ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Virgil's significance to wartime France outside works which are explicitly connected to his biography and poetry by uncovering his profile within the Resistance poetry of Louis Aragon. Aragon is considered to be the poet par excellence of the French Resistance. Virgil's work indicates the duality of Fama, her powers of destruction as well as of creation, a point indicated in his depiction of her as the quickest of all evils. In the best epic tradition Aragon has adopted a Muse, a figure who serves as reference point and inspiration for his poetry. The incorporation into Aragon poetry of French legends and myths, such as the song of Roland, Joan of Arc or the enchanted forest of Broceliande, not only confirm this sense of identity but also do battle against the myths used by the Fascists to promote their beliefs. The themes of exile and shipwreck pervade Aragon's Resistance poetry.
