Nothing is as tedious as the limping days, When snowdrifts yearly cover all the ways, And ennui, sour fruit of incurious gloom, Assumes control of fa… - Charles Baudelaire

Delacroix was passionately in love with passion, and coldly determined to seek the means of expressing passion in the most visible manner. In this dual character, be it said in passing, we find the two distinguishing marks of the most substantial geniuses, extreme geniuses.

Satan be praised! Glory to you on High
where once you reigned in Heaven, and in the
Pit where now you dream in taciturn defeat!
Grant that my soul, one day, beneath the Tree
of Knowledge, meet you when above your brow
its branches, like a second Temple, spread!

Ô toi, le plus savant et le plus beau des Anges,
Dieu trahi par le sort et privé de louanges, Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère! Ô Prince de l'exil, à qui l'on a fait tort
Et qui, vaincu, toujours te redresses plus fort, Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère! Toi qui sais tout, grand roi des choses souterraines,
Guérisseur familier des angoisses humaines, Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère! Toi qui, même aux lépreux, aux parias maudits,
Enseignes par l'amour le goût du Paradis, <p>Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère!