SOURCE: "The Proper Marriage of Allegory and Myth in Nerval's 'Horus'," in Modern Language Quarterly, Vol. XXVIII, 1967, pp. 317-28.

In the following essay, Strange contends that the allegorical dimension of "Horus" is augmented by the mythology employed in the poem.

Although overshadowed by "El Desdichado" and "Artemis," the great pieces in Gerard de Nerval's Les Chimères, the sonnet "Horus" does have a certain charm of its own and a particular usefulness, for few poems demonstrate so clearly just what allegory is and what it is not.

      Horus

Le dieu Kneph en tremblant ébranlait l'univers:
Isis, la mère, alors se leva sur sa couche,
Fit un geste de haine à son époux farouche,
Et l'ardeur d'autrefois brilla dans ses yeux verts.

"Le voyez-vous, dit-elle, il meurt, ce vieux pervers,
Tous les frimas du monde ont passe par sa bouche,
Attachez son pied tors, éteignez son ceil louche,
C'est...