Iii. comme un dernier ravon…. – André Chénier

Ll. 5-8. ‘L’habitude est une seconde nature,’ says a French proverb.
This elaborate periphrasis verifies it. And no doubt but Chénier
composed these lines in terrible earnest when he was daily expecting
death. How can we say after this that the far-fetched conceits of
Richard II in his prison (K. Rich. II, V. v.) are not what it was
likely he should indulge in, in his desperate situation?

L. 15. In the first edition the poem here came to an abrupt end. In that
of 1826 the fifteen lines were given as having been written by Chénier
but few moments before being taken to execution. The following nine
lines were altogether omitted, and the rest of the piece given as a
separate poem.

L. 35. Var.: La bassesse, la feinte–le désespoir, la honte.

L. 58. Mourir…! The infinitive used absolutely as an exclamation
(or interrogation) in order to express surprise or indignation: ‘Moi,
me taire!’ ‘A qui se fier à présent?’ ‘Offenser de la sorte une
sainte personne!’–MOLIÈRE. See Ayer, § 209, 4: Mever-Lübke, § 528.

L. 81. noirs de leur ressemblance. Black with their likeness
energetically expressed.

L. 83. fouet. A monosyllable, pronounced fouè, and not foi, as
some will do.–LITTRÉ.

L. 85. cracher sur leurs noms. Chénier does not mince it in these
ïambes.

End of Project Gutenberg’s Poésies choisies de André Chénier, by André Chénier