Victor Hugo was a famous 19th century French poet, novelist, and dramatist. Some of his most well known works are the novels Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris. The poem "The Poor Children" discusses the innocence and purity of children. It states that children are created in God's image and are perfect before birth. As they grow, they speak with innocence and know only to tell the truth. However, their innocence can be robbed by an unjust world, representing a crime against their purity. Adults are meant to protect children's wings of innocence as they develop.

1. VICTOR HUGO
The Poor Children

2. VICTOR HUGO
Victor Marie Hugo (26 February 1802 – 22
May 1885) was a French poet, novelist, and
dramatist of the Romantic movement. He is
considered one of the greatest and best-
known French writers. In France, Hugo's
literary fame comes first from his poetry and
then from his novels and his dramatic
achievements. Outside France, his best-
known works are the novels Les Misérables,
1862, and Notre-Dame de Paris, 1831
(known in English as The Hunchback of
Notre-Dame).

3. TAKE heed of this small child of earth;
He is great: he hath in him God most high.
Children before their fleshly birth
Are lights alive in the blue sky.
In our light bitter world of wrong
They come; God gives us them awhile.
His speech is in their stammering tongue,
And his forgiveness in their smile.
Their sweet light rests upon our eyes.
Alas! their right to joy is plain.
If they are hungry, Paradise
Weeps, and, if cold, Heaven thrills with pain.
The want that saps their sinless flower
Speaks judgment on sin’s ministers.
Man holds an angel in his power.
Ah! deep in Heaven what thunder stirs,
When God seeks out these tender things
Whom in the shadow where we sleep
He sends us clothed about with wings,
And finds them ragged babes that weep!
THE POOR CHILDREN
(Translated by Algernon Charles Swinburne)
By Victor Hugo

4. ANALYSIS OF THE POOR CHILDREN
STANZA 1-
TAKE heed of this small child of earth;
He is great: he hath in him God most high.
Children before their fleshly birth
Are lights alive in the blue sky.
A
A
A
B
It begins with the creation of children. Every child is
created pure and innocent because they are created
in image and likeness of God. They are perfect that
before they are born. They are stars in the heaven
and close to God.

5. STANZA 2-
In our light bitter world of wrong
They come; God gives us them awhile.
His speech is in their stammering tongue,
And his forgiveness in their smile
C
D
D
D
Children don't stay children, they grow ,but
while a child, they speak only innocence,they
know only to tell truth.

6. STANZA 3-
Their sweet light rests upon our eyes.
Alas! their right to joy is plain.
If they are hungry, Paradise
Weeps, and, if cold, Heaven thrills with pain.
E
F
D
F
3rd verse-tells only the innocence of a child, they don’t
know to be greed. They accept and value for only what
they are given, not knowing that they deserve more, but
still remain happy in whatever family life they have.

7. STANZA 4-
The want that saps their sinless flower
Speaks judgment on sin’s ministers.
Man holds an angel in his power.
Ah! deep in Heaven what thunder stirs,
G
H
G
H
the want that saps(cover) their sinless flower(
their innocence). this verse tell of the crime it
is, as a child grows to have that purity robbed
from their souls. And it is society that steals
their beauty

8. STANZA 5-
When God seeks out these tender things
Whom in the shadow where we sleep
He sends us clothed about with wings,
And finds them ragged babes that weep!
H
I
H
I
In this verse he speaks of adults trying to preserve a child's
purity as written in this line. "He sends us clothed about
with wings,"
We as adults are the shoes of which a growing child will
soon walk in. It is our influence upon them , such as their
influence of innocence upon us, that can save a child from
losing the gift of purity which they come into this world
with.