Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 6 of 121
1833 · March 3, 1833
French
p. 11Le 3 mars.
J’ai commencé à écrire sur ce cahier le 10 juillet 1832, et je n’y suis revenu qu’à longs intervalles. Ces huit mois se sont passés dans les plus rudes souffrances (de l’âme). J’ai peu écrit, parce que mes forces étaient à peu près anéanties. Si le mal eût laissé un peu de liberté à mon intelligence, j’aurais recueilli des observations très-curieuses sur les souffrances morales; mais j’étais étourdi par la douleur. Je crois que le printemps me fera grand bien. A mesure que le soleil monte et que la chaleur vitale se répand dans la nature, l’étreinte de la douleur perd de son énergie; je sens ses nœuds qui se relâchent et mon âme, longtemps serrée et presque étouffée, qui s’élargit et s’ouvre à proportion pour respirer.
La journée d’aujourd’hui m’a enchanté. Le soleil s’est montré pour la première fois depuis bien longtemps dans toute sa beauté. Il a développé les boutons des feuilles et des fleurs, et réveillé dans mon sein mille douces pensées.
Les nuages reprennent leurs formes légères et gracieuses, et dessinent sur l’azur de charmants caprices. Les bois n’ont pas encore de feuilles, mais ils prennent je ne sais quel air vivant et gai qui leur donne une physionomie toute nouvelle. Tout se prépare pour la grande fête de la nature.
The Green Notebook: 1833
p. 12March 3, 1833
I began writing in this notebook on July 10, 1832, and have returned to it only at long intervals. These eight months have passed amid the harshest sufferings (of the soul). I have written little, because my strength was almost destroyed. Had the affliction left my mind a little freedom, I should have gathered some very curious observations on inward suffering; but I was stunned by pain. I believe spring will do me great good. As the sun rises higher and vital warmth spreads through nature, pain’s grip loses some of its force; I feel its knots loosening, and my soul, long constricted and almost stifled, expanding and opening in equal measure to breathe.
Today has enchanted me. For the first time in a long while the sun appeared in all its beauty. It unfolded the buds of leaves and flowers, and awakened a thousand gentle thoughts within my breast.
The clouds are taking on their light and graceful forms again, tracing charming fancies upon the blue. The woods have no leaves yet, but they are assuming some indefinable air of life and gaiety that gives them an entirely new countenance. Everything is preparing for nature’s great festival.
Socrates
Reading The Green Notebook · 1833 · March 3, 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.