SOURCE: "The Function of La colère de Samson' in Les destinées," in The Modem Language Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 1, March, 1957, pp. 63-8.

In the following essay, Doolittle argues that 'La colère de Samson' belongs in the thematic progression of Les destinées as a representation of one stage of "the gradual emergence of spirit from the matrix of tradition and substance."

There is no doubt that Vigny intended to include "La Colère de Samson" in Les Destinées. Yet the colossal figure of Samson, knowingly and voluntarily bowing to the weaknesses of his own nature, and the voluptuous portrait of the empty-headed and utterly selfish Dalila seem out of place in a group of poems representing man's disdainful and morally triumphant struggle against the enormous, impersonal powers of Nature, Destiny, and God. Available documents show that from 1849 until his death in 1863 Vigny made this poem...