Victor Hugo is one of the best-known French writers, and one of the greatest literary figures of all time. His poetry made him famous very early, cementing his reputation as one of the greatest lyric poets when he was only 20 years old. We have selected for you 28 of his most well-known and powerful poems, mosty from the immortal Autumn Leaves and Contemplations.

They are, in order:

• Childhood
• Death in Life
• Epitaph
• Have you nothing to say for yourself
• How Butterflies are born
• I am content; Inscription for a crucifix
• Satire on the Earth
• St John
• The Dying Child to its Mother
• The Poet's Simple Faith
• The Vale to you, to me the Heights
• Infantile Influence
• Sunset
• The Patience of the People
• The Poet's Love for Liveliness
• The Universal Prayer
• The Watching Angel
• Dictated before the Rhone Glacier
• Tribute to the Vanquished

Enjoy the intense rhythm and depth of Hugo's poetry, an essential part of French culture and one of the most beautiful works of poerty ever written.