A Rhetorical Approach to Hugo's Dieu

Abstract

Dieu: solitudines: coeli is a verse epic of 3677 lines that has never achieved the popularity of other Hugolian works such as Les Contemplations or Les Châtiments. Although readers commonly associate Dieu with the notion of progress, an ascent from atheism to affirmation of God's presence, rhetorical structures in the text undercut this upward movement, demonstrating that within seemingly linear poetics, underlying oppositions in language exist. An examination of the poetic structures in Dieu: Solitudines Coeli shows it to be a complex network of literary composition worthy of the attention of modern readers.