Remarks on human nature in André Chénier’s Hermès

Hermès is undoubtedly the most important but also the least known of the poetic works left behind by André Chénier. This vast project set out to trace the history of the human spirit from the appearance of life to the final frontiers of knowledge. The present note shows how Chénier examines the senses and draws the elements of a reflection on the moral nature of man, which finds echoes elsewhere in his work.