing nothing outside, hearing no sound, alone, unknown, hunched over, hands folded, sad, and the day to me will be like the night.

I will not look at the falling golden evening, nor the distant sails descending towards the town of Harfleur. And when I arrive, I will place a green bouquet of holly and flowering heather on your tomb.

Portrait of Léopoldine Hugo by Auguste de Châtillon (1836)

Demain dès L’aube

Demain, dès l’aube, à l’heure où blanchit la campagne,
Je partirai. Vois-tu, je sais que tu m’attends.
J’irai par la forêt, j’irai par la montagne.
Je ne puis demeurer loin de toi plus longtemps.

Je marcherai les yeux fixés sur mes pensées,
Sans rien voir au dehors, sans entendre aucun bruit,
Seul, inconnu, le dos courbé, les mains croisées,
Triste, et le jour pour moi sera comme la nuit.

Je ne regarderai ni l’or du soir qui tombe,
Ni les voiles au loin descendant vers Harfleur,
Et quand j’arriverai, je mettrai sur ta tombe
Un bouquet de houx vert et de bruyère en fleur.