Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
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English Page · Branch 24 of 121
1833 · March 29, 1833
French
p. 47Le 29.
Hier, nous avons mené notre promenade plus loin que d’habitude. M. Gerbet, Mermet et moi, avons poussé une reconnaissance vers le nord, jusque sur la hauteur de Saint-Hélen. C’est une espèce de belvédère d’où la vue s’étend sur un vaste horizon, sombre et monotone au midi et à l’est. Au nord, s’élèvent les côtes de l’Océan, décrivant une longue ligne droite et bleue. Un peu au nord-est, grâce à l’interruption des hauteurs, nous avons entrevu la baie de Cancale. Les eaux, frappées par le soleil, resplendissaient vivement et décrivaient une barre lumineuse, qui nous les faisait distinguer de la côte bleuâtre de Normandie. A l’ouest, nous voyions Dinan là-bas avec ses hautes flèches, à demi voilées de ces vapeurs qui flottent sur les villes, dans le lointain des plaines. Dans la même direction, des maisons de campagne toutes blanches se détachaient sur un fond sombre, invariablement accompagnées d’une touffe de sapins, qui apparaissent comme un énorme géant noir faisant sentinelle pour la garde du foyer. Tout autour de l’horizon perçaient des clochers aigus s’élevant de distance en distance, comme les tours de cet immense rempart. Je suis enchanté de cette course pour m’avoir ouvert ce grand panorama, mais surtout pour m’avoir fait entrevoir l’Océan.
The Green Notebook: 1833
p. 48March 29, 1833
Yesterday we took our walk farther than usual. M. Gerbet, Mermet, and I ventured on a reconnaissance to the north, as far as the height of Saint-Hélen. It is a kind of belvedere from which the view extends over a vast horizon, dark and monotonous to the south and east. To the north rise the shores of the Ocean, tracing a long, straight, blue line. A little to the northeast, through a break in the heights, we glimpsed the Bay of Cancale. Struck by the sun, the waters shone brightly, tracing a luminous bar that let us distinguish them from the bluish coast of Normandy. To the west we saw Dinan down there, with its tall spires, half veiled in the vapors that hover above towns in the distant plains. In the same direction, white country houses stood out against a dark background, invariably accompanied by a clump of firs appearing like an enormous black giant standing sentinel to guard the hearth. All around the horizon, pointed church towers rose at intervals, like the towers of that immense rampart. I am enchanted by this excursion for having opened that great panorama to me, but above all for having let me glimpse the Ocean.
Socrates
Reading The Green Notebook · 1833 · March 29, 1833
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Maurice de Guérin’s journal moves between close attention to nature, friendship, faith, and the inward demands of poetry. This bilingual edition presents the complete Journal section of the 1864 printing, with a separate appendix of earlier printed passages from 1861.
Historical Text and Translation
The French follows G. S. Trébutien’s sixth edition of Journal, lettres et poèmes (Paris: Didier et Cie, 1864), pages 3–126. Its 116 dated entries run from July 1832 to October 1835. Five earlier passages from Reliquiae (1861) appear separately in the appendix. Completeness refers to the printed Journal, rather than the autograph notebook; the following letters and poems are outside this edition.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this independent English translation directly from the French, preserving Guérin’s imagery, repetitions, intimate voice, and original paragraph divisions. French and English remain aligned for comparison. Translator’s notes clarify words, quotations, and allusions, while historical editor notes retain their separate attribution. The Essential setting keeps explanations useful to reading; All also includes the note on the edition’s typographic treatment.
Rights
The historical French printings are in the public domain in the United States. The independent English translation and new editorial notes are © 2026 Diotimos Editions. The linked facsimiles identify the printed witnesses used for this edition. Historical annotations and editorial conjectures remain attributed to their source editors, and the earlier variant passages are presented separately from the later Journal text.