France and its Poets: Middle Ages to the 19th ... - eBook Collections

France and its Poets 

Middle Ages to the 19 th Century 

by Christiane Guise

Copyright © 2008 by Christiane Guise 

www.bellepage.com 

Published by Christiane Guise in Liffey Tasmania 

eBook ISBN 978980288865 

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry 

Guise, Christiane 

France and its Poets: Middle Ages to the 19 th Century 

Guise, Christiane 

1 st ed. 

Bibliography. 

ISBN 9780980288834 (pbk.) 

French poetry—Translation into English. 

Poets, French. 

France--History. 

841.008 

While scrupulous care has been taken in the preparation of this book, the author 

does not assert that it is free from errors. It is not a philological work but it can be 

used as reference. 

All poems and images are in the public domain or under the terms of the GNU Free 

Documentation License so they can be reproduced; but no translations should be 

copied without the written permission of the author. 

The images kindly offered by Claudine Bigaut are also copyrighted and cannot be 

reproduced, copied, or printed without her written consent.

À ma petite Nicole afin qu’elle découvre notre belle France 

À Gabriel, mon adorable petit-fils, 

et à mes fils Mickael et Francky 

afin qu’ils se reconnaissent dans leurs ancêtres 

To my sweet Nicole so she will discover our beautiful France 

To Gabriel, my delightful grand-son 

and to my sons Mickael and Francky 

so they may see their soul in their ancestors 

iii

My Thanks 

To my beautiful Sister Claudine, the marvellous artist, who painted the superb aquarelle Le 

Dormeur du Val for the cover of this book and some of the other paintings reproduced inside. 

To my precious Mum, who gave me her incredible optimism and cheerfulness, and to my little 

Sister Josyane always close to my heart. 

To my dearest friends, Nicolas and Irina, who offered me judicious advice; to Lynette who 

attentively read my manuscript with a kind critical eye, and to Alice who eagerly encouraged me all the 

way. 

To Sybille who shares my love for poetry and offered me a superb work on Baudelaire. This 

amazing gift triggered the wish to write this anthology. 

To Casimir who brightened our arrival in Australia with his wonderful and lasting friendship. 

Finally, thanks to my wonderful husband, mon Petit Canard (my Little Duck), who 

unwearyingly supported my complete immersion in this captivating work. 

My thanks also to the fantastic libraries of Australia and France; and to the magical Internet, 

which allowed me to consult remarkable manuscripts online; particularly, the Bibliotheque Nationale de 

France (BNF) and Mandragore, and all the members of Wikipedia, who created and are contributing to 

the most outstanding online encyclopaedia. All images taken from the Internet are under the GNU Free 

Documentation License or on Public Domain. 

Without them all, nothing would have been achieved.

Preface 

Poetry is the language of the soul and the beauty of language itself. As Dante once says, French 

seems to have been created for poetry and it is probably why so many people love the sound of it. Being a 

lover of poetry, to them and to those who have no or very rudimentary knowledge of French, I wrote this 

anthology on France’s most prestigious poets. I did it with no pretension and enjoyed every minute of 

this very demanding but fascinating task. 

French poetry is built on rhymes, number of syllables, caesura, enjambments and rejects. 

Furthermore, the rhyme scheme is incorporated in the poem’s meaning; for instance, the successive 

rhymes aabb generally present two thoughts while the embrasure abba indicates that the first idea 

encompasses the next. In the 19 th Century, versification changes drastically. The caesura moves as the 

poets want, and free verses of various lengths are introduced; furthermore, the first poems in prose mark 

the coming of modern poetry. 

Of course, I would have been delighted to keep the poems’ structure but my first priority was to 

convey the poets’ feelings and the music of their magnificent works; this was at the expense of meters 

and rhymes. 

The art of translating French poetry is very complex. According to my research, translations from 

French to English are generally ‘versions’ which means that a document in foreign language is translated 

in one’s native language. The present work is not a version but a ‘theme’ and if deep inside you, waves of 

emotions flow into your heart when you read or listen to the most beautiful poems of France whether in 

French or in English language, this will be my ultimate reward. 

A brief word now about the selection of poets and poems. Though the beauty of French poetry is in 

the music of its language, it is not only the sound of words precisely chosen and arranged that convey 

delightful emotions but their meaning. French poetry evolved as the French language evolved and it 

really began when the French were able to communicate their feelings. Tristan et Iseult, the Arthurian 

legends and the Roman de la Rose are marvellous works of art praised all over Europe simply because 

Middle Ages people finally realised that Love was one of their raisons d’être (reasons of being). This 

v

anthology therefore starts with them and even if they sometimes hurt our modern ear, they nevertheless 

mark the beginning of French poetry. 

For the next centuries, I must concede that my choice was arbitrary; I simply selected those I love 

the most. At first, my aim was to present one poet and his best works per century. For the 19 th , this was 

impossible; I could not even choose all the poets and poems I love, as this would have required many 

volumes. Consequently, I chose only the greatest and sincerely apologise if you do not find those you 

expected. Indeed, the 19 th Century deserves a whole book and this is my next project. 

Finally, I must say that this book is the result of meticulous research in numerous libraries. I 

cannot however assert that every document refers with certitude to the original. Furthermore, this is not 

a philological work and my dear readers will most certainly find many signs of ignorance and regrettable 

distractions. I sincerely hope that these blunders will not spoil their pleasure. 

In texts, all French words or phrases are in italic; and to help readers who do not really master 

French but want to feel the music of the poem in French, letters that must be stressed are written in bold 

and mute vowels in italic. Liaisons are underlined. An audio CD of all the poems in French and English 

will be released soon but poetry lovers can already listen to some online www.poetry/bellepage.com. 

So stay with me for few hours of history and beautiful poetry. Light the fire, prepare your 

favourite drink, sit on your best armchair, and listen to the music of the words. 

Christiane 

vi

Introduction 

In this anthology of French poetry, we shall travel through the centuries with the poets who not 

only improved French language but left to the world one of the most beautiful literary heritages. 

From the night of time, all forms of beauty have impressed men and women; unsurprisingly, 

poetry and music have always occupied a privileged place in their heart. 

At the end of the Roman Empire, the Church decided to use simple metric so people could 

memorise the teaching of the new religion with its traditions and legends. The syllabic mode was 

adopted and lines of six, seven, eight, and twelve syllables appeared. The longest lines were divided in 

hemistiches (equal parts) so the reader was able to breathe at the caesura; and they ended with similar 

sounds to create an echo effect. At first, the similarity called assonance stayed on the last accentuated 

vowel; then, the similarity reached the consonant so the assonance became rhyme. Opposed to the prose 

always going forward, the lines whose flow returns to the beginning through the assonance or rhyme 

were called verses or vers from the Latin, vertere that could be translated as the labourer’s furrow turning 

the soil in regular lines. 

Saint Ambroise 1 was the first bishop who raised people’s enthusiasm with his hymns. To stir 

the Faithfull’s heart and encouraged them to sing, he added simple melodies to his poems. The first poets 

who composed in vulgar language strictly followed these principles and the Cantilène de Sainte-Eulalie 

was written on this syllabic model. 

Then, in the Middle Ages, era of darkness and superstition, trouvères and troubadours translated 

their concept of beauty into their own language, which may seem quite coarse and tortuous to our 

modern ear. As years and centuries went by, the concept did not changed but the language evolved and 

became beauty itself. With emotion, medieval people who rarely knew how to read and write listened to 

the jongleurs who sang the lives of the saints and the popular chansons de geste accompanied by the harp, 

the viola, or the lyre. 

1 Bishop of Milan around 390.

Most jongleurs had more than one skill to their arc; they were prestidigitators, fire-eaters, 

jugglers, acrobats, and tamers of beasts. Travelling from one province to the next, they performed in the 

market places; and those with exceptional talents were invited to seigniorial courts. As the jongleurs 

rarely composed, we may ask who were the first poets and where did they come from? 

Medieval poetry began in the South of France with the troubadours who believed that love is the 

fundamental raison d’être (reason of existence) and this love often goes beyond the physical attraction of 

two human beings. Unsurprisingly, such noble theme required a rich and complex vocabulary, finely 

tuned musical arrangements, highly sophisticated versification with strophes and verses of various 

lengths and rare rhymes. 

The troubadours came from different backgrounds; they were kings, princes, and nobles of 

various ranks, clerks and canons, monks and priests, or people from humble condition, including the 

jongleurs. For these highly sensitive people, love rhymed with beauty, which not only embraced the 

permeability to the revelation of ‘being’ but also elegance of manners and speech, and nobleness of 

sentiment, in one word, courtoisie (courtesy). 

In the South a new civilisation was therefore at an embryonic stage thanks to the troubadours 

while in the North of France, trouvères focused on religious matters and military prowess. The public 

essentially masculine loved the Chansons de geste, which combine reality with magic and mystery. These 

epopees based on important victories or disasters were well known as every-one used to sing them at the 

veillée (after-dinner gathering) or when going to battle. The chansons have an impersonal and historic 

character in which heroes incarnate the good and bad of the race they represent. To embellish their story, 

the poets introduced the marvellous; through God’s intervention, heroes accomplish superhuman tasks. 

The Chansons were written in octosyllable or decasyllable verses grouped in laisses (strophes of various 

lengths); the style is naïf, concrete, and analytical; and like in children stories, comparisons and images 

abound. 

French poetry however drastically evolved with the arrival of Aliénor d’Aquitaine and her 

troubadours at the court of France. As the country was experiencing the longest peace ever, the nobility 

spent more time in court than in the garrison; and if the knights’ muscles and bravery impressed women, 

Ladies were above all very fond of compliments and chivalric manners. Inspired by the new fashion and 

the troubadours’ conception of lyrical poetry, the trouvères softened their style and created a new genre of 

literature called roman (romance) where courtesy took the path of chivalry. The valiant knight of the 

chansons de geste is the respectful lover whose magnificent legend spread all over Europe as a gigantic 

tidal wave. Masterpieces like Tristan et Iseult and Chrétien de Troyes’s Arthurian legends are the greatest 

monuments of medieval poetry. 

Thanks to Aliénor and her literate children, French literature blossomed all over France. In 

Champagne, Aliénor’s daughter, Marie had a brilliant court at Troyes where Chrétien probably met the 

viii

troubadour Bernard de Ventadour. At Blois, Marie’s sister Aélis welcomed all poets; and Richard Coeur 

de Lion (Lion-heart), their brother, was a remarkable poet who composed in langues d’oil and d’oc 

(languages of the North and South France). 

The troubadours realised that long verses had more majesty and solemnity than short verses. The 

twelve-syllable verse or alexandrine, which took its name from the Roman d’Alexandre was more 

appropriate than the octosyllable to capture the unfolding of epics, brooding emotion, and reasoning. In 

this alexandrin classique, the reader marks a neat break at the caesura to separate the verse in two 

hemistiches. Nonetheless, many liked the octosyllable, as Guillaume de Lorris who used it gracefully in 

Roman de la Rose and François Villon who as we shall see had some predilection for this type of verses 

and the huitain. 

The rhymes also got richer. Since the 7 th Century in Ireland, poets knew the rimes plates (aabb) 

also called couplettes or doublettes, which were used in the first Latin poems. From the South, the trouvères 

learnt new schemes: the rimes croisées, alternées or entrelaissiées (abab), the rimes embrassées or desjoinctes 

(abba) and the rimes mélées, which regroup them all. For such patterns, the rimes have to be more 

elaborated; from the assonance or rimes pauvres emerged the rimes suffisantes also called consonantes or 

sonnantes where the similarity reaches the consonant preceding the last vowel. Then followed the rimes 

riches and their three elements of similarity, the rimes léonines simples and their four elements, the parfaites 

with five, and the plus-que-parfaites with six or more. 

Still from the South, another improvement dating from the Middle Ages was the alternation of 

feminine (silent vowels) and masculine (accentuated syllables) rimes, a technique, which harmoniously 

breaks the monotony of the stance; it softens the verse and slows down its tempos. Through the centuries, 

poets have been very fond of alternation. In Éléments de littérature, Marmontel emphasises: « Les vers 

masculins sans mélange auraient une marche brusque et heurtée ; les vers féminins sans mélange auraient de la 

douceur, mais de la mollesse. » (With no alternation, the masculine verses would have a brusque and 

dashing cadence; with no alternation, the feminine verses would be soft but flabby.) 2 

The 13 th Century went a step further with the beginning of didactic poetry whose purpose was 

to transmit intellectual and moral knowledge in a pleasant and easy way. Such poetry allowed authors to 

expose their views about the society in which they lived and formulate critiques. Many enjoyed 

Guillaume de Lorris’s Roman de la Rose and its superb allegories; but forty years later, the public preferred 

Jean de Meung’s satirical verve, more challenging than Guillaume’s art d’aimer. Jean threw his whole 

knowledge in the poem and severely criticised the courteous tradition referring to love as the best device 

for the propagation of the species. Satires were indeed popular and poets of wretched conditions did not 

hesitate to use them to talk about their misfortune; but rather than weeping on their fate, they chose to 

gaily mock the upper class responsible for their misery. The sarcastic but humorous and merry style 

2 Jean-François Marmontel, French historian, writer, and member of the French Accademia; among 

others, he wrote Éléments de littérature published by Éditions Desjonquères in 2005. 

ix

encountered in the fabliaux and the excellent Roman de Renart sprang from this esprit gaulois (Gaul spirit), 

one of the most typical characteristics of being French even today. 

In the following century, poetry gained structure. With Guillaume de Machaut, rondets became 

musical poems called rondeaux and rondels, the ballettes ballades; and triolets, lais and virelais took a fixedform. 

The lai lyrique and its twelve symmetrical couplets differ from Marie de France’s lais narratives, 

which are short compositions in octosyllable and rimes plates. These types were suitable for tragedies and 

sad events. Guillaume also introduced the autobiographical je (I) in his Dit (Say), and as Michel Stanesco 

emphasises, such personal revelations allowed poetry to advance from the abstract to the circumstantial, 

the general to the particular. 3 

In this 14 th Century, France had never been so small and seemed unable to regain the territories 

lost during the disastrous Guerre de Cent Ans (Hundred Years War), which was still going on. 

Nevertheless, the precariousness of the situation did not stop many cities to found their own académie 

and organised competitions of poetry. In Toulouse, the seven bourgeois who created the Consistoire du Gai 

Savoir were reviving the poetry of the troubadours with their famous Jeux Floraux (literally, floral games 

but in our context literary contests). Paris, however, was still Europe’s centre of attraction and despite its 

secrecy, Isabeau de Bavière’s Cour d’Amour was the meeting place of illustrious intellectuals who 

passionately pondered on love and poetry. 

The 15 th Century then arrived; Black Death, wars, and famine brought great sorrows all over 

Europe; Charles d’Orléans and François Villon, two brilliant poets very different in style and character 

recalled their moving experiences. While with exquisite and noble manners, Charles, the aristocrat, 

venerated ultimate and ideal beauty in the traditional and artificial way of the littérature courtoise, 

François, the poor escolier (scholar) boldly revealed his impressions; but he wrote with such candidness 

and intensity that he luminously stands out as the greatest poet of the Middle Ages. Following the steps 

of Rutebeuf, his themes embrace poverty, physical decrepitude, thought of death, and obscenity (the 

parody of the fin’amor); they also show an ardent devotion to the Virgin Mary. Charles d’Orléans also 

composed profound poems, but he wrote with such incredible facility that people failed to see the depth 

of his work. What united Charles and François was their misfortune, the lost of their youth, the regret of 

the past, and the awareness that nothing is made to endure. These poets signalled the end of the Middle 

Ages and the coming of the magnificent Renaissance all over Europe. 

The 15 th Century ended with the grands rhétoriqueurs (lovers of rhetoric) who did not leave 

much for posterity except complicated and exuberant techniques of versification. The richer the rhyme, 

the better it was; and the greater the intricacy of the verse, the greater the poet’s achievement. 

3 La Bibliothèque de Poésie, Le Moyen Âge, Troubadours et Trouvères, XI e au XV e siècle, p 21 

x

Without discarding his father’s teaching, Clément Marot was impressed by the Italian 

Renaissance; and with the encouragements of François 1 er , he composed the first French sonnets 

combining Villon’s humour and naivety. Since Petrarch, the sonnet always had a prestigious reputation. 

All the great masters wrote sonnets and despite the strophes’ and rimes’ variations, it kept its form 

through the centuries. Most of the time, the sonnet expresses états d'âme (states of mind) but it can also be 

satirical, political, moral, religious, and even burlesque. 

Marot, the humanist poet was overshadowed by the Pléiade’s members who scorning medieval 

poetry searched for inspiration in Greek and Latin classics. In his Deffence et Illustration de la Langue 

Francoyse, 4 Du Bellay strongly advises poets to leave the vieilles poésies françaises (old French poems) to 

the Jeux Floraux arguing that rondeaux, ballades, virelais, chants royaux, and chansons are only groceries that 

corrupt French language and show evidence of ignorance. 

Nevertheless, Ronsard, the Pléiade’s master and Prince des Poètes did receive the highest reward 

from the same Jeux Floraux, proving against du Bellay that Toulouse was up-to-date with modern 

literature. It is incontestable that Ronsard excelled in all poetic fields; his delightful odes and pastorals, 

drinking songs, love-sonnets, and discourses on religious and political matters charmed every-one; and 

Mignonne allons voir… is still on the curriculum of all French primary schools. Even today, Ronsard is 

known as the universal poet par excellence. 

Odes and sonnets were in great favour in the 16 th Century. The ode lyrique, well known since 

Antiquity, celebrates great events and prestigious people. Divided in strophes of equal number of lines 

and meters, this type of poem was sung or accompanied by music up to 19 th Century. Nonetheless, poets’ 

preferred form was and has always been the sonnet. Traditionally, this fixed-form poem of fourteen lines 

is divided in two quatrains and two tercets; the first tercet exposes the argument and the second presents 

the conclusion with a striking last verse. 

After the talented Pléiade, followed a decadent phase with the emergence of the baroque and its 

anti-rational and anti-classical conception of poetry and art. Desportes’s maniérism soon encouraged 

préciosité (extreme sophistication) in the ruelles 5 . This préciosité was a return to courtly love and chivalry 

characterised by an excessive refinement in language, manners, and designs, and by a disappointing lack 

of deep feeling. The aim was only to distinguish oneself from the vulgar. 

The baroque age marks a period of excess and agitation. On one hand, the wars of religion 

decimated the population, the monarchy was in crisis, and the humanists were losing faith; on the other 

hand, Henri IV’s Edit de Nantes signed in 1598 brought great relief to free thinkers; and with Descartes’s 

Méthode and Newton’s scientific discovery, philosophy and science made prodigious progress. 

4 Joachim Du Bellay La Deffence et Illustration de la Langue Francoyse, p 107. 

5 Meeting so called as the hostess was receiving in bed, her guests sitting on each side at the edge of the 

bed; such edges being called ruelles 

xi

The 17 th Century is indeed known as the Grand Siècle. Louis XIV and Richelieu founded 

numerous academies, the Académie Française (French Academia) in 1634 and the Académie Royale de 

peinture et de sculpture (Royal Academia of painting and sculpture) in 1648. Eighteen years later the 

Académie de France (French Academia) opened its door in Rome. Finally in 1671, the Académie Royale 

d’architecture (Royal Academia of architecture) was founded with the superb château de Versailles as an 

emblem. 

With its balance, clarity, and natural, classicism was a response to the grotesque and préciosité 

shone in all forms of art. 

Courageously and pleasantly, La Fontaine, the brilliant fabulist depicted his society in his 

Fables, unafraid of the wrath of King Louis XIV who had great respect for art and its creators but 

tolerated no criticism. Similar to the famous Roman de Renart and the fabliaux of the Middle Ages, fables 

are short comedies; their personages are generally animals and their moral intent is revealed at the 

beginning or end of the story. In his Fables, La Fontaine used the vers libre classique (classical free verse) 

which differs from the vers libre symbolique of the 19 th Century. 

Louis XIV also showed his intolerance in religion with the revocation of the Edit de Nantes. This 

and the beginning of the Counter Reformation brought back questions about death and salvation; and 

with the king’s support, the Jansenists spread their rhetoric. 

To the Grand Siècle followed the siècle des lumières (the enlightenment), French poetry was 

exhausted and more concerned by religious, philosophical, and political matters than romances, poetphilosophers 

like Voltaire and Rousseau spread their revolutionary ideas but still found the time to write 

beautiful novels. The romantic style of Rousseau’s Julie ou la nouvelle Héloïse deeply impressed Madame 

de Staël and Chateaubriand, the precursor of the Romantic Movement. Alas, the French Revolution 

horribly ended the 18th Century without bringing the justice so many desperately expected. 

France soon became an Empire, then more revolutions brought new Republics and another 

Empire; finally and lastingly, at the end of the 19 th Century, the Republic came back. Meanwhile, France 

was not only fighting to install a fair political regime, it also eagerly participated in the industrial and 

scientific revolutions; and Paris, with her impressive Tour Eiffel, her large boulevards, and her 

magnificent shopping centres became the world’s capital for its charm and elegance. 

Amazingly and despite tremendous activities, the 19 th Century also witnessed the apotheosis of 

French poetry with a succession of master poets. Lamartine, Hugo, Vigny, and Baudelaire had a mission 

to accomplish; they were the seers and lawgivers of humankind. 

In the middle of the 19 th Century, poets began discarding rules and invented new poetical 

forms. Different meters alternate eliciting a rhythm the reader has to discover. Baudelaire used the vers 

impairs (uneven verse) to create special effects in his Invitation au voyage; and he modified the sonnet by 

changing its rhyme scheme. Even more, the rhymes are not systematic; either they have totally 

disappeared as in Baudelaire’s Petits Poèmes en Prose and Rimbaud’s Saison en enfer (Season in hell) and 

xii

Illuminations or they have been replaced by assonance and alliteration. In Verlaine’s melodious poems, 

rhythm and sonority reflect the poet’s melancholy. 

As we shall see, Baudelaire’s magnificent work embraces romanticism and symbolism, the new 

school emerging from the Parnasse. Among its leaders, the impressionist-poets, Verlaine and Rimbaud 

splendidly ended the 19 th Century with their sensibility and exaltation. Alienated from a society where 

the Industrial Revolution had invaded every realm of life, these poets, the Bohémiens strived to create new 

worlds matching their états d’âme. 

Then came the 20 th Century with the new masters, Prévert, Aragon, Eluard, and Géraldy, 

Apollinaire, Valéry, and Cocteau; but this is another project. 

xiii

La Complainte de Rutebeuf By Claudine Bigaut (2004) 

xiv

Middle Ages

9 th and 10 th Centuries 

French literature emerges in the second half of the Middle Ages with the birth of French 

language. French does not originate, as we could have expected, from the gaulois (Gallic), the numerous 

Celtic dialects spoken in Gaule (Gaul) before Caesar’s invasion. 1 Being under Roman domination for 

more than five hundred years, the Gaulois (the Gauls) learned Vulgar Latin at the market places and in 

camps; but unable to pronounce this popular Latin, much different from the Latin of Caesar and 

Cicerone, they deformed it, and gradually, new dialects appeared. 

Almost everywhere in Europe, the metamorphoses of Vulgar Latin occurred simultaneously 

and produced the langues romanes (Roman languages): Basque, Rumanian, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, 

Old German known as langue tudesque, and Old French or vieux français with its many dialects. In the 13 th 

Century, the great Dante Alighieri classifies some of them according to people’s manner of saying ‘yes’. 

The Middle Ages is a period of constant evolution and instability in which faith and feudality 

illustrate the literature of the time. It is also the birth of human sentiment and patriotism. 

The Serment de Strasbourg (Strasbourg’s Oath) 2 is one of the first documents written in the new 

idiom, an intermediary stages between Latin and French. Sworn near Verdun, on 14 February 842 in a 

freezing meadow covered with snow, the oath seals the alliance of two of Charlemagne’s grandsons, 

Charles II le Chauve (the Bald) and Louis I le Germanique (the German) 3 against their brother, Lothaire I, 

who claimed the title of empereur d’Occident (Holy Roman emperor). 4 While Charles uses the langue 

tudesque to be understood by Louis’s soldiers, Louis chooses the langue romane for Charles’s soldiers. 

Pro Deo amur et pro christian poblo et nostro comun salvament, d'ist di in avant, in quant 

Deus savir et podir me dunat, si salvarai eo cist meon fradre Karlo, et in adjudha et in 

cadhuna cosa si cum om per dreit son fradra salvar dift, in quid il mi altresi fazet; et ab 

Ludher nul plaid nunquam prindrai qui meon vol cist meon fradre Karlo in damno sit. 

1 From the gaulois spoken during the Roman conquest, only few geographic names remain such as Isère, 

Verdun, and Rouen. 

2 Extract from Nithard’s manuscript: Louis’s oath in langue romane. 

3 Also called Louis II as his father was Louis I le Pieux (the Pious). 

4 This Serment has been preserved in Historiae De dissensionibus filiorum Ludovici pii (Dissensions among 

the sons of Louis the Pious) written by the Frankish chronicler, Nithard, the son of Bertha, Charlemagne’s 

daughter, and the imperial chancellor and poet Angilbert. 

16

For the love of God, for Christian people and our common safety, from this day and as long 

as God gives me knowledge and power, I shall defend my brother Charles here present. I 

shall help him in everything, as a dutiful man ought to protect his brother, on the condition 

that he does the same to me; and with Lothaire, I shall never make any arrangement, which 

of my own free will, could injure my brother Charles here present. 

Serment de Strasbourg 5 

In the 10 th Century, the langue romane is evolving toward French as in the twenty-five 

assonanced verses of the Cantilène de Sainte Eulalie (Saint Eulalie’s Cantilena) composed in 881. 6 

5 http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sacramenta_Argentariae.png 

6 The manuscript of this Cantilène was found in Valenciennes in 1837; the author was probably Hucbald, 

one of Charles le Chauve’s favourite Benedictine monks, who taught at Saint-Amand-les-Eaux until 883. 

Eulalie, a Spanish maiden from Medina was martyrised in 304 under the reign of the emperor Maximien. 

17

Cantilenas are popular lyrical epics but for the first time, the story is written in vernacular so that it 

can be revealed to ordinary people. As we can see in this extract, we are a little closer to French. 

Buona pulcella fut Eulalia. 

Bel avret corps, bellezour anima 

Voldrent la veintre li Deo inimi, 

Voldrent la faire diaule servir. 

Elle no'nt eskoltet les mals conselliers 

Qu'elle Deo raneiet, chi maent sus en ciel, 

Ne por or ned argent ne paramenz 

Por manatce regiel ne preiement. 

Niule cose non la pouret omque pleier 

La polle sempre non amast lo Deo menestier. 

Eulalie was a good maiden 

With a fair body and a fairer soul 

God’s enemies wanted to defeat her, 

Pressing her to serve the devil. 

She did not listen to the vile advisers 

Asking her to reject God dwelling in Heaven, 

Cantilène de Sainte Eulalie 

Not even for gold, money, or jewellery 

Not even under threats or at the king’s request 

Nothing could ever bend her will or bring 

The young girl not to always love serving her God… 

This is how French people express themselves in the 9th and 10th Centuries; 7 but are they really 

French? 

France as we know it does not exist yet and we must wait the coming of Hugues Capet, the duc 

de l’Ile-de-France, to see her birth. With the support of the clergy, Hugues becomes king of France in 987; 

7 Even today, many people speak various dialects. At the end of the 19 th Century, half of the population 

hardly spoke French but Breton, Flemish, German, Gascon, Basque, Languedocian, Provençal, or Italian, 

to name some of the dialects in vigour at the time. 

18

and gradually, the Ile-de-France extends its boundaries, spreads its language, and finally becomes a vast 

country known as France. 

Cantilène de Sainte-Eulalie 

Bibliothèque municipale de Valenciennes (Codex 150, f. 141v-143r) 

19

11 th Century 

In this very young France, the literature of the Middle Ages starts two hundred years after the 

Serment de Strasbourg. The public of the 11 th Century is still illiterate and manuscripts are rare; 8 but French 

people love listening to the legends composed by musician-poets who interpret lyrical poems and 

illustrious chansons de gestes (epic songs relating heroic deeds), while the jongleurs—the entertainers— 

mime the scenes. 9 These minstrels are the trouvères and troubadours 10 who crisscross the country; 

travelling from castle to castle, they entertain the nobles and also perform in market’s places. 

Middle Ages literature deals with realistic—though much embellished—situations chosen from 

three categories. French subjects focus on the crusades and the great battles to defend France and 

Christianity; Brittany subjects involve Celtic legends and their heroes; and subjects from Antiquity deal 

with Greek and Roman history and mythology. 

The audience particularly welcomes the chansons de geste celebrating the exploits of French 

heroes who fight for a noble cause. According to Gaston Paris’s theory of the cantilènes, these chansons 

originate from popular songs spontaneously composed on the battlefield. Joseph Bédier however prefers 

the hypothesis of epic legends forged by friars on various sanctuaries and widespread by pilgrims. 

Certainly, the chansons de geste are based on historical events; but to captivate their credulous 

public, poets adorn them with splendours and magical interferences. 

La Chanson de Roland (Roland’s Song) is not only one of the oldest vernacular epics, it is also the 

most beautiful épopée of the Middle Ages written before the first crusade of 1095-1099 by the Norman 

poet Turold. 11 

8 Paper did not exist yet and parchments were made of animal skin 

9 Most poets were also jongleurs. 

10 The trouvères were poets from the North of France and the troubadours from the South especially 

Provence. The word troubadour derives from trobar itself coming from the Latin tropare, which means 

composing tropes (liturgical songs); it therefore implies ideas of invention and creation. 

11 ‘Barbe Blanche tiret. Ci falt la geste que Turoldus declinet’ (He tore his white beard. So ends the geste 

Turold conceived). Though the interpretation of ‘declinet’ still poses numerous problems as the word 

means also transcribe or declaim. This Turoldus or Théroulde, a Norman Benedictine Monk from Fécamp 

abbey, could be the author of the song or the keeper of an older geste written about the battle of 

Roncesvalles and its hero Roland. Others suggest that the monk’s father could be the author. On the 

Bayeux Tapestry, Turold is indeed presented as one of Guillaume the Conqueror’s advisers. The only 

logical assumption we can make is that the Chanson was certainly written before the first crusade 

20

La Chanson de Roland recounts the famous battle of Roncevaux (Roncesvalles) where on 15 

August 778, Roland, Préfet (Prefect) de la Marche de Bretagne, lost his life, having refused three times to 

blow his horn and alert Charlemagne of the treacherous ambush of the Saracens. This story however 

greatly exaggerates what really happened; according to Charlemagne’s chronicler, Einhard, the battle of 

Roncevaux was an insignificant event where the Vascons, the Basques’ ancestors, not the Saracens, killed 

the last column of the Frankish army, headed by some Hroudland or Roland, Prefect of the Marche de 

Bretagne. 

The plan of the chanson is simple and in few words, the author characterises the personages. 

Roland, the French hero par excellence is brave, Olivier is wise, and every-one in the chanson has 

prodigious strength. Nevertheless and as a chronicler, the 

poet calmly describes their prowess introducing here and 

there the merveilleux (the marvellous, the inexplicable, the 

supernatural), which remains essentially Christian. 

La Chanson de Roland is a very long epic poem 

written in Avranchin dialect. 12 It counts five songs of more 

than 4200 decasyllables (ten-syllable verses) and few 

alexandrines (twelve-syllable verses) 13 organised in 291 

laisses (strophes of various lengths) of twelve and fifteen 

feminine and masculine 14 verses. The cadence of the 

chanson is obtained through the assonance and the caesura 

after the fourth accentuated syllable. Each laisse is 

constructed on the same assonance based on the last 

accentuated vowels. 15 Many critiques have condemned the 

gaucherie and naïve popularity of the chanson, 

nevertheless, the style is noble; all traces of vulgarity have 

been scrupulously avoided; and despite the diversity and 

rusticity of the dialect, we see the evolution of a marvellous 

literary language. 

In Laisse CLXXIV verses 2355-2365, Roland and 

considering that if such a grand endeavour had already begun, the author would have mentioned it one 

way or another. 

12 However, the Chanson could have been written in another dialect and copied 

13 The Oxford manuscript retrieved in 1836 is now in the Oxford Library 

14 All verses ending with a mute e or et, es, or ent are feminine, the others masculine. 

15 The rhyme became necessary only when the public was able to read poetry. 

21

his men valiantly fight on the sharp stones of the gorge where scarce brushwood hardly survives in this 

austere land. One after the other, they die preserving not only their honour but also the honour of their 

family, of their country, and of their king. Roland accepts this ultimate sacrifice with pride and dignity. 

Ço sent Rollant ║que la mort le tresprent, But Rolland feels that Death is coming, 

Devers la teste ║ sur le quer li descent. Going down from his head toward his heart. 

Desuz un pin ║ i est alet curant, To a pine-tree, he runs in haste 

Sur l’erbe verte ║ s’i est culchet adenz. And on the green grass, lies on his face. 

Desuz lui met ║ s’espee e l’olifan, His sword and olifant 16 beneath him, 

Turnat sa teste ║vers la paiene gent : He turns his head toward the pagan race. 

Pur ço l’at fait║ que il voelt veirement He does all this because he dearly wants 

Que Carles diet║ e trestute sa gent, Charles to loudly proclaim to his people 

Li gentilz quens, ║ qu’il fut mort cunquerant. That the gentle earl died while conquering. 

Cleimet sa culpe ║ e menut e suvent, Then he lightly strikes his breast many times; 

Pur ses pecchez ║Deu en puroffrid lo guant. And for his sins, gives his glove 17 to God. 

AOI. AOI. 

Despite its nationalist inclination, the chanson seduces all European countries, charming them 

by its simplicity and originality. These medieval writers not only master the art de l’intrigue (art of 

intrigue) with brio, they also depict with astonishing vividness unique personages. Unfortunately, 

modern readers are swift to single out the numerous clichés, repetitions, and unoriginal formulas of 

transition; they seem to forget that these ingenious means cleverly facilitate memorisation. 

16 Horn 

17 Roland gives himself and all his strength and courage to God. La Mort de Roland 

Musée Condé Folio 153v des Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (1412–1416) 

22

12 th Century 

French language is evolving so rapidily that despite three hundred years of popularity, la 

Chanson de Roland will be forgotten, as no one will be able to read this vieux français for centuries to come. 

Meanwhile, French poetry is slowly taking shape. In the North, the trouvères continue to focus 

on manhood and rigid morality so their poetry remains severe and cold; and in the south, the troubadours 

are deeply inspired by Hispano-Arabic literature. 18 Since the beginning of the 11 th Century, Arab poets 

from Spain are singing idealised love; but this love being far from platonic, women are rather objects than 

subjects. In most of the troubadours‘works, especially in the cansos (songs) of Guillaume IX d’Aquitaine, 19 

we find the same sensuality and eroticism as in Tawq al-hamâma (The Dove’s Necklace) written by the 

Andalusian poet Ibn Hazm in 1022. In both works, the poets acknowledge their submission to their 

beloved and address them with masculine honorific titles such as Milord or Master not Milady or 

Mistress; furthermore, the obstacles hindering their love are always the Lady’s guardian, the calumniator, 

the envious, and the moralist. 

Arabic music however largely differs from provençal melody. While the former is sensual and 

oriental, the other is sober and grave reminding us of the chants grégoriens (Gregorian chants). 20 There are 

certainly some similitude with the tropes (lyrical works inserted in liturgy) and the troubadours’ 

compositions; in four of Guillaume’s poems, we find the syllabic and accentuate verses, the rimes plates 

(successive pairs of masculine and feminine rhymes) aabb, and the structured strophes of four 

octosyllables (eight-syllable verses) and two tetrasyllables (four-syllable verses). 

18 Though the Muslim invasion was stopped with Charles Martel’s victory at Poitiers in 732, the Arabs 

continued to have a very strong influence on Provençal culture 

19 Guillaume or Guilhem (or William) de Peitous, was Aliénor d’Aquitaine’s grandfather. He is the first 

known troubadour from whom eleven chansons have been preserved. The poet was certainly a gai luron 

(happy fellow) 

20 The Church’s ritual songs from the 11 th and 12 th Centuries 

23

Guillaume d’Aquitaine 

(1071 – 1127) 

Guillaume le Jeune, duc d’Aquitaine and seventh comte (earl) de Poitou is one of the most 

powerful seigneurs (lords) of France; his domain is impressive, spreading in 

Aquitaine and Poitou as well as Périgord, Limousin, Angoumois, Saintonge, and 

Gascony. The comte also has suzerainty over Auvergne and the county of Toulouse. 

This is significant compared to the Kingdom of France covering only Paris, Orléans, 

and Compiègnes. Guillaume 21 cherishes his dear Poitou with its dried and wet 

marshes, its small islets bathed by natural canals, its ancestral forests of oaks, 

beeches, and elms skirting narrow bands of meadows. 

As all the comtes de Poitou, Guillaume holds his court in Poitiers and 

speaks a northern dialect; yet, he writes all his chansons in provençal, the meridional 

dialect spoken by his subjects in the South of France. Certainly, Guillaume is a pure 

Gaulois; he loves women and often, he crudely associates them with pleasure in his 

chansons paillardes (ribald songs) as in the following extract 

Dos cavalhs ai a ma selha ben e gen ; 

Bon son e adreg per armas e valen ; … 

Ges non sai ab qual mi tengua de N’Agnes o de N’Arsen. 22 

I have two fillies for my saddle and this is very well; 

Both are good, trained for battle and valiant; … 

I do not know which one to keep: Agnes or Arsen. 

This love is certainly quite remote from the sublimate love later found in the romans chevaleresques 

(chivalric romances). Nevertheless, our troubadour clearly understands that poetry is the perfect medium 

to express his feelings and he uses it brilliantly in Ab la dolchor del temps novel (Sweetness of Renewal). 

Here, Guillaume chooses the octosyllable and the assonance with the structure aabcbc and 

bbcaca, a modification of the old strophe couée (aabccd), quite different from the variations of the popular 

form of the time (aaabab). 

21 Image from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France MS Cod. fr. 12473 

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:William_IX_of_Aquitaine_-_BN_MS_fr_12473.jpg 

22 Guillaume IX, Les Chansons de Guillaume IX Duc d’Aquitaine, pp 1-2. 

24

Ab la Dolchor del Temps novel 23 Sweetness of Renewal 

Ab la dochor del temps novel With spring and the sweetness of renewal 

Foillo li bosc, e li aucel Leaves glow in the woods while birds 

Chanton chascus en lor lati Sing, and every-one in its own Latin 

Segon lo vers del novel chan ; Exults and chants the verse of a new song; 

Adonc esta ben c’om s’aisi It is so good that all seek and obtain 

D ‘acho don him a plus talan. What men have always desired so much. 

De lai don plus m’es bon e bel From what is good and sweet to my heart 

Non vei mesager ni sagel, I see no messenger or sealed letter 

Per que mos cors non dorm ni ri, My heart does not sleep or laugh anymore 

Ni no m’aus traire adenan And I dare not advance a step further 

Tro qe sacha ben de la fi So at last, I could know the end 

S’el’ es aissi com eu deman. And find out if my hope is not vain. 

La nostr'amor vai enaissi This is our wandering love carelessly dragged 

Com la branca de l'albespi Like the hawthorn branch, 

Qu'esta sobre l'arbre en treman, Trembling on the tree 

La nuoit, a la ploja ez al gel, All night, under icy rain and cruel frost 

Tro l'endeman, que-l sols s'espan Till morning, when the sun at last shines 

Pel las fueillas verz e-l ramel. On the green and tender leaves of the shrub. 

Enquer me membra d'un mati I remember very well one morning 

Que nos fezem de guerra fi, When we finally ended the long war 

E que-m donet un don tan gran, And when she granted me the supreme gift: 

Sa drudari’ e son anel : To seal our Love 

Enquer me lais Dieus viure tan God! Let me live a little longer 

C’aja mas manz soz so mantel ! So I may keep my hands under her gown! 

Qu’eu non ai soing d’estraing lati I care not about the strange Latin 

Que-m parta de mon Bon Vezi, That diverts my neighbours from me, 

Qu’eu sai de paraulas com van As I know very well all the vain words 

Ad un breu sermon que s’espel, Which always abound in brief sermons; 

Que tal se van d’amor gaban, While some boast about their love affairs, 

Nos n’avem la pessa e-l coutel. Luckily, we have the piece and the knife. 24 

23 Ibid., pp 24-26 

25

Guillaume’s works mark the beginning of the golden age of the littérature romane. Courtly love, 

amour courtois also known as Fin’ amors seduces the trouvères and the whole France, when the beautiful 

and sophisticate Aliénor d’Aquitaine marries the king of France in 1137. 25 Life is indeed more joyful and 

refined in Provence where the rich seigneurs build luxurious castle, buy sumptuous furniture, tapestries, 

jewels, and beautiful clothes made of silk and embroidery. 

Having greatly expanded her domain thanks to the charming Aliénor, France is enjoying a 

relative stability and this facilitates intellectual and economic growth. Around 1100, Paris, the new capital 

of France, has already gained an excellent academic reputation; and scholars from all over Europe are 

coming to study with illustrious masters. The young Abélard teaches dialectic at the Écoles de Notre- 

Dame and Montagne Sainte-Geneviève on the left bank of the River Seine in the famous Quartier Latin. 26 

Soon, Abélard’s intellectual jousts with the theologians Guillaume de Champeaux and Bernard de 

Clairvaux 27 attract so many students that lodging in Paris become almost impossible. 28 

Yet, Abélard’s celebrity stands on the distressing result of his love affair with Héloïse, the fair 

and well-educated niece of Canon Fulbert. The professor is fully aware that seducing his beautiful 

student is unacceptable; nonetheless, he openly shows his passion, and despite Héloïse’s wise objections, 

he marries her in secrecy. Unsurprisingly, the girl’s family is enraged by the scandalous affair, and one 

night, Abélard is ferociously emasculated. Forever unable to satisfy his beloved, he dedicates his life to 

God; and at his request, Héloïse becomes a nun. 

Everyone in Paris weeps for the unfortunate lovers and soon, all in Occident know about 

Abélard’s tragedy. Certainly, the times have changed; warriors and knights are not fighting so they 

spend most of their time in tournaments and festivities. Their unique challenge is to love and be loved. 

Accordingly, poetic eloquence smoothly supplants heroism in war; and women become an inexhaustible 

source of inspiration. 

For poets and writers, this is the opportunity to develop the art d’aimer (the art to love) and 

rapidly, the romans chevaleresques take over the chansons. These romans are read not sung and this is an 

innovation. 

24 In other words, ‘we don’t dream about love we make love!’ 

25 Aliénor (1122-1204) was married to Louis VII for fifteen years 

26 Régine Pernoud, Héloïse et Abélard, p 11. 

27 While Bernard fought for the primacy of the heart but warned against sensuality and luxury, Abélard 

succumbed to earthly love but vehemently defended reason 

28 I. Heullant Education et Cultures. Occident Chrétien XII- mi XVe siècle, p 378. 

26

Abelard and Heloise surprised by Fulbert 29 

29 Paint by Romanticist Painter Jean Vignaud in 1819. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Abelard 

27

Béroul 

(~1150-~1190) 

In chivalric romans, the etiquette of courtly love has suppressed the sensuality of fin amors but 

idealisations of love outside marriage taken from Celtic legends delight the public. Le Roman de Tristan 

(Tristan’s Romance) 1 composed by Béroul 2 probably about 1150 and adapted by Thomas d’Angleterre 3 in 

1170 is not a roman, as we know it, but a long poem of more than 4485 octosyllables written in Vieux 

Français; the structure of many sentences is still Latin but the vocabulary has evolved. Furthermore and 

this is the main poetic innovation, the poem is read without musical accompaniment. 

After having accidentally drunk the love potion prepared by the queen of Ireland for her 

daughter and King Marc, Tristan and Iseult fall irresistibly in love. Unfortunately, this innocent love 

brings misery and sorrow, raising the big questions about good and evil, innocence and culpability, 

passion and reason, will and fatality. Soon, Tristan’ and Yseult’s love is stained by deceit and treachery 

but how could we not feel compassion for this passionate love even when the magical effect of the potion 

ceases. Indeed, how could they forget the tenderness and ardour they experienced for so long? 

« Ahi, Yseult, fille de roi, “Ah! Yseult, king’s daughter, 

Franche, cortoise, en bone foi,! Noble and courteous; in faith, 

Par plusors foiz vos ai mandee, I asked to see you many times, 

Puis que chambre me fu veee, As your room was closed to me 

Ne puis ne poi a vos parler. And I could not talk to you. 

Dame, or vos vuel merci crier Lady, I beg your mercy 

Qu'il vos membre de cel chaitif Remember the hapless man 

Qui a traval et a duel vif; Who suffers so much for you; 

Quar j'ai tel duel c'onques le roi The king alas suspects me 

Out mal pensé de vos vers moi Of evil thoughts toward you 

Qu'il n'i a el fors que je muere... So I prefer to die… 

…Qu’il n’en creüst pas losangier …He believed the delators 

1 Manuscript from the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris probably written in 1185. 

2 Béroul signed post it verses 1268 and 1788 ‘Berox l’a mex en sen memoire…La ou Berox le vit excrit’ 

(Béroul kept it in his memory…where Béroul saw it written.) He was Norman and lived in England. 

3 The Anglo-Norman poet, Thomas d’Angleterre lived at the court of Henry II of England and Aliénor 

d’Aquitaine. Only few fragments of the manuscript remain. 

28

Moi desor lui a esloignier. And has kept me away. 4 

While Béroul is compassionate, Thomas writes like a tragedian and his work is known as the 

courtly version; he does not take side and simply exposes the lovers’ misfortune focusing on their 

extreme suffering. After Roland’s epopee of the will, Tristan is the romance of fatality where tragic fate 

devastates three heroes’ lives. 

Marie de France, the first known French woman-writer, also contributes 

to Middle Ages literature. Again, we know very little about her; born in France, 

probably in Ile-de-France, she later lives at the brilliant court of Henry II 

Plantagenêt and Aliénor d’Aquitaine. 5 

In 1160-75, Marie dedicates twelve lais 6 in Vieux Français to Henry II. In 

the prologue, she modestly confides that she only narrates the legends sung by 

the bards. For Marie, oral tradition is therefore of primary importance. With its 

one hundred eighteen verses, Chevrefoil (Honeysuckle) is one of Marie’s shortest 

lais 7 but it is certainly the most beautiful as nowhere before, have melancholy and 

exaltation been dealt with such refinement. The lai exposes the poet’s tender and 

feminine feelings blending delicately subtle emotion and melancholy; it also 

announces the ultimate sacrifice depicted in the Tristan of Thomas. 

In this extract, Tristan exiled from his marvellous queen walks in the 

wood; and as a sign of reconnaissance, he puts on the path the symbol of his 

indestructible love, a twig of honeysuckle tied up to a branch of hazel. When 

Yseult enters the wood, she recognises the sign and soon meets Tristan. 8 

D'eus deus fu il tut autresi They were two bound together 

Cume del chevrefoil esteit As the honeysuckle always 

Ki a la codre se perneit : Binds to the hazel tree: 

Quant il est s'i laciez e pris When caught in its branchs, 

E tut entur le fust s'est mis, They hug tightly 

Ensemble poënt bien durer, Together they can live long 

Mès ki puis les volt desevrer, But should anyone part the two, 

Li codres muert hastivement The hazel tree surely dies 

E li chevrefoil ensement. And the honeysuckle follows it. 

4 Tristan de Béroul in Les Tristan en vers, verses 87-99. 

5 In the epilogue of her fables, Marie says her name and that she came from France. Perhaps, Marie was 

also Abbess of Shaftesbury and this explains her erudition. 

6 Coming from the Celtic word laid, lais are musical compositions. 

7 The longest is Eliaduc with 1184 verses. 

8 Extract from Lai du Chèvrefeuille in Les Tristan en vers, verses 68-78. Image from BNF 

29

« Bele amie, si est de nus : “My beloved, so it is with us. 

Ne vus sanz mei, ne mei sanz vus. » No you without me, no I without you.” 

Inspired by the legends of Britain and Bretagne (Brittany), Marie composes many fables in 

verses. While beast tales written in Latin remain in monasteries, she is the first to write an Ysopet (word 

derived from Aesop) in vernacular so that lay people can appreciate them. Clearly, Marie’s aim is to 

depict the 12 th Century society, while preserving the merveilleux of the Celtic soul and its Breton 

characteristics. 

We may wonder why Thomas and Marie wrote in French. England at the time or at least the 

royal court is very French. Since 1152, the duc de Normandie, Henri Plantagenêt is king of England; and 

thanks to his wife Aliénor (ex-king of France’s wife) his domain largely extends to France. Furthermore, 

Aliénor continues to rule her duchy and holds a brilliant court at Poitier where she protects artists and 

poets. 

Normandie was a strategic place; this sends us back to the 10 th Centuries, when men coming 

from the North, the Danes or Vikings, settled in the northern coast of France and the North and East of 

England. 

For more than a century, the Vikings were devastating the Seine Valley running from Verdon to 

Le Havre. In 911, the French king Charles le Simple and Rollon, the chieftain of the Danes, agreed to sign 

a treaty in Saint-Clair, a small town near Vernon. Rollon accepted to end pillages and massacres; in 

exchange, he obtained the right to occupy Neustrie, which he renamed Normandie. The province became 

a duchy and Rollon was the first duc de Normandie. Soon, the 

North-men or Normands (Normans) adopted French civilisation 

as their own, abandoned their language, and converted to 

Christianity. 

The relation between England and Normandie was 

excellent; and when Ethelred the Unready was chased by the 

Danes in 1002, he took refuge in Normandie, his wife’s native 

country. Ethelred’s son, Edward was then raised in France; and 

when the last Danes in power finally died in 1042, Edward 

regained the throne and brought back with him many Norman 

friends. 

Edward’s affinity with the Normands greatly displeased 

the English Earls particularly Godwin of Wessex, his father-inlaw, 

who raised an army against him. Godwin was defeated and 

banished from the country. Free, Edward continued to favour the 

Normands. 9 This generated hostile reactions and Edward was 

9 Robin Hood’s legend depicts the hatred of the Saxons for the Norman sheriffs who occupied their land 

and made their lives miserable. 

30

constrained to call back Godwin for the security of the country. Later, Godwin’s son, Harold became one 

of the king’s most influential advisers. Nevertheless, Edward designated his cousin Guillaume (William 

the Conqueror), the duc de Normandie, as his successor; and reluctantly, Harold had to swear allegiance 

to the future king of England. 10 This pledge did not deter Harold to seize the crown one day after 

Edward’s death on 5 January 1066; he argued that just before he died, the king changed his mind and 

named him as his heir. Of course, Guillaume challenged this claim; and while in September, Harold was 

defeating Hardrade III (The Hard Ruler), the king of Norway, at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in the 

north of England, Guillaume and his impressive army landed on the south coast of England at Pevensey. 

Harold met the invaders with a small army on 14 October but his position on the hill of Senlac 

was so advantageous and his soldiers fought so well that Guillaume retreated. This, however, was a 

clever stratagem to drive the enemy off the hill; indeed, as soon as Harold’s army pursued the Normands 

down the hill, the latter immediately turned back and the famous Battle of Hastings started. During the 

fierce fight, Harold was instantly killed by an arrow in his eyes; and deprived of their leader, the English 

retreated in confusion allowing Guillaume to take possession of the field. 

On Christmas Day of the same year, Guillaume was finally crowned king of England. The 

conquest and the campaigns of rebellion that followed nearly decimated the English nobility; and for 

many generations, the Normans held the most important positions in the government. As a result, French 

became the court’s language while the lower classes continued to speak English. 

As the years passed, the nobles became bilingual through intermarriages and associations; and 

the kings of England, deeply attached to their duchy of Normandie, spent most of their reign in France. 

The court accordingly travelled from one country to the other. Even the great English landowners were 

seduced by the country behind the sea; they bought large properties in France and arranged marriages to 

protect their interests. Finally and as the Danes did before, all these people embraced the French culture 

and loved the littérature courtoise (courtly literature). 

10 Tapisserie de Bayeux (Tapestry of Bayeux) showing Harold’s allegiance to Guillaume. This giant 

needlework measures 70m long and 0.495m wide and is preserved in the Musée de la Reine Mathilde in 

Bayeux. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:William_Bayeux.jpg 

31

Dominions of William the Conqueror around 1087 11 

11 Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd in 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Williams_dominions_1087.jpg 

32

Chrétien de Troyes 

(~1150 - ~1200) 

Erec et Enide written by Chrétien de Troyes around 1170 is probably one of the greatest chef 

d’oeuvres (work of art) of courtly literature. It is the oldest version of the Arthurian legend. 

As for many Middle Ages’ poets, we do not know much about Chrétien. His patroness, Marie 

de Champagne is the daughter of Louis VII and Aliénor d’Aquitaine; thanks to her mother, Marie not 

only has a Provencal conception of love, she also knows and loves all the legends from Brittany. Chrétien 

has therefore a splendid opportunity to enrich his culture. Indeed, Marie teaches him the style of poetry 

from the South of France; and she encourages him to read the Latin Chronicle of Nennius, which depicts 

the conflicts between the Celts and the Saxons in the 5 th and 6 th Centuries, and Robert Wace’s Roman de 

Brut, a translation of Historia Regum Britaniae written around 1135 by the Bishop, Geoffrey of Monmouth. 1 

Deeply inspired by his teacher, Chrétien concentrates his writing on love and begins the amazing legends 

of King Arthur. 

In the courteous universe of his romances, we now travel in a fairylike world where the 

merveilleux swerved from Christianity. While the knight in the Chansons de Gestes accomplished fabulous 

deeds for God, the courteous knight wants to conquer his Lady’s heart. 

Though Chrétien’s work is sometimes monotonous with repetitions and tedious details, his 

audience loves lengthy descriptions and argumentations about the art d’aimer. Furthermore, Chrétien 

uses analogy and contrast with great subtlety and elegance, when he reveals his characters’ weaknesses 

and virtues. Rather than exposing the torments of love and the ravages they cause in lovers’ hearts, 

Chrétien observes and analyses their feelings; he describes the mechanism of love with intelligence and 

wit; but in Erec et Enide, Chrétien goes much further. 

With its 6958 verses, Erec et Enide emphasises the social ideal of French aristocracy and chivalry; 

here, men and women revere the rules of courtesy, are generous toward the weak, and highly praise 

truth. Primarily, the legend exposes the conflict between love and adventure. By overcoming all the 

hindrances they find on their journey, Erec and Enide learn self-respect, friendship, and love—love for 

the people they will rule one day. Only then, are they crowned king and queen. Surprises, obstacles, and 

extraordinary quests abound; and by interrupting the story at the most captivating moment, Chrétien 

cleverly keeps his public on edge. The master-poet also uses vivid images and skilfully introduces new 

1 According to Geoffrey, Arthur or Artus was a Breton king who united the Celtic tribes of Great Britain 

and Brittany against the Anglo-Saxons in the sixth century. However, Geoffrey’s Historia, which blends 

paganism and Christianity, is purely fictional. The Anglo-Norman Wace was the Canon of Bayeux; he 

dedicated his Roman de Brut to his queen, Aliénor d’Aquitaine, in 1155. 

33

poetic devices like enjambment. The romance is written in octosyllables grouped in assonanced strophes 

of unequal length. In the extract, Chrétien describes King Arthur’s outstanding court with its valiant 

knights and fair Ladies. 

Un jor de Pasque, au tans novel, One Easter day in renewal, 

A caradigan, son chastel, In his town of Caradigan, 

Ot li rois Artus cort tenue. The good King Arthur held his court. 

Ains si riche ne fu veüe; No one had ever seen such a rich place 

Car mout i ot buens chevaliers, So many valiant knights, courageous 

Hardiz et corageus et fiers, And proud were present, 

Et riches dames et puceles, With their rich ladies and damsels, 

Filles a rois, jantes et beles. 2 Daughters of kings, gentle and fair. 

Erec et Enide 

BNF Français 113 (3), fol. 111v, Mort d’Erec 

2 Chrétien de Troyes, Erec et Enide, édition Forster, verses 27-34. 

34

The exceptional success of the Arthurian Romances contributes to the spreading of the francien, 

the dialect of the Ile-de-France. Soon, the legends cross the frontiers making Chrétien the père de la 

littérature précieuse (father of precious literature) and a master in the art of storytelling. 

Empire Plantagenêt 1144-1166 3 

3 http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:France_1154-fr 

35

13 th Century 

A century later, Europe sees the opening of its first universities. Originally, universitas means 

union or corporation of academic or non-academic nature; 1 and universities are before anything else 

associations of masters and students. Founded by Philippe Auguste, the Université de Paris is attached to 

the beautiful cathedral Notre Dame de Paris. 2 Like most universities, it is primarily a school of theology, 

philosophy, medicine, and law, where teachers are paid by their students. Nevertheless, the university 

also attracts poor students unable to pay for their tuition; for them, Robert de Sorbon, the confessor and 

chaplain of Louis IX 3 opens a college Montagne Sainte Geneviève in 1257; it soon becomes a faculty of 

excellent reputation, the famous Sorbonne. 

13 th Century poets still cherish the art d’aimer, which reaches its apogee in le Roman de la Rose 

(Romance of the Rose), a superb allegory of 22000 octosyllables first written by Guillaume de Lorris 

around 1230 and achieved in 1270-75 by Jean Clopinel de Meung. Le Roman de la Rose is of a didactic 

genre as the poets’ essential objective is to teach something to their readers. With Guillaume, the reader is 

initiated to the art d’aimer; and with Jean, they learn moral, social, and philosophical values. 

1 Durkheim, p 154-157 

2 Built in 1180, the cathedral was finished around 1320. 

3 Louis IX was canonized Saint-Louis in 1297. 

36

Guillaume de Lorris 

(1210 – 1237) 

The only thing we know about Guillaume 4 is from Jean de Meung 5 who indicates in his work 

that Guillaume wrote the first part of Le Roman de la Rose. 

In the poem, Guillaume alias Amant (Lover) dreams. He walks in a magnificent garden where 

Plaisir (Pleasure), Jeunesse (Youth), Richesse (Wealth), Liesse (Gaiety), and Beauté (Beauty) live happily. 

He then encounters Amour (Love), the wonderful but exigent master of the garden, when he sees the 

reflection of a marvellous rosebud in the clear fountain of Narcissus. The Rose is the classic symbol of 

love and desire; but to conquer her, Amant must learn the art d’aimer enclosed in Amour’s ten 

commandments. With this code of courtesy, Amant escapes the ruses of Malebouche (Wicked-tongue) 

and Danger. 

Alas, Guillaume dies and the poem suddenly ends when Amant reaches the high walls of 

Jalousie’s castle, the last obstacle between him and his Rose. 

Guillaume’s delicate and graceful poetic descriptions charm the public even though his writing 

is sometimes a little dull. Nevertheless, poetry has evolved with Guillaume; for the first time, assonances 

have become rimes and some even contain more than two elements of similarity so they are called rimes 

riches (rich rhymes). Here is Guillaume’s introduction. 

El vintiesme an de mon aage, In the twentieth year of my age, 

el point qu’Amors prend le paage when Love calls on the young 

des jones genz, couchier m’aloie to pay their tributes, I was lying 

une nuit, si con je souloie, on my couch one night as usual, 

et me dormoie mout forment, having a deep and peaceful rest, 

si vi un songe en mon dormant, when I had a dream 

qui mout fut biaus, et mout me plot ; so sweet it gave me great delight; 

mes en ce songe onques riens n’ot every detail came true 

qui tretot avenu ne soit, All happened exactly 

si con li songes recensoit. as the dream predicted it. 

Or veil cel songe rimeer, Thus, I put it into verse 

por vos cuers plus feire agueer, to brighten and enchant your hearts, 

4 Guillaume de Lorris wrote the Roman de la Rose in 1230 

5 Jean was an erudite clerk and a philosopher without nobility 

37

qu Amors le me prie et comande. as Love commands me to do so. 

Et se nule ne nus demande And if anyone asks 

comant je veil que li romanz the title of this Romance 

soit apelez, que je comanz, that will soon commence here after, 

ce est li Romanz de la Rose, it is the Romance of the Rose, 

Ou l’art d’Amors est tote enclose where the art of love is enclosed. 

La matire est et bone et nueve, The theme is sweet and new, 

or doint Dex qu’en gré le receve and may God grant it, be well viewed 

cele por qui je l’ai empris : by her for whom I cheerfully wrote it: 

c’est cele qui tant, a de pris she is so dear to me 

et tant est digne d’estre amee and deserves love so much 

qu’el doit estre Rose clamee. 6 that Rose she should be named. 

Roman de la Rose 7 

6 Guillaume de Lorris et Jean de Meung (1995) Le Roman de la Rose, verses 21-44. 

7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Meister_des_Rosenromans_001.jpg 

38

While in his 4058 verses Guillaume depicts with beauty and vividness a naïve and enchanted 

world of abstractions symbolising the state of the soul in love, Jean is cynical and sometimes obscene. 

Rather than a poet, he is a thinker and his style is certainly not courteous, as we perceive the new esprit 

bourgeois (bourgeois spirit) with its unshaken will to rise above poverty to be free to undertake whatever 

can be achieved. 

Though in the end Amant finally conquers the Rose, Guillaume’s romance is now a satire. 

Amant has lost his chivalric illusions and uses force and ruse to hastily reach his goal. The conquest is 

more or less a rapt as Christine de Pisan later suggests. 8 

This second part is indeed the blatant critique of the first. No more should we learn the art 

d’aimer but science and strategy; and Jean coldly exposes his knowledge, as he would do in a treatise. 

Furthermore, his ideas are not always original; many passages are directly inspired from Latin literature 

especially Sallust. 9 Above all, Jean vociferates against women, the institution of marriage, the clergy, and 

the legitimacy of the monarchy. To him, poverty is ugly, and Abstinence and chastity unnatural. 

However, he worships Nature who tirelessly creates beings to replace those who perish. 

Lost are Guillaume’s elegance, respect, and devotion for his beloved rosebud; but despite his 

cynicism, Jean is seen by his contemporaries as a talented writer and a bright pamphleteer. 

Literature from the 12 th and 13 th Centuries reveals more than courtly love and philosophical 

ideas. With audacity and humour, poets denounce the their rulers’ injustice, the nobles’ corruption and 

hypocrisy, and the avarice and cupidity of the church. If Jean de Meung displays an esprit bourgeois, the 

fabulists of the time are not bitter and prefer to laugh. This is the esprit gaulois excellently defines by 

Sidney Lee : 

It is often confused unjustly with humorous obscenity. In its original manifestations, l’esprit gaulois 

implies three enviable qualities: firstly, flexibility of thought; secondly, gaiety, tending at times to 

levity and coarseness, but readily yielding to pathetic tenderness; thirdly, a melodious ease of 

frank and simple utterance. 10 

Yes, the esprit gaulois is the natural tendency to mock and denigrate with good humour and cynicism the 

high society. Inspired by this spirit, the satiric literature of the Middle Ages with its fables and fabliaux 

despises the littérature féodale, chevaleresque, and courtoise. This literature bourgeoise is spontaneous and 

joyful so it attracts a very large public. 

8 The feminist poet and historian Christine de Pisan (1360-1431) severely condemned Jean’s romance as 

immoral and misogynistic. 

9 Roman historian and political leader from the 1st Century B.C. 

10 Sidney Lee (1968) The French Renaissance in England, pp 13-14 

39

Medieval Universities 11 

11 Paris’s University was founded by Philippe Auguste in 1200 not as this map suggests in the 12th Century. Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd in 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Map_of_Medieval_Universities.jpg 

40

Pierre de Saint Cloud & all 

(~1150 – ~1250) 

Among the best satires of the time, are the twenty-eight versed narratives called branches or 

estoires 12 of the hilarious Roman de Renart (Renart’s Romance) written between 1150 and 1342 by Pierre de 

Saint-Cloud, Richard de Lison, Rutebeuf, and anonymous authors. The 

first two branches were inspired by the Latin poem Ysengrinus written by 

the Flemish monk, Nivart in 1148-49, and by the German poem, Reinhart 

Fuchs (Reinhart the Fox), composed by the Alsatian writer, Heinrich der 

Glïchezäre 13 in 1180. 14 

Le Roman de Renart 15 does not teach any moral. In this amusing 

epopee of 100 000 verses written in octosyllables and rimes plates, the 

authors’ funny and impish descriptions make people laugh. 16 Here, 

animals live in a well-structured society, a society, which clearly mirrors 

the human society of the time. These animals not only have a family, 

they also have names; such individualisation is a great innovation and 

Renart, the fox, is so popular that his name will forever supplant the 

word goupil in French language. 

Le Roman de Renart is a parody of the aristocracy and while 

Ysengrin personifies the church’s greed and stupidity, Renart is the 

cunning intelligence and the good little devil who mocks courtly love and its heroic knights. Indeed, 

Renart’s love affair with Ysengrin’s unfaithful spouse, Hersent, comically evokes Lancelot and 

Guinevere; and the lion and his barons closely resemble King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table; 

but above all, Renart is the symbol of the poor but intelligent rebel whose amorality is excused by the 

futility and hypocrisy of his oppressors. This transposition of the animal world to the human world is not 

a protest but a picturesque and realistic painting of the 13 th Century society. 

Here follows an extract of Le Jugement de Renart (Renart’s Judgment) 17 with the poignant but 

ludicrous discourse of Pinte, the eccentric hen! The tone is light but passionate. 

12 Isolate short stories or tales. 

13 Der Glïchezäre means ‘the Hypocrite’. 

14 The story of the lion cured by the wolf’s skin was written in 940 by a monk from Toul in Lorraine. 

15 Le Roman de Renard, XIVe siècle Bibliothèque Nationale Français 1581, fol. 19, Renart 

16 Even today, French children study it in primary school and they love it 

17 Extract of Jugement de Renart in Le Roman de Renart, edited by Ernest Martin, branche I, verses 295-344. 

41

Quant li rois ot jugie asez, When the king was tired of listening 

Qui del pleider estoit lassez, To so many pleaders, 

Ez les jelines meintenant The hens arrived with Chantecler 

Et Chantecler paumes batant. They were beating their palms madly. 

Pinte s'escrie premereine Pinte was the first to declaim while 

Et les autres a grant aleine : The others yelled in one breath: 

« Por Deu, fet ele, gentix bestes “Before God, she said, gentle beasts, 

Et chen et leu tex con vos estes, Dog, wolf, all of you sitting here, 

Qar conseilliez ceste chaitive ! Give your advice to a poor hen! 

Molt he l'oure que je sui vive. O! I hate the hour I was born. 

Mort, car me pren, si t'en delivre, Death, please come and deliver me, 

Quant Renart ne me lesse vivre ! As Renart wants to take my life! 

Cinc freres oi tot de mon pere : From Father I had five brothers: 

Toz les manja Renart li lere, Renart, the vile thief, ate them all, 

Ce fu grant perte et grant dolors. Such a great loss and great sorrow! 

De par ma mere oi cinc serors, From Mother, I had five sisters, 

Que virges poules, que mescines : All young maidens, all lovely chicks: 

Molt i avoit beles jelines. So young and beautiful pullets. 

Gonberz del Frenne les passoit, Gonberz from Fresne fed them quite well 

Qui de pondre les anguissoit : Fattening them just for laying: 

Li las ! mal les i encressa. Alas! Why did he fatten them? 

Qar ainc Renart ne l'en laissa For Renart only spared one 

De totes cinc que une soule : Yes, only one out of five: 

Totes passerent par sa goule. Soon all of them went down his throat. 

Et vos qui la gisez en bere, And now you lay in this coffin, 

Ma douce suer, m'amie chere, My sweet sister, my darling friend, 

Con vos estieez tendre et crasse ! Oh! How tender and plump you were! 

Que fera vostre suer la lasse How your poor sister could now live 

Que a nul jor ne vos regarde ? Without seeing you one more day? 

Renart, la male flambe t'arde ! Renart, the flame of hell burn you! 

Tantes foiz nus avez foleez How many times did you harm us? 

Et chacies et tribulees, You always chase and torment us. 

Et descirees nos pelices, Many times, you wrecked our silk coats 

Et enbatues dusq'as lices. Hunting us to the palisades. 

Ier par matin devant la porte Yesterday morn, on my doorstep 

Me jeta il ma seror morte, He threw the corpse of my sister 

Puis s'en foï parmi un val. And ran away in the val. 

42

Gonberz n'ot pas isnel cheval, Gonberz who had no fast horses 

Ne nel poïst a pie ateindre. Had no hope to catch him on foot. 

Ge me voloie de lui pleindre, At once, I wanted to sue him 

Mes je ne truis qui droit m'en face, But found no one to hear my case 

Car il ne crent autrui manace Because Renart fears no menace 

N'autrui coroz vaillant deus foles. » And no anger can alarm him.” 

Pinte la lasse a ces paroles So tired after such a discourse 

Chaï pamee el pavement, Pinte soon fainted on the pavement 

Et les autres tot ensement. With her distressed and loyal friends. 

Por relever les quatre dames To revive and comfort the ladies 

Se leverent de lor escames The dog, the wolf, and all the beasts 

Et chen et lou et autres bestes, Left their wooden stools instantly 

Eve lor getent sor les testes. And sprinkled their head with water. 

43

14 th Century 

After two centuries of economic prosperity, demographic growth, and territorial expansion, 

France is now the most powerful European country. Unfortunately, famine, war, and horrible diseases 

soon ruin the country. 

From the beginning of the 14 th Century, the king of France, Philippe IV le Bel (the Fair) enters 

into conflict with the papacy objecting to its intrusion in the affairs of France. With the support of the first 

États Généraux (Estates-General), 1 Pope Boniface VIII is arrested in 1309 and a French pope is elected and 

settled in Avignon. 2 Philippe also wants to replenish France’s coffers with the Knights Templar’s 

impressive wealth 3 and in 1312, he obtains the suppression of their order; many knights are tortured and 

sent to the stake including the Great master, Jacques de Molay who curses him and his offspring. 

The rois maudits (the cursed kings) indeed die prematurely one after the others starting from 

Philippe in 1314 and ending in 1328 with his last son Charles IV le Bel who leaves no male heir. The 

crown then passes to Philippe VI de Valois, Philippe le Bel’s nephew, despite the legitimate claim of 

Edward III of England, Philippe’s grandson. 

Edward is furious but has no choice, he must pay homage to the new king in order to keep his 

possessions in Gascogne (Gascony) and Guyenne; yet, Philippe has no respect for England; he complots 

with Scotland, seizes the free towns of Flanders, which are England’s wool market, and takes back 

Guyenne and Bordeaux. With the fair motive to defend England’s trade, Edward challenges the king of 

France; and on 7 February 1337, the Guerre de Cent Ans (the Hundred-Years War), the longest war France 

has ever known, begins. 

At first, England is successful; its fleet remarkably defeats the French navy at L’Écluse, a port on 

the Channel; and Edward’s army wins decisive battles on land—especially Crécy in 1346—scaring the 

enemy with its deadly canons and its swift and accurate longbows. Finally, by 1347, England holds 

Calais. 

Is it the war, the famine, or Europe’s insalubrious conditions that propagates the Peste Noire 

(Black Death), the terrifying plague from Asia? All contributes to the decimation of one-third of the 

European population between 1347 and 1351. Nevertheless, the horrible disease does not even stop the 

war and to make things worse, the new king of France, Jean II le Bon (the Good), is threatened by his son- 

1 Assembly representing the three estates: the clergy, the nobility, and the Third State or Tiers États 

representing the people. 

2 The papacy returned to Rome in 1377 but another French pope was elected the following year leaving 

the Church with two and even three popes in 1409. 

3 Religious and military order founded in 1118 to protect pilgrims going to Jerusalem 

44

in-law, the king of Navarre, Charles II le Mauvais (the Bad). On 5 April 1356, Charles is thrown in jail for 

the murder of the king’s adviser. 

The war is still raging with England and in September, Jean is captured at Poitiers by the Black 

Prince 4 of Wales; Jean’s son, Charles must assure the regency but the États Généraux led by the merchant 

Etienne Marcel, rejects his authority and constrains him to release le Mauvais, who becomes Paris’s 

leader. The regent, nevertheless, aborts Marcel’s revolution on 22 February 1358; 5 but another problem 

threatens the city; fed up with the wars ravaging their fields, the peasants join, and armed with batons 

and forks, they come to Paris and demand justice. With Gaston Phoebus’s alliance, 6 le Mauvais finally 

defeats the Grande Jacquerie 7 in June. 

Two years later, King Edward finally accepts a treaty in Brétigny. He regains his territory and in 

compensation, he receives the Limousin, Périgord, Rouergue, Saintonge, and Angoumois. Edward also 

demands a ransom of three millions of livres tournois—the equivalent of twelve tonnes of gold—for two of 

Jean’s sons kept as hostages. To repay this enormous sum, the king implements a tax on salt, the gabelle, 

and creates a new gold coin, the Franc; 8 but this is not enough; and when the duc d’Anjou escapes from 

England, Jean must take his place. Accompanied by his other son, the duc du Berry, he goes to London 

where he dies in 1364. 

The same year in May, the new king Charles V le Sage (the Wise) and the General Du Guesclin 

finally vanquish le Mauvais, who was occupying Paris with his Gascon troupes. 

Charles is indeed a very wise and cultivated king who enjoys art and poetry and encourages the 

Compagnonnage, a secret association of apprentices travelling from town to town to perfect their skills. 9 

Charles also reconstructs the Louvre so he may use it as one of his royal residences, and he brings his 

magnificent collection of 917 books. The king then founds the Bibliothèque Royale (Royal Library) and 

builds the Bastille, the fortress that will become the famous state prison under Louis XIII. 

4 Always wearing a black armour, the son of Edward III, was called the Black Prince. 

5 EMarcel’s objective was to limit royal power by imposing the great ordinance of 1357; this ordinance 

ensured the control of the state’s subsidies 

6 The fierce and powerful Comte de Foie 

7 The Jacqueries were peasants’ revolts against the nobles and the écorcheurs (mercenaries) who pillaged 

their land. Peasants were often called Jacques and their leaders or kings were nicknamed Jacques 

Bonhomme. 

8 The name Franc was chosen as a symbol of liberty 

9 This association still exists today and apprentices of various trades now travel from country to country. 

45

Le Louvre in 1334, Miniature from Limbourg, Musée Condé, Chantilly 

The 14 th Century is very rich in literature from its beginning to its end. While Guillaume de 

Machaut invents new lyrical forms, rondeaux, ballades, chants royaux, lais and virelais, in Florence, the 

illustrious Dante Alighieri compose his grandiose Divina Commedia (1309-1320), an allegorical and 

personal journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Then, in 1358, a new genre of literature appears 

with Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron, a book of audacious and spicy novels set up in the wake of the 

plague and featuring unfaithful wives, priests, nuns, merchants, sultans, and kings of the Orient engaged 

in promiscuous adventures. Finally, ending this tumultuous century, the brilliant Geoffrey Chaucer gives 

us his superb Canterbury’s Tales written in verses between 1387 and 1400; this unfinished series of stories 

are told by thirty pilgrims travelling from London to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury. 

In France, lyric poetry, which derives from the chanson, is an art still reserved to the nobles; and 

as usual, its favourite theme is love. However, poets being inspired by their own experiences and 

environment, general ideas are becoming more personal. They express their états d’âme (states of mind) 

and to highlight deepest values, they continue to use the personified abstractions of the Ancients. 

Compared to older works, the rimes are richer and as the pronunciation drastically evolves, the melody is 

harmonious and elaborate. 

Guillaume de Machaut is certainly one of the greatest poets and musicians of the Middle Ages; 

he is also the first poet of vernacular and it is with him that this anthology really starts. 

46

Guillaume de Machaut 

(1300-1377) 

Born just at the turn of the century, Guillaume de Machaut grows up in Machaut, a small 

village of Champagne where he receives a clerk formation. In 1323, he becomes the secretary of the 

valiant knight, Jean de Luxembourg, king of Bohème (Bohemia), with whom he travels extensively. When 

he comes back to Reims in 1340, Guillaume shares the position of Canon with his brother; and in homage 

to his patron Jean and his daughter, Bonne, 10 he composes Remède de Fortune (Fortune’s Remedy). He 

then writes the Dit du Lion (the Say of the Lion); and after Jean’s heroic death at Crécy in 1346, he starts 

Jugement du Roi de Behaigne (King of Behaigne’s Judgement), a narrative relating the king’s campaigns 

and voyages. 

Guillaume de Machaut, the last trouvère, is also one of the first masters of Western music and 

the most eminent avant-garde composer of the Middle Ages. 11 Furthermore and for the first time, the 

term ‘poet’ has been attributed to a writer of vernacular; this epithet, invented by Brunetto Latini 12 in his 

Livre du Trésor (Treasure’s Book), was given only to the great authors of Antiquity. 

As his predecessors, Guillaume uses l’amour courtois as a theme but with his new forms of 

verses, and his exceptional monophonic and polyphonic songs, he brilliantly distinguishes himself from 

the other poets of his time. Undeniably, Machaut is impressed by Philippe de Vitry’s ars nova, 13 which he 

elegantly blends with ars antiqua in more than four hundred lyric works. 

For Guillaume, poetry is not the mere arrangement of words and sounds; it is music, not the 

artificial music of the instruments, but the natural music of language with its rhymes, rhythms, 

alliterations and much more. His most exceptional works are the grandiose and austere four-voice Messe 

de Nostre Dame (Mass of Notre Dame) and the Livre du Veoir-dict. 

The next poem, Dame de qui toute ma Joie vient, is a ballade taken from Remède de Fortune, which 

regroups nine lyrical pieces. In Remède, the poet proposes a new way to perceive reality by introducing 

the innovative dit (autobiographical narrative); furthermore, he presents fixed-form poems such as the 

glorious ballades. Originally, the word ballade comes from the Old Provencal ballada, which means dance; 

10 Jean le Bon’s wife 

11 Great men whose techniques or ideas are far ahead of their time 

12 The Florentine poet, Brunetto Latini, was Dante’s master. In 1267, he wrote his Livre du Trésor in French 

not only because he lived in France at the time but because la parleure (language) of this country seemed 

to him plus délitable (more delectable) than those of other countries and plus commune à toutes gens (more 

common to all people). 

13 French leading composer and theoretician of the Ars nova (new art) written in 1325. 

47

and being a chanson de danse (a dance song), a Middle Ages ballade is always accompanied by music. 

Machaut’s ballade or baladelle consists of three strophes and a refrain focusing on the main idea of the 

poem. The half strophe called envoy only exists (at the time) in Machaut’s chant royal; this extended ballade 

implying grandeur and majesty always praises a royal person. 

Though Machaut’s ballades generally adhere to the pattern ababbccb, in Dame de qui toute ma 

Joie, the poet prefers the structure ababccdD 14 and plays with assonance. The rhymes are pauvres (poor) 

and if Machaut is not rigorous in the metric (one heptasyllable 15 among decasyllables), the shortness of 

some verses, pleasantly accelerates the tempo of the ballade; and the syncopate rhythm is particularly 

suitable for a poem reflecting a lover’s unabated enthusiasm and confidence. 

After having received Hope’s advice about Love and Fortune, Amant composes a beautiful 

ballade in which he reveals his hope to see his beloved; this exhilarating expectation brings him a joy 

almost impossible to conceive. Yes, Machaut is fond of allegory as his predecessors were; but above all, 

we are witnessing the shaping of French poetry with the poet’s undisputable poetical and musical skills. 

Dame de qui toute ma Joie… 16Lady whom my Joy… 

Dame, de qui toute ma joie vient, Lady, whom my joy comes from, 

Je ne vous puis trop amer ni chierir, I love and cherish you so much, 

N'asses loër, si com il apartient, That I cannot praise you as you deserve, 

Servir, doubter, honnourer n'obeïr; When I serve, doubt, honour, and obey you, 

Car le gracieus espoir, Because the gracious hope, 

Douce Dame, que j'ay de vous vëoir That I have to see you, my sweet Lady, 

Me fait cent fois plus de bien et de joie Gives me more than one hundred times the joy 

Qu'en cent mille ans desservir ne porroie. That I could not earn in one thousand years. 

Cils dous espoirs en vie me soustient The sweet hope that keeps me alive 

Et me norrist en amoureus desir, Feeds me with amorous desire, 

Et dedens moy met tout ce qui couvient Putting in my bosom the softest balms 

Pour conforter mon cuer et rejoïr; To comfort and rejoice my heavy heart; 

N'il ne s'en part main ne soir, All day all night it stays 

Einçois me fait doucement recevoir So that always, I may gently receive 

Plus des dous biens qu'Amours aus siens ottroie, The warmest joys Pure Love can offer and 


14 Capital letter for the refrain 

15 Seven-syllable verse 

16 Œuvres de Machaut, edited by Ernest Hoepffner, pp 110-111. 

48

Et quant Espoir que en mon cuer se tient And when Hope dancing in my heart 

Fait dedens moy si grant joie venir, Revives the great joy inside me, 

Lonteins de vous, ma Dame, s'il avient When you are so far away, my lady 

Que vo biaute voie que moult desir, I still can see your beauty much desired. 

Ma joie, si com j'espoir, My joy, if I may say, 

Ymaginer, penser ne concevoir Is so incredible that no-one could 

Ne porroit nuls, car trop plus en aroie, Ever feel or even conceive the bliss 


Guillaume continues to fervently serve Bonne until she dies from the plague in 1349. Then, he 

accepts Charles le Mauvais’s friendship and writes Jugement du Roi de Navarre (King of Navarre’s 

Judgement). In this work, Machaut contemplates the evils ravaging the world and exposes people’s 

deceitful nature. He strongly believes that God sent Black Death to punish the pervading corruption of 

the church and the nobles; but he concedes sadly that many good people like his good patroness Bonne 

did not escape the calamity and horribly perished. 

In Confort d’Ami (Friend’s consolation) written in 1356, the tone is much lighter; Guillaume 

consoles his friend Charles le Mauvais who is in jail weeping for his young wife, Jeanne de France. 

However, the poet wisely distances himself from le Mauvais when he starts conspiring with England. He 

renews good relation with the royal family and escorts the duc du Berry to Calais after the treaty of 

Brétigny. Guillaume reports this event in the Dit de la Fonteinne Amoureuse (the Say of the Amorous 

Fountain). 

It is probably a year later that Guillaume receives a billet doux (gallant message) from a fervent 

admirer, Peronne d’Armentières. Charmed and seduced by the beautiful young lady, Guillaume accepts 

to reveal their platonic idyll in his poetic masterpiece, the Livre du Veoir-dict or Dit de la vérité (the Say of 

Truth) written between 1362-1365. The Livre du Veoir-dict is an autobiographical confession on old age and 

social position. 

Machaut’s masterpiece consists of a narrative written in octosyllables, sixty-three lyrical poems 

of fixed-form, forty-six amorous letters in prose including those of his platonic lover, and few 

mythological tales. 

Though Peronne has never met Guillaume, she is fascinated by his magnificent poetry and falls 

in love with the old trouvère who knows so well the art d’aimer. From the very beginning, Machaut 

confides that le Veoir-dict is made at the request of the young woman. Its aim is to reveal the truth and 

only the truth. 

49

The virelai Douce Dame jolie follows the pattern Aaab aabaabaaab A. The repetitive rhyme i 

tenderly reflects the poet’s suffering; and the dissyllabic rejects 17 (two-syllable) intercalated between the 

hexasyllables (six-syllable verses) enhances the idea of begging. Guillaume indeed implores the sweet 

pretty Lady not to ignore him. 

Douce Dame jolie 18 Sweet Pretty Lady 

Douce dame jolie, Sweet pretty lady 

Pour dieu ne penses mie God knows that in my heart 

Que nulle ait signorie No one has seigneury 

Seur moy fors vous seulement. On me except you. 

Qu'ades sans tricherie That I never cheat you 

Chierie Darling 

Vous ay et humblement Always humbly I have, 

Tous les jours de ma vie Every day of my life, 

Servie Served you Served you 

Sans vilein pensement. With no disgraceful thought. 

Helas! et je mendie Alas! And I beg you 

D'esperance et d'aïe; For hope and warm support; 

Dont ma joie est fenie, As my joy is fading 

Se pite ne vous en prent. When you show no pity. 

Douce dame jolie. Sweet pretty lady 

Mais vo douce maistrie But your mastery 

Maistrie Rules so 

Mon cuer si durement Harshly on my poor heart 

Qu'elle le contralie That it soon retaliates, 

Et lie Binding 

En amour tellement My love with such a force, 

Qu'il n'a de riens envie That I have no more wish 

Fors d'estre en vo baillie; Than to be in your arms; 

Et se ne li ottrie This alas brings me 

17 The rejet is a word or the beginning of a verse, rejected at the beginning of the next line; and the 

enjambement is the part of a verse at the end of the line, which is tied up to the next verse. 

18 Le Voir-dit, Paris: Bibliotheque Nationale 

50

Vos cuers nul aligement. No relief from your heart. 

Douce dame jolie. Sweet pretty lady 

Et quant ma maladie And to heal my cruel 

Garie Disease 

Ne sera nullement It surely cannot be 

Sans vous, douce anemie, Without you, sweet enemy, 

Qui lie Who is 

Estes de mon tourment, The cause of my torment. 

A jointes mains deprie With my hands joined, I pray 

Vo cuer, puis qu'il m'oublie, But your heart ignores me; 

Que temprement m'ocie, As your temper kills me 

Car trop langui longuement. I slowly languish. 

Douce dame jolie, Sweet pretty lady. 

Pour dieu ne penses mie God knows that in my heart 

Que nulle ait signorie No one has seigneury 

Seur moy fors vous seulement. On me except you. 

Guillaume’s fame reaches Asia around 1371 with La prise d’Alexandrie (Alexandria’s Fall), a 

work dedicated to Pierre 1 er de Lusignan, king of Cyprus; the chronicle in verses and prose recounts the 

life of this adventurous king and gives interesting historical details. Few years before his death in 1377, 

Machaut decides to regroup his works and to explain why he wrote them, he composes an interesting 

prologue. 

51

15 th Century 

Charles d'Orléans 

(1394-1465) 

At the end of the 14 th Century, we are in the middle of the Guerre de Cent Ans (Hundred Years’ 

War) and the king of France, Charles VI is insane. His brother Louis, duc d’Orléans and his uncle 

Philippe le Hardi, duc de Bourgogne are fighting for the throne. 

Born in such turmoil on 24 November 1394, Charles d’Orléans 

spends his childhood in the Loire Valley where under his mother’s 

supervision, 1 he receives the best education. 

At the age of eleven, Charles 2 marries his cousin, Isabelle de 

France, 3 the daughter of Charles VI and Isabeau de Bavière. Two years 

later, a succession of disasters brutally ends his childhood. Under the 

command of Jean Sans Peur, 4 his father is assassinated by the 

Bourguignons (Burgundians) on 23 November 1407; inconsolable, his 

mother perishes the following year; and in September 1409, his wife 

Isabelle dies in childbirth. 

Overwhelmed by calamity, the young man’s sole objective is to 

avenge his father; he joins force with the comte d’Armagnac and to seal their alliance, he marries his 

daughter, Bonne in August 1410. Together, Charles and the Armagnacs valiantly defeat Jean Sans Peur 

and his army in 1414. At last, this is the end of the civil war; and in ballades and chansons, Charles 

expresses his joy. 

Nevertheless, France is far from stable and Henry V of England invades the country in 1415. 

Charles and his friends fight the enemy with great courage but the battle of Azincourt 5 in October is a 

1 Valentine Visconti de Milan 

2 Image from Gazier’s Petite Littérature Française 

3 Isabelle de France is also the widow of Richard II of England. 

4 The Burgundians’ leader and son of Philippe le Hardi, 

5 Also known as Agincourt 

52

itter defeat. Charles miraculously survives; and pulled out from among the dead, he is sent to England 

as a prisoner where he will stay for twenty-five years. 

The 15 th Century is for pertinent reasons called the century of melancholy in France and Charles 

d’Orléans is her best ambassador with his aristocratic poetry. The poet brilliantly excels in subjects as 

various as the nature of the self, the passage of time, and Mother Nature’s beauty. Above all, he has the 

reputation of being le plus grand des amoureux (one of the greatest lovers). 

Charles d’Orléans, prisoner in the Tower of London 

Bibliothèque Nationale de France, 16F II f73 

53

At first, Charles dwells at the Tower of London; then he moves anywhere people are willing to 

receive him. Kept in close confinement, Charles spends his time in unsuccessful peace negotiations. 

Finally, the treaty of Troyes is signed in 1420 between Isabeau de Bavière and Henry V; this treaty 

designates him as regent and heir of the French throne by his marriage to Catherine de Valois, daughter 

of Charles VI. 

Two years later, the dauphin Charles is repudiated; and when the very young king of England, 

represented by the duke of Bedford and supported by the church and the university, takes over the city 

and the North of France, he must flee Paris. 

In De voir France que mon Cœur aimer doit… written in 1423, Charles, the poet, languishes for his 

beloved France. During these eight years of captivity, his situation has not improved and he prays God to 

bring peace so he may have the joy to see his cherished country again. In this touching ballade, the 

rhymes in ance gently contrast with those in er alternating softness and regret; the rather long 

decasyllables mark the bitterness of confinement, the very slow passing of time, and hopelessness. This 

grande ballade respects the traditional structure aaababbccdcd with its three strophes ending with a refrain 

and borrowing the envoy of the chant royal. Being a septain, the poem runs on three rhymes only with the 

pattern ababbcC and its envoy bbcC. 6 

De voir France que mon Cœur aimer doit… 7 

To see France, the Country my Heart loves 

En regardant vers le païs de France, Gazing at the land of France 

Un jour m’avint, a Dovre, sur la mer, A day I was at Dover, near the sea, 

Qu’il me souvint de la doulce plaisance I remembered the elating pleasure 

Que souloye oudit pays trouver ; I enjoyed in France, my dear country; 

Si commençay de cueur a souspirer, Soon my heart began to sigh in sorrow, 

Combien certes que grant bien me faisoit O but how sweet it was for my soul 

De voir France que mon cueur amer doit. To see France, the country my heart loves. 

Je m’avisay que c’estoit non savance I knew it was very imprudent 

De telz souspirs dedens mon cueur garder, To keep those heavy sighs deep in my heart, 

Veu que je voy que la voye commence But while gazing at her across the sea 

De bonne paix, que tous biens peut donner ; I felt a peace nothing else could give me 

Pour ce, tournay en confort mon penser ; Nothing could distract my contemplation; 

6 We find the same structure in Chaucer’s verses 

7 Charles D’Orléans, Poésies, Ballade LXXV, pp 122-123. 

54

Mais non pourtant mon cueur ne se lassoit And not even once, did my heart feel tired 


Alors chargay en la nef d’Esperance Then, I loaded on the ship Esperance 

Tous mes souhaitz, en leur priant d’aler All my wishes and I begged them to sail 

Oultre la mer, sans faire demourance, Over the sea not stopping even once 

Et a France de me recommander. To remember me to my dear France 

Or nous doint Dieu bonne paix sans tarder ! So that God may send Peace with no delay 

Adonc auray loisir, mais qu’ainsi soit, And give me time – but so be it – 


Envoy 

Paix est tresor qu’on ne peut trop loer. Peace is a treasure beyond price 

Je hé guerre, point ne la doy prisier ; I hate war; no one should ever praise it: 

Destourbé m’a long temps, soit tort ou droit, Fairly or not, it deprived me too long 

De voir France que mon cueur amer doit ! To see France, the country my heart loves. 

Despite his lack of ambition and a shortage of money, the future Charles VII rules what is left of 

France relying on the Armagnacs and the valiant maid, Jeanne d’Arc (Joan of Ark) who firmly believes 

that she can defeat the English. Under the French banner, the young peasant girl from Domremy 8 

fearlessly leads a small troupe of seven thousand soldiers and liberates Orléans. This superb and 

unexpected victory allows Charles to be crowned king of France at Reims, as the tradition requires. 

Unfortunately, Jeanne is unable to free Paris and while delivering Compiègne, she is captured 

by the Bourguignons and turned over to the English. Declared a heretic by a clerical tribunal presided by 

Archbishop Cauchon, a friend of the Bourguignons, she is condemned to be burned at the stake in May 

1431. 9 At the end of the year, Henry VI of England is finally crowned king of France in the Cathedral of 

Notre Dame. France has now two kings! 

With his good adviser the Comte de Dunois 10 and encouraged by Jeanne’s bravery, the petit roi 

de Bourges (little king of Bourges) has gained dynamism and audacity; and in 1434, he makes an alliance 

with Sigismond, the Holy Roman Emperor. 

8 In Lorraine 

9 Jeanne claimed that at 13, she heard the divine voices of Saint Michel, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, and 

Saint Marguerite, commanding her to save France. Charles, who did not intervene to save her, ordered a 

review of her trial in 1456; she was rehabilitated and canonised. 

10 Charles d’Orléans’s brother also known as the Bastard of Orléans. 

55

For Charles d’Orléans who is still a prisoner in England, the situation has hardly changed. 

Deeply affected by his captivity, Charles composes interesting and moving poems in English and 

Orleanais, his native language. Charles only writes because he loves writing; he writes with elegance and 

distinction but his style is never pretentious; and in some of his poems, we find the wisdom of Rabelais 

and Voltaire. 11 

Struck again by fatality with the death of his young wife, Bonne d’Armagnac, Charles expresses 

his sorrow in the ballade En Paine, Soussi et Doleur. Adroitly, he chooses the octosyllable so the tone is 

brief and reveals his rancour. The three neuvains (nine-verse strophe) dragging on regret and sorrow 

follow the original pattern ababbcddC with the envoy ccddC; and while the rhymes in i and esse convey 

the image of Death as a hissing serpent, the rhymes in eur augment the poem’s melancholy. 

En Paine, Soussi et Doleur 12 

In Sorrow, Burden, and Pain 

Las ! Mort, qui t’a fait si hardie, Las! Death, how did you dare 

De prendre la noble Princesse To take so noble Princess? 

Qui estoit mon confort, ma vie, She was the joy of my life, 

Mon bien, mon plaisir, ma richesse ! My pride, my pleasure, my wealth! 

Puis que tu as prins ma maistresse, You took my dear mistress 

Prens moy aussi, son serviteur, So take her loyal servant too 

Car j’ayme mieulx prouchainnement For I prefer to die soon 

Mourir que languir en tourment, Than languish in such torment, 

En paine, soussi et doleur ! In sorrow, burden, and pain! 

Las ! de tous biens estoit garnie Las! She had all she could hope 

Et en droitte fleur de jeunesse ! Smiling in the bloom of youth! 

Je pry a Dieu qu’il te maudie, O! I pray God to curse you, 

Faulse Mort, plaine de rudesse ! Devious and wicked Death! 

Se prise l’eusses en vieillesse, If taken in old age, 

Ce ne fust pas si grant rigueur ; It would not have been so cruel 

Mais prise l’as hastivement, But hastily you took her, 

Et m ‘as laissié piteusement And piteously, you leave me 

En paine, soussi et doleur. In sorrow, burden, and pain. 

11 J. Marie Guichard, Poésies de Charles d’Orléans, Rondel p 351. 

12 Charles d’Orléans, Poésies, Ballade LVII, p 81-82 

56

Las ! Je suy seul, sans compaignie ! Las! I am alone and friendless! 

Adieu ma Dame, ma lyesse ! Farewell my Lady, my joy! 

Or est nostre amour departie, Our love is now departing, 

Non pour tant je vous fais promesse But I promise with my heart 

Que de prieres, a largesse, To pray for you fervently; 

Morte vous serviray de cueur, Even dead, I shall serve you, 

Sans oublier aucunement, How could I forget our love! 

Et vous regretteray souvent I shall miss you so much 

En paine, soussi et doleur. In sorrow, burden, and pain. 

Envoy 

Dieu, sur tout souverain Seigneur, God, sovereign Lord over all, 

Ordonnez, par grace et doulceur, With grace and kindness, command 

De l’ame d’elle, tellement That her pretty soul may not 

Qu’elle ne soit pas longuement Remain for a long long time 

En paine, soussy et doleur ! In sorrow, burden, and pain! 

Meanwhile in France, Charles VII finally signs a treaty in Arras with Philippe le Bon (the Good), 

duc de Bourgogne in 1435; 13 and in triumph, he enters Paris in 1437, after having chased the English few 

months earlier. 

At last, the poet is free in 1440 after having paid a big ransom. He returns to France and settles 

in Blois where he marries Marie de Clèves who gives him three children, among them the future Louis 

XII also known as the père de son people (father of his people). 

In one of his beautiful and traditional rondels, Le Temps a laissié son Manteau, 14 with gaiety and 

freshness, Charles celebrates the renewal of nature after a freezing winter. Appropriately, the tone is very 

light, almost dancing with the octosyllables. As it should be in a rondel, the poet uses only two rhymes; in 

the first quatrain, they are embrassées, in the second, they are croisées; and in the quintil, they are embrassées 

again. Another particularity of the rondel is the repetition of the first two verses of the first quatrain as the 

last two verses of the second quatrain; finally, the first verse only is repeated at the end of the quintil. All 

this gives the harmonious pattern ABba abAB abbaA. 

13 Philippe ended his alliance with England in exchange of important concessions. 

14 In some editions such as Champion, the poem is a rondeau. 

57

Le Temps a laissié son manteau 15 

The Weather has left his coat 

Le temps a laissié son manteau The weather has left his coat 

De vent, de froidure et de pluye, Of wind, cold, and freezing rain, 

Et s’est vestu de brouderie, And put on fair embroidery 

De soleil luyant, cler et beau. Of shining sun, clear and warm. 

Il n’y a beste, ne oyseau, No beasts no birds but sing and shout 

Qu’en son jargon ne chante ou crie : Happily in their own language: 

Le temps a laissié son manteau ! The weather has left his coat 

De vent, de froidure et de pluye. 16 Of wind, cold, and freezing rain. 

Riviere, fontaine et ruisseau Clear fountains, rivers, and brooks 

Portent, en livree jolie, Wear on their finest liveries 

Gouttes d’argent, d’orfavrerie, Silver drops and golden threads; 

Chascun s’abille de nouveau : Everyone clad in fresh garments: 

Le temps a laissié son manteau. The weather has left his coat 

Though Charles receives the Ordre de la Toison d’Or (Order of the Golden Fleece), 17 the king 

does not trust him; he has too many English friends and his disastrous campaigns in Italy in 1448 

definitely end his political expectations. Wisely, he retires in Blois and his prestigious little court becomes 

the rendez-vous of the intellectual elite. Villon among others gladly participates in the poetic 

competitions organised by the doulx seigneur (kind lord). 18 From 1450 to 1455, Charles copies his work 

regrouping five complaintes, eighty-nine chansons, one hundred twenty-three ballades, and four hundred 

thirty-five rondeaux, most of them written in Blois. 

The king, now called Charles le Victorieux (the Victorious) reorganises his army with les 

Compagnies d’Ordonnance (small but permanent army) and expels the English from Normandie and 

Guyenne, leaving them only Calais. As the years pass, Charles—the poet—is slowly losing his verve. He 

is tired of living and even the birth of his son does not bring him joy. 19 Furthermore, his return on the 

15 Charles d’Orléans, Poésies, Rondeau [sic] XXXI, pp 307-308 

16 This line is missing in Champion’s edition. 

17 Order created by Philippe le Bon in 1430 to reward his valiant knights 

18 Charles d’Orléans, Poésies, Villon’s Ballade CXXIIIe, p 194-195. 

19 Ibid, Ballade CXXIIa, pp 185-186 and Rondeau CLXXXVII, p 397 

58

political scene is a mistake and a disaster. Like his father, the new king Louis XI has no sympathy for the 

poet; and when he timidly advises him not to fight the duc de Bretagne, the king violently interrupts him 

and regardless of his old age, crudely insults him. Dejected, the poet flees to Amboise where he dies 

shortly after on 5 January 1465. 

59

François Villon 

(1431-after 1463) 

In the western world, the 15 th Century is a period of transition and the great transformations 

occurring in Italy soon reverberate in France. Art is flowering; in Florence, the Medici patronise artists 

and poets, and in Rome, the pope employs illustrious architects and sculptors to embellish the city. 

Germany as well is contributing to the coming Renaissance with printing, the splendid invention of the 

century. In 1434, the goldsmith Johann Gutenberg from Mainz builds the first printing press with 

movable blocks and invents an ink allowing printing on both sides of the paper. Sixteen years later, he 

and his team print the 641 pages of the Latin Bible known as Bible Mazarine and make 300 copies. Soon 

most European countries have their own presses and as printing has become cheaper, anyone willing to 

share ideas with others can have them printed on pamphlets or books. Yet, nothing has changed in the 

streets of Paris where it is still very hard to carve one’s place in the high society, when we are a pauvre 

écolier (poor scholar). 

François de Montcorbier, 1 born in Paris in summer 1431 is one of them. Having lost his father at 

an early age, François lives with his mother; they are very poor but thanks to the kindness of Guillaume 

de Villon, Chaplain of Saint-Benoît-le-Bientourné, he receives an excellent education and enters the 

Université de Paris. In March 1449, the young man obtains his Bachelor of Art and three years later, he 

gets his master. Still under Guillaume’s protection, François lives Hôtel de la Porte-Rouge next to the 

cloister and it is probably at this time that he takes his benefactor’s name in homage to his generosity. 

Alas, François is weak; he chooses his friends among the most turbulent students and his Romant du Petau-Deable 

(Romance of the Devil’s Fart) recounts one of their most famous adventures, the uprooting of 

the landmark Pet-au-Deable. 2 Yes, Villon writes but he is also well known in all Paris’s taverns that he 

visits with assiduity. In these evil dens, he befriends prostitutes and villains such as Christophe Turgis, 

Régnier de Montigny, and Colin de Cayeux, all members of the gang the Coquillards. 3 

1 Villon’s name was perhaps Corbueil as he asserts in one of his huitains. However, the structure of this 

huitain is so different from the others that Villon probably did not write it. Villon also used the name of 

Jehan des Loges in some circumstances. 

2 Villon mentions it in one of the Ballades of the Testament verses 857-858. In 1451, some students uprooted 

the landmark and replanted it into the ground of the University. 

3 Christophe Turgis, a counterfeiter was boiled alive in a vat of oil on 17 December 1456; Regnier de 

Montigny was hanged on 7 September 1457, and Colin de Cayeux was hanged and strangled on 25 

September 1460. 

60

In June 1455, Villon has his first encounter with justice followed by a succession of street brawls, 

manslaughters, and robberies. Unfortunately, one of such brawls ends very badly. While talking to his 

friends on a bench in front of the church Saint-Benoît-le-Bientourné, a priest, Philippe Sermoise violently 

attacks him. Villon had to defend himself; tragically, the priest dies of his wounds a few days later. In 

panic, the poet runs away and failing to appear in court when summoned, he is banished from the 

kingdom. 

With the support of his protector Guillaume, Villon 4 asks for 

mercy explaining what really happened that day in his supplication. 

Nevertheless, Villon is sliding on the wrong path. In October, under the 

name of Jehan des Loges, he is implicated in a double theft in Anjou. 

Luckily, he escapes and having obtained his letter of remission for 

Sermoise’s homicide, he comes back to his room, Hôtel de la Porte-Rouge, 

pledging to improve his conduct. He returns to the university and begins 

to work hard; but soon, love disturbs his study when Catherine de 

Vauzelles, who blatantly encouraged his advances, now rebukes him with 

no remorse. Disgusted, Villon releases his anger in a provocative ballade 

and asks his friends to sing it near the woman’s window. 5 Having 

tarnished her reputation, the poet expects reprisals but never thinks that 

he will be arrested for slander and blasphemy. Sentenced by the 

ecclesiastic tribunal to be flogged on the woman’s doorstep, the poor 

lover will never forget the humiliation. 

Deeply hurt, Villon flees to Angers and begins his Lais also 

known as the Petit Testament in which he regroups forty huitains in octosyllables. In this testament, the 

grotesque juxtaposes the sublime and albeit joyful exuberance, sincere emotions transpire and tear the 

heart. First, Villon explains the reason of his departure and evokes some vivid childhood memories of the 

terrible winter of 1439, when the wolves entered the streets of Paris. Villon then praises his benefactor 

Guillaume who never failed him; and he begins the ludicrous distribution of his wealth. To his mistress, 

he legates his heart dead and chilled; to his friend Jacques Cardon, the acorn of a willow; to the sergeant 

Perrenet Marchant, three bundles of straw to spread on the ground so he can make love, the only task he 

does well; and to the hospitals, his windows covered with spider webs. In this original satire, the poet’s 

humour discreetly veils his deep sensibility and compassion for the poor and the outlaw. 

Alas, his sympathy is going too far and when before Christmas, Cayeux convinces him to 

participate in the robbery of the Collège de Navarre, he cannot resist; one evening, with Guy Tabarie, 

Dom Nicolas, and Petit Jehan, he breaks into the Collège and steals five hundred gold écus (crowns). The 

4 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Francois_Villon.jpg 

5 Villon will later expose her mistress’s wickedness in Le Lais or Petit Testament; Œuvres Complètes, pp 159- 

161. 

61

next day, the villains celebrate their success at the Pomme-de-Pin and Villon leaves for Angers promising a 

plan to rob its abbey. 

Few months pass without incident and it would have been the perfect theft, if Tabarie did not 

boast about it in March 1456; surprisingly, he and Cayeux are not arrested before June 1457. Warned by 

the other members of the gang, Villon prudently stays away from Paris and wandering from town to 

town, he soon becomes a vagabond who will probably die ‘vertically’ Place de Grève as many of his 

friends did. 

But perhaps not; Villon is born under a lucky star. Despite his deplorable reputation as a thief, 

he is highly praised in intellect milieu, and always finds the right support to avoid the death sentence. 

Aware of his arrival at Blois, Charles d’Orléans offers him hospitality and asks him to participate in the 

poetic competitions he regularly organises. Predictably, Villon’s Ballade outshines all other poems; and 

commending his guest to the king, the perceptive Charles manages to obtain him a pension. 6 

Of course, Villon cannot stay indefinitely at Charles’s castle so he leaves Blois for Bourges and 

then goes to Moulin. Alas, the incorrigible scoundrel ends up in the duc d’Orléans’s prison. Again, he is 

amnestied when in July 1460, Charles’s daughter, Marie makes her first official entrance in Orléans. 7 So 

happy to have miraculously escaped death, the poet puts all his verve in a beautiful épître dedicated to 

the young princess. 

One more time, Villon swears that he has learned his lesson but his good resolutions do not last. 

The following summer, we find him languishing in Thibault d’Aussigny’s 8 dungeon for the robbery of a 

village church. Fed with stale bread and water, Villon will probably die there if a miracle does not save 

him soon; and yes, the miracle occurs when Louis XI enters Meung-sur-Loire for the first time in October 

1461. Villon is liberated! 

The poet comes back to Paris weak and disabused. Feeling his end coming despite his relatively 

young age, he composes Le Testament between 1461 and 62 inserting few pieces written before as the 

famous Ballade des Dames du Temps jadis and Les Regrets de la belle Heaumière. With his spicy jokes and his 

jargon, Villon is the people’s voice and thanks to this gavroche du Moyen Age (street-kid of the Middle 

Ages) who loves talking about his memories and misfortunes, we discover Paris’s hard but joyful life 

during such difficult times. Like all the Parisians of small condition, Villon loves wine and dreams about 

thick fat soup; like them, he knows all Paris’s taverns and brothels, and most bandits’ dens; like them, he 

prays and repents for his sins; but it is so hard to be honest when poverty strikes. 

Indeed, Paris is still under English occupation suffering from war and famine; and starving 

people are legions. Villon himself does not eat every day and he violently resents the unfair inequality 

raging among humans. To make every-one knows his feelings, to empty his heavy heart, he writes; he 

6 Je meurs de seuf auprès de la fontaine, Ballade CXXIIIe, in Charles d’Orléans, Poésies, edited by Pierre 

Champion, pp 194-195. 

7 For such glorious events, the custom was to liberate all the prisoners. 

8 Bishop of Orléans 

62

writes with good humour, anger, or irony but also with humility and compassion. Unlike most medieval 

ballades, Villon’s work is personal, sadly lucid, and often shockingly frank. In Histoire de la Littérature 

Française, Gustave Lanson gently says: 

Voilà une poésie qui est la résonance d'une pauvre âme, battue d'outrageuses misères, et qui 

n'est que cela : et dans cette voix bouffonne ou plaintive, qui crie son vice ou son mal, passe parfois 

le cri de l'éternelle humanité : Nous, honnêtes gens, paisibles bourgeois, ce louche rôdeur du 15ème 

siècle parle de nous, parle pour nous, nous le sentons, c'est ce qui le fait grand. 

Here is a poetry reflecting a poor soul, beaten by outrageous miseries and nothing else. In this 

farcical or plaintive voice, crying on weakness and pain, sometimes rises the cry of eternal 

humanity: we, honest people, peaceful bourgeois, this 15 th Century suspicious prowler talks about 

us and talks to us; we feel this and this is what makes him great. 

While Charles d’Orléans skilfully used the rondel, Villon masters the huitain, and in the 

illustrious Ballade des Dames du Temps jadis, he shows his patriotism and his admiration for the 

exceptional women whose name have entered History. This beautiful poem in octosyllables is still well 

known today in France thanks to the poet-singer, Georges Brassens, who interprets it superbly. The 

ballade respects the traditional structure of the petite ballade ababbcbC and the envoy with its rimes croisées 

bcbC. 

Ballade des Dames du Temps Jadis 9 

Ballade for the bygone Ladies 

Dictes-moy où, n’en quel païs, Tell me where, or in which country, 

Est Flora la belle Romaine ; Is Flora the fair Roman girl; 

Archipiada ne Thaïs, Archipiada 10 or Thaïs, 11 

Qui fut sa cousine germaine ; Her very close cousin 

Echo parlant quand bruyct on maine All echoing what we hear 

Dessus rivière ou sus estan, On river and still pool, 

Qui beaulté eut trop plus qu’humaine ? About her uncommon beauty. 

Mais où sont les neiges d’antan ! But where have gone Yesterday’s snows! 

9 In Oeuvres Complètes, edited by Théophile Gautier, pp 100-101. 

10 Probably Archippa, Sophocle’s lover or perhaps Alcibiade, the Greek general who studied with Pericles 

and Socrates. In the Middle Ages, every-one thought he was woman. 

11 Saint Thaïs, the Egyptian courtesan who in the 4 th century converted to Christianity 

63

Où est la très saige Heloïs, Where is Héloïse, the wise, 

Pour qui chastré fut et puis moyne For whom was gelt and monk became 

Pierre Esbaillart à Sainct Denys ? Pierre Esbaillart 12 from Saint Denis? 

Pour son amour eut cest essoyne. For love, he bore this sacrifice. 

Semblablement, où est la royne And now, where is the ruthless queen 13 

Qui commanda que Buridan Who ordered noble Buridan 

Fust jetté en ung sac en Seine ? To be sacked and thrown in Seine? 


La royne Blanche comme un lis Where are Queen Blanche, 14 white as a lily, 

Qui chantoit a voix de sereine ; Who sang with a siren’s voice 

Berthe 15 au grand pied, Bietris, Allys ; Berthe Bigfoot, 16 Bietrix, 17 Allys; 18 

Harembourges qui tint le Mayne, Harembourges, 19 dower of Maine, 

Et Jehanne la bonne Lorraine, And Jeanne, 20 the good maid of Lorraine, 

Qu’Anglois bruslèrent à Rouen ; Whom the English burned at Rouen; 

Où sont-ilz, Vierge souveraine ? Where are they Virgin Sovereign, where? 

Mais où sont les neiges d’antan ! But where have gone Yesterday’s snow! 

Prince, n’enquerez de sepmaine Prince, do not ask where they are 

Où elles sont, ne de cest an, In a week or a year, 

Que ce refrain ne vous remaine : This refrain only reminds us of them: 


12 Pierre Abélard 

13 The three daughters-in law of Philippe le Bel were accused of adultery and one of them Marguerite de 

Bourgogne, Louis le Hutin’s wife was strangled in her prison in 1314. All the university students knew 

that in the Tour de Nesles, the queen of France had her lovers killed and thrown in the Seine after having 

obtained what she wanted; luckily, Buridan escaped such ending and become one of the most famous 

professors of the Université de Paris. 

14 Blanche de Castille, mother of the good roi de France, Saint Louis 

15 Here, we have the e caduc, which is a vowel that we do not pronounce. In the present case, we must 

read Berth’au grand pied. 

16 Berthe is Charlemagne’s mother. 

17 Béatrix de Provence, wife of Charles de France, son of Louis VII 

18 Alis de Champagne, wife of Louis le Jeune in 1160 

19 Haremburgis, the Comte of Maine’s daughter 

20 Joan of Ark 

64

Compared to the satirical buffoonery of the Lais, Villon’s Grand Testament is grim; the poetvagabond 

reflects on his life and confides his regrets. Despite the sarcasms and invectives, a sincere 

pathétisme (intense emotion) dominates. Primarily, Villon reveals his resentment against d’Aussigny; he 

then laments about the passing of time, injustice, and suffering, reminding his fellowmen that ultimately, 

death’s inevitability brings equality to all regardless worth and rank. Still in contact with the Coquillards, 

for them, Villon writes the hystoyres des repeus franches (stories of frank gluttony), a collection of lais and 

ballades in jargon. 

Because of his bad frequentation and past record, he is falsely accused of another theft in 

November 1462; but once more and thanks to his high-ranking friends and particularly Guillaume, Villon 

is released after having agreed to repay all his debts including the money stolen from the Collège de 

Navarre six years earlier. It seems however that Villon’s fate is to spend most of his life in jail. A year 

later, he is implicated in another street brawl. Although witnesses affirm that he was only a bystander, he 

is sentenced to be hanged and strangled. This time, the situation is critical and losing hope, Villon 

composes his epitaph, the touching and gruesome Ballade des Pendus. 

This ballade is Villon’s last work. It consists of three dizains in decasyllables and a quintil where 

he implores God’s pardon. The rhymes are suffisantes, having two elements of similarity. Here, the poet 

exposes the horror of death, depicting the gruesome scene of corpses on the gallows, a common sight in 

medieval towns. No more sarcasm or mockery in this ballade, only fear, regret, and sorrow! 

Ballade des Pendus 21 

Frères humains qui après nous vivez, 

N’ayez les cueurs contre nous endurciz, 

Car, si pitié de nous pouvres avez, 

Dieu en aura plustost de vous merciz. 

Vous nous voyez cy attachez cinq, six : 

Quant de la chair, que trop avons nourrie, 

Elle est pieça devorée et pourrie, 

Et nous, les os, devenons cendre et pouldre. 

De nostre mal personne ne s’en rie ; 

Mais priez Dieu que tous nous vueille absouldre ! 

Se vous clamons, frères, pas n’en devez 

Avoir desdaing, quoyque fusmes occis 

21 L’Épitaphe en forme de Ballade, in Oeuvres Complètes, pp 167-169. Image from an edition printed in 

1484 

65

Par justice. Toutesfois, vous sçavez 

Que tous les hommes n’ont pas bon sens assis ; 

Intercedez doncques, de cueur rassis, 

Envers le Filz de la Vierge Marie, 

Que sa grace ne soit pour nous tarie, 

Nous preservant de l’infernale fouldre. 

Nous sommes mors, âme ne nous harie ; 


La pluye nous a debuez et lavez, 

Et le soleil dessechez et noirciz ; 

Pies, corbaulx, nous ont les yeux cavez, 

Et arrachez la barbe et les sourcilz. 

Jamais nul temps nous ne sommes rassis ; 

Puis çà, puis là, comme le vent varie, 

A son plaisir sans cesser nous charrie, 

Plus becquetez d’oyseaulx que dez à couldre. 

Ne soyez donc de nostre confrairie, 


Prince JESUS, qui sur tous seigneurie, 

Garde qu’enfer n’ayt de nous la maistrie : 

A luy n’ayons que faire ne que souldre. 

Hommes, icy n’usez de mocquerie ; 


Ballade for the Hanged Men 

Human Brothers who after us live, 

Against us, do not harden your heart, 

For if you show pity on us, poor wretches, 

Sooner, God will have mercy on you. 

Here you see, we are five or six tied up: 

And the flesh that we fed too well 

Is pierced, devoured, and rotten, 

We, the bones, are now ash and dust. 

No one dares to laugh at our misery; 

But pray God He may absolve us all! 

66

If we call on you, brothers, do not look 

At us with contempt; though we were slain 

In accordance with justice, you know 

Men do not always have sound judgement. 

Plead our behalf, with a sober heart, 

To the Son of the Virgin Mary; 

That his grace never dries up for us 

So we can be saved from hell’s fires. 

We are dead; soul, do not torment us; 


The rain has drenched and washed our body, 

And the sun dried and blackened our skin; 

Magpies and ravens dug our eyes out, 

And plucked our beards and our eyebrows. 

Never can we rest once: 

Hither and thither, as the wind moves, 

We drift ceaselessly at its will 

More pecked by birds than sewing thimbles. 

Men, do not think of joining our guild; 


Prince JESUS, who have lordship on all, 

Forbid Hell to gain power on us: 

May we never have to deal with Her. 

Men, do not use trifling mockeries here; 


Amazingly, Villon’s sentence is commuted to ten years of banishment in January 1463. Since 

that day, nothing has been heard of him. 

67

Renaissance 

68

16 th Century 

At the beginning of the 16 th century, France has regained all her territories except Calais. 

Having managed to liberate her people from the dogmatic Middle Ages, France is now experiencing a 

great rebirth, the famous Renaissance. 

With Fernando de Magellan’s travel around the world and Christopher Columbus’s discovery 

of the New Continent, new horizons open; scientific knowledge is revolutionised; and even though 

Nicolaus Copernicus has not managed to convince the church with his heliocentric model of the universe 

proposed in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, many are seriously working on it. 

Fine Arts are blooming thanks to Leonardo da Vinci, Raffaelo Sancio, and Michelangelo 

Buonarroti. 

Finally and above all, the germination of religious ideas leads to drastic reforms all over 

Europe. In 1517, Luther nailed his ninety-five theses on the door of his church in Wittenberg; and in 1532, 

Calvin publishes his Institutes of the Christian Religion in Switzerland. Three years later, Henry VIII 

designates himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England. 

Though the king of France, François 1 er is unable to solve crucial problems related to finance 

and religion, he deserves his title of grand prince de la Renaissance (great prince of the Renaissance). 

Inspired by the Italian Renaissance and lover of Beaux-Arts (Fine Arts), the king invites to his court 

illustrious artists and poets. While Leonardo da Vinci and Benvenuto Cellini contribute to enrich the 

French patrimony with their magnificent works, 1 François 1 er rebuilds the Louvre and gives 

incomparable prestige to Fontainebleau, transforming the feudal castle into a sumptuous palace. 

The king also encourages originality and humour; poets are no more the subservient people 

whose duties are to amuse and flatter their masters; they are now the symbols of refinement, elegance, 

and knowledge. François indeed truly enjoys Pantagruel (1532) and Gargantua (1534), the satiric tales of 

the famous universal savant François Rabelais; 2 and he protects Clément Marot, his gentil poète (gentle 

poet), who glorifies Villon and the old gauloise tradition. Insuspicious of heretical doctrines, he also 

praises the theologian and humanist Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples for his French translation of the Bible, the 

first written on scholarly lines; and he attentively listens to another humanist and friend, Guillaume Budé 

or Budaeus. Professor at the Université de Paris and royal librarian, Budaeus has an enormous influence 

on François 1 er ; in his Institution du Prince (Institution for a Prince) he emphasises that a king ought to be a 

philosopher and a man of learning. Such a man must know Greek, Hebrew, and Latin; hence, under 

1 The amazing Joconde (1503-06) and the superb Nymphe de Fontainebleau (1543). 

2 Rabelais was seen as a disgusting atheist by the Sorbonne 

69

Budé’s advice, François 1 er founds the Collège des Trois Langues (College of the Three Languages) 3 and 

creates the magnificent library of Fontainebleau. 4 

Though the king already has an outstanding library of 1626 volumes—most of them superb 

manuscripts, he decides to drastically increase his small collection of printed books by implementing on 

28 December 1537 the Ordonnance de Montpellier. In this ordinance, French printers and booksellers are 

required to deliver a copy of every new book to the royal library. Furthermore, on 15 August 1539, in the 

Ordonnance de Villers-Cotterets, the king imposes the use of French in official documents stressing that no 

other languages or dialects will be legally recognised. In this decree, he also orders the registration of 

birth and death of every French citizen and the registration of all notarial acts for which strict 

confidentiality ought to be applied. 

Ordonnance de Villers-Cotterets 5 

Paris is the place to be, except for the reformists hunted by the church. Many find refuge in 

Nerac where Marguerite d’Angoulême’s court 6 is brilliant and original. Many poets, humanists, and 

religious leaders such as the austere Calvin enjoy the princess’s hospitality. Marguerite also supports the 

annual poetic competition of the Grands Jours (Great Days); this competition organised in many cities is 

modelled on the famous Jeux Floraux (Floral Game) created in Toulouse in 1324 by the troubadours. 7 

3 Also known as Collège Royal or Collège de France 

4 The future Bibliothèque Nationale de France 

5 http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Villers-Cot.jpg 

6 Marguerite d’Angoulême, the kind’s sister is also known as Marguerite d’Alençon, de Valois, and de 

Navarre. 

7 Sidney Lee (1968) The French Renaissance in England. 

70

The second half of the 16 th Century is dominated by the Pléiade, the seven stars of French poetry 

represented by the magnificent Pierre de Ronsard, Joachim du Bellay, Jean-Antoine de Baïf, Pontus de 

Tyard, Étienne Jodelle, Rémy Belleau, and Jacques Pelletier du Mans. Thanks to these remarkable poets, 

the happy king, François 1 er has the joy to see the blooming of French language just before his death on 31 

March 1547. 

Unfortunately, the 16 th Century is also stained with blood due to religious intolerance. 8 Unlike 

his father, Henri II does not see any difference between evangelicalism and heresy, and to stop the wave 

of Protestantism he organises a special tribunal, the Chambre Ardente (the Burning Chamber), so-called for 

its horrible punishments. With the Duc de Guise, Henri II defeats the emperor Charles Quint and seizes 

Metz, Toul, and Verdun; furthermore and this is certainly the most sensational victory of Henri’s reign, 

Calais finally regains its French citizenship after two centuries of English domination. 

Nevertheless, Henri II is not invincible; despite the warning of the illustrious astrologer, 

Nostradamus, he decides to participate in a tournament organised for the festivities of his daughter’s and 

sister’s wedding. As predicted, the king is fatally wounded by the lance of the comte Gabriel de 

Montgomery. The treacherous weapon finds a gap in the king’s helmet, pierces his eye, and reaches the 

brain. For ten days, Henri suffers atrociously and finally dies on 10 July 1559. 9 

Before Charles (Henri’s brother) reaches his maturity, Catherine de Médicis assures the regency. 

Unfortunately, all attempts of conciliation with the Calvinists fail and the first civil war begins in March 

1562 at Vassy, when the duc de Guise Henri le balafré (scar-face) and his men viciously murder thirty 

Huguenot worshippers and wound more than one hundred. The second and the third civil wars soon 

follow the first and finally a peace is sealed with the marriages of Marguerite de Valois with the 

Huguenot leader, Henri de Navarre (future Henri IV), and Henri d’Anjou, the king’s brother with 

Elizabeth I of England. 

Alas, the Catholics’ hatred for the Huguenots does not abate. Probably with the support of 

Catherine de Médicis, on 24 August 1572 at dawn, the duc de Guise and his men break into houses and 

ferociously murder more than three thousand Protestants in Paris and many provinces. The Saint 

Bartholomew’s Day massacre is a horrible night to remember and in the South where they have full 

power, the Huguenots create a Protestant state within the French state. 

Neither Charles IX who dies from tuberculosis in 1574 nor his brother Henri III can solve the 

religious conflict; and twenty-six years will pass before Henri IV 10 signs the Édit de Nantes on 13 April 

1598, establishing Catholicism as the state’s religion but also granting the freedom of religious conscience 

to all. 

8 R. J. Knetch (1996) The Rise and Fall of Renaissance France. 

9 During the first tournament against the comte, the king fells; furious, he orders another tournament; the 

comte refused twice but the king ordered him to fight 

10 Though Henri de Navarre was the leader of the Huguenot forces, he solemnly accepted the Catholic 

Church and adjured his faith to become king of France. 

71

Premiéres Imprimeries en France 11 

11 http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Buchdruck-15-jahrhundert_1.jpg 

72

Pierre de Ronsard 

(1524-1585) 

Born the night of 10-11 September 1524 at the Château de la Possonnière in Couture-sur-Loir, 

Pierre de Ronsard is the son of an aristocratic family issued of the ronciers (clearers). Ronsard’s father, 

maître d’hôtel (headwaiter) to François 1 er follows the king everywhere and even escorts the children of 

France to Castille where they are kept as hostages. Meanwhile, Ronsard’s mother, a well-educated 

woman, reads the History of France to her children in the family room facing the beautiful sculpture on 

the massive chimney representing a roncier vivace (hardy bramble). 

On the walls and façades of the elegant manor recently built by his father, pagan adages and 

Christian maxims share the place with the blazons and medallions of Ronsard’s ancestors. With them, 

Ronsard learns the glory to serve his king, respect God, fear death, and achieve a good life according to 

his capability. 

In 1433, Pierre is sent to the Collège de Navarre where he studies and falls in love with Virgil 

learning all his verses by heart. It seems however that the youngster does not really like school and just 

before graduating in 1536, his father calls him to Avignon where he joins the army. In Valence, Pierre 

meets the king and soon he is appointed page to his son François. Alas, the young prince dies of a bad 

cold three days later and this unexpected death deeply marks the child who is then given to his brother 

Charles, duc d’Orléans, the future Charles IX. 

In May 1537, Ronsard sails to Scotland with Madeleine, the king’s daughter, future queen of 

Scotland; but the harsh climate does not suit the fragile princess who dies a month later at Holyrood. The 

sad little page then comes back to France and in 1538, he sails again to Scotland through Flanders with 

the king’s ambassador, Claude d’Humières, seigneur de Lassigny. After a terrible storm, the vessel finally 

strands at the Scottish port. In Scotland, Ronsard meets a Scottish aristocrat named Paul who introduces 

him to Horace and exacerbates his fondness for poetry. After having sojourned a few months in 

Linlithgow, the Ambassador and the young page travel through England and for six months, they visit 

the country and perfect their English. 

In 1540, Pierre returns to France and works at the Royal Stable. There, he enjoys the company of 

esquires, painters, goldsmiths, and saddlers. However, his life takes a new turn, when under the 

protection of the French Ambassador, Lazare de Baïf, he goes to Germany. With him, Ronsard listens to 

the theological controversies raging in the country; being a fervent admirer of Erasmus, Lazare initiates 

him to Humanism. Ronsard deeply enjoys the memorable discussions in Latin with the German 

intellectuals; but these philosophical debates always accompanied with too much food and wine, do not 

suit the young page’s delicate constitution. Sick, Ronsard must come back to France. During the trip, he 

catches a cold and a nasty purulent ear infection leaves him partially deft for life. 

73

This infirmity ends Ronsard’s promising diplomatic career. Before thinking about other 

opportunities, the young man passes his convalescence at La Possonnière. Thinking that he will die soon, 

he is overwhelmed with melancholy and confides his despair to Mother Nature. 

In his dear Vendômois, Ronsard finds inspiration and writes small poems weeping about his 

misfortune and the ineluctable flight of time. With exquisite grace, the poet describes his Ile verte (green 

island) emerging from the impetuous Loir and the bubbling Braye, with the deep Gastine forest towering 

above the green pastures, and of course, the magic fountain Bellerie, where at midnight the nymphs 

dance with the fairies. 

In the arms of Mother Nature, Ronsard slowly regains his strength but he is still unable to face 

the reality of life. Hating to see his son wasting his life dreaming all day long, his father takes the 

opportunity of a trip to the Mans to present him to the Bishop, René du 

Bellay. Soon, Ronsard is tonsured; and he receives the priories of Saint- 

Cosme-en-l’Isle and Sainte-Croix-Val in Touraine. 

At the Mans, Pierre befriends the bishop’s secretary, Jacques 

Peletier, a famous Latinist, linguist, geometer, and medical practitioner. 

Pleased with Ronsard’s odes, Jacques encourages him to imitate Homer 

and Virgil but he also convinces him to write in French stressing the 

importance to develop French literature. 

The same year just after his father’s death, Ronsard 12 goes to 

Paris and du Baïf takes him under his protection. With Lazare’s son, Jean- 

Antoine, and under the supervision of Jean Dorat, an exceptional savant 

from Limousin, Ronsard becomes an expert in Hellenism and Paganism. 

Dorat is indeed a great master who with incredible spontaneity translates 

any texts in Latin or Greek; with him, pale texts become superb allegories 

vibrating with life and passion. Dorat also knows how to explain with 

surprising simplicity the most difficult versions; and with great discernment, he sees and reveals the best 

in his students who adore him. 13 Yes, Dorat is a great man but he is also a simple, cordial, and joyful man 

who seizes every opportunity to divert his students by organising famous banquets and country retreats. 

Always washed down with good wine, these feasts are propitious to the most spontaneous 

improvisations. 14 

After a brief interruption due to the war, Dorat is elected headmaster at the Collège de Coqueret 

and immediately, Ronsard and Jean-Antoine return to their study with their new friend, Joachim du 

Bellay. For these young men, the literature of the past is clumsy, insipid, and bucolic; it must be reformed 

to ultimately give to the French language its proper place. To achieve their ambitious project, they found 

12 Léonard Gaultier’s estampe from Des Granges’s Histoire de la Littérature Française 

13 In Oeuvres Complètes, edited by Gustave Cohen, tome 1, pp 413-414 

14 Ibid., in Le second livre des poèmes, Le Voyage d’Hercueil, tome 2, pp 452-464 

74

a new school, the Brigade, later renamed the Pléiade. 15 Soon, Étienne Jodelle and Jean de La Péruse, 16 the 

best students of the Collège de Boncourt join them, as well as Pontus de Tyard et Guillaume des Autels. 17 

The Pléiade’s ambition is to perfect French in order to create a literature that will rival those of 

Greece and Rome. Accordingly, the Pléiade strives to enrich vocabulary, improves style and grammar, 

and finally composes exquisite poems of lyric elegance abandoning rondeaux and virelais and replacing 

chansons and dizains with odes and sonnets. 

The Pléiade is not just a school of literature and poetry; indeed, its members are the last 

humanists of the Renaissance and their objective includes the revival of eternal truths. Exploring Druidic 

traditions, Greek philosophy, and Christianity, they unveil the best concepts of human nature, wisdom, 

and dignity. 

Inspired by the Ancients, the young scholars artfully combine myths, allegories, and religious 

truths. Unfortunately, they are often unfairly accused of plagiarism; but Ronsard, for instance, does not 

only translate or copy, he transposes and transforms. In Le Voyage d’Hercueil of the Bacchanales, 18 he freely 

and marvellously paraphrases Anacreon, the Greek poet well known for his celebrations on love and 

wine. 19 

As Du Bellay stresses, poets are born poets but such natural endowment must be supported by 

hard work, self-criticism, erudition, and imitation of the classics. For seven years, these young men 

indeed work very hard and all become outstanding poets. 20 Of course, Dorat is very proud of his students 

especially Ronsard, who is the most brilliant; he reads Greek fluently, knows Virgil by heart, and 

thoroughly masters Plato’s ideas. 

Les Quatre Livres des Odes published in 1550 is a triumph. In this magnificent series, Ronsard 

surpassed himself superbly using the imagery of Antiquity as no one else did before. Irresistibly attracted 

to mythology, the new generation immediately adopts Ronsard as their Grand Prêtre (Great Master); and 

when two years later, he publishes Le Cinqiesme Livre des Odes and Les Amours, his consecration is 

legitimate and definitive. 

Certainly, Ronsard has a temperament de Gaulois (he is typically French); he loves women and 

knows how to charm them. The Odes and especially Ode a Cassandre first known as Mignonne, allons 

15 For his school, Ronsard selected seven of the best students and to ridicule such an idea, the Protestants 

called it the Pléiade. Certainly thinking of the mythological Pléiade of Atlas’s seven daughters changed 

into constellations and to the seven alexandrine poets of the 3 rd century AD, Ronsard eagerly adopts the 

new name. 

16 Replaced later by Rémy Belleau 

17 Replaced later by Jacques Peletier du Mans and then Jean Dorat 

18 Work written in 1549; anonymous Livret de Folastries (1553) 

19 Ronsard admitted that this book was a collection of trivialities 

20 Henri de Mesmes(1532-1596) Mémoires inedits, edited by E. Frémy, pp. 139-140. 

75

voir..., 21 the delightful ode XVII inspired by Ausonius’ De Rosis Nascentibus, is dedicated to Cassandre 

Salviati, 22 a young woman Ronsard met in 1546 in Blois. The lady-child singing and playing lute is so 

beautiful with her lovely brown eyes illuminating her rosy face that Ronsard instantly falls in love with 

her; but Cassandre will never cede to the charming poet and when she marries Jean Peigné, Seigneur du 

Pray, a year later, she becomes Ronsard’s impossible love, his muse. 

The theme of Mignonne, allons voir... 23 s certainly not original but its quality is exceptional. Each 

of the three movements of the ode corresponds to a strophe of six lines; and the brevity of the 

octosyllables enhances the idea of légèreté de la jeunesse (flightiness of youth). Tenderly, the poet calls his 

beloved Mignonne 24 and this simple word gives a tone of graciousness to the poem. 

Ode à Cassandre 25 Ode to Cassandre 

Mignonne, allons voir si la rose Mignonne, come and see if the rose 

Qui ce matin avoit desclose Who, early morning, unfolded 

Sa robe de pourpre au soleil, Her crimson dress in the warm sun, 

A point perdu ceste vesprée Has not lost this eventide, 

Les plis de sa robe pourprée, The smooth fold of her scarlet dress 

Et son teint au vostre pareil. And her soft shade so much like yours. 

Las! voyez comme en peu d’espace, Las! See how in so little time, 

Mignonne, elle a dessus la place Mignonne, she has shed her beauties 

Las! Las! Ses beautez laissé cheoir ! On the ground, Las! Las! They have gone. 

O vrayment marastre Nature, O you harsh and unkind Nature 

Puis qu’une telle fleur ne dure Why such pretty flowers scarcely 

Que du matin jusques au soir ! Only lasts from dawn to dusk? 

Donc, si vous me croyez, Mignonne, So, believe me, Mignonne, 

Tandis que vostre âge fleuronne While your age is still flowering 

En sa plus verte nouveauté, In your greenest novelty, 

Cueillez, cueillez vostre jeunesse: Enjoy, enjoy your fleeting youth 

Comme à ceste fleur la vieillesse As upon this flower, old age 

Fera ternir vostre beauté. Will come and tarnish your beauty. 

21 Ronsard, Oeuvres Complètes, tome I, pp. 419-420 

22 Florentine merchant’s daughter. 

23 This poem is for my little Nicole so she may not forget to enjoy life now, just now. 

24 Pretty lady 

25 Oeuvres Completes, Tome I, p 419. 

76

Les Amours bears the stamp of life experience as Ronsard splendidly reveals his passion; for this 

reason, the Prince des Poètes (the Poets’ Prince) becomes the Prince de l’Amour (the Prince of Love), and 

when his admirers call him, he leaves Vendôme for the Louvre. 

In 1453, Ronsard publishes a second edition of the Cinqiesme livre des Odes with some new 

pieces; but having no inspiration in Paris, he returns to his dear Vendômois away from the servility of the 

court. 

Between 1554 and 1556, the illustrious poet probably lives the happiest days of his life spending 

his time strolling the woods and courting pretty maids. Of course, he writes all day long and this simple 

life invites him to renew with the light and charming esprit gaulois. In November 1554, he dedicated Le 

Bocage to his friend Pierre de Paschal. In this collection, Ronsard describes a beautiful countryside where 

humans live happily with the gods of the past, the muses, and the fairies. Soon, Le deuxième livre du 

Bocage appears with the Meslanges, Ronsard then realises his old dream and composes a truly French 

chant for which the Académie des Jeux Floraux in Toulouse honours him with the traditional rosehip. The 

following year, by public decree, the poète François par excellence receives the ultimate reward, a splendid 

Minerva in solid silver, which, with supreme elegance, he humbly offers to his king, Henri II. 

In January 1555, Ronsard publishes the third editions of the Quatre premiers livres des Odes and 

twenty-one new pieces in which he gives a glorious description of the royal family and Diane de 

Poitiers. 26 Ronsard is now a habitué of the Louvre but he admires the court as much as he despises the 

fatuous courtesans who overcrowd it. The little provincial presented to the court a few years earlier by 

the Cardinal de Châtillon, Odet de Coligny, is now an audacious poet. He is also the chronicler of the 

Valois; and, with lucidity, simplicity, and elegance, he reports the joys and sorrow of the time. 

Nevertheless, Ronsard will never become a courtesan and it is with ingenuity and excellent judgement 

that he uses his influence to reward the brightest. 

In August 1555, Ronsard publishes the Continuation des Amours with ninety new pieces; seventy 

delightful sonnets, seven odes, thirteen épigrammes, and five gayetez already published in the Folastries of 

1553. Then, he composes the Hymnes using the alexandrin (twelve-syllable verses) with an incomparable 

dexterity. In this work, Ronsard gives a magnificent portrait of his king, the new Caesar who rules over 

the richest and most beautiful kingdom of Europe but who, above all, gave back to France her lost 

territories after having vanquished the English and the Holy Roman emperor Charles-Quint. 27 

The following year, Ronsard publishes the Deuxième livre des Hymnes and the Nouvelle 

Continuation des Amours with its sixty-one pieces. The Continuation des Amours and the Nouvelle Continuation 

des Amours are dedicated to Marie, a pretty peasant girl Ronsard met in Bourgueil while visiting his 

friend, the abbot Charles de Pisseleu. Though Ronsard is still upset by Cassandre’s refusal, he succumbs 

to Marie’s delightful grace and simplicity. She is the wild flower free and ardent who may not live long 

but fully. Unlike Cassandre, Marie is not prude; she accepts Ronsard’s burning kisses on her hands, eyes, 

26 The official mistress of François 1 er and Henri II 

27 Charles V 

77

lips, and even her little tétins (bubs) but their effusiveness never goes further. Tired of Ronsard’s pressing 

requests, Marie finally ends their relationship and Ronsard will never see the pretty maiden ever again. 

In Les Amours de Marie, Ronsard reveals his libertine and voluptuous temper. Marie has become the 

goddess of the Loir; and for her, Ronsard builds a temple of love. 

In 1560, the Première Edition Collective des Oeuvres de Pierre de Ronsard is published in four tomes 

but the most illustrious poet of France has not found the serenity of the mind yet. Yes, Ronsard is 

unhappy; he hates life in court, and the religious quarrel that divides the country worries him greatly. 

Ronsard has publicly denounced the Catholic Church’s hypocrisy, avarice, and scandalous 

corruption; but he strongly argues that if the Catholics are unable to defend a noble cause, the Protestants 

only defend a wrong cause. Furthermore, he is confident that the Guises will solve the problem very 

shortly. Unfortunately and as the years pass, the tension between the two churches dangerously increases 

and in the Discours des Misères de ce Temps 28 published in Spring 1562, the poet directly asks the queen, 

Catherine de Médicis, to intervene. 

Despite his exceptional popularity, Ronsard has enemies who accuse him of being an atheist. In 

the Continuation du Discours des Misères de ce Temps published in October, he not only reaffirms his faith in 

the Catholic church, he also fiercely condemns the brigandage of the new Christians that Calvin himself 

deplores. Ronsard is indeed horrified by what is happening, and in December, he writes the Remontrance 

au Peuple de France. 29 Again, the poet blames the vices of the Church and pleads for reform; but he also 

begs the French people to unite against the Spanish and the English who are ready to invade their 

cherished country. 

Ronsard’s courageous intervention does not stop his enemies who continue to attack him in 

anonymous pamphlets. Wisely, he chooses to ignore the calumny. Ronsard is not an atheist but he cannot 

deny his paganism and his sensual temper. In his poetic universe, he invokes Apollo, worships 

Aphrodite, devises rituals in honour of Pan and Bacchus, and seeks the companionship of the beautiful 

Naiads and Dryads haunting his dear Vendômois; and, in the real world, he seduces the most gorgeous 

women. Mademoiselle de la Tour-Limeuil, 30 Françoise d’Estrées, 31 Madeleine de Laubespine, and 

Mademoiselle de Chasteaubrun are only few of Ronsard’s conquests. These beautiful Ladies are 

Ronsard’s greatest source of inspiration and with ingenuity, he argues that they are part of his work. 

In July 1563, the poet publishes Élégies, Mascarades et Bergerie and sends it to Queen Elizabeth of 

England. He also dedicates the Bergerie to Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. 32 This charming pastoral 

28 Ibid, Tome 2, pp 544-549 

29 Ibid, Tome 2, pp 573-592 

30 Mademoiselle de la Tour-Limeuil was Condé’s mistress ; see Oeuvres Complètes, tome 1, pp 169-172. 

31 Françoise d’Estrées was Catherine’s lady-in-waiting and soon became Ronsard’s beautiful Astrée; see 

Oeuvres Complètes, tome 1, pp 205-214. 

32 Queen Elizabeth sent him a beautiful diamond and Marie Stuart a magnificent buffet with the 

inscription “A Ronsard l’Apollon de la source des Muses” (to Ronsard, the Apollo of the muses) 

78

played in spring 1564 by the royal children of France aged between 9 and 12 enchants the court. 

Delighted, Charles IX commands La Franciade, a project originally conceived for Henri II. Unfortunately, 

the young king asks Ronsard to write it in decasyllables not in alexandrins as the poet has always wanted 

to do. 

Ronsard is disgusted but having no choice, he does his best. As expected and despite the 

enormous work done between 1565 and 1572, the four tomes are insipid but its author is highly rewarded 

and receives the Ordre de la Croix du Christ. 

The poet finally returns to Croix-Val where he can enjoy the green pasture of his priory and his 

quiet office. There, Ronsard works four to five hours a day in company of his loyal friend and secretary, 

Amadis Jamyn. 33 For Ronsard, glory is a load of wind and he certainly prefers this tranquil life to the 

mondanités (over-sophisticate manners) of the Louvre. However, he must go to Paris from time to time; 

and in 1570, with the Pléiade’s members, he joins the first académie de poésie et de musique created by Jean- 

Antoine de Baïf and sponsored by Charles IX. Soon, the académie becomes the most elegant European art 

centre. 

In 1572, Ronsard has certainly lost his youth but not his charm. After having met Hélène de 

Fonsèque, demoiselle de Surgères, he promises to immortalise her name. This implies to compete with 

young poets such as Philippe Desportes who excels in a new genre of poésie légère (frivolous poetry). 

Bold as ever, Ronsard does not hesitate to change his style and again he overshadows the brightest with a 

magnificent series of sonnets, a type of verses in great fashion at the time. 34 Immediately, Hélène falls in 

love with the poet who with his pen delicately transforms words into pearls. Yes, Ronsard’s poetry is 

much different from the mignardises (finicalities) Hélène has been used to. Furthermore, Ronsard is the 

ideal companion to discuss philosophy. Unfortunately, the poet will seduce Hélène no more than he 

seduced Cassandre and Marie. Hélène has bright eyes but a frozen heart, and even Ronsard’s sweet 

poems cannot melt the ice built around it. Nevertheless, Helene not only manages to tame Ronsard’s 

impetuous temper, she is above all the inspiration that regenerates his verve and revives his fame, which 

was beginning to fade. Hélène however is getting colder and colder; and in 1477, Ronsard finally ends 

their stormy relationship, and returns to his priory where he writes Le Tombeau des Valois in homage to 

the king and his sister Marguerite de France who recently died. 35 

In 1478, he finally publishes the Premier livre des Sonets pour Hélène and Sur la mort de Marie, a 

collection of sixteen beautiful works of art. In the touching sonnet Comme on voit sur la branche, Ronsard is 

not mourning Marie de Clèves who died in 1574 but the pretty country girl for whom he wrote Marie, 

levez-vous, ma jeune paresseuse. 36 Three indications indeed point to Marie Dupin. First, Ronsard would 

33 Amadis Jamyn (1538-~1585) was Ronsard’s life-long confidant and secretary. In 1575, he wrote Oeuvres 

Poétiques and translated part of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. 

34 Out of 1396 poems, Ronsard wrote 709 sonnets. 

35 Oeuvres Complètes, tome 2, pp 474-491 

36 Ibid, Tome 1, p 128 

79

never have used the familiar tutoiement suggesting intimacy when addressing to a princess; second, the 

funeral offering of milk and flowers is associated with old pagan rites celebrated in many villages; and 

third, in the Stances following the poem, Ronsard does not evoke a noble Lady’s fragility but the 

robustness of a country girl. 

En ton âge le plus gaillard 

Tu as laissé seul ton Ronsard. 37 

In your happiest and healthiest age 

You left your Ronsard alone 

In this sonnet, Ronsard does not rebel against Death; with serenity, he composes a soft music of 

words ending in ose and eur, which with the alexandrin convey to the poem an atmosphere of eternal 

tranquillity. 

Comme on voit sur la branche 38 

Comme 39 on voit sur la branche au mois de may la rose, 

En sa belle jeunesse, en sa premiere fleur, 

Rendre le ciel jaloux de sa vive couleur, 

Quand l’Aube de ses pleurs au point du jour l’arrose ; 

La grâce dans sa fueille et l’amour se repose, 

Embasmant les jardins et les arbres d’odeur ; 

Mais batue ou de pluye ou d’excessive ardeur, 

Languissante elle meurt, feuille à feuille déclose. 

Ainsi, en ta premiere et jeune nouveauté, 

Quand la Terre et le Ciel honoroient ta beauté, 

La Parque t’a tuee, et cendre tu reposes. 

Pour obseques reçoy mes larmes et mes pleurs, 

Ce vase plein de laict, ce panier plein de fleurs, 

Afin que vif et mort, ton corps ne soit que roses. 

37 Ibid, Tome 1, p 182 

38 Ibid, Tome 1, pp. 184-185 

39 Here we have an e caduc so we should read comm’on voit… 

80

When we see on the branch 

When we see on the branch the pretty rose of May, 

In the prime of her youth, in her very first bloom, 

She makes the sky jealous of her radiant colour 

When Dawn gently sprays her at sunrise with her tears. 

Grace sleeps in her leaves and love reposes; 

Reviving with her scent the gardens and the trees. 

But beaten by rain or excessive ardours, 

Languorously she dies, leaf after leaf exposed. 

So, in your prime and youthful freshness, 

When sky and earth celebrated your beauty, 

Fate slyly killed you, and ashes you repose. 

For your burial, receive with my cries and tears, 

This vase full of sweet milk, this basket of flowers 

So that dead or alive, you will remain a rose. 

The same year, Ronsard dedicates his time to more austere works: Institution pour l’adolescence 

du Roy, 40 Discours de l’équité des vieux Gaulois, 41 and the Songe. 42 Regrettably, the new king Henri III is not 

impressed by Ronsard’s solemnity. Since his return from Italy, Henri is obsessed with futility; and when 

Ronsard sends him the beautiful verses of Bocage Royal, 43 he does not appreciate them. 

The king is nevertheless ready to defend the Belles Lettres so he creates the académie Florentine. It 

succeeds to de Baïf’s first académie, which ended with Charles IX. As before, the Pléiade’s members are 

invited to join, and twice a week, the king presides the séances in the royal antechamber. 

Meanwhile, the civil war is still raging and the Parisians are more and more agitated. In the 

Panégyrique de la renommée published in 1579, Ronsard fiercely defends his king but urges him to 

seriously mend the conduct of his guards who are called the king’s mignons because of their effeminate 

appearance and scandalous reputation. This time, the king listens; but Ronsard is tired of the court’s 

intrigues and again, he returns to his Vendôme priory. 

40 Oeuvres Complètes, tome 1 pp 560-564. 

41 Ibid, pp 809-817 

42 Ibid, pp 804-809 

43 Ibid, pp 787-914 

81

Ronsard cannot believe his eyes when he sees his dear Gastine forest disappearing. 44 In the 

superb elegy XXIV, he confides his distress. Contre les bûcherons de la forest de Gastine is published in 

January 1584 in the Sixième edition collective des Oeuvres. The elegy counts two huitains and a sizain, then, 

we have another huitain and two sizains, and a last huitain. In this exceptional elegy, Ronsard uses the 

alexandrins to stretch time and express his melancholy. He carries us in a world of nymphs and dryads, 

muses and goddesses. 

Élégie 45 (Contre les bûcherons de la forêt de Gastine) 

Quiconque aura premier la main embesongnée 

A te couper, forest, d’une dure congnée, 

Qu’il puisse s’enferrer de son propre baston, 

Et sente en l’estomac la faim d’Erisichthon, 

Qui coupa de Cerés le chesne venerable, 

Et qui, gourmand de tout, de tout insatiable, 

Les bœufs et les moutons de sa mère esgorgea, 

Puis, pressé de la faim, soy-mesme se mangea. 

Ainsi puisse engloutir ses rentes et sa terre, 

Et se devore apres par les dents de la guerre. 

Qu’il puisse pour vanger le sang de nos forests, 

Tousjours nouveaux emprunts sur nouveaux interests 

Devoir à l’usurier, et qu’en fin il consomme 

Tout son bien à payer la principale somme. 

Que, tousjours sans repos, ne face en son cerveau 

Que tramer pour-neant quelque dessein nouveau, 

Porté d’impatience et de fureur diverse, 

Et de mauvais conseil qui les hommes renverse. 

Escoute, bucheron, arreste un peu le bras, 

Ce ne sont pas des bois que tu jettes à bas, 

Ne vois-tu pas le sang, lequel degoute à force 

Des Nymphes qui vivoyent dessous la dure escorce ? 

Sacrilege meurdrier, si on pend un voleur 

Pour piller un butin de bien peu de valeur, 

Combien de feux, de fers, de morts et de destresses 

44 In 1573, the duc de Vendôme, the future Henri IV sold part of his forest and the new owner seeking 

profit did not hesitate to decimate it. 

45 Oeuvres Complètes, Tome II, p 116 

82

Merites-tu, meschant, pour tuer des Deesses ? 

Forest, haute maison des oiseaux bocagers, 

Plus le cerf solitaire et les chevreuls legers 

Ne paistront sous ton ombre, et ta verte criniere 

Plus du soleil d’esté ne rompra la lumiere. 

Plus l’amoureux pasteur sur un tronq adossé, 

Enflant son flageolet à quatre trous persé, 

Son mastin à ses pieds, à son flanc la houlette, 

Ne dira plus l’ardeur de sa belle Janette ; 

Tout deviendra muet, Echo sera sans voix, 

Tu deviendras campagne, et, en lieu de tes bois, 

Dont l’ombrage incertain lentement se remue, 

Tu sentiras le soc, le coutre et la charrue. 

Tu perdras ton silence, et haletans d’effroy, 

Ny Satyres ny Pans ne viendront plus chez toy. 

Adieu, vieille forest, le jouët de Zephyre, 

Où premier j’accorday les langues de ma lyre, 

Où premier j’entendi les fleches resonner 

D’Apollon, qui me vint tout le cœur estonner ; 

Où premier, admirant ma belle Calliope, 

Je devins amoureux de sa neuvaine trope, 

Quand sa main sur le front cent roses me jetta, 

Et de son propre laict Euterpe m’allaita. 

Adieu, vieille forest, adieu, testes sacrées, 

De tableaux et de fleurs autrefois honorées, 

Maintenant le desdain des passans alterez, 

Qui bruslez en esté des rayons etherez, 

Sans plus trouver le frais de tes douces verdures, 

Accusent vos meurtriers et leur disent injures. 

Adieu, chesnes, couronne aux vaillans citoyens, 

Arbres de Jupiter, germes Dodonéens, 

Qui premiers aux humains donnastes à repaistre, 

Peuples vrayment ingrats, qui n’ont sceu recognoistre 

Les biens receus de vous, peuples vraiment grossiers, 

De massacrer ainsi leurs peres nourriciers. 

Que l’homme est malheureux qui au monde se fie ! 

O Dieux, que veritable est la philosophie, 

83

Qui dit que toute chose à la fin perira, 

Et qu’en changeant de forme une autre vestira. 

De Tempé la vallée un jour sera montagne, 

Et la cyme d’Athos une large campagne, 

Neptune quelquefois de blé sera couvert : 

La matiere demeure, et la forme se perd. 

Elegy (Against the woodcutters of the Gastine forest) 

To anyone willing to have his hand busy 

cutting you down, forest, with the blow of his axe, 

May he fall to his death on his treacherous baton, 

And feel in his stomach Erisichthon’s hunger, 46 

He who dared to cut down Ceres’s marvellous oak, 

Who, insatiable and greedy for all things, 

ferociously slaughtered his mother’s ox and sheep, 

And, still pressed by hunger, finally ate himself. 

Likewise, let his money and lands be swallowed, 

And with the teeth of war, let him devour himself. 

To avenge our forest, let him beg for new loans 

on renewed interests, the highest of all; 

And to repay his depts, let him always consume 

all of his possessions to pay back the premium. 

With no respite, let his dangerous mind vainly 

devise lucrative but impossible projects; 

May they bring him distress, anger, and impatience, 

And the evil counsels that shatter all men’s lives. 

Listen woodcutter, hold your arm an instant; 

It is not wood alone you are falling down; 

See the blood of our nymphs 47 pouring out 

from the hard and thick bark of the trees, their dwellings. 

Murderous sacrilege! If we hang a thief 

for having stolen things of little value, 

46 Mythological character punished for having decimated Ceres’s oldest oak. 

47 The nymphs or dryads 

84

How many flames, fetters, death, and distress 

You deserve, O villain, for killing our goddesses? 

Dear forest, lofty abode of the boscage birds! 

No more the lonely stag and the agile roe deer 

will graze within your shade, no more your green mane 

will shield us from the harsh summer light. 

No more the shepherd in love leaning on a trunk 

will tenderly inflate his four-holed flageolet. 

His mastiff at his feet, his crook near his flank, 

No more will he sing his Janette’s sweet ardour. 

All will be quiet; Echo 48 will lose her voice; 

You will become grassland and instead of your groves 

whose uncertain shadows slowly move to and fro, 

You will feel the sharp spade, the coulter, and the plough; 

You will lose your silence, and panting with horror 

Neither Satyrs nor Pans will visit you again. 

Adieu, dear old forest, Zephyr’s 49 marvellous toy, 

Where first I learned to tune the tongues of my lyre; 

Where first I heard Apollo’s vibrant arrows 

which came with the wind and enchanted my heart; 

Where first I gazed upon fair Calliope, 

And fell madly in love with all the forest’s muses; 

When Euterpe 50 cast roses on my face in wonder, 

And when she lovingly fed me with her own milk. 

Adieu, dear old forest, adieu sacred green heads, 

Honoured so long ago with paintings and flowers. 

Vainly searching the freshness of your greens, 

unable to avoid summer’s treacherous sunbeams, 

it is with contempt that thirsty passers-by 

accuse your murderers and insult them fiercely. 

48 The forest’s nymph whose voice only remained after Narcissus’s rejection 

49 Gentle breeze 

50 Calliope, Muse of epic poetry and Euterpe, Muse of lyric poetry 

85

Adieu, proud oaks, green crown of valiant citizens, 51 

Jupiter’s trees, Dodona’s 52 seeds 

Who were the first to feed our ancestors; 53 

O ungrateful people, who fail to recognise 

The goodness you gave them; O ignorant people 

Who shamelessly murder our fostering fathers! 

How wrechted is man who trusts the world! 

O gods, whose philosophy holds all truths 

And predicts that all things at the end will perish, 

Leaving their present form so others will wear it! 

One day, Tempe’s 54 valley will become a mountain, 

And Athos’s 55 summit an immense grazing land; 

Sometimes, even Neptune will be flooded with wheat: 

Only matter endures, all forms disappear. 56 

For the publication of the sixth edition of his work, Ronsard comes back to Paris Rue des 

Fossés-Saint-Victor and spends time with his friends at the Collège de Boncourt. The enormous work he 

just achieved exhausted him. In spring 1584, he feels better and asks to be brought to Croix Val so he may 

enjoy the fresh country air. During 1585, he writes his discourse in prose Au lecteur apprenti (the readerapprentice). 

In October, Ronsard is very ill and feeling his end coming, he calls his solicitor and the curé de 

Ternay. When Galland arrives, Ronsard is ready to die peacefully. Peacefully? No not really, the poet 

suffers so much that he cannot sleep anymore and even poppy juice does not alleviate his pain. He 

nevertheless composes his epitaph and despite his doctor’s advice and the freezing winter rain, he comes 

back to his dear priory of Saint-Cosme. 

Close to his Green Island, the Ile Verte, the Great Pan of the Renaissance dies on 27 December 

1585 after having composed his last witty verses. Ronsard is one of the greatest French poets. With 

passion, delicacy, and elegance, he describes love in its most sublime state; but it is Ronsard’s artistic 

blend of noblesse, simplicity, and sensuality that particularly enchants the readers. 

51 A crown made of oak’s leaves for Roman soldiers who saved a companion 

52 The prophetic oak forest of Dodona consecrated to Jupiter 

53 Acorns were, it has been said, the food of primitive men 

54 The Penee Valley in Thessaly is well known by the Greek poets for its freshness 

55 Greek mountain 

56 More than 400 years have passed; today many still weep and denounce the decimation of our forests... 

86

17 th Century - le Grand Siècle 

The 17 th Century also known as the Grand Siècle (Great Century) really starts in 1624. Though 

Louis XIII is a mediocre ruler, he has the wisdom to fully trust his minister, Cardinal de Richelieu whose 

main objective is to ensure the king’s absolute authority. The Cardinal is popular in intellectual circles; he 

regularly visits the Hôtel de Rambouillet where the Marquise, Catherine de Vivonne-Pisani, regularly 

receives illustrious men and women in the famous Chambre bleue (blue room). 

Horrified by the vulgarity prevailing in Henri IV’s court, the Précieuse (precious) Catherine also 

known as the incomparable Arthénice opens her sumptuous hotel to those sharing her taste for distinction; 

this implies elegance in thoughts, manners, and language. Richelieu, Condé, La Rochefoucauld, La 

Fayette, Malherbe, Corneille, the Marquise de Sévigné, and many more, regularly come to the Hôtel de 

Rambouillet. 

Soon, some of them decide to meet secretly every week to discuss literature at Valentin 

Conrart’s, a well-known and highly educated man. Richelieu hears about their small association and 

offers them full support. On 21 March 1634, he founds the Académie Française and a year later, the 

academy and its forty members 1 are officially recognised by Louis XIII. The main objective of the 

academicians is to ensure the purity of French language. To achieve this noble task, they immediately 

begin to work on the elaboration of a Dictionnaire, a Grammaire, a Rhétorique, and a Poétique. 

The high society and particularly the Libertins also enjoy the Société du Temple and Ninon de 

Lenclos’s mundane salon. These Libertines, well-known for their dissolute morality, discuss controversial 

scientific hypotheses, contest Biblical teachings, substitute God with Nature, and agree with Descartes’s, 

Locke’s, and Spinoza’s philosophical principles that reason and common sense are primordial in 

philosophy and scientific research. 

The young Louis XIV also loves beauty and elegance but his real passion is absolute supremacy. 

After the death of his father, the new king immediately demonstrates his willingness to rule alone; he 

refuses to take a minister, ignores the Parliament’s anger, and sneezes at the nobles’ conspiracy against 

the centralisation of royal authority. 2 Furthermore and above all, he ensures the renaissance of 

Catholicism and revokes the Édit de Nantes in 1685. Yes, religion is on the agenda again. Pascal’s 

religious ardour is on its rise; and in the Provinciales (Provincials), he fervently defends Port Royal and 

the Jansenists against the laxity of the Jesuits. Of course and despite his fatal illness, Pascal writes his 

famous Pensées, which will not be published before 1670, eight years after his death. 

1 This number will never change. 

2 This conspiration called La Fronde began in 1648 and finished in 1653. 

87

Versailles 1675 3 

The public however prefers emotions to philosophy. At the Comédie Française, they applaud 

Corneille’s and Racine’s tragedies; they laugh with Molière, who in delightful comedies mocks the new 

fashion, pushing wit, elegance, and refinement to their extremes; and they smile with Jean de la Fontaine 

who gently exposes the hypocrisy of the noble society and the pettiness of human behaviour in his Fables. 

As we shall see, the king’s absolute power on any of his subjects does not deter audacious 

writers to freely express their views on the society in which they live. 

3 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Portrait_Jean_de_la_fontaine.jpg 

88

Jean de la Fontaine 

(1621-1695) 

Born the 8 July 1621 at Château-Thierry, a small county in Champagne’s province, Jean de La 

Fontaine goes to school at the Oratoire; and later, he enters the Séminaire de Saint-Magloire where he 

achieves his novitiate. However, having no religious vocation, the young man decides to study law. He 

obtains his master; and in 1647, he marries Marie Héricart who gives him a son six years later. 

This is not a happy marriage. La Fontaine spends most of this time in Paris where he meets 

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin also known as Molière, Racine, his cousin, 

and Charles Perrault, who is writing the famous Contes de ma mère 

l’Oye (Tales of My Mother, the Goose). Soon, Cendrillon (Cinderella) 

and the Petit Chaperon Rouge (Little Red Riding Hood) will become 

immortal heroes worldwide. La Fontaine also loves reading; he 

highly admires Clément Marot, Rabelais, and Montaigne; and he 

fervently studies. 

Well inspired, the young man composes little poems; and 

in 1654, he translates and adapts Terence’s Eunuchus. 4 Four years 

later, he dedicates his poem Adonis to the superintendent of finance, 

Nicolas Fouquet, who becomes his protector. La Fontaine 5 now 

works with assiduity. He writes Clymène a comedy composed in 

homage to Madame Rousselet where he reveals the diversity of his 

talent; and just before Fouquet’s arrest for treason in 1661, he 

publishes Le Songe de Vaux describing marvellously the splendours 

of Fouquet’s palace. Devastated by the news, La Fontaine openly 

pleads his friend’s cause in Élégie aux Nymphes de Vaux and in the 

Ode au Roi. Alas, his intervention irritates Colbert and Louis XIV, who suspect him of complicity. Wisely, 

he chooses to go and stay with his uncle Jannart in Limousin until things calm down. 

Appointed gentleman-in-waiting to the Duchesse d’Orléans, he comes back to Paris; and from 

1664 to 1667, he writes his first Contes 6 and dedicates them to the Duchesse de Bouillon. With its irregular 

verses, the versification is original and gives lightness and natural to the tales. 

4 Terence (~183-159AC) a freed slave from Carthage was a Latin comic poet. 

5 Image from Gallica BNF 

6 27 Contes et Nouvelles en Vers, including Joconde, La Matrone d’Ephèse, and Le Calendrier des Vieillards. 

89

However, La Fontaine’s genius is fully recognised only after the publication of his first 

collection of Fables Choisies mises en vers par Mr de La Fontaine. The collection of 126 fables is divided in six 

books with two prefaces dedicated to the six years old dauphin. 

Certainly, La Fontaine plagiarises Aesop; 7 but as Aesop himself admitted having used oriental 

tales, the fabulist clearly acknowledges his debts to Aesop, Phaedrus, 8 and others 9 in the Préface of the 

Fables, stressing that his modest task is only to égayer (enliven) the already excellent works 

On ne trouvera pas ici l’élégance ni l’extrême brèveté (sic) qui rendent Phèdre recommandable : 

ce sont qualités au-dessus de ma portée. Comme il m’était impossible de l’imiter en cela, j’ai cru 

qu’il fallait en récompense égayer l’ouvrage plus qu’il n’a fait. Non que je le blâme d’en être 

demeuré dans ces termes : la langue latine n’en demandait pas d’avantage. 10 

We shall not find here the elegance or extreme brevity, which makes Phaedrus commendable: 

such qualities are unreachable to me. As it was impossible to imitate him, I thought that as a 

reward I could enliven his work more than he did. Not that I blame him for having been satisfied, 

Latin language requiring nothing else. 

Les Fables is a chef d’œuvre (masterpiece). La Fontaine does not simply translate old fables, he 

transformed them into miniature comedies in which he gently depicts the stupidity of human vanity, and 

gracefully evokes France’s charming countryside. Young and old, rich and poor, nearly everyone enjoys 

the fables. Furthermore, and to the delight of children, moral lessons are now fun and interesting. 

La Fontaine’s genius is his ability to transform the apologue into poetry. The narration is still 

pleasant and the symbolic personages are deliberately unreal to create a fabulous atmosphere; but the 

moral or alluded moral at the end of the fables invites the reader to reinterpret them. Undeniably, the 

7 According to Claude Gaspard Bachet de Mézeriac’s Life of Aesop, published in 1632, Aesop was a slave 

by birth; and as a reward for his erudition and talent, his second master made him free. He then went to 

the court of Lydia where he met the learned and rich king Croesus and many sages and philosophers. 

Later, he was sent by the king as an ambassador to Delphi where he was supposed to share a large 

amount of gold among the people; but when Aesop saw their covetousness, he sent back the money to his 

master. This enraged the Delphians who put him to death as a vulgar criminal. The collection of fables 

attributed to him largely consists of the prosed paraphrases of Babrius’ Fables. 

8 Inspired by Aesop, Phaedrus, a Roman author (~15 B.C.-~50 A.D.) wrote 5 books of fables in Latin. 

9 La Fontaine probably read Isaac Nicolas Nevelet’s Mythologia Aesopica published in 1610, and the works 

of Planude and Phaedrus. Maximus Planudes, a Byzantine monk from the 12 th century A.D., translated in 

Latin the Greek prose and poetry from the 7 th century B.C. up to his day. In his Life and Fables of Aesop, 

he says that Aesop was a semi-legendary hunchback and stuttering slave. La Fontaine was also aware of 

Guillaume Haudent’s translation of Aesop’s fables, published at the end of the fifteenth century. 

10 Jean de La Fontaine (1932) Préface, Fables de La Fontaine. 

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imaginary world of the fables closely reflects the real world and its unkind human society. La Fontaine 

abhors violence and hypocrisy, but he always remains gentle and compassionate, reminding us that in 

the personages and animals of the Fables, we should recognise our brothers and sisters, our friends, and 

above all, ourselves. La Fontaine also strongly believes that we must accept our fate even if we are poor 

or weak but we ought to sacrifice everything to preserve our freedom. 

Le Chêne et le Roseau, the twelfth and last fable of Book I of the first collection is La Fontaine’s 

favourite fable. 11 Certainly, the theme is not original as Aesop, Aphthonius, 12 and even Virgil in his 

Aeneids and Georgics already dealt with it; but with La Fontaine, the story has become a tragedy. 

In this play in three acts, inanimate characters infused with life reveal their personalities. 

Despite the pervasive irony, an atmosphere of detachment prevails as La Fontaine only narrates the event 

and lets the reader draws the moral. Only narrates? Yes narrates but with such dexterity! Here, La 

Fontaine uses the vers libres (free verses) and alternates masculine and feminine rhymes. 13 Alphonse de 

Lamartine will later argue that La Fontaine used free verses simply because he did not want to be 

restrained by the rules of poetry. What a mistake! In Le Chêne et le Roseau, for instance, the contrast 

between the oak and the reed is obtained through the careful combination of alexandrins and 

octosyllables. This combination also skilfully enhances the story’s intensity and liveliness. While the 

alexandrin is the keystone of La Fontaine’s metrical edifice when solemnity and emphasis are required, 

the octosyllable and the rimes riches croisées (abab) and embrassées (abba) produce picturesque effects. 

11 In the final edition, Le Chêne et le Roseau is Fable 22 of Book 1, pp 99-100. 

12 Aphthonius of Antioch, rhetorician from the 2 nd century A.D. translated some of Aesop’s fables in Latin 

13 A feminine rhyme is a rhyme where the last syllable contained an e caduc. 

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Le Chêne et le Roseau 14 The Oak and the Reed 

Le chêne un jour dit au roseau : One day the oak said to the reed: 

« Vous avez bien sujet d’accuser la nature : “You have good reasons to accuse Mother Nature; 

Un roitelet pour vous est un pesant fardeau ; Even a little wren is for you a burden 

Le moindre vent qui d’aventure And the lightest wind that by chance 

Fait rider la face de l’eau, Wrinkles the surface of the stream 

Vous oblige à baisser la tête ; Forces you to bend your head, 

Cependant que mon front, au Caucase pareil, While I, standing high as a Caucasus Mountain, 

Non content d’arrêter les rayons du soleil, Not only happy to block the sunbeams, 

Brave l’effort de la tempête. I also brave the wildest storms. 

Tout vous est aquilon, tout me semble zéphir. What is Aquilon to you is Zephyr to me. 

Encor si vous naissiez à l’abri du feuillage If at least you were born under my foliage 

Dont je couvre le voisinage, That covers the whole neighbourhood, 

Vous n’auriez pas tant à souffrir : You would suffer much less: 

Je vous défendrais de l’orage ; I would protect you from the squalls 

Mais vous naissez le plus souvent But most of the time, you are born 

Sur les humides bords des royaumes du vent. On the humid shores of the wind’s kingdoms 

La nature envers vous me semble bien injuste. Mother Nature is truly unfair to you. 

- Votre compassion, lui répondit l’arbuste, - Your compassion, replied the shrub 

Part d’un bon naturel ; mais quittez ce souci ; Springs from your heart; but have no fear : 

Les vents me sont moins qu’à vous redoutables ; The winds are less dangerous to me than you; 

Je plie, et ne romps pas. Vous avez jusqu’ici I bend but do not break. You have until now, 

Contre leurs coups épouvantables Resisted against their dreadful blows 

Résisté sans courber le dos ; Without bending your back; 

Mais attendons la fin. » Comme il disait ces mots, But let us wait the end.” As he said this, 

Du bout de l’horizon accourt avec furie. Far from the horizon, speeding in great fury, 

Le plus terrible des enfants Appears the most fearful offspring 

Que le Nord eût portés jusque-là dans ses flancs. The Great North had ever borne in his flanks. 

L’arbre tient bon ; le roseau plie. The tree stands firm; the reed bends. 

Le vent redouble ses efforts, The wind renews his efforts 

Et fait si bien qu’il déracine And does it so well that he deracinates 

Celui de qui la tête au ciel était voisine, The one who touched heaven with his head 

Et dont les pieds touchaient à l’empire des morts. And reached with its feet, the empire of the dead. 15 

14 La Fontaine (1991) Oeuvres Complètes, p 54. 

15 Similar verses in Virgil’s Georgics (Part II, verses 291-292) and in the Aeneids (Part IV, verses 445-446) 

92

Some however do not appreciate the fables. Jean-Jacques Rousseau will strongly argue later that 

young children do not understand them; and when they do, they are seduced by vice. This is not always 

the case; children probably do not grasp the fables’ philosophical meaning but they recognise and despise 

wickedness. 

Unsurprisingly, Louis XIV deeply resents La Fontaine’s audacity but he cannot reprimand him 

openly, the tales being written especially for children. La Fontaine does not care; he fully enjoys his 

success, and a year later, he publishes Les Amours de Psyché et de Cupidon, a novel in prose and verse 

where he blends mythology and actuality. Then, he writes a new series of Contes et Nouvelles. 

La Fontaine is now very popular. He rarely sees his family preferring Paris to the province and 

he spends without counting; but when the duchess d’Orléans dies in 1673, he must sell his domain. 

Gratefully, he accepts Madame de la Sablière’s offer to shelter him in her sumptuous residence, Rue 

Saint-Honoré. There, La Fontaine meets the intellectual elite, among them, François Bernier, the famous 

philosopher and medical practitioner, with whom he learns about India. Bernier also encourages him to 

read the French version of Pilpay’s 16 oriental tales in Gilbert Gaulmin’s Livre des Lumières en la conduite des 

rois composé par le sage Pilpay, 17 published in 1644. 

This encounter deeply inspires La Fontaine who immediately starts composing new fables. 

However, Jean is also very impressed by Giovanni Boccaccio’s Décameron, Marguerite de Navarre’s 

Heptaméron, and Antoine de La Salle’s Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles; therefore, he concentrates on his Nouveaux 

Contes and publishes them in 1674. This time, the moralist is amoral; he exasperates the church, and the 

king seizes the shameful work. 

Wisely, La Fontaine comes back to his fables; and in 1679, he adds five more books to his 

Collection, dedicating them to Madame de Montespan, the royal mistress. Having a great influence on 

the king, La Fontaine hopes to seduce her so he may become a member of the Académie Française. 

La Laitière et le Pot au Lait, the tenth fable of Book VII, is inspired by Aesop and also by 

Bonaventure des Périers’ Nouvelles Récréations et Joyeux Devis 18 and Pilpay’s oriental tales. In the 

Panchatantra, a similar event happens to a Brahmin with his pot of rice; and in another tale, we find the 

same Brahmin covered with flour. 

16 Pilpay’s fables include the two jewels of Indian literature; Jataka and Panchatantra were written in 

Sanskrit around 200 by a Brahmin named Vishnusharman. The Brahmin sage Pilpay is also known as 

Bidpaï and many have argued that he is a fictive character of the tales not its composer. 

17 René Radouant (1929) Les Fables de La Fontaine. In Gaulmin’s French version, David Sahib d’Ispahan 

translated the five books of the Panchatantra from Ibn al-Muqaffa’s Persian translation, Kalîla Wa Dimna 

written around 750. 

18 Nouvelle XII, Comparaison des alquemistes à la bonne femme qui portait une potée de lait au marché 

(Alchemists’ comparison of the brave woman bringing a milk-can to the market). 

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Here, La Fontaine calls the reader as a witness and gently emphasises that a similar accident 

could happen to all of us. Enumerations and repetitions give a comic but compassionate tone to this 

charming fable. As usual, the fabulist plays with the alexandrin and the octosyllable; and switching from 

the past tense to the present, he creates a clever contrast between Perrette’s rather long dreaming and the 

sudden disaster. 

La Laitière et le Pot au Lait 19 

Perrette, sur sa tête ayant un pot au lait 

Bien posé sur un coussinet, 

Prétendait arriver sans encombre à la ville. 

Légère et court vêtue, elle allait à grands pas, 

Ayant mis ce jour-là, pour être plus agile, 

Cotillon simple et souliers plats. 

Notre laitière ainsi troussée 

Comptait déjà dans sa pensée 

Tout le prix de son lait, en employait l’argent ; 

Achetait un cent d’œufs, faisait triple couvée : 

La chose allait à bien par son soin diligent. 

« Il m’est, disait-elle, facile 

D’élever des poulets autour de ma maison ; 

Le renard sera bien habile 

S’il ne m’en laisse assez pour avoir un cochon. 

Le porc à s’engraisser coûtera peu de son ; 

Il était, quand je l’eus, de grosseur raisonnable : 

J’aurai, le revendant, de l’argent bel et bon. 

Et qui m’empêchera de mettre dans notre étable, 

Vu le prix dont il est, une vache et son veau, 

Que je verrai sauter au milieu du troupeau ? » 

Perrette là-dessus saute aussi, transportée : 

Le lait tombe ; adieu veau, vache, cochon, couvée. 

La dame de ces biens, quittant d’un œil marri 

Sa fortune ainsi répandue, 

Va s’excuser à son mari, 

En grand danger d’être battue. 

19 La Fontaine (1991) Oeuvres Complètes, p 268. 

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Le récit en farce en fut fait : 

On l’appela le Pot au Lait. 

Quel esprit ne bat la campagne, 

Qui ne fait châteaux en Espagne ? 

Picrochole, Pyrrhus, la laitière, enfin tous, 

Autant les sages que les fous. 

Chacun songe en veillant ; il n’est rien de plus doux. 

Une flatteuse erreur emporte alors nos âmes ; 

Tout le bien du monde est à nous, 

Tous les honneurs, toutes les femmes. 

Quand je suis seul, je fais au plus brave un défi ; 

Je m’écarte, je vais détrôner le sophi ; 

On m’élit roi, mon peuple m’aime, 

Les diadèmes vont sur ma tête pleuvant. 

Quelque 20 accident fait-il que je rentre en moi-même : 

Je suis Gros Jean comme devant. 

The Dairymaid and the Milk-can 

Perrette, a milk-can on her head 

Nicely set on a small cushion, 

Hoped to reach town with no mishap. 

Lightly clad, she was striding along, 

Having put on, to be more agile that day, 

Flat-heeled shoes and plain petticoat. 

Thus accoutred, our dairymaid 

Was quickly counting in her mind 

The price her milk would fetch and mentally spent it; 

With hundred eggs, she will make a three-fold hatching: 

With care, all is going well. 

“It is very easy, she said, 

To rear chicks around the house; 

The fox would be very clever 

Not to leave me some so I could get a nice pig. 

The bran to fatten it will not really cost much 

20 Here we have an e caduc so we should read quelqu’accident 

95

If I bought it reasonably big: 

I will surely sell it for pretty good money. 

And, who will stop me from putting in our stable, 

Considering their fair price, a cow and its calf 

Gaily skipping among the flock?” 

Carried away with joy, Perrette hops carelessly: 

Down goes the milk: adieu calf, cow, pig, and chicken. 

Distressed and leaving 

Her great fortune spilt on the road 

The dairymaid goes home, and scared to be beaten 

Begs her husband forgiveness. 

A farcical tale was then written about it 

And is known as the Milk-can. 

Which mind does not ramble sometimes? 

Who does not build castles in Spain? 

Picrochole, 21 Pyrrhus, 22 the dairymaid, all of us, 

Wise men and common fools alike. 

We all dream wide-awake; and nothing is sweeter. 

A flattering delusion then beguiles our weak souls; 

All the wealth of the world seems ours, 

All its honours, all its women. 

Alone, I challenge the bravest; 

I travel far away; I dethrone the Sophi; 23 

I become a great king and my people love me, 

Rich diadems are showered on my head. 

But, mishaps always bring me back to my senses: 

And here I am, Fat Jean, as always. 

The second edition of Les Fables is another triumph; and in a letter to her friend Bussy, Madame 

de Sévigny enthusiastically advises him to read the divine fables. 24 However, when La Fontaine’s name is 

proposed at the Académie in 1683, Louis XIV seizes the opportunity of the scandal caused by the Contes 

to suspend his nomination. 

21 Rabelais’s character in Gargantua who wanted to conquer the universe. 

22 The emperor of Epirus who dreamed to conquer Rome and the world. 

23 The king of Persia 

24 Letter written in 1679 by the Marquise de Sévigné (1626–1696) correspondence. 

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La Fontaine has no choice; he must appease the king’s anger so he publicly apologises for his 

licentious tales and composes a Ballade au Roi, where he humbly asks him to reconsider his position. The 

king agrees; and in 1684, La Fontaine becomes member of the Académie Française. 

Three years later, Jean writes L’Epître à Huet revealing his sympathy for the Anciens (Ancients) 

in the Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes (Quarrel about the Ancients and the Moderns). 25 

La Fontaine still lives at Madame de la Sablière’s; but after her death in 1693, he is seriously ill 

and starts reconsidering his dissolute life. Without resource once more, the poet thinks to immigrate to 

England; but at the last minute, Madame Hervart, another charitable woman, offers to take care of all his 

expenses. Free from material uncertainties, the poet has now time to meditate on his life and soul and he 

reconciles with Catholicism, the faith of his childhood. In 1694, he translates the Psalms; and in 

September, he finally publishes the last book of the Fables bringing the whole collection to 243. This book 

dedicated to the Duc de Bourgogne is La Fontaine’s last work. The French fabulist dies a few months later 

in Paris on 13 April 1695. 

Le Juge arbitre, l’Hospitalier, et le Solitaire is the twenty-ninth and last fable of La Fontaine’s Book 

XII. 26 Here, La Fontaine uses La Vie des Saints Pères du Désert et de Quelques Saints written by the Church’s 

fathers and edited by Arnaud d’Andilly. This fable is La Fontaine’s legacy. 

Le Juge Arbitre, l’Hospitalier, 27 et le Solitaire 28 

Trois saints, également jaloux de leur salut, 

Portés d'un même esprit, tendaient à même but. 

Ils s'y prirent tous trois par des routes diverses : 

Tous chemins vont à Rome; ainsi nos concurrents 

Crurent pouvoir choisir des sentiers différents. 

L'un, touché des soucis, des longueurs, des traverses 

Qu'en apanage on voit aux procès attachés, 

S'offrit de les juger sans récompense aucune, 

Peu soigneux d’établir ici-bas sa fortune. 

25 Seeing the gigantic discoveries of science and the excellent works of the contemporary philosophers, 

playwrights, poets, and artists, many intellectuals such as Charles Perrault argue that the great men of 

Antiquity are finally not so great. 

26 In La Fontaine’s last edition, Fable 27 book XII, pp 395-396. 

27 Religious order of the Knights Hospitallers founded during the Middle Ages to help the traveller, the 

ill, and the poor 

28 La Fontaine (1991) Oeuvres Complètes, pp 536-538 

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Depuis qu'il est des lois, l'homme, pour ses pêchés, 

Se condamne à plaider la moitié de sa vie : 

La moitié? Les trois quarts, et bien souvent le tout. 

Le conciliateur crut qu'il viendrait à bout 

De guérir cette folle et détestable envie. 

Le second de nos saints choisit les hôpitaux. 

Je le loue; et le soin de soulager ces maux 

Est une charité que je préfère aux autres. 

Les malades d'alors, étant tels que les nôtres, 

Donnaient de l'exercice au pauvre hospitalier, 

Chagrins, impatients, et se plaignant sans cesse. 

« Il a pour tels et tels un soin particulier, 

Ce sont ses amis; il nous laisse. » 

Ces plaintes n'étaient rien au prix de l'embarras 

Où se trouva réduit l’appointeur de débats : 

Aucun n'était content; la sentence arbitrale 

A nul des deux ne convenait : 

Jamais le juge ne tenait 

A leur gré la balance égale. 

De semblables discours rebutaient l'appointeur : 

Il court aux hôpitaux, va voir leur directeur : 

Tous deux ne recueillant que plainte et que murmure, 

Affligés, et contraints de quitter ces emplois, 

Vont confier leur peine au silence des bois. 

Là, sous d'âpres rochers, près d'une source pure, 

Lieu respecté des vents, ignoré du soleil, 

Ils trouvent l'autre saint, lui demandent conseil. 

" Il faut, dit leur ami, le prendre de soi-même. 

Qui mieux que vous sait vos besoins ? 

Apprendre à se connaître est le premier des soins 

Qu'impose à tous mortels la Majesté suprême. 

Vous êtes-vous connus dans le monde habité ? 

L'on ne le peut qu'aux lieux pleins de tranquillité : 

Chercher ailleurs ce bien est une erreur extrême. 

Troublez l'eau: vous y voyez-vous ? 

Agitez celle-ci. - Comment nous verrions-nous ? 

98

La vase est un épais nuage 

Qu'aux effets du cristal nous venons d'opposer. 

- Mes frères, dit le saint, laissez-la reposer, 

Vous verrez alors votre image. 

Pour vous mieux contempler demeurez au désert. » 

Ainsi parla le solitaire. 

Il fut cru; l'on suivit ce conseil salutaire. 

Ce n'est pas qu'un emploi ne doive être souffert. 

Puisqu'on plaide, et qu'on meurt, et qu'on devient malade, 

Il faut des médecins, il faut des avocats. 

Ces secours, grâce à Dieu, ne nous manqueront pas: 

Les honneurs et le gain, tout me le persuade. 

Cependant on s'oublie en ces communs besoins. 

O vous, dont le public emporte tous les soins, 

Magistrats, princes et ministres, 

Vous que doivent troubler mille accidents sinistres, 

Que le malheur abat, que le bonheur corrompt, 

Vous ne vous voyez point, vous ne voyez personne. 

Si quelque bon moment à ces pensers vous donne, 

Quelque flatteur vous interrompt. 

Cette leçon sera la fin de ces ouvrages : 

Puisse-t-elle être utile aux siècles à venir! 

Je la présente aux rois, je la propose aux sages : 

Par où saurais-je mieux finir ? 29 

The Judge, the Hospitaller, and the Lonely 

Three saints, equally anxious to gain salvation, 

Were seeking the same goal with the same spirit. 

To achieve it at their best, they took diverse routes: 

All paths leading to Rome: our brave candidates 

Decided to choose different roads. 

One, touched by anxiety, delay, and traverse, 

Which are the appanage tied to any court cases 

Offered to judge them with no recompense ever 

29 Image from http://environnement.ecoles.free.fr/fables_de_la-fontaine 

99

For he was not inclined to build his wealth down here. 

Since laws have been invented, Man has always wasted 

Half of his confused life pleading for all his sins. 

Half? No, three quarters, often all. 

Yet, the conciliator thought that he could manage 

To heal this foolish and detestable desire. 

The second of our Saints preferred the hospitals 

And I praise him, as the task of relieving suffering 

Is a charity I prefer to any others. 

Patients, being the same as ours then, 

Plagued the poor Hospitaller with their grievances; 

Morose and impatient, they ceaselessly complained: 

“He cares for this one and this one; 

When he worries for his friends, he neglects us.” 

These complaints were nothing compared 

To the irksome situation the appointor had to put up with; 

None were satisfied; and arbitral sentences 

Did not even please the claimants: 

Never did the judge truly hold, 

According to them, an equal or fair balance. 

Such discourses disheartened the appointor who 

Runs to the Hospitals seeking the director: 30 

Having only gained protest and ingratitude, 

Afflicted, and constrained to leave their employments, 

Both decide to confide their torment to the woods. 

There, beneath some sharp rocks and beside a clear stream, 

Respected by the winds and ignored by the sun, 

They find the other Saint and seek advice from him. 

-You must deeply search into your soul, says their friend. 

For who can better know your needs? 

Learning to know oneself 31 is one of the duties 

The supreme Majesty imposes to mortals. 

Did you really know who you were in the busy world? 

You can only know yourself in tranquil havens: 

30 Tense changed to give an illusion of reality 

31 On the frontispiece of the temple of Delphi, was engraved the inscription ‘Know thyself’ adopted by 

Socrates as the true principle of philosophy. 

100

Looking anywhere else is an extreme error. 

Disturb the water: do you see your face clearly? 

Stir it. How could we really see it? 

The silt rises like a thick green cloud 

And perturbs the crystal effects. 

- My brothers, says the Saint, let it rest for a while, 

And then, you will see your image. 

To meditate on your soul, dwell in wilderness. 32 

Thus spoke the solitary man. 33 

They believed him and followed his salutary advice. 

This does not mean that jobs are unacceptable. 34 

We always appeal to law, we die, and we fall ill, 

We need doctors, we need lawyers. 

Thanks God, they will always be available 

As honour and money are very convincing. 

But, these fruitless needs make us forget who we are. 

You, for whom public care is one of your concerns, 

Magistrates, lords, and ministers, 

You that sinister accidents disturb, 

That misery defeats and happiness corrupts, 

You do not see yourself, you see no one really. 

And when you meditate a moment on this thought, 

You are interrupted by senseless flatterers. 

This lesson is my conclusion: 

Let it be useful in future centuries! 

I give it to the kings, I give it to the sage: 

How could I choose a better end? 

32 The Jansenists of Port Royal called their place for meditation the desert. 

33 Those who live in tranquillity and isolation; again, La Fontaine switches from the present to past tense 

34 And again back to the present 

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18 th Century– le Siècle des Lumières 

We are now in the 18 th Century, le Siècle des Lumières or age of enlightenment. The interminable 

theological discussions between Jesuits and Jansenists, and the persecutions following the revocation of 

the Edit de Nantes have severely damaged ecclesiastic authorities. While fervent Christians like 

Montesquieu do not talk about faith in their works, Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau clearly admit 

been deists; and the Libres Penseurs (Free Thinkers), particularly Diderot and d’Alembert, are very hostile 

to all forms of religion; this is transparent in the Encyclopédie. 

Café Procope with Voltaire, Diderot, Condorcet and others 1 

Salons and cafés are now places of rendez-vous for journalists, philosophers, poets, and artists. 

In these cafés, novelists spread rumours circulating in Paris, and poets declaim satiric songs against the 

government, which quickly reacts to any criticisms and imprisons the audacious who do not flee in time. 

Compared to 17 th Century-writers who pondered on morality and self-improvement, modern authors 

want to renovate their society. They are men of thought and action rather than artists and they often 

abandon poetry for prose to give life and colour to their pamphlets. What matters is the message not the 

form as intellectuals have now a great influence on those who desperately want political reforms. 

1 The first café opened in 1667, and in 1715, more than 300 existed in Paris alone 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Voltaire_and_Diderot_at_the_Caf%C3%A9_Procope.jpeg

The second half of the 18 th Century starts with the Seven Years’ War in 1756. In the United 

States, the situation is very tensed as well; and while Benjamin Franklin meditates on Montesquieu’s 

projects of reforms 2 to prepare the new Constitution, Voltaire, Rousseau, Beaumarchais, and of course 

Montesquieu, are drafting the Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen 3 focusing on liberty, equality, 

and fraternity. Soon, the Americans will celebrate their Independence in 1776 and the French will fiercely 

start their Revolution on 14 July 1789. No one suspects the terror it will alas generate. 

2 Charles de Secondat, baron de la Brède et de Montesquieu, De l’Esprit des Lois (Of the Spirit of the Laws) 

published in 1748. 

3 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen Next Page 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Declaration_of_Human_Rights.jpg 

103

104

François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire 

(1694-1778) 

François-Marie Arouet, later known as Voltaire, comes from a wealthy and sophisticated family. 

At a very early age, François knows many poems and fables. When his mother dies in 1701, he is sent to 

the Jesuit College Louis-le-Grand where his enthusiasm for the Belles Lettres really explodes. Voltaire will 

always remember the Jesuit brothers who knew so well how to instil his passion for literature 1 

Even if they do not appreciate his eloquent impiety, Voltaire’s teachers immediately recognise 

his talents; and when Father Porée asks him to write few verses for an invalid man requesting the 

dauphin’s generosity, his supplication is so brilliant that everyone 

talks about it in the most eminent salons. The old Ninon de Lenclos, 

famous courtesan, asks to meet the prodigious boy, and impressed 

by his erudition, she gives him a legacy of two thousand francs so 

he may buy books. 

As the years pass, François’s literary skills improve 

magnificently; he writes his first plays, and composes and translates 

Latin poetry. At sixteenth, François 2 leaves the college and against 

his wish to become a man of letters, he must study law. François 

does not like the ‘barbaric’ language of jurisprudence and during 

his spare time, he continues to read and write with assiduity. 

To cure his son from his unworthy passion, Monsieur 

Arouet sends him to Holland as private secretary of the French 

ambassador; but François is incorrigible, and his liaison with 

Madame Dunoyer’s daughter causes a scandal. On the king’s order, 

he must return to France and face deportation if he refuses to obey his father’s wish. 3 The young man 

capitulates and accepts to work with Maître Alain, prosecutor at the Châtelet prison. Here, he meets his 

lifelong friend Nicolas Thieriot who will later become his literary agent. 4 

Lacking the vocation, the young man is bored and asks his father the permission to quit his job. 

As a last resort, Monsieur Arouet sends him to his friend, Marquis de Caumartin who lives in a luxurious 

château at Saint-Ange near Fontainebleau. Away from the libertine Société du Temple, his son will 

1 Gustave Desnoiresterres (1967) Voltaire et la Société Française au XVIIIe Siècle. 

2 Musée Carnavalet Paris ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Voltaire.jpg 

3 Voltaire’s father asked the king to bring his son back and to threaten him with deportation. The king 

sent a lettre de cachet, an order bearing the king’s seal. 

4 Nicolas Claude Thieriot (1696-1772) wrote Tableau de l’Empire Germanique in 1741.

perhaps choose an honourable career. With Caumartin, François learns to appreciate opulence, and 

develops a keen interest for history; but above all, the young man discovers his hatred for intolerance and 

fanaticism. 

Back in Paris, he starts writing Le Siècle de Louis XIV (Louis XIV’s Century) and the Poème de la 

Ligue (Poem of the League), later known as La Henriade. In this poem focusing on the life of Henri IV, he 

brilliantly appeals for religious tolerance and exposes his deist view in a superb hymn dedicated to the 

glorious God, the eternal geometer and architect of the world. 5 

In 1717, two years after the king’s death, François is received in the most elegant and aristocratic 

salons where his brilliant and sarcastic intelligence is immediately recognised. However, the young 

Arouet often uses his wit indiscriminately and dangerously. Two libellous poems and a satire involving 

the duc d’Orléans and the duchesse du Berry send him to the famous prison La Bastille. In detention, 

Voltaire composes La Bastille proclaiming his innocence and arguing vehemently about unfair 

persecutions; 6 he also finishes Oedipe, a tragedy based on Sophocles’s play. François is free in April 1718 

and his exile is lifted a few months later. 

Then, Voltaire’s celebrity is official with the Première (first showing) of Oedipe at the Théâtre 

Français 7 where it receives a very enthusiastic response. For many, this young playwright, who now calls 

himself Voltaire, is a new Racine. 8 However, Voltaire is also seen as someone unafraid to bluntly expose 

his opinions and if many applaud the famous verse 

Nos prêtres ne sont pas ce qu’un vain peuple pense. 

Notre crédulité fait toute leur science. 9 

Our priests are not what vain people think. 

Our credulity resumes their knowledge. 

the clergy certainly does not appreciate those who encourage reason rather than faith. Voltaire does not 

care, and after a long illness, 10 he is appointed Court’s poet in 1723. Unsurprisingly, he shines in every 

5 This Poème de la Ligue was published anonymously in Geneva in 1723. 

6 Adrien Beuchot, ed. (2001) Biographie par Monsieur le Marquis de Condorcet, Oeuvres de Voltaire, Tome 

I, note 3 p128. Voltaire explained that the author of the famous J’ai vu was M. Le Brun and not he as 

many claimed. 

7 Le Théâtre Français also knows as the Comédie Française. 

8 As note 6, Tome I, note 3, p 119. François chooses his penname Voltaire—a small estate belonging to his 

mother. When dedicating Oedipe to the regent’s wife in 1719, he signs Arouet de Voltaire. 

9 Oedipe, (IV. I). 

10 Voltaire almost died from smallpox when he was 29. 

106

salon and uses his excellent verve to defend his honour when attacked by those who are jealous of his 

success. 

Unfortunately, not long after the opening of Marianne in 1724, a sharp reply to the Chevalier de 

Rohan followed by a spank and a dual sends him again to the Bastille. The sentence is commuted to exile, 

and Voltaire chooses to go to England. During three years, he studies Locke’s philosophy questioning the 

divine right of kings and the authority of the state, and he increases his scientific knowledge with 

Newton’s law of gravitation. Voltaire loves science and strongly believes that the application of natural 

laws can contribute to the improvement of the human condition. 

Impressed by England’s balanced constitution, religious tolerance, and freedom of speech, he 

swears to fight against all kinds of injustices. Soon as he returns to Paris in 1728, he writes Brutus focusing 

with eloquence on the rights of man, and he publishes La Henriade. 

Two years later, Voltaire’s freedom is again at stake. In his elegy on the death of Mademoiselle 

Lecouvreur, he virulently expresses his indignation about discrimination, unfair treatment, and laissezfaire 

(let-it-be). Above all the poet severely criticises the stupid and malevolent superstition to deprive 

artists of decent burial. 11 In a letter to his friend Thieriot, he confides his sadness: 

…Je joins ma faible voix à toutes les voix d’Angleterre, pour faire un peu sentir la différence 

qu’il y a entre leur liberté et notre esclavage, entre leur sage hardiesse et notre folle 

superstition, entre l’encouragement que les arts reçoivent à Londres et l’oppression honteuse 

sous laquelle ils languissent à Paris. 12 

…I join my feeble voice to all the voices of England to demonstrate the differences between 

their liberty and our servitude, their wise audacity and our foolish superstition, the 

encouragement given to arts in London and the shameful oppression they receive in Paris. 

The elegy is seen as another attack against ecclesiastic institutions, and Voltaire must leave Paris. 

In La Mort de Mlle Lecouvreur, Voltaire’s indignation explodes; he cannot tolerate Languet’s 13 

refusal to decently bury the beautiful artist. For this poem, Voltaire mainly uses alexandrins and few 

octosyllables. 

11 Voltaire was a fervent admirer of Mademoiselle Lecouvreur; he was also his friend and his lover. See 

Oeuvres de Voltaire, Tome LI, p 213. 

12 Ibid, Lettre 120, May 1, 1930, p 211 

13 Saint-Sulpice’s priest 

107

La Mort de Mlle Lecouvreur 14 

Célèbre Actrice 

Que vois-je? quel objet! Quoi! ces lèvres charmantes, 

Quoi! ces yeux d'où partaient ces flammes éloquentes, 

Éprouvent du trépas les livides horreurs! 

Muses, Grâces, Amours, dont elle fut l'image, 

O mes dieux et les siens, secourez votre ouvrage! 

Que vois-je? c'en est fait, je t'embrasse, et tu meurs! 

Tu meurs; on sait déjà cette affreuse nouvelle; 

Tous les cœurs sont émus de ma douleur mortelle. 

J'entends de tous côtés les beaux-arts éperdus 

S'écrier en pleurant: « Melpomène n'est plus! » 

Que direz-vous, race future, 

Lorsque vous apprendrez la flétrissante injure 

Qu'à ces arts désolés font des hommes cruels? 

Ils privent de la sépulture 

Celle qui dans la Grèce aurait eu des autels. 

Quand elle était au monde, ils soupiraient pour elle; 

Je les ai vus soumis, autour d'elle empressés: 

Sitôt qu'elle n'est plus, elle est donc criminelle! 

Elle a charmé le monde, et vous l'en punissez! 

Non, ces bords désormais ne seront plus profanes; 

Ils contiennent ta cendre; et ce triste tombeau, 

Est pour nous un temple nouveau! 

Voilà mon Saint-Denis; oui, c'est là que j'adore 

Tes talents, ton esprit, tes grâces, tes appas: 

Je les aimai vivants, je les encense encore 

Malgré les horreurs du trépas, 

Malgré l'erreur et les ingrats, 

Que seuls de ce tombeau l'opprobre déshonore. 

Ah! verrai-je toujours ma faible nation, 

Incertaine en ses vœux, flétrir ce qu'elle admire: 

14 Beuchot, Poesies, Oeuvres de Voltaire, Tome XII, pp 29-32. 

108

Nos mœurs avec nos lois toujours se contredire; 

Et le Français volage endormi sous l'empire 

De la superstition? 

Quoi! n'est-ce donc qu'en Angleterre 

Que les mortels osent penser? 

O rivale d'Athène, ô Londre! heureuse terre! 15 

Ainsi que les tyrans vous avez su chasser 

Les préjugés honteux qui vous livraient la guerre. 

C'est là qu'on sait tout dire, et tout récompenser; 

Nul art n'est méprisé, tout succès a sa gloire. 

Le vainqueur de Tallard, le fils de la victoire, 

Le sublime Dryden, et le sage Addison, 

Et la charmante Ophils, et l'immortel Newton, 

Ont part au temple de mémoire: 

Et Lecouvreur à Londre aurait eu des tombeaux 

Parmi les beaux-esprits, les rois, et les héros. 

Quiconque a des talents à Londre est un grand homme. 

L'abondance et la liberté 

Ont, après deux mille ans, chez vous ressuscité 

L'esprit de la Grèce et de Rome. 

Des lauriers d'Apollon dans nos stériles champs 

La feuille négligée est-elle donc flétrie? 

Dieux! pourquoi mon pays n'est-il plus la patrie 

Et de la gloire et des talents? 

Mademoiselle Lecouvreur’s Death 

Famous Artist 

What do I see? What is this? What! These charming lips, 

What! These eyes from which eloquent flames escaped, 

Will forever be marked by the horrors of death! 

O Muse, Grace, Love, whom she was the resplendent image, 

O my gods and hers, rescue your beautiful work! 

O, what is this? That’s it, I kiss you and you die! 

You die; we already know the terrible news; 

15 Athènes and Londres 

109

Every gentle heart is moved by my mortal grief. 

Everywhere I hear the Beaux-arts 

crying: “Melpomene 16 is no more!” 

What will you say, future race, 

when you learn the wicked injure 

cruel men do to noble arts? 

They deprive of sepulchre the one 

who in Greece would have received an altar. 

When she was in this world, all yearned for her; 

and, I saw them docile and assiduous: 

As soon as she has gone, she is a criminal! 

She charmed the world and for this, you now punish her! 

No, this street will never be profane anymore; 17 

it contains your ashes; and this sad resting place, 

honoured by our chants and sanctified by your Manes, 18 

is for us all a new temple! 

Here, at Saint-Denis, it is here that I adored 

Your talent, your wit, your grace, your exquisite charms: 

Alive I loved them all, now I revere them 

despite the horrors of death 

despite the errors of ungrateful men; 

only their evil censure dishonours this tomb. 

Alas! Shall I always see my feeble nation, 

doubtful in her wishes, withering what she admires? 

Our customs and our laws contradict each other 

and inconstant French men are lost 

in superstitions. 

What! Is it only in England 

that mortals freely think? 

O Athens’s rival! O London! O Happy lands! 

with all your tyrants, you chased 

the shameful prejudices fighting against you. 

There, we can say what we want, reward anything; 

no arts are rebuked; success is always honoured. 

16 The Muse of tragedy 

17 Mlle Lecouvreur was berried at the corner of the rue de Bourgogne. 

18 The spirits of the dead 

110

Tallard’s 19 conqueror, the proud and victorious son, 

the inspiring Dryden 20 and the wise Addison, 21 

the charming Ophils, 22 the immortal Newton, 

all now live in the temple of our memory: 

Yes, in London, Lecouvreur would have had a tomb 

among beautiful minds, among kings and heroes. 

In London, anyone gifted is a great man. 

There, abundance and liberty 

have finally revived, after two thousand years, 

the great spirit of Rome and Greece. 

In our barren fields, the neglected leaves 

of Apollo’s laurels have dried. 

Gods! Why is my country no more the nation 

of glory and talent? 

Voltaire is aware that his enemies have exaggerated the Elegy’s strongest points and he is 

worried. 23 Nevertheless, the poet-philosopher comes back to Paris and continues to fight injustice and 

intolerance; he writes La Mort de César (Caesar’s Death) rejected for its republican propaganda, and 

Eriphyle. If this play is a failure, the beautiful tragedy Zaïre is a great success. Then follows Le Temple du 

Goût (Temple of Taste) where he exposes past and present writers’ mistakes, but the public does not 

appreciate his criticism, and in reprisal, it scorns his new play, Adélaïde du Guesclin. 

In 1734, Voltaire publishes Lettres sur les Anglais (Letters of the English) also called Lettres 

Philosophiques (Philosophical Letters). In them, he highly praises England for her constitution, freedom of 

press, and tolerance. He also indirectly attacks French political and clerical institutions. This and his 

criticism of Pascal’s Pensées as well as his rejection of Leibniz’s innate ideas infuriate the clergy; at their 

request, the book is symbolically burnt by the Parliament. 24 One more time, Voltaire must flee. 

Unfortunately, the reviews of Epître à Uranie published in Amsterdam without Voltaire’s 

permission delays his return. Voltaire wrote this poem 25 ten years earlier while travelling to Brussels with 

Mademoiselle de Rupelmonde in 1722. The young woman, deeply disturbed by religious doubts, 

confided them to Voltaire who replied with pertinent objections against Christianity. At the time, the free 

19 Probably the dancing master (1651-1728) 

20 John Dryden, English poet and dramatist (1631-1700) 

21 Joseph Addison, English poet and essayist (1672-1719) 

22Anne Oldfield, an illustrious English artist, berried at Westminster Abbey in 1730 

23 Ibid, Lettre 122, p 214 

24 Oeuvres de Voltaire, Tome I, p 153. 

25 Originally, the title was Epître à Julie 

111

thinker read the Epître to Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, scandalised by his friend’s impiety, interrupted the 

reading and a violent quarrel soon degenerated in a lifelong enmity. 26 

Voltaire is a gifted poet and his oeuvre is phenomenal, embracing every branch of literature: 

poetry, drama, history, science, romance, and philosophy. Nevertheless, he is not a romantic and his 

poésie is de circonstance. Far from being frivolous, his verve is personal, spontaneous and witty; and rather 

than describing landscapes, Voltaire shakes his readers’ apathy. 

This is particularly the case in Le Pour et le Contre (Pro and Con). 27 Despite the conjuncture of 

the time, he virulently exposes his strongest objections against Judaism and Christianity. Certainly, 

realism, passion, emotion, and above all integrity literally 

explode in this highly controversial but excellent poem. 

The publication of Uranie is of course disastrous for 

Voltaire who must deny his work and attributes it to Abbé 

Chaulieu, who died few years earlier. Fortunately, Rousseau is 

in exile for a pamphlet he probably did not write so he is not in 

a position to prove Voltaire’s authorship. 28 

Albeit his altercations with the church, Voltaire 

manages to come back to Paris; he is now a celebrity all over 

Europe but tired of being persecuted, he accepts the marquise 

du Châtelet’s offer to retire comfortably at her château of Cireysur-Blaise 

in Haute-Marne. 

Like him, the marquise is passionate of philosophy 

and mathematics; together, they study diligently despite their 

divergences on metaphysics; indeed, if Voltaire thinks highly of 

Locke, Madame du Châtelet 29 is a fervent Leibnizian. Nevertheless, they share the same admiration for 

Newton and while the marquise translates the Principia in French, Voltaire writes the Eléments de la 

Philosophie de Newton (Elements of Newton’s Philosophy), giving the opportunity to the lay public to gain 

scientific knowledge and grasp new philosophical principles. 

Of course, the Cartesians do not like the idea that English philosophers could supplant their 

thinkers and reject the book. Undeterred, Voltaire continues to write more than ever. In 1733, he starts his 

Essai sur les Mœurs et l’Esprit des Nations (Essays on Nations’ customs and spirit); and in 1737, he publishes 

26 Beuchot, ed. (2001) Poésies Tome I, Oeuvres de Voltaire, Tome XII, p 16; J. B. Rousseau’s letter, May 22, 

1736. Voltaire however argues that the quarrel was due to his criticism of Rousseau’s Ode à la Postérité. 

Here it is Jean-Baptiste not Jean-Jacques Rousseau with whom he will also quarrel. 

27 Poem in French and English on http://www.poetry.bellepage.com 

28 Beuchot, Biographie par Monsieur le Marquis de Condorcet, Oeuvres de Voltaire, Tome I, p 133-155. 

Epître à Uranie will be included in Voltaire’s Œuvres in 1775 under the title of Le Pour et le Contre. 

29 Madame du Chatelet, Musée Carnavalet, Paris 

112

the Discours sur l’homme (Discourse on Man). It is around this time that the Prussian prince Frederick, a 

lover of French literature and philosophy, chooses Voltaire as confident and mentor. Very impressed, 

Voltaire is convinced that the prince-philosopher will be an exceptionally wise king. A good friendship 

begins and Voltaire shares his time between Cirey, Paris, Versailles, and Berlin. He then writes Alzire, a 

superb play where he bravely depicts the vices of societies corrupted by ambition and fanaticism. 

After Zulime, and Mahomet, Voltaire publishes Mérope, another great tragedy. As usual, Voltaire 

is brilliant; and in the Preface of the Premières Méditations Poétiques, Alphonse de Lamartine remembers 

his younger years when his father used to read Mérope during the long evenings 

…ce language cadencé comme une danse des mots dans l’oreille, ces belles images qui font 

voir ce qu’on entend, ces hémistiches qui reposent le son pour le précipiter ensuite plus rapide, 

ces consonances de la fin des vers qui sont comme des échos, répercutés, où le même sentiment se 

prolonge dans le même son, cette symétrie des rimes qui correspond materiellement a je ne sais 

quel instint de symetrie morale cachee au fond de notre nature, et qui pourrait bien etre une 

contre-empreinte de l’ordre divin, du rhythme incree dans l’univers, enfin cette solennite de la 

voix de mon père… 30 

…this rhythmical language like a dance of the words in the ear, these beautiful images that 

make us see what we hear, these hemistiches reposing the sound to precipitate it later, these 

consonants at the end of the verses which rebound like echoes, where the emotion prolongs itself 

in the sound, the symmetry of the rhymes materially matching some sort of instinctive moral 

symmetry, hidden in the depth of our nature, the print of the divine order perhaps, of the 

uncreated rhythm in the universe, and finally, the solemnity in my father’s voice… 

Nevertheless, jealous people continue to refuse his nomination to the Académie Française. At 

last, the wheel turns when Voltaire meets Mademoiselle Poisson, future Madame de Pompadour who 

soon becomes Louis XV’s royal mistress. Thanks to her influence, Voltaire is finally elected member of the 

Académie in 1746. 31 He receives the title of Royal historiographer and he is appointed valet de chambre 

du roi (king’s bedchamber gentleman-in-waiting). 

The same year, Voltaire and Madame du Châtelet live at the royal court of Louis XV’s son-inlaw, 

Stanislas Leszcsynski, the dispossessed king of Poland. There, among other things, Voltaire writes 

Zadig, a beautiful philosophical novel; but in 1749, Madame du Châtelet suddenly dies. Voltaire is 

shattered and returns to Paris. 32 

30 Alphonse de Lamartine (1924) Préface of the Premières Méditations Poétiques edited by Hachette. 

31 Voltaire (1759) Mémoires pour servir à la vie de M. de Voltaire, écrits par lui-même. Voltaire wrote in 

his memoir: « Je suis maintenant l’un des quarante membres inutiles de l’académie (I am now one of the forty 

useless members of the Académie). » Voltaire was nevertheless very proud of his achievement. 

32 Madame du Châtelet died in childbirth and her little girl did not survive her. 

113

To alleviate his sorrow, Voltaire immerses himself in work. He begins Sémirami, an adaptation 

of Eriphyle, and composes Oreste and Rome Sauvée. More than ever, the writer’s verve is sarcastic, and 

tired of his insolence, Madame de Pompadour advises him to accept the King of Prussia’s offer to join his 

court. 

Disgusted, he leaves for Prussia where he becomes Frederick II’s chamberlain and continues to 

write. He finishes the Siècle de Louis XIV (Louis XIV’s Century) and publishes it in Berlin in 1751. A year 

later, he writes Micromégas, a science-fiction story in which two extraterrestrial ambassadors visiting 

Earth discover the follies of human behaviour. 

Unfortunately, Voltaire soon discovers that Frederick will never be a good king; Prussia is a 

military state based on sovereign authority and strict discipline. Above all, the philosopher regrets his 

independence, and finally, he sends back privileges and titles, and asks the permission to return to France 

pretending some illness. For a month, Voltaire sojourns at the duchesse de Gotha’s where he starts the 

Annales de l’Empire (The Empire’s diary); and on his way to the thermal town of Plombières, in May 1753, 

he is arrested at Frankfort for possessing some of Frederick’s writings. After restitution, he is free and 

returns to France. 

As expected, Voltaire is not welcome in Paris; the publication of the Siècle de Louis XIV (Louis 

XIV’s Century) in Berlin did not please the court and the poet is constrained to travel again. He stays in 

Alsace for two years, spends some time in Savoy and Lyon, and finally settles in Geneva in 1754 with 

Madame Denis, his niece and mistress. In his new home, Les Délices, Voltaire completes his Essai sur les 

Mœurs et l’Esprit des Nations (Essay on Nations’ Customs and Spirit), and 

composes La Loi Naturelle (Natural Law) and Le Désastre de Lisbonne 

(Lisbon’s Disaster) where his anger again explodes against philosophers 

who loudly claim that all is well in this world. How could it be well for the 

hundred thousand people who perished in the terrible earthquake that 

ravaged Lisbon in 1755? Nevertheless, life goes on, and the same year, 

Voltaire publishes La Pucelle (The Maid of Orléans). 

Voltaire is happy in Switzerland but he must search another place 

to live, when the government forbids him to put his plays on stage in the 

theatre he recently built on his property. Geneva is well known for its 

austere Calvinism. Furthermore, in his Discours sur les Sciences et les Arts 

(Discourse on Sciences and Arts) 33 , Jean-Jacques Rousseau argues against the pleasures of civilisation; 

and in Lettre à d’Alembert sur les spectacles (Letter to d’Alembert on shows), he also warns against the vices 

of French plays and the danger to offer such distractions in Geneva, a city not corrupted yet. This 

infuriates Voltaire; and the greatest philosophers of the 18 th Century become fierce enemies. 

33 With this discours, Rousseau won the competition offered by the Academy of Dijon and became 

famous. Rousseau’s greatest works are La Nouvelle Héloïse, Le Contrat social, and L’Émile, which appeared 

between 1761 and 1762. 

114

Voltaire's Castle at Ferney 34 

In 1759, the poet-philosopher finally settles at Ferney in France near the Swiss border. In his 

sumptuous château, he writes the excellent and controversial philosophical novel Candide, a critique of 

Leibniz’s Essais de Théodicée 35 . In Candide, Voltaire expresses his hatred for war but most of all, he exposes 

humankind’s villainy, ridiculing Pangloss alias Leibniz who, despites striking evidences, maintains that 

all is good in the best possible world. 

In 1760, he presents Tancrède, and in 1764, the Dictionnaire Philosophique (Philosophical 

dictionary), one of his last major works. Again, the Parliament burns the book but cannot stop its 

diffusion. 

Voltaire is old now and time is fleeing. In December 1773, he composes the poem A Madame 

Lullin and dedicates it to Madame du Deffand, who does not appreciate to be called bergère (shepherdess) 

and ma chère (my dear). 

For this piece of light verse, Voltaire strictly uses the lyric style of the quatrain and the 

octosyllables. In a poetic pastoral atmosphere—this is quite rare in Voltaire’s works, he juxtaposes fate 

with nature’s decay; everything fades and disappears. Beneath wit and irony, the old poet touchingly 

reveals his sadness. 

34 http://pagesperso-orange.fr/dboudin/zGalerie/Ferney.html 

35 Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1710) Essays in Theodicy on the Goodness of God, the Liberty of Man, 

and the Origin of Evil 

115

A Madame Lullin 36 To Madame Lullin 

Hé quoi! vous êtes étonnée Eh What! Are you really surprised 

Qu'au bout de quatre-vingts hivers That after eighty-four winters 

Ma muse faible et surannée My old-fashioned and feeble muse 

Puisse encor fredonner des vers ? Can still compose and hum verses? 

Quelquefois un peu de verdure Sometimes a few blades of grass 

Rit sous les glaçons de nos champs ; Laugh under the ice of the fields; 

Elle console la nature, They console Mother Nature 

Mais elle sèche en peu de temps. But dry up in little time. 

Un oiseau peut se faire entendre A small bird can make itself heard 

Après la saison des beaux jours ; After the season’s warmest days; 

Mais sa voix n’a plus rien de tendre ; But its voice has lost its softness; 

Il ne chante plus ses amours. It does not sing love anymore. 

Ainsi je touche encor ma lyre, As you see, I still touch my lyre, 

Qui n'obéit plus à mes doigts ; But it ceases to obey my fingers; 

Ainsi j’essaye encor ma voix As you see, I still try my voice 

Au moment même qu’elle expire. When it is about to expire. 

« Je veux dans mes derniers adieux, I want as a last farewell, 

Disait Tibulle à son amante, Said Tibullus 37 to his beloved, 

Attacher mes yeux sur tes yeux, Fasten my eyes on your eyes 

Te presser de ma main mourante. » And press you with my dying hand. 

Mais quand on sent qu’on va passer, When we feel we are leaving, 

Quand l’âme fuit avec la vie, When our soul flees with our life, 

A-t-on des yeux pour voir Délie, Have we eyes to see Delia? 38 

Et des mains pour la caresser ? Have we hands to caress her? 

Dans ce moment chacun oublie At this moment, we all forget 

Tout ce qu’il a fait en santé, What we did when we were young. 

36 Beuchot, Stance XXXIV, Oeuvres de Voltaire, Tome XIV, pp 552-554 

37 Voltaire borrowed Tibullus’s verse. Tibullus was a Roman elegiac poet (~54-~19BC) 

38 Poets’ beloved 

116

Quel mortel s'est jamais flatté Which sane mortal would boast about 

D’un rendez-vous à l'agonie ? A rendez-vous with agony? 

Délie elle-même à son tour Delia herself when her time comes, 

S’en va dans la nuit éternelle, Enters the eternal night 

En oubliant qu’elle fut belle, Forgetting she was beautiful 

Et qu’elle a vécu pour l’amour. And lived for pleasure and love. 

Nous naissons, nous vivons, bergère, We are born, and we live, Bergère, 

Nous mourons sans savoir comment : We depart not knowing how: 

Chacun est parti du néant : Everyone came from nothingness: 

Où va-t-il ? ...Dieu le sait, ma chère. Where do we go? … God knows, my dear. 

Voltaire regrets his youth but he still has deep compassion for people. To increase the wellbeing 

of the whole village, he opens a manufacture of silk stockings and a tannery. He also continues to 

defend those who have been treated unjustly, fighting to rehabilitate them and denounce the culprits 

whoever they are. With the affaires Calas (1762), Sirven (1764), la Barre (1766), Montbailli (1770), and 

Lally-Tollendal (1776), he finally becomes so popular, that every traveller touring Europe wants to meet 

him or at least see him. 

In 1778, Voltaire who is now 84 decides to go to Paris for the presentation of his last tragedy, 

Irène. Again, it is a triumph and the public’s ovation is so overwhelming that the old man can hardly 

contain his emotion. Very tired and conscious that his death is near, he writes his last poem Adieux à la 

Vie. 

A few months later, on 30 May 1778, the great philosopher dies in his sleep, after having taken 

too much opium to alleviate his suffering. 

Eleven years later, the French Revolution will start; and alas, Voltaire will not be there to stop 

what he always fought: fanaticism. 

117

19 th Century 

For humankind, the 19 th Century is the symbol of extraordinary achievements. The scientific 

and industrial revolutions, which first began in England, are forever changing the face of the world 

instigating in the mind of civilised societies the utopian idea that science will soon provide well-being to 

all. The list of those contributing to this amazing flight is impressive. 

Albeit the promises of a rosy future to all, industrialisation has dramatically increased urban 

proletariat all over Europe and this is now the main problem of all governments. With the new 

Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, men are equal in rights; 1 but from a social point of view, 

social injustice prevails more than ever for the lower class of citizens. While many want to keep the 

institution of private property, others demand drastic reforms and soon, socialist movements emerged, 

the most prominent being the International socialism based on historical materialism and founded by 

Karl Marx. 

While absorbing all these changes, France tries to establish the best government possible but 

lamentably fails. Glorified, then humiliated, passing from one extreme to the other, losing and regaining 

her liberties dearly obtained during the Terror, in this century, France will witness eight political regimes: 

a Consulate and an Empire with Napoléon Bonaparte, a Restoration inaugurating a constitutional 

monarchy with Louis XVIII, the Cent Jours and Napoléon’s return, a Second Republic after the abdication 

of Louis-Philippe in 1848, a second Empire with Napoléon III, and finally a Third Republic after 

Napoléon’s military defeats and his failure to restore the economy. 

All this has a deep impact on the mind of the French people; and from its beginning to its end, 

the 19 th Century will see an extraordinary number of masters-poets; among them, Lamartine, Hugo, and 

Vigny will play a great role in politics. 

In this 19 th Century, two major literary movements succeed one another and even blend. Le 

Romantisme (Romanticism) during the Restoration and the second Republic, and le Symbolisme 

(Symbolism) with the third Republic. 

1 Women did not have equal rights yet

Les Romantiques 

While Romanticism started in the 18 th Century with magnificent poets such as Byron, Shelley, 

Keats, Schelling, and Goethe, Jean-Jacques Rousseau followed the lead with La Nouvelle Héloïse. 

Impressed by this new style, the 19 th Century precursors of French Romantisme, Madame de 

Staël 2 and Chateaubriand, stress the role of imagination in poetry. Inspired by an ardent sensitivity, a 

poem must be a religious chant emerging from the deepest part of the soul. The sublimation of poetry is 

therefore inside the poet who dreams about heroism, listens to celestial harmony, and contemplates 

eternity in stormy skies. In this romantic soul, enthusiasm rhymes with melancholy; the grotesque 

juxtaposes the sublime; and the heart rules over reason. In other words, Le Romantisme is a blend of 

poetry from the North and the South of France; as Madame de Staël excellently emphasises 

Les poètes du Midi mêlent sans cesse l’image de la fraîcheur, des bois touffus, des ruisseaux 

limpides à tous les sentiments de la vie. Ils ne se retracent pas même les jouissances du cœur sans y 

mêler l’idée de l’ombre bienfaisante qui doit les préserver des brûlantes ardeurs du soleil… Les 

peuples du Nord sont moins occupés des plaisirs que de la douleur, et leur imagination n’en est que 

plus féconde. Le spectacle de la nature agit fortement sur eux ; elle agit comme elle se montre dans 

leurs climats, toujours sombre et nébuleuse. Sans doute les diverses circonstances de la vie peuvent 

varier cette disposition à la mélancolie ; mais elle porte seule l’empreinte de l’esprit national. 3 

Poets from the South always mingle images of freshness, thick woods, and clear brooks with life’s 

emotions. They cannot reveal the delights of their heart without blending the idea of the pleasant 

shadow preserving them from the burning ardour of the sun… People from the North are less 

preoccupied by pleasure than sorrow, and their imagination is therefore more fecund. The sight of 

Nature has a deep effect on them; the same effect that she (Nature) has on their climates, always 

dark and nebulous. Doubtlessly, the diverse circumstances of life may alter such a disposition to 

melancholy; but melancholy alone wears the stamp of national spirit. 

Consequently, when the trouvères adapt the troubadours’ style to their own, they become 

Romantiques; their literature, deeply rooted in the soil of their country, vibrates with the marvellous 

of the Middle Ages, chivalry, and Christianity. Madame de Staël explains 

2 François-René Vicomte de Chateaubriand (1768-1848), French writer and politician 

3 Anne Louise de Staël known as Madame de Staël (1766-1817) De la littérature considérée dans ses rapports 

avec les institutions sociales, part I, chap. XI. 

119

La poésie païenne doit être simple et saillante comme les objets extérieurs ; la poésie chrétienne a 

besoin de toutes les couleurs de l’arc-en-ciel pour ne pas se perdre dans les nuages. La poésie des 

anciens est plus pure comme art, celle des modernes fait verser plus de larmes… 

La littérature romantique est la seule qui soit susceptible encore d’être perfectionnée, parce 

qu’ayant ses racines dans notre propre sol, elle est la seule qui puisse croître et se vivifier de 

nouveau : elle exprime notre religion, elle rappelle notre histoire ; son origine est ancienne, mais non 

antique. 4 

Pagan poetry must be simple and salient like objects; Christian poetry needs all the colours of the 

rainbow so it does not lose itself in the clouds. The poetry of the ancients is artfully pure; the poetry 

of the moderns draws more tears… 

Romantic literature is the only one, which can be perfected, because having its roots in our own 

soil, it is the only one, which can grow and renew itself: it expresses our religion and recalls our 

history; its origin is ancient but not antic. 

Romantisme is also marked by the mal du siècle (century’s blues), a distressing feeling of the 

incompleteness of destiny with its disenchantment and delusion but also a fondness for sadness and a 

morbid pleasure for suffering. This mal du siècle exalts the soul causing a fascination for love, nature, 

history, and religion; all exploding in fantastic and phantasmagorical dreams, visions, and chimeras. 

Around the 1820’s, this indefinable sadness dwells in the soul of many French poets—Alphonse 

de Lamartine, Victor Hugo, Alfred de Vigny, Alfred de Musset, and Alexandre Dumas—who regularly 

meet at the Arsenal, Charles Nodier’s salon. Together, they form the first Cénacle, name taken from 

Sainte-Beuve’s poem, Joseph Delorme, to designate the new literary school whose objective is to liberate 

French literature. 

In 1828, the second cenacle is formed around Victor Hugo, the uncontested leader of the 

Romantic Movement. The school welcomes illustrious writers such as Gerard de Nerval and Théophile 

Gautier and great artists. Definitely, the romantic style glows with magnificence in Géricault’s and 

Delacroix’s paintings, and it gloriously vibrates in Chopin’s and Berlioz’s music. 

The second cenacle nevertheless disappears with the July revolution, the poets being more 

absorbed by social and political dilemmas. After the presentation of Victor Hugo’s Hernani, few poets 

such as Théophile Gautier and Gérard de Nerval continue to see each other regularly at Jehan 

Duseigneur’s atelier of sculpture. At the end of 1830, they form the petit cenacle, which will last up to the 

beginning of 1833. These young men are the extremists of French literature exaggerating their attitude 

and appearance with extravagance. They call themselves the Jeunes-france or the Bousingots. Though they 

are against Lamartine’s and Hugo’s political aspirations and fundamentally reject the utilitarian moral of 

the July monarchy, like all Romantiques, they fight for the freedom of art. 

4 Madame de Staël (1766-1817) De l’Allemagne, part II, chapter II. 

120

Liberté by Eugene Delacroix (1830) 5 

5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Eug%C3%A8ne_Delacroix_- 

_La_libert%C3%A9_guidant_le_peuple.jpg 

121

Alphonse de Lamartine 

(1790-1869) 

Born at Mâcon on 21 October 1790, Alphonse is the son of Pierre de Lamartine and Alix des 

Roys, small aristocrats and fervent Catholics. In 1797, the family settles in Milly and the child begins his 

literary education; he reads the Bible, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, 6 Voltaire, and Madame de Staël. Four 

years later, he is sent to the Puppier pension in Lyon; very unhappy there, he runs away a year later. The 

boy then goes to the Jesuit College of Belley where he studies Virgil, Horace, 

Chateaubriand, Dante, Petrarch, and Shakespeare. He becomes a brilliant 

student and writes his first poems. 

At twenty, Lamartine refuses to serve the usurper Napoléon. With 

his friend Aymon de Virieu, he travels to Italy and falls in love with a pretty 

cigarette worker, Antoniella for whom he writes small verses. 7 He then returns 

to France and becomes mayor of Mâcon in 1812. This occupation leaving him 

free time, he starts writing his first tragedy Saül. 8 

Two years later, Lamartine enters at the service of Louis XVIII as a 

lifeguard; and during the Cent Jours, he flees to Switzerland. 

Lamartine 9 then comes back to France and shares his time between 

Milly and Paris where he gambles more than he should. In autumn 1816, the 

young man is idle, bored, and depressed so he goes to heal his nervous 

breakdown at Aix-les-Bains, the famous thermal station, and he meets Madame 

Charles, the beautiful Creole wife of a renowned physician, who is under treatment for a pulmonary 

disease. They fall in love and see each other often in Paris and Aix; but the following summer, Julie is so 

ill that she cannot go to Aix as she promised; Lamartine waits for her on the shores of the Lac du Bourget 

and remembers. Julie will never come back; she dies in December 1817 and their ephemeral passion 

6 Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737-1814) wrote among other things the beautiful novel Paul 

et Virginie in 1788. 

7 Antoniella will later be immortalised as Graziella. 

8 Saül is often referred as Médée. Lamartine confides that he wrote this play for Madame de Raigecourt. 

However, the tragedy was never presented or published but most of it was inserted in Les Méditations, Les 

Nouvelles Méditations, Les Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses, and Les Recueillements. 

9 portrait Henri Decaisne, musée de Mâcon 

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Lamartine%2C_par_Decaisne.jpg 

122

explodes in Lamartine most poignant poem, Le Lac (The Lake). 10 Yes, Lamartine is shattered by his 

beloved’s death; and with an exquisite sensibility, he lays down his soul on paper, his emotions being his 

only inspirations. 

The poet weeps, the poet prays, the poet furiously rebels against the harshness of life. 

Nevertheless, Lamartine reaffirms his faith in Catholicism and after few months of despairs, he starts 

feeling better and goes to Paris to put his play Saül on stage. He fails; but encouraged by new friends to 

pursue his poetic vocation, he regroups twenty-four of his best poems in Les Méditations Poétiques (Poetic 

Meditations) and publishes them in March 1820. The success is incredible; and immediately, the literary 

world claims the birth of a new genre of poetry, the Romantisme. Undeniably, Lamartine excels in 

depicting ideal love and deep sorrow; but his real talent is his ability to arrange reality and use his 

imagination. He also manages to make everyone believes that a poet is a lonely and suffering creature 

close to God and Nature. Lamartine’s excessive passions become real because everyone wants them to be 

real; furthermore, they become everyone’s passions. 11 

A week later, the poet is appointed attaché d’ambassade at Naples; and in June, he marries Miss 

Birch, a young English woman met at her sister’s wedding in 1819. Lamartine is now famous and in less 

than a year, seven editions of Les Méditations are printed. 

Coming back to France in 1821, he settles in the chateau de Saint-Point with his wife and 

newborn son Alphonse. Then comes the little Julia but alas, Alphonse dies in December. These events 

and his travels to England and Italy are boundless sources of inspiration, but Lamartine has so many 

debts that he must sell his works before they are finished or even started. Though he is often seen in 

Emile Deschamps’s salon where the first cenacle is formed, he takes no part in it, except being the father 

of Romantisme. 

In 1823, he publishes Les Nouvelles Méditations Poétiques (New Poetic Meditations), then la Mort 

de Socrates (Socrates’s death), and in 1825, le Dernier Chant du Pèlerinage d’Harold (Last Song of Harold’s 

Pilgrimage). These works are not as good as the first Méditations. Boldly, Lamartine argues that poetry is 

only a distraction and this displeases the Académie who rejects his nomination in 1824. 

In 1826, the poet becomes secrétaire d’ambassade at Florence and inspired by the Italian 

landscapes, he composes Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses (Poetic and Religious Harmonies); this 

collection of forty-eight poems is another masterpiece. Haunted by the idea of immortality, the Harmonies 

and especially the hymns are in homage to God’s glory; however, it is evident that Lamartine’s Catholic 

faith has evolved toward a form of deism and even pantheism; all on this beautiful world attests the 

existence of God and the contemplation of all these beauties help the soul to reach higher realms 

Élance-toi mon âme et d’essor en essor 

Remonte de ce monde aux beautés éternelles. 12 

10 In Raphaël as Julie and Elvire in other poems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonse_de_Lamartine 

11 Some, however, will reproach his larmoyant (whimpering) style. 

12 Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses, verses 93-94 

123

Raise my soul and as you fly higher and higher 

Leave this world and reach the eternal beauties. 

Sometimes, the poet doubts as in Novissima verba; but soon, his incertitude melts as the indestructible will 

to believe in God always reappears stronger than ever. In the Harmonies, Lamartine has indeed regained 

the touching verve of the first Méditations. 

Back in France in 1828, he sojourns in Paris and with the support of Chateaubriand and Sainte- 

Beuve, 13 he finally becomes member of the Académie a year later; and in June 1830, he publishes the 

Harmonies. 14 

After the Revolution, Hugo, Vigny, and Lamartine are more interested in politics than 

literature. Lamartine fights against death penalty, slavery, and poverty; and despite his aristocratic 

origins, he becomes a republican and gives his resignation to Louis Philippe. In 1831, he writes an essay 

Sur la Politique Rationelle (On Rational Politics) and three political odes, Contre la Peine de Mort (Against 

Death Penalty), A Ménésis, and Les Révolutions. 

Lamartine is a brilliant orator but his attempt to become deputy having failed, he decides to 

realise his old dream, a voyage in Orient. Alas, his little Julia dies in Beirut and this terrible event 

seriously falters his faith. In Gethsémani, ou la Mort de Julia (Gethsemane, or Julia’s Death), 15 the father 

revolts against the injustice of life. 

Finally elected deputy of Bergues in March 1833, Lamartine comes back to France in October 

but refuses to join any party. Attacked for using his poetic talent to satisfy his political ambitions, 

Lamartine replies, in Des destinées de la poésie (Poetry’s fates), 16 that when the nation is under threat, the 

poet must subordinate his inspiration. His poetry therefore reflects the philosophic, religious, and 

political ideas of his time. After the publication of Voyage en Orient (Voyage in Orient) in 1835, Lamartine 

is inspired by Abbé Dumont, Curé at Milly and he starts the Journal d’un Vicaire (A Vicar’s Journal) later 

re-titled Jocelyn. In this work, Lamartine presents democracy as the evangelical ideal where fraternity and 

tolerance always prevail. Then follows La Chute d’un Ange (An Angel’s Fall) in 1838 depicting the 

grandiose death of an angel condemned to be burnt at the stake for having loved a woman; here again, 

Lamartine discusses charity and justice and he severely condemns those who treat others as slaves. A 

year later comes the Recueillements Poétiques (Poetic Contemplations) in which the author exposes his 

dreams about democracy. Unfortunately, all these works are hastily finished to pay gambling debts and 

excessive spending. 

13 Sainte-Beuve’s (1804-1869) essays on Port Royal and Les causeries du Lundi. 

14 Franz Listz will put some pieces into music. 

15 Published with other works in Voyage en Orient 

16 First published in the Revue des deux Mondes and used in the second preface of the Méditations in 

1849 

124

Up to 1841, Lamartine supports the government but demands social reforms to alleviate the 

proletariat’s misery. Aware that a new revolution is inevitable, he becomes the spokesperson of the 

working class and in 1847, he publishes the Histoire des Girondins (Girondins’ History), where despite his 

abhorrence for the terror, he rehabilitates Robespierre. In February 1848, Lamartine actively participates 

in the Revolution and becomes Head of the Interim Government. Confident, he hopes to become 

Président de la République Française against Louis Napoleon; he lamentably fails and at the legislative 

election of 1849, he even loses his seat in Mâcon but wins in Le Loiret. 

The same year, Lamartine publishes Confidences where he relates his first loves with Antoniella, 

the pretty girl from Naples renamed Graziella, and with the marvellous Julie in Raphaël. The following 

year, his play Toussaint, is presented at the Théâtre Porte Saint Martin; and shortly after, he decides to 

visit Turkey. 

When he returns, Napoléon III’s coup d’état in 1851 forces him to abandon politics. 17 Almost 

ruined, he reluctantly gets back to literature. First, he writes two novels: Geneviève and Le Tailleur de 

Pierres de Saint-Point, a(Saint-Point’s Stonecutter), and few historical compilations: Histoires de la 

Restauration, des Constituants, de la Turquie, (Histories of the Restauration, the Constituants, Turkey) and de 

la Russie (Russia) in 1855 ; regrouping them all in Histoire de l’humanité par les grands hommes (Humanity’s 

History through the great men). 

The first edition of the monthly publication of Cours Familier de Littérature (Easy Course of 

literature) appears in 1856 offering from time to time beautiful poems like La Vigne et la Maison (The 

Vineyard and the House) where he evokes the sweet memories of his childhood. Alas, forced to sell Milly 

and Saint-Point in 1860, he must accept a small chalet in Passy offered by the city of Paris; and supreme 

humiliation, a pension from the Emperor. After the death of Madame de Lamartine in 1863, his niece 

Valentine de Cessiat takes care of him with great devotion. The poet continues to write until a stroke 

damages his mind in 1867. 

Almost forgotten and poor, Lamartine dies in Paris after another stroke on 28 February 1869. 

His family having refused national funerals, the poet is quietly buried in Saint-Point. 

Lamartine’s most exquisite poem is Le lac. The Bourget Lake exists but what the poet describes 

is the inner landscapes of his desperate mind. Charmingly, he mingles the themes of love, destiny, 

immortality, infinity, and unbearable suffering. His cry contained for so long in his distressed soul 

suddenly rises and bursts almost as a relief. When Lamartine writes Le Lac in August-September 1817, 

Julie is still alive but the poet is very aware of the fragility of life and the flight of time. Lamartine’s lake 

symbolises eternal love, as the Geneva Lake immortalises the impossible love of Saint-Preux and Julie in 

Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s La Nouvelle Héloïse. 18 At first, Lamartine calls this poem Ode au lac du B and says 

17 Lamartine in front of the Town Hall of Paris on 25 February 1848 by Philippoteaux 

18 Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1960) Quatrième Partie, Lettre XVII, in Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloïse, pp 503-504. 

125

C’est une de mes poésies qui a eu le plus de retentissement dans l’âme de mes lecteurs, comme 

elle en avait eu le plus dans la mienne…Niedermeyer 19 a fait de cette ode une touchante traduction 

en notes. J’ai entendu chanter cette romance, et j’ai vu les larmes qu’elle faisait répandre. 

Néanmoins, j’ai toujours pensé que la musique et la poésie se nuisaient en associant. Elles sont l’une 

et l’autre des arts complets : la musique porte en elle son sentiment, de beaux vers portent en eux 

leur mélodie. 20 

This is one of my poems, which had the greatest effect on my readers’ soul and on mine… 

Niedermeyer made from this ode a touching translation in notes. I heard this romance and I saw the 

tears it caused. Nevertheless, I have always thought that music and poetry are detrimental to one 

another. Both are complete arts: music carries its meaning; beautiful verses carry their melody. 

Here, the rimes abab are suffisantes; but Lamartine’s choice of words and excellent use of alexandrins 

and hexasyllables create a tragic atmosphere; and with its frequent enjambments and alternate long and 

short verses, the haunting prayer becomes a poignant melody rocked by the sound of the oars 

penetrating the calm water of the lake. 

Le Lac 

Ainsi, toujours poussés vers de nouveaux rivages, 

Dans la nuit éternelle emportés sans retour, 

Ne pourrons-nous jamais sur l'océan des âges 

Jeter l’ancre un seul jour ? 

O lac ! L’année à peine a fini sa carrière, 

Et près des flots chéris qu’elle devait revoir 

Regarde ! je viens seul m’asseoir sur cette pierre 

Où tu la vis s’asseoir ! 

Tu mugissais ainsi sous ces roches profondes ; 

Ainsi tu te brisais sur leurs flancs déchirés : 

Ainsi le vent jetait l’écume de tes ondes 

Sur ses pieds adorés. 

Un soir, t'en souvient-il ? nous voguions en silence ; 

19 Louis Neidermeyer (1802-1861) music master and composer who founded the school of religious music 

bearing his name. 

20 Armand Trèves, ed. (1933) Les Meilleures Pages de Lamartine, p 38. 

126

On n’entendait au loin, sur l’onde et sous les cieux, 

Que le bruit des rameurs qui frappaient en cadence 

Tes flots harmonieux. 

Tout à coup des accents inconnus à la terre 

Du rivage charmé frappèrent les échos ; 

Le flot fut attentif, et la voix qui m’est chère 

Laissa tomber ces mots : 

« O temps, suspends ton vol ! et vous, heures propices, 

Suspendez votre cours ! 

Laissez-nous savourer les rapides délices 

Des plus beaux de nos jours ! 

« Assez de malheureux ici-bas vous implorent : 

Coulez, coulez pour eux ; 

Prenez avec leurs jours les soins qui les dévorent ; 

Oubliez les heureux. 

« Mais je demande en vain quelques moments encore, 

Le temps m’échappe et fuit ; 

Je dis à cette nuit : « Sois plus lente » ; et l’aurore 

Va dissiper la nuit. 

« Aimons donc, aimons donc ! de l’heure fugitive, 

Hâtons-nous, jouissons ! 

L’homme n’a point de port, le temps n’a point de rive; 

Il coule, et nous passons ! » 

Temps jaloux, se peut-il que ces moments d’ivresse, 

Où l’amour à longs flots nous verse le bonheur, 

S’envolent loin de nous de la même vitesse 

Que les jours de malheur ? 

Hé quoi ! n'en pourrons-nous fixer au moins la trace ? 

Quoi! passés pour jamais ? quoi ! tout entiers perdus ? 

Ce temps qui les donna, ce temps qui les efface, 

Ne nous les rendra plus ? 

Eternité, néant, passé, sombres abîmes, 

127

Que faites-vous des jours que vous engloutissez ? 

Parlez : nous rendrez-vous ces extases sublimes 

Que vous nous ravissez ? 

O lac ! rochers muets ! grottes ! forêt obscure ! 

Vous que le temps épargne ou qu’il peut rajeunir, 

Gardez de cette nuit, gardez, belle nature, 

Au moins le souvenir! 

Qu’il soit dans ton repos, qu’il soit dans tes orages, 

Beau lac, et dans l’aspect de tes riants coteaux, 

Et dans ces noirs sapins, et dans ces rocs sauvages 

Qui pendent sur tes eaux ! 

Qu’il soit dans le zéphyr qui frémit et qui passe, 

Dans les bruits de tes bords par tes bords répétés, 

Dans l’astre au front d’argent qui blanchit ta surface 

De ses molles clartés ! 

Que le vent qui gémit, le roseau qui soupire, 

Que les parfums légers de ton air embaumé, 

Que tout ce qu’on entend, l’on voit ou l’on respire, 

Tout dise : « Ils ont aimé ! » 

The Lake 

Always driven toward new shores, 

Carried away in the eternal Night, 

Could we ever on the ocean of Time 21 

One day throw the anchor? 

O Lake! The Year is just ending its course, 

And near the waves she hoped to see again 

Look! I come alone and sit on this rock 

Where you saw her sitting! 

Like today you roared below these deep rocks; 

Like today, you broke upon their worn flanks. 

21 Perhaps taken from Léonard’s Saisons (1787) or Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar 

128

Like today, the wind threw your foamy waves 

On her lovely feet. 22 

One evening, you remember; we sailed in silence 

And beneath the skies we could only hear 

The sound of the rowers striking in cadence 

Your harmonious waves. 

Suddenly, a sound unknown to this Earth 23 

Echoed forth from the enchanted shore; 

The waves were attentive and the voice dear to me 

Let fall these few words: 

"O time! Hold your flight! 24 And you, propitious hours, 25 

Please hold your endless course! 

Let us savour the fleeting delights 

Of these marvellous days! 

"Many unhappy souls implore you down here! 

So flow, flow for them. 

Take them and their consuming sorrows. 

Forget the happy lads. 

"But in vain, I beg for few more instants 

Time slips away and flees; 

I say to the Night: "Please slow down", but dawn 

Soon dissipates the Night. 

"Let us love, let us love! Let us quickly enjoy 26 

The fleeting hour. 

Man has no port, time has no shore; 

It flows, and we just pass!" 

When in long draughts, love pours into our heart, 

22 Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, strophe CI of the third chant 

23 Young’s Night III 

24 This hemistich was probably taken from Antoine-Lé6nard Thomas’s Ode au Temps 

25 and from Night II 

26 Horace’s Carpe diem 

129

Is it true, jealous time, that those blissful moments 

Can fly away as fast 

As our days of sorrow? 

What did you say! Even their trace we cannot keep? 

They have gone forever? Completely lost? 

The Time that gives and wipes them off 

Will never give them back? 

Eternity, chaos, past, and dark abysses, 

What do you do with the days you swallow? 

Speak! Will you give us back the heavenly raptures 

That you steal from us? 

O Lake! Silent rocks! Caves! Obscure forest! 27 

You that Time spares and revives, 

Please beautiful nature, keep from this night, 

Its sweetest memory! 

Keep it in your silence, keep it in your storms, 

Beautiful lake, keep it on the smiling hills, 

The black fir-trees, and the wild rocks 

Hanging over your waves! 

Keep it in the zephyr that shivers and goes by 

In the sounds of your shores re-echoed by your shores, 

In the silvery moon whitening your waves 

With its gleaming radiance! 

Let the moaning breeze and the fragile reed, 

The subtle perfumes of your scented wind, 

All that can hear and see, 

Let them say how they loved! 

Amazingly, Lamartine’s style does not charm everyone; some accuses him of using too many 

abstractions, and they even question his sanity. Who would ask a lake to keep the memory of a beautiful 

night? Who would ask time to stop its course? No one except a Romantique. 

27 Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, last strophes 

130

Alfred de Vigny 

(1797-1863) 

Born in 1797 at Loches, Alfred de Vigny comes from a family of small nobleness obtained on 

both side from military services. Nevertheless, Alfred is frequently tormented at school for being an 

aristocrat of mediocre condition. Hoping to gain glory in battles, he joins 

the army at 17 and is appointed lieutenant of cavalry in the king’s Red 

Company. Officer in the Royal guard from 1816 to 1823, he is sent to the 

Pyrenees and looks forward to distinguish himself in the war with Spain. 

Unfortunately, he never gets the opportunity to fight. 

Bored and disgusted, he confides his distress on paper and 

having joined the Cenacle, in 1823, he publishes his first book Poemes 

Antiques et Modernes without revealing his identity. In 1825, Vigny 

marries an English woman Lydia Bunbury. 1 

A year later, he publishes the excellent historical novel, Cinq- 

Mars, recalling the conspiracy against Richelieu. The young author’s 

populary is on its rise but it will soon be outshined by his best friend, 

Victor Hugo. 

Sick of the casern’s life, the young man resigns in 1827 after 

having decided to opt for a career more adapted to his contemplative 

nature. In 1831, Vigny presents his first play La Maréchale d’Ancre , a retrospective of historical events. 

The author often frequents the theatre where he meets the beautiful actress, Marie Dorval who soon 

becomes his mistress, and he writes the brilliant philosophical novel Stello. In 1836, Vigny produces 

Chatterton, one of the best romantic drama. 

After the death of his mother and the breaking of his relationship with Mademoiselle Dorval, 

Alfred decides to leave the Cenacle. In 1838, he settles in Maine-Giraud, the family manor and goes to 

England to manage the succession of his father-in-law. Back in Paris few months later, he presents his 

candidature to the académie; and after many rejections, he is finally elected in May 1845. 

From 1846 to 1853, Vigny lives at Main-Giraud where he prepares Poèmes Philosophiques, a 

splendid collection of poems later called Les destinées (Fates), which will be published after his death in 

1864. The poet-philosopher also tries to become deputy but does not succeed. 

1 lithograph by Antoine Maurin, 1832. By courtesy of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Vigny%2C_Alfred-Victor.jpg

In 1862, Vigny’s wife dies from a long and cruel illness and almost a year later, on 17 September 

1863, Vigny who suffers from stomach cancer follows her. 

Alfred de Vigny is a romantic and his poetry is essential based on spiritual solitude. All his life, 

Vigny has regretted the mediocrity of his condition; but too proud to expose his misery in lyricism, he 

chooses to adopt a stoic attitude, which is to rise above the vicissitudes of life with dignity and 

resignation. Indifferent to pleasure and pain, Vigny controls his passions by showing compassion and 

humanity to all fellow human beings who suffer the same cruel fate. 

In Vigny’s creepy atmosphere and vivid wilderness descriptions, we recognise the romantic 

style and deeply feel his loneliness. La Mort du Loup taken from Les destinées is certainly the finest 

expression of Vigny’s philosophy where he honours the stoic grandeur of a dying wolf and her 

companion: the father who dies without uttering a sound and the mother whose duty is to save her cubs 

not her mate so they may learn to live and suffer with dignity. Vigny presents a graphic account of the 

hunt with concrete and striking symbols; then, facing the ultimate moment of the death sentence, he 

admires the animals who proudly accept the fatal denouement. Vigny plays with tenses, suddenly using 

the present when the wolf is trapped and returning to the past, skilfully marking the animal’s recognition 

of the futility of an unequal combat and an impossible flight. 

La Mort du loup 

Les nuages couraient sur la lune enflammée 

Comme sur l’incendie on voit fuir la fumée, 

Et les bois étaient noirs jusques 2 à l’horizon. 

Nous marchions, sans parler, dans l’humide gazon. 

Dans la bruyère épaisse et dans les hautes brandes, 

Lorsque, sous des sapins pareils à ceux des Landes, 

Nous avons aperçu les grands ongles marqués 

Par les loups voyageurs que nous avions traqués. 

Nous avons écouté, retenant notre haleine 

Et le pas suspendu. –Ni le bois ni la plaine 

Ne poussaient un soupir dans les airs ; seulement 

La girouette en deuil criait au firmament ; 

Car le vent, élevé bien au-dessus des terres, 

N’effleurait de ses pieds que les tours solitaires, 

Et les chênes d’en bas, contre les rocs penchés, 

2 Old form of jusqu’à to gain another syllable 

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Sur leurs coudes semblaient endormis et couchés. 

Rien ne bruissait donc, lorsque, baissant la tête, 

Le plus vieux des chasseurs qui s’était mis en quête 

A regardé le sable en s’y couchant ; bientôt, 

Lui que jamais ici l’on ne vit en défaut, 

A déclaré tout bas que ces marques récentes 

Annonçaient la démarche et les griffes puissantes 

De deux grands loups-cerviers et de deux louveteaux. 

Nous avons tous alors préparé nos couteaux 

Et, cachant nos fusils et leurs lueurs trop blanches, 

Nous allions pas à pas en écartant les branches. 

Trois s’arrêtèrent, et moi, cherchant ce qu’ils voyaient, 

J’aperçois tout à coup deux yeux qui flamboyaient, 

Et je vois au delà quatre formes légères 

Qui dansaient sous la lune au milieu des bruyères, 

Comme font chaque jour, à grand bruit sous nos yeux, 

Quand le maître revient, les lévriers joyeux. 

Leur forme était semblable, et semblable la danse ; 

Mais les enfants du Loup se jouaient en silence, 

Sachant bien qu’à deux pas, ne dormant qu’à demi, 

Se couche dans ses murs l’homme, leur ennemi. 

Le père était debout, et plus loin, contre un arbre, 

Sa louve reposait comme celle de marbre 

Qu’adoraient les Romains, et dont les flancs velus 

Couvaient les demi-dieux Rémus et Romulus. 

Le Loup vient et s’assied, les deux jambes dressées 

Par leurs ongles crochus dans le sable enfoncées. 

Il s’est jugé perdu, puisqu’il était surpris, 

Sa retraite coupée et tous ses chemins pris ; 

Alors il a saisi, dans sa gueule brûlante, 

Du chien le plus hardi la gorge pantelante 

Et n’a pas desserré ses mâchoires de fer, 

Malgré nos coups de feu qui traversaient sa chair 

Et nos couteaux aigus qui, comme des tenailles, 

Se croisaient en plongeant dans ses larges entrailles, 

Jusqu’au dernier moment où le chien étranglé, 

Mort longtemps avant lui, sous ses pieds a roulé. 

Le Loup le quitte alors et puis il nous regarde. 

133

Les couteaux lui restaient au flanc jusqu'à la garde, 

Le clouaient au gazon tout baigné dans son sang ; 

Nos fusils l’entouraient en sinistre croissant. 

Il nous regarde encore, ensuite il se recouche, 

Tout en léchant le sang répandu sur sa bouche, 

Et, sans daigner savoir comment il a péri, 

Refermant ses grands yeux, meurt sans jeter un cri. 

J’ai reposé mon front sur mon fusil sans poudre, 

Me prenant à penser, et n’ai pu me résoudre 

A poursuivre sa Louve et ses fils, qui, tous trois, 

Avaient voulu l’attendre, et, comme je le crois, 

Sans ses deux louveteaux, la belle et sombre veuve 

Ne l’eut pas laissé seul subir la grande épreuve ; 

Mais son devoir était de les sauver, afin 

De pouvoir leur apprendre à bien souffrir la faim, 

A ne jamais entrer dans le pacte des villes 

Que l’homme a fait avec les animaux serviles 

Qui chassent devant lui, pour avoir le coucher, 

Les premiers possesseurs du bois et du rocher. 

Hélas ! ai-je pensé, malgré ce grand nom d’Hommes, 

Que j’ai honte de nous, débiles que nous sommes ! 

Comment on doit quitter la vie et tous ses maux, 

C’est vous qui le savez, sublimes animaux ! 

A voir ce que l’on fut sur terre et ce qu’on laisse, 

Seul le silence est grand ; tout le reste est faiblesse. 

–Ah ! je t’ai bien compris, sauvage voyageur, 

Et ton dernier regard m’est allé jusqu’au cœur 

Il disait : « Si tu peux, fais que ton âme arrive, 

A force de rester studieuse et pensive, 

Jusqu'à ce haut degré de stoïque fierté 

Où, naissant dans les bois, j’ai tout d’abord monté. 

Gémir, pleurer, prier, est également lâche. 

Fais énergiquement ta longue et lourde tache 

Dans la voie où le Sort a voulu t’appeler. 

Puis après, comme moi, souffre et meurs sans parler. » 

134

The Death of the wolf 

The clouds were running fast on the blazing moon 

As we could see the smoke fleeing from the fire, 

And the woods were black up to the horizon. 

We were walking, in silence, on the wet lawn, 

In the thick heather and the high yellow grass, 

When, under the fir-trees like those in the Landes, 3 

We saw imprinted on the path the big claws 

Of the wandering wolves that we were hunting. 

We listened cautiously while holding our breath 

And we stopped on the track. –The wood and the plain 

Did not let out a sigh in the air; only 

The sad weathercock moaned to the firmament; 

For the wind, well above the lands, could only 

Brushed with his feet the solitary towers, 

And the oaks below, lying against the rocks 

On their elbows, seemed to have fallen asleep. 

Not a rustling sound then, when, bending his head, 

The oldest of the hunters who watched the track 

Looked carefully at the sand and layed down; soon, 

He whom no one ever saw making mistakes, 

Declared beneath his breath that these recent marks 

Announced the proud gait and the powerful claws 

Of two big wolves, the stag-hunters, 4 and two cubs. 

At once, all of us prepared our sharpest knives 

And, hiding our riffles and their too white glint, 

We walked slowly pushing the branches aside. 

Three stopped, and looking at what they were seeing, 

I suddenly notice two big eyes glowing 

And not far away, I see the four light shapes 

Dancing under the moon amid the heather 

As always do, with great noise, under our eyes, 

When the master comes back, the happy greyhounds. 

3 Region in the south-west of France 

4 This type of wolf was known for attacking stags 

135

Their shapes were the same and the same were their dance; 

But the Wolf’s children were playing in silence, 

Knowing well that two steps away, half-asleep, 

Man, their worst enemy, lies behind his walls. 

The father was standing, and against a tree, 

His She-wolf was resting as the marble one 

That the Romans adored and whose hairy flanks 

Fed the demi-gods Remus and Romulus. 5 

The Wolf comes 6 closer and sits down, his legs straight 

On their hooked claws sunken deep into the sand 

Taken by surprise, he knew that all was lost, 

His retreat cut off and the other ways blocked; 

So, he seized, in his burning mouth, 

The panting throat of the hardiest dog 

And did not loose his iron jaws, 

Despite the gun-shots which were piercing his flesh 

And our sharp knives, which like pincers 

Criss-crossed and plunged in his entrails, 

Until the last moment, when the strangled dog 

Dead longer before him, rolled under his feet. 

The Wolf then leaves it and proudly looks at us. 

The knives were still hanging deep into his flank 

Nailing him onto the lawn all bathed with blood; 

Our riffles encircled him in a crescent. 

He looks at us again, and then, he lies down, 

Licking the warm blood on his mouth, 

And, without deigning to know how he perished, 

He closes his eyes, and dies without a cry. 

My forehead lying on my empty riffle, 

I started thinking unable to pursue 

His She-wolf and his brave sons, who, the all three, 

Had waited for him, and, as I do believe, 

Without her two cubs, the beautiful widow 

5 the founders of Rome were supposed to have been reared by a she-wolf but the statue is in bronze not 

marble as Vigny says 

6 Note how the present tense increases the excitement 

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7 The dogs 

Would never have left him fighting all alone; 

But her duty was to save her sons so that 

She could teach them how to suffer hunger, 

To never get caught in the pact of the towns 

That Man made one day with servile animals 7 

Which now hunt with him for a small place to sleep, 

They, who were the owners of the wood and rocks. 

Alas! I thought, despite this great name of Men 

How ashamed I am of us, how fool! 

How we should leave life and all its sufferings, 

Only you, sublime animals, know! 

Seeing what we were and what we leave behind, 

Silence alone is great; all else is weakness. 

–Ah! I understand you now, wild wanderer, 

And your last look went just straight into my heart! 

Saying: “If you can, make sure that your soul climbs, 

By always remaining studious and thoughtful, 

Up to the highest degree of stoic pride 

Where, born in the woods, I naturally reached. 

To moan, weep, and pray are coward attitudes. 

With good energy, do your long and hard task 

As destiny has seen fit to call you and 

As I do, suffer and die without a word.” 

137

Victor-Marie Hugo 

(1802-1885) 

Born on 26 February 1802 at Besançon, his father’s garrison, Victor-Marie Hugo is a frail little 

boy but as the years pass, he builds an amazing robustness and a strong mind. Exasperated by her 

husband’s travels and his veneration for Napoléon, the usurper, Madame Hugo leaves and settles at Les 

Feuillantines, an old convent near Paris Val de Grâce. With their mother, the three children spend their 

time reading and writing poetry. Then in 1811, Victor and Eugène are sent to the Collège des Nobles, and 

Abel is appointed page at King Joseph’s court in Italy. Victor will always remember the dark college and 

its hunchback wakeup-man. 

In 1815, Victor prepares his entry to the École de Polytechnique (School of polytechnics) and 

studies law at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. The children are excellent students and Eugène will probably 

become a genius in literature. Victor is also very determined; at fourteen, he proudly writes on one of his 

notebooks Je veux être Chateaubriand ou rien ! (I want to be Chateaubriand or nothing!). The same 

Chateaubriand calls him « l’enfant sublime » (the sublime child). 

Certainly a year later, Victor receives the Académie Française’s compliment for his poem sur les 

avantages de l’étude (The advantages to study); and the Société des Bonnes Lettres praises his talents. Then 

at sixteen, the young Hugo wins the Lys d’Or (Golden Lily) of the Académie of Toulouse’s Jeux Floraux 

for les Vierges de Verdun (Verdun’s Virgins) and the following year, he becomes Maître ès Jeux Floraux 

(Jeux Floraux’s master) for his poem Moïse sur le Nil. Victor’s father, Léopold, realises that his son will 

never enter the school of Polytechnic; and he agrees when Victor decides to abandon his study. 

This however does not bring money home and in December 1819, with the support of 

Chateaubriand and Alfred de Vigny, the three brothers join their skills and found a review called Le 

Conservateur littéraire, the sister of Chateaubriand’s Conservateur. In the December issue, Victor inserts his 

first novel Bug Jargal and few articles under various pseudonyms. 

Victor’s achievement has already softened the mind of his beloved’s father, Mr Foucher; but 

Mme Hugo refuses a union with the daughter of someone implicated in her lover’s execution in 1812. 

Victor knows Adèle since childhood so he is patient and this delay allows him to idealise his future wife 

who coldly responds to his passion. Meanwhile in June, Victor publishes his first collection of poems 

Odes et Poésies diverses regrouping works mostly written for Adèle and pieces of catholic inspiration; he 

also writes a novel Han d’Islande. Immediately, Victor’s imagination and the richness of his imagery 

produce an immense effect on the public. He not only vivifies poetry, as we know it, he also creates 

delightful rhythms unheard before. For these works in which we see the influence of Chateaubriand and 

Lamartine, the poet receives two grants from Louis XVIII.

With Madame Hugo’s death in 1821, the opposition to Victor and Adele’s union is lifted and the 

wedding is celebrated in October 1822. Alas, it tragically ends. Already deeply affected by his brother’s 

literary triumph, Eugene’s distressed mind cannot handle the fact that the brother who stole the 

recognition he coveted so much, is now marrying the woman he secretly loves. The poor man will die 

fourteen year later without having recovered his sanity. 

Meanwhile, the young couple moves to Blois in Léopold’s white house at the foot of the green 

hill. Soon, the father converts his son to the Napoleonic cult; and in l’Ode à la colonne de la Place Vendôme 1 

published in 1827, Victor clearly shows his admiration for Napoléon. However, the poet does not reject 

the monarchy and its advantages; at twenty-three, he receives the Légion d’ Honneur 2 and is invited to 

Charles X’s coronation. 

In 1826, Victor’s finances have improved; he buys an apartment rue de Vaugirard where 

Lamartine, Vigny, Sainte-Beuve, Théophile Gautier, and Gérard Nerval visit him frequently. The same 

year, Hugo adds some Ballades to the Odes. Inspired this time by the German ballades and Walter Scott’s 

poems, the poet-troubadour revives the Middle Ages. His style is still a little classical but the poet 

admirably blends the picturesque characteristics of romanticism to the marvellous of the Middle Ages, 

very fashionable at the time; furthermore, the tone shows an interesting form of aggressiveness, the 

vocabulary is colourful, and the versification excellent. 

Probably too busy to continue the publication of the Conservateur Littéraire, Victor now 

collaborates to the Muse Française and after having joined the cenacle of Emile Deschamps, he frequently 

visits Charles Nodier’s Arsenal where he meets Lamartine and fights for literature’s freedom and against 

authoritarian legitimism. Still in 1827, Hugo starts his first play Cromwell; his goal is to fully renew 

literary drama and he exposes his revolutionary views in the preface. With an impressive verve and a 

vibrant style, Hugo explains that a good drama must present the Christian idea about the duality of Man; 

and in the play, he reveals his theory. To present the complexity of Man, the writer blends the grotesque 

and the sublime, synchronises the action in time and place, and with historical and geographical 

sceneries, he gives an astonishing impression of life and reality. 

Immediately, the new generation recognises Victor Hugo as the leader of the Romantics; and 

from 1829, his apartment Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs becomes the meeting place of the second cenacle. 

At twenty-seven, Victor is so popular that an editor proposes to publish his complete work in ten 

volumes; but the poet is not blind by his tremendous success. Though very thankful to the society, which 

acclaims him so enthusiastically, he cannot tolerate that the same society reacts with shocking 

indifference to the unbearable suffering striking so many people. Seeing himself probably as a sage or a 

guide, he decides to use his pen to contribute in his own way to the making of a better world. Most of 

Hugo’s works is sombre, melancholic, and often revolted, but it always ends on an optimistic note, the 

small light at the end of the tunnel. 

1 Ode to Place Vendome’s column (where stands Napoléon’s bust) 

2 Order of merit (civil or military) created by Napoleon in 1802. 

139

In les Orientales published in 1829, Victor, who never saw the Orient, associates his memories of 

Spain and the tales brought by many travellers including Chateaubriand’s famous Itinéraire. Again, 

Victor succeeds; how could we resist Greece’s luminous landscapes or Grenade magical sky? Les 

Orientales is l’art pour l’art (pure art). The richness of the images in Mazeppa, the variety of the rhythms in 

les Djinns, and the melody of the verses in Clair de Lune enchant the reader and unsurprisingly convince 

the incorruptible. 

Victor Hugo’s genius is climbing but with his legendary 

spontaneity and enthusiasm, he tells too many truths. In un Duel sous 

Richelieu later re-titled Marion de Lorme, Victor blatantly expresses his 

rebellious ideas against the monarchy and Charles X censures the novel 

despite its author’s supplications. 

Nevertheless, his triumph is soon complete with the first 

presentation of Hernani at the Comédie 

Française in February 1830. This play marks 

the beginning of the quarrel between the 

classics and the romantics but thanks to 

Théophile Gautier, Gérard de Nerval, 

Sainte-Beuve, and the ‘Jeunes France’, Victor 

Hugo wins the day despite the scandalised 

clamours of his opponents. 

The same year the cenacle members cease to see each other. 

Hugo learns about his wife’s liaison with his best friend Sainte-Beuve 

and to forget his misfortune, he goes back to his writing. 3 Hernani is 

followed a year later by Notre Dame de Paris, the famous and superb 

novel of the hunchback of Notre Dame in Paris Middle Ages with its 

Cour des Miracles (villains’ den) and the magnificent cathedral of Notre 

de Dame. 

Not long after, the poet publishes les Feuilles d’Automne 

(Autumn’s leaves), a new collection of poems infused with melancholy. 

In this beautiful compilation, Victor Hugo talks about his mother’s protective love and his 

father’s devotion for the Empire; he also disserts on the various stages of life and the fate of the poor. 

Hugo dearly loves his four children, Léopoldine, Adèle, Charles, and François and the joy to see them 

playing happily around him instantly melts his sadness; all these refreshing emotions transpire in Lorsque 

l’enfant paraît… (When the child arrives). 

3 Adèle Foucher Hugo; http://www.centre-lecture.com/home/spip.php?article1370 

140

Victor 4 is now thirty-one and more than ever, he claims his hatred for oppression. Since the 

Revolution of 1830, he has been involved in politics. To Louis-Philippe’s 

prudence, he opposes an indestructible faith in liberty and this is 

sometimes seen as a contradiction to his unyielding admiration for 

Napoléon, the despot. 

This year of 1833 also marks the beginning of a new and life-long 

love for the poet. As soon as Juliette Drouet, the young artist playing 

Princess Négrino in Lucrèce Borgia, meets Victor, the beautiful women is 

immediately attracted to him. For the poet she venerates, Juliette abandons 

everything including her brilliant career. She will love him until she dies. 

Victor is transformed by this unexpected passion; he visits her every day 

and she follows him everywhere he goes, always remaining in the shadow 

even when occasionally her insatiable lover is chasing other women. 5 

In 1834, Victor presents le Roi s’amuse (The King has fun) but the 

play is censured as Marion de Lorme was. Yes, oppression have returned as 

the monarchy fails to keep its promises. Very angry, the poet declares 

Il n’y a eu dans ce siècle qu’un grand homme, Napoléon, et une grande chose la liberté. Nous 

n’avons plus le grand homme ; tâchons d’avoir la grande chose. 

This century has seen one great man only, Napoleon, and one great thing, liberty. We lost the 

great man; let us strive for the great thing. 

He then publishes Angela and les Chants du Crépuscule (Crepuscule’s Chants). This collection 

marks a critical time in Hugo’s life; the poet says 

C’est cet étrange état crépusculaire de l’âme et de la société dans le siècle où nous vivons : cette 

brume au dehors, cette incertitude au dedans; c’est ce je ne sais quoi d’à demi éclairé qui nous 

environne. 

It is the strange crepuscular state of the soul and of the society in the century in which we live; 

the fog outside, the incertitude inside; it is something half alight surrounding us. 

4 Victor Hugo at 30, Lithography by Achille Devéria 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Victor_Hugo.jpg 

5 Juliette Drouet by Léon Noel ; http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image: 

Juliette_Drouet_%28No%C3%ABl%29.jpg 

141

Two years later, Hugo dedicates the superb volume les Voix Intérieures (Inside Voices) to his 

father. These voices are the voice of Man, the voice of Nature, and the voice of what happens in Paris. 

With vivid images and tenderness, Victor revives the sunny days at les feuillantines and pays tribute to his 

brother in A Eugène, vicomte H. Hugo, the chronicler, describes Paris’s new Arc de Triomphe on which his 

dear nation forgot to print his father’s name, and he gives an account of the death of Charles X. Hugo also 

meditates on the greatest mystery of the universe and asks Virgil to give him the key as he did to Dante. 

1838 brilliantly starts with the poet’s new play Ruy Blas, a drama written in verses, where the 

author blends humour and sentiment with the grotesque and rich Don Saluste and the poor but charming 

Blas alias Don Cesar. The play is a great success immediately followed by les Rayons et les Ombres (Rays 

and Shadows), which appears in 1840. Hugo still uses the same themes: childhood, love, and Nature seen 

from various perspectives according to the poet’s états d’âme (states of mind), as in Oceano Nox and 

Tristesse d’Olympio (Olympio’s Sadness) where he talks of his long walks with Juliette in the Brieves 

Valley during the summers 1834 and 1835. Alas, his return to Brieves in October 1837 only reminds the 

author of the inexorable flight of time and the vanity of those who hope to eternalise fleeting moments of 

happiness. Above all, les Rayons et les Ombres reveals the writer’s mission to alleviate human misery and 

teach humanity how to prepare a better future for all. 

In 1840, Victor sees with great emotion the return of Napoleon’s ashes and to mark the event, he 

regroups ten poems dedicated to the great man in le Retour de l’Empereur. Nevertheless, Hugo is still in 

good terms with the royal family and frequently visits Hélène Mecklenburg, Louis-Philippe’s daughterin-law. 

Thanks to her influence—but after three rejections, the Académie Française finally opens its door 

to the most illustrious writer of the 19 th Century. 

At this time, the new academician dreams to become Foreign Affair Minister. Meanwhile, he 

continues to write and from his travels to the Rhine region in 1839 and 1840, he publishes le Rhin, a 

political and historical essay discussing some pressing problems. 

However, 1843 does not start as he expects; his play les Burgraves is a failure; and very 

disappointed that the public does not share his idea of good drama, he decides that he will never write 

any more play. He takes a break with Juliette and travel to Spain; they stop at the Île d’Oléron, and on 9 

September, they are in Rochefort. Victor will never forget this day. As usual, he takes his breakfast in the 

café close to his hotel; and, from the local newspaper, he learns the tragic death of his daughter 

Léopoldine and his son-in-law. Five days earlier, while sailing on the Seine, the boat capsized and the 

young couple drowned near Villequier. Victor’s despair is immense; but his mind is strong and the man 

is generous therefore politics is a salutary diversion. In 1845, he becomes pair de France and this 

opportunity allows him to denounce the Polish oppression and the misery of the poor in general; he also 

fights vigorously against death penalty. 

Victor is certainly very busy but he still has time to fall in love with Léonie Biard, a beautiful 

and ambitious Bonapartist woman, fifteen years younger than Juliette. Caught red-handed with Léonie, 

the poet cannot escape the scandal; all Paris laughs at his discomfiture; nevertheless, Victor has not 

abandoned his faithful Julie and when he learns about the death of her daughter Claire, he comes 

142

immediately to comfort her. This terrible event has reopened Victor’s deep wound and when he takes his 

pen again, the young Claire soon becomes Léopoldine in les Contemplations. 

In October 1847, Victor composes Demain dès l'aube, 6 the fourteenth poem of Book IV of his 

Contemplations. Four years have passed since the tragic death of 

Léopoldine 7 and after the stupor of the horrible event, Victor Hugo feels 

her daughter’s presence; she is waiting for him in Villequier small 

cemetery so he cannot delay his visit much longer. In a very gentle tone, 

he tells her about the journey he will make the following day. 

No eloquence in this tender sonnet following the pattern abab. 

Just a sober and touching intimacy between a father and his daughter. 

The first strophe marks Victor’s need to see her defunct child; the distance 

separating them being great, he will start his journey at dawn. In the 

second strophe, the rejets (rejects) and the isolated words and phrases 

remind us that the poet still carries the weight of his sorrow on his back. 

Since her departure, he has always been alone and sad; and as we can see 

in the third and last strophe nothing will chase his overwhelming 

loneliness not even the beautiful countryside from Le Havre to Villequier. 

Victor will not look at the beauty around him because he does not want anything to distract his thoughts 

from his cherished daughter. 

6 Demain dès l’aube, the poem of my childhood reminds me the cold and foggy mornings of my dear 

Lorraine, when hand in hand, Grandma and I were walking to school. For my birthday in 2005, my 

wonderful sister sent me the wonderful watercolour she painted especially for this book 

7 Léopoldine by Auguste de Châtillon (1836) 

143

Demain dès l'aube by Claudine Bigaut (Oct. 2005) 

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Demain dès l’aube 

Demain dès l'aube, à l'heure où blanchit la campagne, 

Je partirai. Vois-tu, je sais que tu m'attends. 

J'irai par la forêt, j'irai par la montagne. 

Je ne puis demeurer loin de toi plus longtemps. 

Je marcherai les yeux fixés sur mes pensées, 

Sans rien voir au dehors, sans entendre aucun bruit, 

Seul, inconnu, le dos courbé, les mains croisées, 

Triste, et le jour pour moi sera comme la nuit. 

Je ne regarderai ni l’or du soir qui tombe, 

Ni les voiles au loin descendant vers Harfleur, 

Et quand j’arriverai, je mettrai sur ta tombe 

Un bouquet de houx vert et de bruyère en fleur. 

Tomorrow at dawn 

Tomorrow at dawn, when the country whitens, 

I will leave; I know you wait for me. 

I will cross the forest and climb the mountain; 

No longer can I stay away from you. 

I will walk, my eyes fixed on my thoughts 

I will see nothing, I will hear no noise, 

Alone, unknown, my back bent, my hands fold, 

Sad, and for me, the days will be like nights. 

I will not see the evening gold falling down 

Nor the boats, sailing away to Harfleur, 

And when I arrive, I will put on your grave, 

A bunch of green holy, and heather in full bloom. 

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With the Revolution of 1848, King Louis-Philippe abdicates and the second Republic is in place. 

Hugo is elected deputy at the Constituante; and with his support, Louis-Napoléon becomes President of 

the Republic. A year later, Victor Hugo is member of the Legislative. Soon he realises that the Princepresident 

has nothing in common with the great Napoleon except his name and angrily, he proclaims his 

disappointment in his newspaper l’Événement; but Hugo’s anger reaches its paroxysm in 1851 when he 

discovers Napoleon’s machination to take over the presidency after his four-year mandate with or 

without the support of the two Assemblies. Infuriated, he denounces the shameful conspiracies of whom 

he now calls Napoléon-le-Petit (Napoleon the Small) at the tribune of the Assemblée Législative, and he 

loudly announces that he will do whatever he can to stop him. However, Hugo is unable to prevent the 

tyrant’s coup d’état in December 1851. His only hope is to valiantly resist and running from one barricade 

to another, he encourages the partisans; but the usurper efficiently controls the situation and sends all the 

agitators to the firing squad. Hugo must flee urgently. With a falsified passport, he arrives at Brussels 

where a trunk full of manuscripts is waiting for him. 

There, the poet releases his indignation in Napoléon le Petit, a pamphlet published in 1852 and he 

writes Histoire d’un crime (Crime Story). This displeases the Belgium authorities. Not welcome anymore, 

Hugo leaves for Jersey and settles at Marine-Terrace, a beautiful villa near Saint-Hélier; as always, Juliette 

discreetly follows the family. Soon, Léonie wants to rejoin her lover but Hugo forbids her to come. 

Away from the political scene, Hugo the outlaw now spends all his time writing. Very intrigued 

by death and after-life, the visit of Delphine de Girardin, a well-known poet, exacerbates his curiosity for 

the unknown and encourages him to communicate with the dead. For two years, Victor organises 

weekly-séances of spiritism and all the participants record their conversation with their defunct relatives 

but also with Dante, Shakespeare, Chateaubriand, Bonaparte, and many more. In 1854, the poet reveals 

his experiences in Ce que dit la Bouche d’Ombre (What the Shadow’s mouth says), and in Dieu, la Fin de 

Satan (God, the End of Satan). In la Bouche d’Ombre presented in the Contemplations, Victor Hugo 

meditates on the metaphysical necessity of the existence of evil; he also believes in a new religion 

emerging from Christianity and he is convinced that he is the prophet chosen to reveal the Ultimate 

Truth. His gospel announces the coming of the Universal Republic as the terrestrial prelude of God’s final 

reconciliation with all his creatures. 

Hugo is still in touch with what happens around him and when in 1855 the authors of the 

newspaper l’Homme (The Man) are expulsed for spreading republican ideas, he protests furiously; this 

causes his own expulsion from Jersey in October. Victor has no regret and goes to Isle of Guernsey where 

he buys Hauteville-House, a property directly on the beach not far from Saint-Pierre. 

In Guernsey, Victor continues les Châtiments, started just at his arrival in Jersey in November 

1852. This is another masterpiece where Hugo, the democrat, the anticlerical, the apostle of the universal 

republic and of the United States of Europe, pours out his rage. The poet also recalls with gruesome 

details and vividness, Napoleon’s last battle at Waterloo, contrasting the great man with his descendant 

Louis, the ridiculous monkey. Les Châtiments counts six thousands satirical verses, an incredible challenge 

even for a master like Victor Hugo. Again, the poet keeps his reader alert with diversity and vivacity. He 

146

complains and prophesises, and above all he insults and condemns the instigators of the coup d’état and 

those who accept it. 

In this epopee, things and ideas take a human form; it is the eternal battle of good against evil 

and the soldiers of the Grande Armée become under Hugo’s pen, implacable 

giants and heroes of incomparable bravery. The tone is virulent, passionate, 

and incredibly heartbreaking. This enormous work is a magnificent work of 

art with no equivalent in French poetry. 

Expiation 8 is certainly one of the most poignant poems of Les 

Châtiments. During the retreat from Russia in October-December 1812, at 

Waterloo, and at Sainte-Hélène, Napoléon is paying the price for his crime. 

When he wrote Expiation, Victor Hugo took his inspiration from his master 

Chateaubriand’s Mémoires d’Outre-Tombe and from the Comte de Ségur’s 

Histoire de Napoléon et de la Grande Armée pendant l’année 1812. From 

hundreds of pages of history, the poet composes a gigantic epopee avoiding 

all details that could have tarnished the terrible grandeur of the soldiers of 

the Grande Armée and his superb leader Napoléon 1 er . 

In this magnificent tragedy where mystery pervades, imperceptibly, men are becoming ghosts. 

Baudelaire superbly describes Victor Hugo’s art to express horror 

Il (Victor Hugo) voit le mystère partout. Et, de ce fait, où n’est-il pas ? De là dérive ce sentiment 

d’effroi qui pénètre plusieurs de ses plus beaux poèmes ; de là ces turbulences, ces accumulations, 

ces écroulements de vers, ces masses d’images orageuses, emportées avec la vitesse d’un chaos qui 

fuit ; de là ces répétitions fréquentes de mots, tous destinés à exprimer les ténèbres captivantes ou 

l’énigmatique physionomie du mystère. 9 

He sees mystery everywhere. And, where is it not? From this comes his feeling of horror, 

which penetrates several of his most beautiful poems; from this, comes his turbulences, 

accumulations, avalanches of verses, mass of stormy images, carried away at the speed of a 

fleeing chaos; from this, rise his frequent repetitions of words, all used to express captivating 

darkness or the enigmatic features of mystery. 

Les Châtiments 10 is a message of experiences reaching its paroxysm in three phases: the battle, 

the sacrifice of the Guard, and the rout. With the three syllables of Waterloo tolling above the dead, the 

memories of the terrible campaign of Russia suddenly re-emerged from the heart of all French citizens. 

Victor Hugo brutally moves from the imperfect to the past and with the same vigour returns to the 

8 For my little heart-sister Irina who came from Russia not long ago. 

9 D. Parmée, ed. (1949) Selected critical studies of Baudelaire, p 170. 

10 Honoré Daumier’s Drawing http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Victor_Hugo-Cossette.jpg 

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imperfect. Then, he uses the present when he exposes the carnage and horror of the battlefield and the 

heroic sacrifice of the imperial Guard. This epic aggrandisement prepares the contrast between Napoléon 

1 er and Napoléon III, finally leading to the expiation. 

L’expiation 11 

11 Victor Hugo (1857) Les Châtiments, p 43-46. 

Il neigeait. On était vaincu par sa conquête. 

Pour la première fois, l’aigle baissait la tête. 

Sombres jours ! l’empereur revenait lentement, 

Laissant derrière lui brûler Moscou fumant., 

Il neigeait. L’âpre hiver fondait en avalanche. 

Après la plaine blanche, une autre plaine blanche. 

On ne connaissait plus les chefs ni le drapeau. 

Hier la grande armée, et maintenant le troupeau. 

On ne distinguait plus les ailes ni le centre : 

Il neigeait. Les blessés s’abritaient dans le ventre 

Des chevaux morts ; au seuil des bivouacs désolés 

On voyait des clairons à leur poste gelés 

Restés debout, en selle et muets, blancs de givre, 

Collant leur bouche en pierre aux trompettes de cuivre. 

Boulets, mitraille, obus, mêlés aux flocons blancs, 

Pleuvaient ; les grenadiers, surpris d’être tremblants, 

Marchaient pensifs, la glace à leur moustache grise. 

Il neigeait, il neigeait toujours ! la froide bise 

Sifflait ; sur le verglas, dans les lieux inconnus, 

On n’avait pas de pain et l’on allait pieds nus. 

Ce n’étaient plus des cœurs vivants, des gens de guerre 

C’était un rêve errant dans la brume, un mystère, 

Une procession d’ombres sur le ciel noir. 

La solitude, vaste, épouvantable à voir, 

Partout apparaissait, muette vengeresse. 

Le ciel faisait sans bruit avec la neige épaisse 

Pour cette immense armée un immense linceul ; 

Et, chacun se sentant mourir, on était seul. 

- Sortira-t-on jamais de ce funeste empire ? 

Deux ennemis ! le Czar, le Nord. Le Nord est le pire. 

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On jetait les canons pour brûler les affûts. 

Qui se couchait, mourait. Groupe morne et confus, 

Ils fuyaient ; le désert dévorait le cortège. 

On pouvait, à des plis qui soulevaient la neige, 

Voir que des régiments s’étaient endormis là. 

O chutes d’Annibal ! Lendemains d’Attila ! 

Fuyards, blessés, mourants, caissons, brancards, civières, 

On s’écrasait aux ponts pour passer les rivières. 

On s’endormait dix mille, on se réveillait cent. 

Ney, que suivait naguère une armée, à présent 

S’évadait, disputant sa montre à trois cosaques. 

Toutes les nuits, qui vive ! alerte ! assauts ! attaques ! 

Ces fantômes prenaient leur fusil, et sur eux 

Ils voyaient se ruer, effrayants, ténébreux, 

Avec des cris pareils aux voix des vautours chauves, 

D’horribles escadrons, tourbillons d’hommes fauves. 

Toute une armée ainsi dans la nuit se perdait. 

L’empereur était là, debout, qui regardait. 

Il était comme un arbre en proie à la cognée. 

Sur ce géant, grandeur jusqu’alors épargnée, 

Le malheur, bûcheron sinistre, était monté ; 

Et lui, chêne vivant, par la hache insulté, 

Tressaillant sous le spectre aux lugubres revanches, 

Il regardait tomber autour de lui ses branches. 

Chefs, soldats, tous mouraient. Chacun avait son tour. 

Tandis qu’environnant sa tente avec amour, 

Voyant son ombre aller et venir sur la toile, 

Ceux qui restaient, croyant toujours à son étoile, 

Accusaient le destin de lèse-majesté. 

Lui se sentit soudain dans l’âme épouvanté. 

Stupéfait du désastre et ne sachant que croire, 

L’empereur se tourna vers Dieu ; l’homme de gloire 

Trembla ; Napoléon comprit qu’il expiait 

Quelque chose peut-être, et, livide, inquiet, 

Devant ses légions sur la neige semées : 

- Est-ce le châtiment, dit-il, Dieu des armées ? – 

Alors il s’entendit appeler par son nom 

Et quelqu’un qui parlait dans l’ombre lui dit : non. 

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II 

Waterloo! Waterloo! Waterloo! Morne plaine! 

Comme une onde qui bout dans une urne trop pleine, 

Dans ton cirque de bois, de coteaux, de vallons, 

La pâle mort mêlait les sombres bataillons. 

D’un côté c’est l’Europe et de l’autre la France. 

Choc sanglant ! des héros Dieu trompait l’espérance ; 

Tu désertais, victoire, et le sort était las. 

O Waterloo ! je pleure et je m’arrête, hélas ! 

Car ces derniers soldats de la dernière guerre 

Furent grands ; ils avaient vaincu toute la terre, 

Chassé vingt rois, passé les Alpes et le Rhin, 

Et leur âme chantait dans les clairons d’airain ! 

Le soir tombait ; la lutte était ardente et noire. 

Il avait l’offensive et presque la victoire ; 

Il tenait Wellington acculé sur un bois. 

Sa lunette à la main, il observait parfois 

Le centre du combat, point obscur où tressaille 

La mêlée, effroyable et vivante broussaille, 

Et parfois l’horizon, sombre comme la mer. 

Soudain, joyeux, il dit : Grouchy ! – C’était Blücher ! 

L’espoir changea de camp, le combat changea d’âme, 

La mêlée en hurlant grandit comme une flamme. 

La batterie anglaise écrasa nos carrés. 

La plaine où frissonnaient les drapeaux déchirés 

Ne fut plus, dans les cris des mourants qu’on égorge, 

Qu’un gouffre flamboyant, rouge comme une forge ; 

Gouffre où les régiments, comme des pans de murs, 

Tombaient, où se couchaient comme des épis mûrs 

Les hauts tambours-majors aux panaches énormes, 

Où l’on entrevoyait des blessures difformes ! 

Carnage affreux ! moment fatal ! l’homme inquiet 

Sentit que la bataille entre ses mains pliait. 

Derrière un mamelon la garde était massée, 

La garde, espoir suprême et suprême pensée ! 

- Allons ! faites donner la garde, cria-t-il, - 

Et Lanciers, Grenadiers aux guêtres de coutil, 

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Dragons que Rome eût pris pour des légionnaires, 

Cuirassiers, Canonniers qui traînaient des tonnerres, 

Portant le noir colback ou le casque poli, 

Tous, ceux de Friedland et ceux de Rivoli, 

Comprenant qu’ils allaient mourir dans cette fête, 

Saluèrent leur dieu, debout dans la tempête. 

Leur bouche, d’un seul cri, dit : Vive l’empereur ! 

Puis, à pas lents, musique en tête, sans fureur, 12 

Tranquille, souriant à la mitraille anglaise, 

La garde impériale entra dans la fournaise. 

Hélas ! Napoléon, sur sa garde penché, 

Regardait, et, sitôt qu’ils avaient débouché 

Sous les sombres canons crachant des jets de soufre, 

Voyait, l’un après l’autre, en cet horrible gouffre, 

Fondre ces régiments de granit et d’acier, 

Comme fond une cire au souffle d’un brasier. 

Ils allaient, l’arme au bras, front haut, graves, stoïques. 

Pas un ne recela. Dormez, morts héroïques ! 

Le reste de l’armée hésitait sur leur corps 

Et regardait mourir la garde. – C’est alors 

Qu’élevant tout à coup sa voix désespérée, pietiner 

La Déroute, géante à la face effarée, immonde 

Qui, pâle, épouvantant les plus fiers bataillons, 

Changeant subitement les drapeaux en haillons, 

A de certains moments, spectre fait de fumées, 

Se lève grandissante au milieu des armées, 

La Déroute apparut au soldat qui s’émeut, 

Et, se tordant les bras, cria : Sauve qui peut ! 

Sauve qui peut ! affront ! horreur ! toutes les bouches 

Criaient ; à travers champs, fous, éperdus, farouches, 

Comme si quelque souffle avait passé sur eux, 

Parmi les lourds caissons et les fourgons poudreux, 

Roulant dans les fossés, se cachant dans les seigles, 

Jetant shakos, manteaux, fusils, jetant les aigles, 

Sous les sabres prussiens, ces vétérans, ô deuil ! 

12 Typical trimetre coming after a tetrameter marking the change of rhythm from immobility to slow 

movement 

151

Tremblaient, hurlaient, pleuraient, couraient ! En un clin d’œil, 

Comme s’envole au vent une paille enflammée, 

S’évanouit ce bruit qui fut la grande armée, 

Et cette plaine, hélas ! où l’on rêve aujourd’hui, 

Vit fuir ceux devant qui l’univers avait fui ! 

Quarante ans sont passés, et ce coin de la terre, 

Waterloo, ce plateau funèbre et solitaire, 

Ce champ sinistre où Dieu mêla tant de néants, 

Tremble encor d’avoir vu la fuite des géants ! 

Napoléon les vit s’écouler comme un fleuve ; 

Hommes, chevaux, tambours, drapeaux ; et dans l’épreuve, 

Sentant confusément revenir son remords, 

Levant les mains au ciel, il dit : - mes soldats morts, 

Moi vaincu ! mon empire est brisé comme verre. 

Est-ce le châtiment cette fois, Dieu sévère ? – 

Alors parmi les cris, les rumeurs, le canon, 

Il entendit la voix qui lui répondait : Non ! 

III 

Il croula. Dieu changea la chaîne de l'Europe. 

Il est, au fond des mers que la brume enveloppe, 

Un roc hideux, débris des antiques volcans. 

Le Destin prit des clous, un marteau, des carcans, 

Saisit, pâle et vivant, ce voleur du tonnerre, 

Et, joyeux, s'en alla sur le pic centenaire 

Le clouer, excitant par son rire moqueur 

Le vautour Angleterre à lui ronger le cœur. 

Evanouissement d'une splendeur immense ! 

Du soleil qui se lève à la nuit qui commence, 

Toujours l'isolement, l'abandon, la prison ; 

Un soldat rouge au seuil, la mer à l'horizon. 

Des rochers nus, des bois affreux, l'ennui, l'espace, 

Des voiles s'enfuyant comme l'espoir qui passe, 

Toujours le bruit des flots, toujours le bruit des vents ! 

Adieu, tente de pourpre aux panaches mouvants, 

Adieu, le cheval blanc que César éperonne ! 

Plus de tambours battant aux champs, plus de couronne, 

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Plus de rois prosternés dans l'ombre avec terreur, 

Plus de manteau traînant sur eux, plus d'empereur ! 

Napoléon était retombé Bonaparte. 

Comme un romain blessé par la flèche du Parthe, 

Saignant, morne, il songeait à Moscou qui brûla. 

Un caporal anglais lui disait : halte-là ! 

Son fils aux mains des rois, sa femme au bras d'un autre. 

Plus vil que le pourceau qui dans l'égout se vautre, 

Son sénat qui l'avait adoré, l'insultait. 

Aux bords des mers, à l'heure où la bise se tait, 

Sur les escarpements croulant en noirs décombres, 

Il marchait, seul, rêveur, captif des vagues sombres. 

Sur les monts, sur les flots, sur les cieux, triste et fier, 

L'œil encore ébloui des batailles d'hier, 

Il laissait sa pensée errer à l'aventure. 

Grandeur, gloire, ô néant ! calme de la nature ! 

Des aigles qui passaient ne le connaissaient pas. 

Les rois, ses guichetiers, avaient pris un compas 

Et l'avaient enfermé dans un cercle inflexible. 

Il expirait. La mort de plus en plus visible 

Se levait dans sa nuit et croissait à ses yeux 

Comme le froid matin d'un jour mystérieux, 

Son âme palpitait, déjà presque échappée. 

Un jour enfin il mit sur son lit son épée, 

Et se coucha près d'elle, et dit : c'est aujourd'hui ! 

On jeta le manteau de Marengo sur lui. 

Ses batailles du Nil, du Danube, du Tibre, 

Se penchaient sur son front ; il dit : me voici libre ! 

Je suis vainqueur ! je vois mes aigles accourir ! 

Et, comme il retournait sa tête pour mourir, 

Il aperçut, un pied dans la maison déserte, 

Hudson-Lowe guettant par la porte entrouverte. 

Alors, géant broyé sous le talon des rois, 

Il cria : - la mesure est comble cette fois ! 

Seigneur ! c'est maintenant fini ! Dieu que j'implore, 

Vous m'avez châtié ! - la voix dit : - pas encore ! 

IV 

Ô noirs événements, vous fuyez dans la nuit ! 

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L'empereur mort tomba sur l'empire détruit. 

Napoléon alla s'endormir sous le saule. 

Et les peuples alors, de l'un à l'autre pôle, 

Oubliant le tyran, s'éprirent du héros. 

Les poètes, marquant au front les rois bourreaux, 

Consolèrent, pensifs, cette gloire abattue. 

À la colonne veuve on rendit sa statue. 

Quand on levait les yeux, on le voyait debout 

Au-dessus de Paris, serein, dominant tout, 

Seul, le jour dans l'azur et la nuit dans les astres. 

Panthéons, on grava son nom sur vos pilastres ! 

On ne regarda plus qu'un seul côté des temps ; 

On ne se souvint plus que des jours éclatants ; 

Cet homme étrange avait comme enivré l'histoire ; 

La justice à l'œil froid disparut sous sa gloire ; 

On ne vit plus qu'Eylau, Ulm, Arcole, Austerlitz ; 

Comme dans les tombeaux des romains abolis, 

On se mit à fouiller dans ces grandes années ; 

Et vous applaudissiez, nations inclinées, 

Chaque fois qu'on tirait de ce sol souverain 

Ou le consul de marbre ou l'empereur d'airain ! 

V 

Le nom grandit quand l'homme tombe ; 

Jamais rien de tel n'avait lui. 

Calme, il écoutait dans sa tombe 

La terre qui parlait de lui. 

La terre disait : « la victoire 

A suivi cet homme en tous lieux. 

Jamais tu n'as vu, sombre histoire, 

Un passant plus prodigieux ! 

Gloire au maître qui dort sous l'herbe 

Gloire à ce grand audacieux ! 

Nous l'avons vu gravir, superbe, 

Les premiers échelons des cieux ! 

Il envoyait, âme acharnée, 

154

Prenant Moscou, prenant Madrid, 

Lutter contre la destinée 

Tous les rêves de son esprit. 

A chaque instant, rentrant en lice. 

Cet homme aux gigantesques pas 

Proposait quelque grand caprice 

A Dieu qui n'y consentait pas. 

Il n'était presque plus un homme. 

Il disait, grave et rayonnant, 

En regardant fixement Rome : 

C'est moi qui règne maintenant ! 

Il voulait, héros et symbole, 

Pontife et roi, phare et volcan, 

Faire du Louvre un Capitole 

Et de Saint-Cloud un Vatican. 

César, il eût dit à Pompée : 

Sois fier d'être mon lieutenant ! 

On voyait luire son épée 

Au fond d'un nuage tonnant. 

Il voulait, dans les frénésies 

De ses vastes ambitions, 

Faire devant ses fantaisies 

Agenouiller les nations, 

Ainsi qu'en une urne profonde, 

Mêler races, langues, esprits, 

Répandre Paris sur le monde, 

Enfermer le monde en Paris ! 

Comme Cyrus dans Babylone, 

Il voulait sous sa large main, 

Ne faire du monde qu'un trône 

Et qu'un peuple du genre humain, 

155

Et bâtir, malgré les huées, 

Un tel empire sous son nom 

Que Jéhovah dans les nuées 

Fût jaloux de Napoléon ! » 

VI 

Enfin, mort triomphant, il vit sa délivrance, 

Et l'océan rendit son cercueil à la France. 

L'homme, depuis douze ans, sous le dôme doré, 

Reposait, par l'exil et par la mort sacré ; 

En paix ! - quand on passait près du monument sombre, 

On se le figurait, couronne au front, dans l'ombre, 

Dans son manteau semé d'abeilles d'or, muet, 

Couché sous cette voûte où rien ne remuait, 

Lui, l'homme qui trouvait la terre trop étroite, 

Le sceptre en sa main gauche, et l'épée en sa droite, 

A ses pieds son grand aigle ouvrant l'œil à demi,. 

Et l'on disait : c'est là qu'est César endormi ! 

Laissant dans la clarté marcher l'immense ville, 

Il dormait ; il dormait confiant et tranquille. 

VII 

Une nuit, - c’est toujours la nuit dans le tombeau, - 

Il s’éveilla. Luisant comme un hideux flambeau, 

D’étranges visions emplissaient sa paupière ; 

Des rires éclataient sous son plafond de pierre ; 

Livide, il se dressa, la vision grandit ; 

O terreur ! une voix qu’il reconnut lui dit : 

- Réveille-toi. Moscou, Waterloo, Sainte-Hélène, 

L’exil, les rois geôliers, l’Angleterre hautaine 

Sur ton lit accoudée à ton dernier moment, 

Sire, cela n’est rien. Voici le châtiment ! 

La voix alors devint âpre, amère, stridente, 

Comme le noir sarcasme et l’ironie ardente ; 

C’était le rire amer mordant un demi-dieu. 

- Sire ! on t’a retiré de ton Panthéon bleu ! 

156

Sire ! on t’a descendu de ta haute colonne ! 

Regarde : des brigands, dont l’essaim tourbillonne, 

D’affreux bohémiens, des vainqueurs de charnier 

Te tiennent dans leurs mains et t’ont fait prisonnier. 

A ton orteil d’airain leur patte infâme touche. 

Ils t’ont pris. Tu mourus, comme un astre se couche, 

Napoléon le Grand, empereur ; tu renais 

Bonaparte, écuyer du cirque Beauharnais. 

Te voilà dans leurs rangs, on t’a, l’on te harnache. 

Ils t’appellent tout haut grand homme, entre eux, ganache. 

Ils traînent sur Paris, qui les voit s’étaler, 

Des sabres qu’au besoin ils sauraient avaler. 

Aux passants attroupés devant leur habitacle, 

Ils disent, entends-les : - Empire à grand spectacle ! 

Le pape est engagé dans la troupe ; c’est bien, 

Nous avons mieux ; le czar en est ; mais ce n’est rien, 

Le czar n’est qu’un sergent, le pape n’est qu’un bonze, 

Nous avons avec nous le bonhomme de bronze ! 

Nous sommes les neveux du Grand Napoléon ! – 

Et Fould, Magnan, Rouher, Parieu caméléon, 

Font rage. Ils vont montrant un sénat d’automates. 

Ils ont pris de la paille au fond des casemates 

Pour empailler ton aigle, ô vainqueur d’Iéna ! 

Il est là, mort, gisant, lui qui si haut plana, 

Et du champ de bataille il tombe au champ de foire. 

Sire, de ton vieux trône ils recousent la moire. 

Ayant dévalisé la France au coin d’un bois, 

Ils ont à leurs haillons du sang, comme tu vois, 

Et dans son bénitier Sibour lave leur linge. 

Toi, lion, tu les suis ; leur maître, c’est le singe. 

Ton nom leur sert de lit, Napoléon premier. 

On voit sur Austerlitz un peu de leur fumier. 

Ta gloire est un gros vin dont leur honte se grise. 

Cartouche essaye et met ta redingote grise ; 

On quête des liards dans le petit chapeau ; 

Pour tapis sur la table ils ont mis ton drapeau ; 

A cette table immonde où le grec devient riche, 

Avec le paysan on boit, on joue, on triche. 

157

Tu te mêles, compère, à ce tripot hardi, 

Et ta main qui tenait l’étendard de Lodi, 

Cette main qui portait la foudre, ô Bonaparte, 

Aide à piper les dés et fait sauter la carte. 

Ils te forcent à boire avec eux, et Carlier 

Pousse amicalement d’un coude familier 

Votre majesté, sire, et Piétri dans son antre 

Vous tutoie, et Maupas vous tape sur le ventre. 

Faussaires, meurtriers, escrocs, forbans, voleurs, 

Ils savent qu’ils auront, comme toi, des malheurs. 

Leur soif en attendant vide la coupe pleine, 

A ta santé ; Poissy trinque avec Sainte-Hélène. 

Regarde ! bals, sabbats, fêtes matin et soir. 

La foule au bruit qu’ils font se culbute pour voir, 

Debout sur le tréteau qu’assiége une cohue 

Qui rit, bâille, applaudit, tempête, siffle, hue, 

Entouré de pasquins agitant leur grelot, 

- Commencer par Homère et finir par Callot ! 

Epopée ! épopée ! oh ! quel dernier chapitre ! – 

Entre Troplong paillasse et de Baroche pitre 

Devant cette baraque, abject et vil bazar 

Où Mandrin mal lavé se déguise en César, 

Riant, l’affreux bandit, dans sa moustache épaisse, 

Toi, spectre impérial, tu bats la grosse caisse. – 

L’horrible vision s’éteignit. – l’empereur, 

Désespéré, poussa dans l’ombre un cri d’horreur, 

Baissant les yeux, dressant ses mains épouvantées ; 

Les Victoires de marbre à la porte sculptées, 

Fantômes blancs debout hors du sépulcre obscur, 

Se faisaient du doigt signe et, s’appuyant au mur, 

Écoutaient le titan pleurer dans les ténèbres. 

Et Lui, cria : démon aux visions funèbres, 

Toi qui me suis partout, que jamais je ne vois, 

Qui donc es-tu ? – Je suis ton crime, dit la voix. – 

La tombe alors s’emplit d’une lumière étrange 

Semblable à la clarté de Dieu quand il se venge ; 

158

Pareils aux mots que vit resplendir Balthazar, 

Deux mots dans l’ombre écrits flamboyaient sur César : 

Bonaparte, tremblant comme un enfant sans mère, 

Leva sa face pâle et lut : - DIX-HUIT BRUMAIRE ! 

Jersey, 30 novembre 1852. 

Expiation 

It was snowing. 13 We were all vanquished by his conquest. 

For the first time, the eagle was bending his head. 

Sombre days! The emperor was slowly coming back, 

leaving behind Moscow lost in flame and smoke. 14 

It was snowing. Winter was melting down in avalanche. 

After the white plain, another white plain. 

No more did we know where chiefs and flags were. 

Yesterday the Grand Army, 15 now the wandering flock. 

No more could we discern the wings from the centre: 16 

It was snowing. The wounded tried to find shelters 

in their horse’s belly; 17 near deserted bivouacs, 

we could see some buglers all frozen at their post, 

standing on their horses, mute, white with frost, 

their stony lips ever stuck on their brass trumpets. 18 

Bullets, iron balls, shells, all mingled with snowflakes 

were raining down; amazed at their trembling limbs, 

the grenadiers were walking thoughtful, 

ice clinging on their grey moustache. 

It was snowing; it was always snowing! 

And while the north cold wind whistled 

on the frozen sea of this unknown land, 

we were walking, barefoot; for days, we had nothing to eat 

13 This very short sentence repeated as a refrain marks how the snow was one factor of the disaster. 

14 As Moscow was burning, Napoléon and his army had to retreat from Russia. 

15 Around 600 000 men 

16 Comte de Ségur (1824) Histoire de Napoléon et de la Grande Armée pendant l’année 1812, IX, xi 

17 Ibid., IX, viii 

18 René Chateaubriand (1849-1850) Mémoire d’outre-tombe 

159

No more were we living hearts or proud men of war 

We were a dream wandering in the fog, a mystery, 

a procession of shadows on the blackening sky. 

A loneliness, so vast and horrible to see 

was everywhere, mute and fearless avenger. 

With the thick snow, the sky was silently weaving 

a white and immense shroud for this immense army; 19 

Death was coming to us and we felt all alone. 

O! Shall we ever leave this sinister empire? 

Two enemies! The Tsar, the North. The North was the worst. 

We demolished the cannons to burn their large mounts. 

Those who lay down died. Dejected and baffled troupe 

fleeing while the desert was swallowing the procession. 

At the gentle folds lifting the snow, we could see 

that doomed regiments fell asleep there. 

O! Hannibal’s downfalls! Attila’s tomorrows! 20 

Fugitive, wounded and dying men, caissons, stretchers, 

all were crushed at the bridge to pass the river. 

Ten thousands fell asleep, one hundred woke up. 

Followed by an army yesterday, Ney 21 was now 

running away, trading his watch to three Cossacks. 

All nights were the same: Watch! Alert! Assault! Attack! 

While these ghosts were taking their rifle, frightening 

and tenebrous squadrons, dreadful whirlwinds of men, 

were coming, screaming horribly like bald vultures; 

The whole army was vanishing into the night. 

The Emperor was there, standing, staring intently; 

Standing as a tree stands before the axe. 

On this giant, whose grandeur had been spared ‘til now, 

Doom, the ominous woodcutter, had finally climbed; 

And he, the living oak, insulted by the axe, 

shivering at the spectre of spiteful revenge, 

19 Ibid. 

20 The king of the Huns who ravaged France in 451 

21 Michel Ney, duc d’Elchingen and Napoléon’s first marshal; he earned the epithet Bravest of the Brave at 

the battle of Borodino in the Napoleonic Wars. When the emperor came back from Elba, Ney rejoined his 

forces. He was executed for high treason in 1815. 

160

22 Napoléon 

was watching his branches falling all around. 

Chiefs, soldiers, all were dying, all waiting their turn. 

While surrounding his tent, with unabated love, 

seeing his stern shadow marching to and fro, 

still believing in his good star, those who remained 

were cursing Fate, accusing her of treason. 

Suddenly, deep in his soul, he was terrified. 

Stunned and not knowing what to believe anymore, 

the emperor turned to God; and the man of glory 

shuddered; Napoléon finally realised 

that he was expiating; livid and anxious, 

in front of his legions dispersed on the white snow, 

he said, —Is it your sentence, God of the armies? – 

Then, from above, he heard someone calling his name 

and a voice speaking in the shadow said,—No! 

II 

Waterloo! Waterloo! Waterloo! Dull white plain! 

As water boiling in an overfull jug, 

in the woods, the hillocks, and the vales, 

Pale Death was dancing among the battalions. 

On one side was Europe; on the other was France. 

Bloody shock! God was deluding the heroes’ hope 

and soon, Victory ran away; Fate was too tired. 

O! Waterloo! I cried; and then, I stopped! 

Because these last soldiers of the last glorious war 

were magnificent; they vanquished the earth, 

chased twenty kings, climbed the Alps, crossed the Rhine, 

their great soul singing proudly in the brass bugles! 

Evening was falling, the fight was fierce and black. 

He 22 had the offensive and almost victory 

When he hold Wellington on the ravaged wood. 

The field glass in his hand, he sometimes observed 

The centre of the battle, dark moving point where 

The lively brushwood shudders, 

Another time the horizon, dark like the sea. 

Suddenly pleased, he yelled, Grouchy! – It was Blücher! 23 

161

Terrified, Hope changed sides; the battle lost its soul, 

and the howling scuffle grew like a hungry flame 

while the English battery crushed all the valiant squares. 

Listening to the screams of the men whose throat was slit, 

the plain, where the torn flags were quivering, became 

a flamboyant abyss, red like a glowing forge; 

Abyss where regiments were falling like pieces 

of wall; where the drum-majors and their huge panache, 

lied down like ripe and golden summer’s wheat, 

where we could catch a glimpse of deformed red wounds! 

Ugly carnage! Fatal moment! The anxious man 

was feeling the raging battle bending between his hands. 

Behind a knoll, the emperor’s Guard 24 stayed close; 

The precious Guard! The supreme Hope! The supreme Thought! 

—Let’s go! The emperor shout, --Send the Guard— 

And Lancers, Grenadiers with their ticking leggings, 

dragoons that Rome would have welcome in its army, 

cuirassiers and cannoneers dragging their thunders, 

wearing the black busby 25 or the polish helmet, 

all, Friedland’s conquerors, and those of Rivoli, 26 

all knowing they were going to die this day, 

saluted their god, standing in the tempest; 

All in one voice, they screamed, —Long Life the Emperor! 

Then, in slow steps, music in front, and with no haste, 

tranquil, smiling bravely to the English bullets, 

the imperial Guard entered the furnace. 

Alas! Waiting expectantly, Napoléon 

was watching, and as soon as they proudly emerged 

near the dark cannons, spewing streams of sulphur, 

one after the other, in this horrid abyss, he saw 

23 On 18 June, General Emmanuel de Grouchy lost his way while pursuing the Prussian two days before 

the battle of Waterloo; his absence and the unexpected arrival of the Prussian general Gebhard Leberecht 

von Blücher and his army contributed to Napoléon’s defeat 

24 The imperial Guard represents a group of guards so it is singular 

25 Type of bonnet with fur 

26 Those who victoriously fought the Russians at Friedland in Prussia on June 14, 1807 and at Rivoli in 

Venetie where they defeated the Austrians in 1797. 

162

his regiments, men of granite and steel, melting, 

melting like wax at the heat of red coal. 

All were marching, gun on their arm, grave, and stoical. 

No one recoiled. O! Sleep, heroic dead! 

Hesitant to walk on them, what was left of the grand army 

was watching the Guard dying. – And then, 

suddenly rising her shrieking voice 

Rout, the pale giantess whose startled face 

horribly petrifies the proudest battalions, 

swiftly changed the banners into abject tatters; 

And, repugnant spectre of smoke, 

she rose and swelled above the distraught armies. 

Rout, the hideous, appeared to the startled soldiers, 

and wringing her arms, she screamed,—Save your life! 

Save your life! Outrage! Horror! Everyone yelled. 

Across the fields, lost, insane, frantic, ferocious, 

as if a malevolent wind had passed over them all, 

among the heavy caissons and the dusty wagons, 

they rolled in ditches or vainly hid in ryes, 27 

leaving behind their coats, their rifles, their eagles 28 

under the Prussian swords; these veterans—o! grief! 

trembling and screaming, were running away! and soon, 

as a wisp of straw flying away with the wind, 

the deafening noise made by the Grand Army vanished. 

And this dull plain, where we day-dream today, 

saw the flight of those in front of whom the whole world fled! 

Forty years have now passed, and this small piece of land, 

Waterloo, this dark and solitary plateau, 

sinister field where God blended so much chaos, 

still shudders, unable to forget the flight of the giants. 

Napoléon saw them flowing like a river; 

Men, horses, drums, flags; and facing adversity, 

confusingly feeling his remorse coming back, 

throwing his hands to the sky, he said, —My dead soldiers, 

27 We are now in June and the rye has not been harvested 

28 The Emperor’s flag and its imperial eagle. 

163

29 Reference to Prometheus. 

I! Vanquished! My empire is broken like glass. 

Is it your punishment this time, pitiless God? 

Then, among the cries, the clamour, the cannon, 

he heard the dreadful voice saying,—No! 

III 

He collapsed and God changed the chain of Europe. 

There is, deep in the sea and shrouded in the mist, 

A hideous rock, debris of antic volcano. 

Destiny, armed with hammer, nails, and fetters, 

seized the pale and living thief of thunder; 

And joyously, she went on the centenary peak 

and she nailed him down, exciting with her laugh 

England, the vulture, to gnaw at his red heart. 29 

Vanishing of an immense splendour! 

From the bright rising sun to the dark falling night, 

always in seclusion, abandoned, in prison; 

A red guard at the door, the sea for horizon, 

naked rocks, ugly woods, boredom, emptiness; 

White sails fleeing like transient hope; 

Always the sound of the sea, always the sound of the wind! 

Adieu, crimson pavilion and flying panache! 

Adieu, white horse spurred by Caesar! 

No more drums beating on the fields, no more laurels, 

No more kings in the shadow bowing with terror, 

No more coats trailing on them, no more emperor! 

Napoleon was Bonaparte again. 

As a Roman wounded by a Parthian arrow, 

bleeding and dull, he was thinking of Moscow burning. 

An English caporal told him, Stop! 

His son in kings’ hands, his wife in another’s arms. 

More abject than the pig wallowing in its den, 

His senate, who used to love him, now abused him. 

On the seashores, when the wind kept quiet, 

on the escarpments crumbling down in black rubbles, 

he walked, alone, pensive, captive of the dark waves. 

164

30 Saint Helen’s Governor 

On the mounts, on the sea, in the sky, sad and proud, 

the eyes still dazzled by yesterday’s battles, 

he let his confused thoughts wandering aimlessly. 

Grandeur! Glory! O! Emptiness! Nature’s silence! 

Eagles flying by did not recognise him. 

The kings, his merciless warders, took a compass 

and shut him up in their rigid circle. 

He was dying, death approaching slowly 

was rising in his agitated night. 

Like the cold morning of a mysterious day, 

almost free, his soul was fluttering in his heart. 

One day at last, he put his sword on his bed, 

and lying down next to it, he said, —It is today! 

Over him, someone threw his coat from Marengo. 

His battles on the Nil, the Danube, the Tiber, 

passed all over his face and he said,—Now, I am free! 

I am victorious! I see my eagles coming! 

And, turning his head to die in peace, 

he saw, one foot in the deserted house, 

Hudson-Lowe 30 was watching through the door half open. 

Then, giant crushed under kings’ heels, 

he bravely screamed,—The cup is full to the brim, this time! 

Lord! All is finished at last! Dear God, 

You punished me! The voice replied, —Not yet! 

IV 

O dark events, running away in the night! 

The dead emperor fell down on his destroyed empire. 

Napoléon went to sleep under the willow; 

And people, from one pole to the other, 

forgetting the tyrant, worshiped the hero. 

Marking the killer-kings on their forehead, pensive poets 

consoled the glorious man basely slaughtered. 

On the widowed column, they put back his statue. 

Staring up, we could see him standing 

above Paris, serene, towering over the world, 

alone, the day in the blue sky and the night in the stars. 

165

Pantheon, we carved his name on your pillars! 

And from then on, we looked at one side of times 

remembering only the glowing days; 

This strange man intoxicated History; 

And behind his glory, Justice’s cold eyes vanished; 

We only saw Eylau, Ulm, Arcole, Austerlitz; 

As we did in the tombs of repudiate Romans, 

We dug in those great years; 

And you, submissive nations, you clapped merrily 

when from the sovereign ground, the consul in marble 

or the bronze emperor was careful retrieved! 

V 

Fame rises when man falls; 

No one ever shined as he did. 

Tranquil in his tomb, he listened 

to the world talking about him. 

The world was saying,—Everywhere 

Victory escorted this man. 

Sombre history had never seen 

so prodigious a passer-by! 

Glory to the master sleeping under the grass! 

Glory to the audacious man! 

Magnificent, we saw him climb 

heaven’s first steps! 

Relentless soul, taking Moscow, 

taking Madrid, he sent 

fighting, against Destiny 

all the dreams of his mind. 

Ready for challenge, this man, 

making gigantic steps, 

proposed enormous deals to God 

who always refused them. 

No more a man, grave and radiant. 

Looking intently toward Rome, 

166

31 King of Persia 

he used to say 

I, and only I, reign now! 

Hero and symbol, pontiff and king, 

light and fire, he wanted 

to make the Louvre a Capitol 

and Saint-Cloud a Vatican. 

Like Caesar, he would have said to Pompey: 

Be proud of being my lieutenant! 

We could see his sword shine 

in a dark thunderous cloud. 

He wanted, in the frenzies 

Of his huge ambitions, 

Make all the nations kneel 

To the least of his whims, 

Blend races, and minds 

as in a profound urn, 

broaden Paris over the world, 

and shut the whole world in Paris! 

As Cyrus 31 in Babylon, 

he wanted, under his large hand, 

make one throne for the world, 

One people for the human race, 

And despite the jeers, build 

such an Empire under his name 

That Jehovah himself, in his sky 

Would be jealous of Napoléon! 

VI 

At last, triumphant dead, he saw his deliverance, 

And the ocean gave back his coffin to France. 

For twelve years, the man under the golden dome, 

asleep in exile, was sacred in death; 

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32 Joséphine’s family 

Peace! – When we used to pass near the monument, 

We could picture him in the shadow, 

mute, with his crown, 

and his imperial coat sprinkled with golden bees. 

Lying under the vault where nothing ever moved, 

he, the man who thought that the earth was too narrow, 

the sceptre in his left hand, his sword in the other, 

at his feet, his great eagle opening its eyes, 

quietly we said,—It is where Caesar sleeps! 

Leaving the immense city working in the light, 

He was asleep, confident, and tranquil. 

VII 

One night—it is always a long night in the tomb— 

He woke up. Shining like a hideous torch, 

Strange visions were flying before his sleeping eyes 

And shrill laughter burst under the stones; 

Livid, he lifted his head and the vision swelled; 

O! Terror! A voice he knew well said: 

—Wake up! Moscow, Waterloo, Saint Helen, 

the exile, the jailer-kings, haughty England 

who near your bed quietly waited your last moment, 

all this is nothing, Sir. Here comes the punishment! 

The stern voice became fierce, harsh, and strident, 

Like a black sarcasm, a scorching irony, 

A bitter laugh biting a demigod. 

— Sir! They removed your corpse from your blue Pantheon! 

Sir! They even pulled down your statue on the column! 

Look at the brigands swarming around you, 

Ugly bohemians, rotten flesh conquerors; 

They hold you in their hands, you are their prisoner. 

At your brass toe, their vile paws touch. 

They caught you and you died as a setting star, 

Napoléon the Great, the emperor is back 

Bonaparte, rider in the Beauharnais 32 circus. 

Here you are on the ring, boldly harnessed. 

168

Aloud, they call you Great, among them Blockhead. 

On Paris, who sees them spreading over, 

they drag the swords they could swallow 

if they choose to do so. 

To the passers-by gathering before their tent, 

hear what they say, —Come and see the Empire’s great show! 

The pope has a role in the troop and it is good 

but we have better; the tsar is here too; but this is nothing 

the tsar is only a sergeant, the pope a monk, 

we have the fellow in brass! Yes, we do 

as we are the nephews of the Great Napoléon!— 

And Fould, Magnan, Rouher, Parieu chameleon, 

are raging, showing a senate of automates. 

They took some straw from the casemates 

and stuff your eagle. O! Poor Iena’s conqueror! 

Dead on the ground, the bird which used to fly so high 

on the battlefield, now lies on the floor-stage. 

Sir! They are stitching the silk of your throne. 

Having robbed France at the dark corner of a wood, 

they have blood on their filthy rags as you can see, 

and in the holy basin, Sibour is washing them. 

You, the lion, you follow the monkey, their master. 

Your name is their new bed, Napoléon the First. 

Even at Austerlitz, we can see their filth. 

Your glory is a wine with which their shame gets drunk. 

Cartouche is wearing your redingote; 

and all collect money in a small hat; 

They use your flag as tablecloth; 

At this filthy table where the Greek becomes rich, 

with peasants, we eat and drink, we play and cheat. 

You mate, you mingle in this gambling den. 

And your hand, the hand that held the Lodi’s banner, 

the hand that carried thunderbolts, O! Bonaparte, 

this hand now casts the dices and beats the cards. 

You must drink with them, and amicably, 

with familiarity, Carlier nudges your majesty—Sir! 

In his treacherous lair, Pietri 

Addresses you as tu; even Maupas pokes your ribs. 

169

Falsifiers, murderers, escrows, bandits, robbers, 

They expect troubles as you did expect them. 

But meanwhile, they empty their cup and wish you 

good health! Poissy drinks gaily with Saint Helen! 

Watch the balls, Sabbaths, day and night festivities! 

They do so much noise that the crowd is rushing in; 

Standing on the stage invaded by the raging crowd, 

Laughing, yawning, clapping, storming, whistling, hooting, 

Surrounded by pasquinaders shaking their bells, 

—Starting with Homer finishing with Callot! 

Epopee! Epopee! Awful last chapter! – 

Between Troplong, the buffoon, and Baroche, the clown, 

standing before their stand, abject and vile bazaar, 

where the dirty Mandrin 33 is disguised in Caesar, 

evil bandit laughing in his moustache, 

You, the imperial spectre, you are beating the drum.— 

At last, the horrible vision vanished. Desperate, 

The emperor screamed with horror in the dark shadow; 

He shut his eyes and raised his terrified hands; 

Sculpted on the door, the marble Victories, 

standing out in the obscure sepulchre, white ghosts 

were pointing at him; and leaning on the wall 

they could hear the titan weeping in the darkness. 

He roared, — You, Demon and sinister visions! 

You keep pursuing me but I never see you, 

who are you? — I am your crime, says the voice.— 

And a strange light filled up the tomb; 

a light same as the light of God when he avenges himself, 

same as the words Balthazar saw. 

In the shadow, two words flared above Caesar, 

And trembling as a motherless child, Bonaparte 

Lifted his pallid face and read, — EIGTHTEEN BRUMAIRE! 34 

33 A well known villain 

34 Napoléon’s punishement was Napoléon III’s accession to the throne, the latter being a caricature of the 

first. Napoléon’s crime was his coup d’ état in November 1799; here it is compared to Napoléon III’s coup 

d’état in December 1851. 

170

Les Châtiments ends with a note extremely positive as Victor Hugo, the visionary, contemplates 

the sublime apparition of liberty, which finally prevails in the whole world. 

And Victor continues to write with frenetic energy. In his glasshouse on the top of the house, 

standing in front of his desk, the poet contemplates the immensity of the sea and reviews the tumultuous 

thought crowding his mind; in clear weather, he sees the coast of France and with nostalgia, he dreams of 

the pretty Léonie. For Les Contemplations published in 1856, Victor Hugo regroups 156 poems divided in 

six books. This lyrical masterpiece is the mirror of the poet’s soul in exile; it represents twenty-one years 

of enormous work. The first part is titled Autrefois (Yesterday). In Aurore (Dawn), the poet evokes his 

youth; in L’âme en fleur, (Blossoming of the soul), he talks about his idyll with Juliette; and Les luttes et les 

rêves (Battles and dreams) focus on persecution, barbarian punishment, war, and tyranny. Then comes 

the second part Aujourd’hui (Today) starting with Pauca meae, which we may translate as ‘A little of me’. 

In this book of mourning, we find the poet’s revolt against Fate’s cruelty, his memories of Léopoldine, 

and his hope in after-life. In En marche (Walks), Victor describes the countryside of his long walks, talks 

again about his childhood and the hardship of humanity. Finally, Au bord de l’Infini is the book of 

certitudes where spectres, angels, and spirits brings unexpected revelations to the poet; soon, fear is 

supplanted by hope, and encouraging prophecies announcing the end of criminal power and the coming 

of universal pardon, rise from la Bouche d’Ombre (Shadow’s mouth). 

In these contemplations, Hugo mingles oppositions and contrasts, changes the rhythm according 

to his inspiration, uses the alexandrin to emphasise an idea or suggest the vertiginous flight of time 

toward the infinite. 

A year later, the poet publishes the first series of la Légende des Siècles (Centuries’ Legend), a 

giant reflection on the moral history of humanity with the awakening of human conscience and the birth 

of morality through various religious and mythological tales. In 1859, Victor Hugo finishes the Misères, 

the grand epopee of the century, started in 1843 as Jean Tréjean and re-titled les Misérables. 

In this grandiose work, poor and villain intermingle and unite in one word les misérables, the 

wretches. Only education, social justice, and evangelical charity can prevent the poor to become villain. 

For Victor Hugo, even the toughest criminals can be saved with patience and love. This is the story of the 

convict Jean Valjean, who thanks to Mgr Myriel’s charity repays his dept to the society with kindness and 

abnegation. For this masterpiece, the writer visits the prisons of Bicêtre and Toulon and sees the prisoners 

with their fetters and chains. For the publication, Hugo demands a small and cheap format. The success 

of les Misérables is an apotheosis. Every-one wants to read it; even the poor factory-workers join their 

meagre savings to buy the book. 

Meanwhile still at Guernsey, the whole family is busy; François-Victor translates Shakespeare, 

Charles paints, and Mme Hugo writes Victor’s biography. We are now in 1859 and the Hugos can come 

back to France, but Victor refuses Napoléon’s amnesty; he will return only when the tyrant has gone and 

liberty finally prevails. Adèle however seizes this opportunity and frequently goes to Paris. 

On his rock facing the sea, the poet writes and writes, singing the joys of being alive, the bliss of 

love, and the pleasures found in nature. Victor Hugo is the new Ronsard of the 19 th Century; and this is 

171

the beginning of Chansons des rues et des bois where the author uses light rhythms—octosyllabic 

strophes—to describe rustic landscapes peopled with nymphs and pretty maidens. 

1863 is alas a sad year for the poet who now enjoys a worldwide reputation. First, his daughter 

Adèle is sent in a mental asylum; as her uncle, years of psychological disorders have destroyed her mind; 

and for Victor, this separation is very distressing. A few months later, his son Charles also leaves 

Guernsey to get married in Brussels. To chase the overwhelming sadness caused by the empty space his 

children left, the lonely father absorbs himself into his works. Soon after, Hugo publishes les Travailleurs 

de la Mer (The sea’s workers) and l’Homme qui rit. (The laughing Man). The public misunderstands the 

latter, but the phenomenal success of les Misérables smoothes the author’s melancholy. Furthermore, 

Juliette is always there copying his manuscripts; and she comforts him, when Mme Hugo dies in August 

1868. 

Two years later just after the fall of the Empire in September 1870, Victor now has no reason to 

stay away so he immediately comes back to France. Earlier in July, he perceived Bismarck’s strategy and 

predicted that a ‘capricious’ war will be declared soon so he demands to be enrolled in the National 

Guard with his two sons. 

Victor Hugo by Walery (1875) 

172

Hugo now lives Avenue d’Eylau 35 with his dear Juliette. In February 1871, the poet is elected 

deputy; and in March, he says in Choses vues (seen Things) published in 1887 

A deux heures je suis allé à l’Assemblée. A ma sortie, une foule immense m’attendait sur la grand 

place. Les gardes nationaux qui faisaient la haie ont ôté leurs képis, et tout le peuple a crié : « Vive 

Victor Hugo! Vive la France! » Ils ont répété ce double cri. Puis cela a été un délire. 

At 2 pm, I went to the Assembly. When I got out, an immense crowd was waiting for me at the 

town square. The national guards took off their kepi and every-one shouted, “Long life Victor Hugo! 

Long Life France!” They repeated this ovation. Then it was sheer madness. 

The same month, Victor Hugo learns about his son’s sudden death. Charles died from a stroke 

in Bordeaux. 

Nevertheless, life must go on and Hugo uses his popularity to encourage his fellow citizens to 

bravely fight the Prussians rather than killing each other in the 

senseless civil war raging in Paris. In l’Année Terrible (The Terrible 

Year), he sadly recalls the events. However, Hugo’s republican ideas 

and his indulgence for the Commune strongly displease the 

monarchist members of the Assemblée Nationale. Tired of their 

stubbornness, he resigns in 1872 and travels to Brussels where he 

stays few months. Then, he returns to Guernsey where he finishes 

Quatre-vingt-treize (Ninety-three). 

1873 is alas another sad year for Victor Hugo who receives 

the terrible new of the death of his two sons Charles and François- 

Victor killed at war. Immediately, Charles’s children and their 

mother move Avenue d’Eylau. This is however a new source of 

inspiration for the poet who begins l’Art d’être Grand-père (The art to 

be a Grandfather) 36 a collection of poems adorned with freshness, 

innocence and colour. 

Three years later, he receives the honorific title of senator for life but he is tired of politics. Hugo 

is certainly old but far from senile; despite his long white curly beard, his serene look of patriarch, he still 

chases women and falls in love with Blanche, a young and pretty laundress; again, his faithful Juliette 

manages to get him back. 

The same year, Victor adds a new chapter to the Légende des Siècles and finishes it in 1883 with a 

series of poems where he reiterates his hatred of oppression and his compassion for the poor and the 

weak. 

35 Renamed Avenue Victor Hugo in December 1885. 

36 Musée d’Histoire Vivante; Victor with his grandchildren by Melandrini (1881) 

173

It is also in May 1883, that her dear Juliette dies. Two years later, on 22 May 1885, the most 

illustrious master of French poetry follows her beloved to the grave having written in his will. 

Je donne cinquante mille francs aux pauvres. Je désire être porté au cimetière dans leur corbillard. 

Je refuse l’oraison de toutes les églises; je demande une prière à toutes les âmes. Je crois en Dieu. 

I leave fifty thousand francs to the poor. I want to be carried to the cemetery in their hearse. I 

refuse religious eulogy; I ask a prayer from every soul. I believe in God. 

As a tribute to the great man, national funeral are organised; his body is exposed under the Arc 

de Triomphe and enterred at the Pantheon. 

Victor Hugo’s work resumes his long existence and the century in which he lives. He is the 

mirror reflecting the world and the echo of thousand voices. Victor also reminds us that poetic creation is 

neither uncontrolled effusion nor subconscious mystery; it is a methodical and rigorous activity. Even 

when the poet abandons his pen to his prophetic frenzy, he writes with scrupulous care always choosing 

his words, rhythms, and rhymes with meticulous precision. 

From his overflowing imagination pour out vivid images, symbols, rhythms, and fountains of 

magnificent and powerful words. For the master, the least detail is important, as his ultimate goal is to 

give realism even to the purest imaginative work. 

Such realism is skilfully obtained through the metaphors and comparisons that the poet 

liberally throws in his work. The crowd compared to the rising sea evokes immensity and incredible force 

whereas a battle compared to a furnace conveys the ideas of burning flesh; all this exacerbates the feeling 

of suffering; and to accentuate the rising of emotion, he often repeats words or phrases several times. 

These strategies stimulate the readers; they feel the heat and the pain; they sense the impressive size of 

the crowd. 

Hugo’s abstract ideas give birth to images; rout is a giantess with a startled face, remorse an 

open eye, faith a red ember, and death the famous reaper. Furthermore, and according to his need, the 

poet introduces popular, archaic, or technical expressions; and with a touching simplicity, he uses words 

that would appear vulgar in other contexts. Hugo’s vocabulary is amazingly rich and his style 

wonderfully diversified. With incredible vividness, he express all the nuances of sentiment reflecting 

sorrow, melancholy, pain, anger, disgust, horror, love, and rapture, smoothly passing from one to 

another. Victor Hugo is also very fond of contrasts; artfully, he juxtaposes bright colours and greyness, 

shadow and light, simplicity and splendour, movements in crescendo and decrescendo as in les Djinns. 

Hugo is a painter, a musician, a composer, a virtuoso in versification where the rime is an obedient slave 

or a rich queen, sometimes discrete almost invisible, sometimes rich and resonant. 

In the Revue Fantaisiste, Baudelaire superbly says in October 1861 

La musique des vers de Victor Hugo s’adapte aux profondes harmonies de la nature ; sculpteur, il 

découpe dans ses strophes la forme inoubliable des choses ; peintre, il les illumine de leur couleur 

174

propre. Et, comme si elles venaient directement de la nature, les trois impressions pénètrent 

simultanément le cerveau du lecteur. De cette triple impression résulte la morale des choses. Aucun 

artiste n’est plus universel que lui, plus apte à se mettre en contact avec les forces de la vie universelle, 

plus disposé à prendre sans cesse un bain de nature…l’atmosphère morale qui plane et circule dans 

ses poèmes…me paraît porter un caractère très manifeste d’amour égal pour ce qui est très fort 

comme pour ce qui est très faible, et l’attraction exercée sur le poète par ces deux extrêmes tire sa 

raison d’une origine unique, qui est la force même, la vigueur originelle dont il est doué. La force 

l’enchante et l’enivre ; il va vers elle comme vers une parente : attraction fraternelle. Ainsi est-il 

emporté irrésistiblement vers tout symbole de l’infini, la mer, le ciel ; vers tous les représentants 

anciens de la force, géants homériques ou bibliques, paladins, chevaliers ; vers les bêtes énormes et 

redoutables…En revanche, mais par une tendance différente dont la source est pourtant la même, le 

poète se montre toujours l’ami attendri de tout ce qui est faible, solitaire, contristé ; de tout ce qui est 

orphelin : attraction paternelle. Le fort qui devine un frère dans tout ce qui est fort, voit ses enfants 

dans tout ce qui a besoin d’être protégé ou consolé…Peu de personnes ont remarqué le charme et 

l’enchantement que la bonté ajoute à la force et qui se fait voir si fréquemment dans les œuvres de 

notre poète. Un sourire et une larme dans le visage d’un colosse, c’est une originalité presque divine. 37 

The musique of Victor Hugo’s verses adapts to the profound harmonies of nature; sculptor, he cuts 

in his strophes the unforgettable shape of things; painter, he illuminates them with their own colour. 

And, as if they were coming directly from nature itself, the three impressions penetrate 

simultaneously in the reader’s brain. From this triple impression results the things’moral. No artist is 

more universal than him, more disposed to ceaselessly take a bath in nature…the moral atmosphere, 

which glides and moves in his poems seems to carry a manifest character of equal love for the very 

strong and the very weak, and the attraction playing on the poet by these two extremes found its 

reason in a unique origin, which is strength itself, the original vigour that he naturally possesses. 

Strength enchants and intoxicates him; he is attracted to it, as he would be to a relative: fraternal 

attraction. Thus, he is irresistibly seduced by all the symbols of infinity, the sea, the sky; by all those 

who represented strength in ancient time, Homeric or biblical giants, paladins, knights; by all the 

enormous and redoubtable beasts…On the other hand, but from a different tendency whose source is 

nevertheless the same, the poet is always the compassionate friend of the weak, the solitary, the sad, 

the orphan: paternal attraction. The strong who perceives a brother in what is strong, sees his children 

in all who need protection or consolation…Few persons have noticed the charm and enchantment that 

kindness adds to strength and which transpires so frequently in our poet’s works. A smile or a tear on 

a colossus’s face is an originality almost divine. 

37 October 1861, D. Parmée, ed. (1949) Selected critical studies of Baudelaire, pp 167, 172. 

175

Charles Baudelaire 

(1821-1867) 

Charles Baudelaire was born in Paris on 9 April 1821. His father François a cheerful old man 

dies in 1827 but the child lives happily in Neuilly with his mother, Caroline Archimbaut-Dufays, a 

middle-class woman born in London, and Mariette, La servante au 

grand Cœur, the loving maid. 38 Charles will always remember la 

blanche maison, petite mais tranquille (the white house, small but 

serene). 39 However, the child’s universe is shuttered, when in 

November 1828, Madame Baudelaire chooses a new husband, Major 

Aupick. Although Charles’s relation with his stepfather is affectionate, 

he cannot forgive him for having stolen his mother’s love. 

From 1832 to 1836, the family lives in Lyon where Aupick is 

lieutenant colonel; Charles is sent to the Pension Delorme and then to 

the Collège Royal. In the boarding school, the boy cruelly suffers from 

an unbearable solitude, and experiences his first crises of melancholy 

that will haunt him all his life. At this early age, Charles feels that the 

world is boring and unkind; it is not as it should be. 

Following Aupick’s mutation to Paris, Charles goes to the 

Lycée Louis-le-grand. Rejected by his peers who do not understand 

his complex mind and abandoned by his parents embarrassed by his 

rebellious attitude toward the conventions of the bourgeoise society, he 

lives as a recluse, passing his time reading the works of the Romantics especially Chateaubriand and 

writing poetry. Baudelaire’s first poems reveal a cynic and revolted soul. Despite his excellent results in 

Latin, he is expelled from the Lycée in April 1839 for refusing to hand over a note passed to him. 

Sent to the Pension Bailly, he prepares his baccalaureate and enrols at the École de Droit in 

November. For three years, Baudelaire enjoys the Bohemian lifestyle wandering Quartier Latin with 

writers and poets such as Honoré de Balzac, Leconte de Lisle, Théophile Gautier, and Gérard de Nerval. 

As Marx explains, la bohème is a world within the world where existence is uncertain depending more on 

38 Charles Baudelaire (1857 Tableaux parisiens in Les Fleurs du Mal, poem LXIX pp 105-106. 

39 Ibid. poem LXX, p 106. 

176

chance than activities, and where the stage is Paris’s taverns, the gathering places of conspirators and 

dubious people. 40 

Baudelaire also frequents Fernand Boissard’s salon 41 and becomes member of the Club des 

haschichin. Very ambitious, the young man loves to be the centre of attention even if this implies to 

scandalise those who are impressed by his handsome appearance and elegance. 

All this greatly disturbed Mr and Mme Aupick who decide to send their son to India where he 

can start a commercial career. In May 1841 at Bordeaux, the young man embarks on the Paquebot des Mers 

du Sud, a magnificent liner sailing to Calcutta. At his first stop in Mauritius Island, the poet is rapt by the 

beauty and exhilarating perfumes of the tiny paradise; but back on board, Charles cannot support the 

mediocrity of his travelling companions. After a brief illness on Bourbon Island, he refuses to pursue his 

voyage and comes back to France with the bitter impression that happiness cannot be found on earth. 

In 1842, Baudelaire 42 is twenty-one; and soon, his majority will allow him to enjoy his father’s 

inheritance. This is the beginning of Baudelaire, the dandy 43 and the flâneur (the idler). Sure to be able to 

repay his debts when the time comes, he spends without counting in the sumptuous Hôtel Primodan, 17, 

Quai d’Anjou. Of course, he continues to take extreme care of his appearance. 

The same year, Baudelaire meets the beautiful mulatto actress Jeanne Duval also called Prosper, 

his Vénus Noire. Her dark golden skin reminds him the warm and languid islands he visited not long ago. 

With her, he lives the happiest year of his life, forgetting Paris’s rain and the world’s stupidity; but soon 

follows misery, as Jeanne is unfaithful, deliberately cruel, and illiterate. 

Charles’s liberality costs him his fortune; in two years, he has already dilapidated half of his 

considerable wealth before having received it yet; this proves his inability to manage it; and alarmed, the 

Aupicks turn Charles’s fortune into a trust appointing a judiciary guardian. From now on, M. Ancelle 

will only give him a small monthly allowance corresponding to the interests of his capital. Despite, 

Baudelaire’s supplications, Ancelle always refuses to give him any advance. Exasperated, the young man 

breaks all relationship with his parents. 

As we shall see in Les Fleurs du mal, Baudelaire finds no joy in life; his relationship with Jeanne 

is disastrous, his creditors constantly harass him, and above all, his illness, probably syphilis contracted 

with prostitutes, cruelly affects him physically and morally. However, the young man is excessively 

proud so he scrupulously conceals his hardship; to fool everyone, he hides his distress behind a 

contemptuous smile and never shows any surprise or emotion. The only person to whom he discloses his 

suffering is his mother. In one letter, he sadly confides that he cannot indulge anymore in the long walks 

40 Walter Benjamin (1973) Charles Baudelaire A lyric Poet in the Era Of High Capitalism, p 12; quote from Karl 

Marx and Friedrich Engel’s, revue of Chenu, Les Conspirateurs, Paris, 1850. 

41 Cannabis lovers’ place 

42 Painted by Nadar in 1855; http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Image:Charles_Baudelaire_1855_Nadar.jpg 

43 Someone venerating his own cult more than anything else; dandyism also embraces spiritualism and 

stoicism 

177

he used to like for fear of tearing his clothes and shoes. 44 Indeed, when Madame Aupick returns from 

Constantinople where her husband has been appointed Ambassador, she finds her son in such a state 

that she decides to help him with her own money; this covers his most urgent needs only. 

To supplement his meagre resources, Baudelaire begins a literary career as Critique d’Art; and 

in 1845, he publishes articles defending Delacroix and Balzac in various magazines. Again, this does not 

pay much; and in despair, he announces his intention to kill himself in a letter to Ancelle in which he also 

says that he leaves his whole estate to Jeanne. This is his second suicide attempts; fortunately, it ends 

with a superficial wound. Confused and distressed, he reconciles with his family and stays a few months 

with them; but unable to become what Aupick wants him to be, he leaves and goes back to his writing. 

In 1846, Baudelaire publishes le Jeune Enchanteur, a translation of Reverent Croly’s English 

novel. He also writes numerous articles on literature, stressing that Romanticism is the most recent 

expression of beauty and the most adapted conception of the 19 th Century’s morality; something eternal 

and something transitory lie in all forms of beauty, and beauty itself can be found even ugliness. All this 

announces Baudelaire as the forerunner of Symbolism and Surrealism; soon, he will also be known as one 

of the poètes maudits (accursed poets). This term defines writers and artists who reject the values of their 

society, are provocative and extravagant, abuse drugs and alcohol, and generally die at an early age. 

Villon was certainly the first accursed poet. 

In January 1847, the short autobiographical novel la Fanfarlo appears in the Bulletin de la société 

des gens de lettres; and inspired by Marie Daubrun, another beautiful actress he meets at the theatre, 

Baudelaire composes magnificent poems among them Invitation au voyage and Poison. The same year, 

Baudelaire discovers Edgar Poe’s writings. The poet is enthralled; he has found his twin-soul and with 

scrupulous fervour, he begins the translations of the American writer’s works. 

Meanwhile, the Parisians are fomenting a new Revolution. We are now in 1848. Unlike 

Lamartine and Hugo who are humanitarian idealists, Baudelaire is hostile to democracy; nevertheless, we 

see him on the barricade or at his desk, writing violent articles for Le Salut public, a newspaper he founds 

with his friend, Proudhon. Baudelaire also becomes Secretary of the socialist editorial La Tribune 

nationale; but soon, he loses faith in politics and comes back to literature, his first love. 

He starts Spleen and regroups thirty-six of his poems under the title Les Limbes (Limbos). Le Vin 

de l’assassin (The murderer’s Wine) is printed in L’Écho des marchands de vin (Wine merchants’ Echo), two 

also appear in Le Magasin des familles (Families’ Shop) in 1850, and eleven more in 1851. 

The same year, Baudelaire is received at Madame Sabatier’s illustrious salon, Rue Frochot. This 

beautiful woman is a salutary change compared to Jeanne and Marie who have no education. She is the 

pure love satisfying his poetic soul; and to endure, this love must be carefully concealed. Surrounded by 

beautiful women, Baudelaire has all the inspiration he needs but no real love. His relationship with 

Jeanne is a complete failure and Marie prefers Théodore de Banville. 45 These deceptions bring Baudelaire 

44 Baudelaire (1926) Dernières lettres inédites à sa mère, edited by Eugène Crépet, p 44 ff. 

45 Author of les Cariatides and les Stalactites published in 1842 and 1846 

178

closer to Madame Sabatier to whom he passionately writes anonymous poems. The poet also publishes 

Du vin et du haschisch (Wine and hashish) 46 in Le Messager de l’Assemblée (The Assembly’s messenger), and 

he writes several essays and articles later regrouped in L’Art romantique; he also continues his translations 

of Edgar Poe’s works. 

At last, the first eighteen poems of Les Fleurs du Mal (Flowers of Evil) are published in La Revue 

des Deux Mondes (Two Worlds’ Review); they are widely praised by the intellectual elite, but no one is 

eager to publish the tendentious collection except Baudelaire’s friend, Poulet-Malassis who, in 1857, 

accepts to take the risk despite his financial difficulties. As expected, the sheets are confiscated and 

Baudelaire is prosecuted for immorality and indecency. By now, Madame Sabatier knows his lover’s 

identity having recognised in Les Fleurs du mal, some of the beautiful poems he sent her. Failing to 

understand that for Baudelaire-the troubadour, an inaccessible love becoming accessible lamentably dies, 

she boldly offers herself. Unsurprisingly, the poet refuses but gladly accepts her compassion and 

admiration, the strong base of their friendship. Madame Sabatier uses her influence to defend Les Fleurs 

du mal but fails. Six of the one hundred and one pieces—the first poem Au Lecteur being outside 

Baudelaire’s numbering—are declared obscene especially Lesbos and Femmes damnées; 47 and Baudelaire 

has to pay a fine of three-hundred francs, later reduced after his appeals to the Empress. 

The same year, Baudelaire prepares a new edition of Les Fleurs du mal and tries to fill up the gap 

left by the censured poems. In 1860, he publishes the Paradis artificiels, two essays on opium and hashish, 

the two drugs he liberally abused admitting later that les chercheurs de paradis font leur enfer (those who 

search for paradise create their own hell). In 1861, the second edition of Les Fleurs du Mal is published 

with thirty-two new works bringing it to one hundred thirty three poems, including the six condemned 

pieces, which are still banned. Craving for rehabilitation, the poet thinks to present his candidature at the 

Académie, but discouraged by his friends, he goes to Belgium where he finally receive the ovation he 

deserves. Still in Belgium in 1866, he publishes Les Épaves (The Wrecks), 48 regrouping the six condemned 

pieces, sixteen new poems, and Franciscae meae laudes. 49 Again, the author is short of money, and for a 

ridiculous sum, he sells his copyright to Michel-Lévi. 

Baudelaire is exhausted, his precarious health is declining seriously, and a stroke in Namur 

leaves him partially paralysed. Immediately, his return to Paris is arranged. A year later on 31 August 

1867, the forty-six years old poet dies in his mother’s arms at the sanatorium Rue de Dome. 

Long before his death, Baudelaire influenced a new wave of poetry; the Parnassians and the 

symbolists, particularly Verlaine and Rimbaud venerated the man and his work; and Victor Hugo 

recognises him as one of the greatest French poets much earlier than anyone did. 

46 Later, part of Les Paradis artificiels 

47 Les Fleurs du mal, p 119-130 

48 Ibid. p 235-259. 

49 Ibid. pp 81-83 and pp 364-365. 

179

Even though Baudelaire claims that poetry is un enthousiasme, un enlèvement de l’âme (an 

enthusiastic feeling, the rapture of the soul), he first writes his poems in prose, and corrects them 

ceaselessly until he successfully manages to produce the emotions and sonority he wants. All details even 

punctuation have their importance in order to produce enthusiasm in the reader’s soul. Nevertheless, 

Baudelaire’s view of poetry may seem contradictory and therefore confusing. Adept of the Romantics’ 

idea of l’art pour l’art (pure art), he rejects the Parnasse’s plastic ideal and rebukes the initiative of the 

École païenne (pagan School) 50 which uses art as a utilitarian means; furthermore, he regards paganism 

and pantheism as sentimentalist materialism finding no interest in practical life. So what does Baudelaire 

want when he writes poetry? Wanting more than beauty and originality, he opens a window on the 

invisible world and Serge Baudiffier brilliantly presents the poet and his masterpiece 

À la nature, cent fois honnie maudir par lui comme le lieu de la chute et la source du péché qui 

pèse sur l’humanité, il oppose l’artifice, produit de la civilisation, création pure, volontaire et 

maîtrisée. La Ville sera donc par excellence le décor de la modernité, et la mode vestimentaire sera la 

nouvelle peau dont l’homme s’enveloppe pour symboliser son autonomie esthétique. Héros de la 

modernité, le dandy manifeste « la supériorité aristocratique » de son esprit en poussant au plus haut 

point le raffinement, voire la sophistication, de son costume, mais plus généralement il vise à 

construire toute sa vie comme une œuvre d’art, en un défi démiurgique aux fatalités de la nature. 51 

To Nature, which he cursed hundred times for being the place of the fall and the source of sin 

towering over humanity, he opposes the artifice, the product of civilisation, the pure creation, 

voluntary and mastered. The town is therefore the stage of modernity par excellence and fashion is 

the new skin man wears to symbolise his aesthetic autonomy. Hero of modernity, the dandy 

manifests the aristocratic superiority of his mind by pushing refinement and sophistication to the 

highest level in his attire, but more generally, he tries to construct his whole life as a work of art, 

defying nature’s fatality as a demiurge. 

Les Fleurs du Mal is the splendid confession of a tormented soul where the poet displays his 

taste for the peculiar, the sick, and the morbid; with Baudelaire, the macabre and the grotesque become 

magnificent. Baudelaire’s tendency to mysticism dates from his childhood, as he reveals in Mon cœur mis à 

nu (My naked heart). Gradually, the divine is supplanted by the devil’s presence; but if Baudelaire doubts 

about God, he still feels a tenebrous and profound unity in which colours and scents respond to one 

another. 52 

50 Baudelaire’s article L’Ecole Paienne ; this school did not exist 

51 Serge Baudiffier (2004) Introduction des Grands Fondateurs La bibliothèque de Poésie, 18e and 19e si 

ècles, p 811. 

52 Charles Baudelaire (1972) Correspondances in Spleen et Idéal, Poem iv, Les Fleurs du mal, p 16. 

180

Beauty and suffering pervade Baudelaire’s whole work. This melange or spleen is essentially 

metaphysical as it reflects the poet’s conflicting perception of time; Baudelaire paradoxically feels that he 

is wasting the precious minutes of his life, a life in which tomorrow is always unbearably dull. To escape 

incurable boredom, suffocation, powerlessness, and solitude (La cloche fêlée), the poet desperately flees 

toward an idyllic world; but as reality always claims its due, the fall become more and more intolerable 

producing gruesome thoughts and hallucinations edging madness (Le cygne). In Baudelaire’s idealist 

world of ideas, art and beauty erase all constraints and creates a universe of dreams. 

The poet is not fooled by his imagination; unlike Lamartine or Hugo, he exposes his soul as it is, 

a fallen soul in a fallen world. For Baudelaire, despite the incommensurable progress of science, little has 

been gained in morality and humanism; and past revolutions proved that the man from the streets is no 

better than the bourgeois or the aristocrat; Napoléon himself was the victim of his monstrous urge for 

power and domination. For these reasons, Baudelaire concludes that happiness cannot be found in this 

world or in any of the artificial paradises he explored with an almost insane avidity. Death, who has 

always been accused of poisoning the joys of every human being, is therefore the only voyage that can 

really bring novelty and hope. These are the last words of the splendid and controversial Fleurs du Mal. 

Mal in French encompasses pain, suffering, evil, and ugliness; this is exactly what Baudelaire 

wants to extract beauty from. Primarily, he calls his collection Limbes and finally chooses the provocative 

title Les Fleurs du Mal. Les Fleurs du Mal is also a confrontation; from the very beginning, the poet involves 

the reader, the Hypocrite lecteur — mon semblable, — mon frère (hypocrite reader, my fellow human who is 

so much like me, my brother) and says that his sins are the sins many carefully hide behind dignity and 

respectability. 53 

Les Fleurs du Mal shows the master-poet’s extraordinary talent for the sonnet in which he 

skilfully plays with the octosyllables and the alexandrins. To keep his readers on edge, Baudelaire uses all 

the techniques of the poetic language. He is very fond of solemn apostrophes and judicious cuts. The 

vocabulary is simple but carefully chosen and well exposed; his rimes are riches and the metric produces 

beautiful sonorous effects. Baudelaire also has a predilection for words that reflect his ‘états d’âme’ and 

their repetitions produce striking atmospheres where infinite sadness spreads like a veil over a world of 

intoxicating perfumes ranging from the most exquisite to the foulest. Baudelaire is a Romantic but also a 

symbolist; he creates images from abstractions, transforms persons into objects, and gives life to objects. 

Before being part of les Fleurs du mal, L’Invitation au voyage was first published in the revue des 

Deux Mondes in June 1855. This melodious poems is part of Spleen et Idéal. Inspired by the exquisite works 

of the Dutch painters, the author dreams to go away with the woman he loves. L’Invitation au voyage is the 

magic mirror where the world goes through the most magnificent metamorphosis; it is the beloved’s 

mirror, the glossy furniture, the canals reverberating the wet suns in the cloudy sky... but above all, it is 

the mirror where the author can see his soul. In this dream world, reality has vanished; all is new and 

resplendent. The rocking rhythm follows the movement of the ships on the canals; and their urge to sail 

53 Au Lecteur in Les Fleurs du mal, p 5-7. 

181

away resembles the author’s eagerness to find novelty. Nevertheless, the poet has not abandoned his 

wish to die and like the ships, he waits for the ultimate voyage, the point of no return where lasting 

happiness could only be found. 

This is one of Baudelaire’s rare and luminous poems where hope and tranquillity prevails over 

delusion and despair. Skilfully, the poet used the conditional to express hope, and finally switches to 

present giving an illusion of reality. With the alternate verses of five and seven syllables, Baudelaire 

produces a charming and sensual atmosphere. He describes the country of his dream with images of 

exceptional brilliance. 

L’Invitation au Voyage 54 Voyage Invitation 55 

Mon enfant, ma soeur, My child, my sister, 

Songe à la douceur densité Think of the sweetness 

D’aller là-bas vivre ensemble! To go there and live together! 

Aimer à loisir, To love as we want, 

Aimer et mourir To love and to die 

Au pays qui te ressemble! In a country so much like you! 

Les soleils mouillés The soaked yellow suns 

De ces ciels brouillés In the cloudy skies 

Pour mon esprit ont les charmes Have always in my mind the charms 

Si mystérieux So mysterious 

De tes traîtres yeux, Of your faithless eyes 

Brillant à travers leurs larmes. Shinning through their tears. 

Là, tout n’est qu’ordre et beauté, There, all is beauty and order, 

Luxe, calme et volupté. Calm, opulent, and voluptuous. 

Des meubles luisants, Gleaming furniture 

Polis par les ans, Polished by the years, 

Décoreraient notre chambre; Would adorn our bedroom; 

Les plus rares fleurs The rarest flowers 

Mêlant leurs odeurs Mingling their odours 

Aux vagues senteurs de l’ambre. To the scent of amber, 

Les riches plafonds, And the rich ceilings, 

Les miroirs profonds, The profound mirrors, 

54 Baudelaire, Poem XLIX, pp 73-75 

55 Probably Holland 

182

La splendeur orientale, The splendour oriental, 

Tout y parlerait All would secretly 

A l’âme en secret Whisper to our souls 

Sa douce langue natale. In their sweet native tongues. 



Vois sur ces canaux See on the canals 

Dormir ces vaisseaux The tall ships slumbering, 

Dont l’humeur est vagabonde; Their mood vagabond. 

C’est pour assouvir It is to satisfy 

Ton moindre désir The least of your desires 

Qu’ils viennent du bout du monde. That they come from the end of the world. 

—Les soleils couchants - The red setting suns 

Revêtent les champs, Gently clothe the fields, 

Les canaux, la ville entière, The canals, the whole city 

D’hyacinthe et d’or; In hyacinth and gold; 

Le monde s’endort The world is falling asleep 

Dans une chaude lumière. In a warm light. 



The following sonnet Recueillement 56 was first published in the Revue européenne in November 

1861; in the posthumous edition of les Fleurs du Mal, it ends Spleen et idéal. Baudelaire’s life is a long 

meditation on pain and suffering but this sonnet displays a singular serenity as if the soul was lightly 

going away from the city’s rumours and its rudeness. Here, the poet addresses to his pain as to a human 

being, a sick child, a companion; and he leads her away from the impure and worldly pleasures while 

death is slowly coming to take them away. Despite the solemnity of the moment, the author’s tone is 

intimate, affectionate. Evening is bringing solitude, there is comfort and hope, no more despair or 

rebellion but acceptance and dignity far away from the world and its futile pleasures. Here the rimes are 

croisées with the pattern abab abab ccd ede. This produces a peaceful atmosphere. Furthermore, the second 

quatrain, tied up to the first tercet with the reject, enhances the idea of pulling, and slightly increases the 

rhythm marking the imminent arrival of the night, the ineluctable flight of time toward death. 

56 Baudelaire, Poem CLIX, pp 273-4. 

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Recueillement 

Sois sage, ô ma Douleur, et tiens-toi plus tranquille. 

Tu réclamais le Soir; il descend; le voici; 

Une atmosphère obscure enveloppe la ville, 

Aux uns portant la paix, aux autres le souci. 

Pendant que des mortels la multitude vile, 

Sous le fouet du Plaisir, ce bourreau sans merci, 

Va cueillir des remords dans la fête servile, 

Ma Douleur, donne-moi la main; viens par ici, 

Loin d’eux. Vois se pencher les défuntes Années, 

Sur les balcons du ciel, en robes surannées; 

Surgir du fond des eaux le Regret souriant; 

Le Soleil moribond s’endormir sous une arche, 

Et, comme un long linceul traînant à l’Orient, 

Entends, ma chère, entends la douce Nuit qui marche. 

Contemplation 

Behave, O my Pain, and keep quiet 

You longed for dusk and now it comes; 

A dim atmosphere envelops the city, 

Bringing peace to some to others care. 

While the vile multitude of mortals 

Under the whip of Pleasure, the slayer 

Is reaping remorse in the servile feast, 

O my Pain, give me your hand; come with me 

Far from them. See the bygone years leaning 

Over heaven’s balconies, in faded robes; 

Smiling regrets are rising from the deep; 

Moribund, the sun sleeps beneath an arch, 

And, like a long shroud drifting to the East 

Listen, my dear, listen to the sweet night. 

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Parnassians and Symbolists 

As we saw earlier, Baudelaire, the last Romantic initiates the systematic conversion of French 

poetry. Around the 1860’s, poets form ‘le Parnasse’ a heteroclite movement where all follow their own 

poetic path but agree with Leconte de Lisle that poetry must evolve as suggested in the Preface of his 

Poèmes Antiques published in 1852. The Parnassians’ common goal consists of perfecting versification to 

create a new form of poetry. Though they recognise Baudelaire as one of them, they reject the Romantiques 

and their lyricism, sentimentalism, and individualism. Poetry must take the same approach as science the 

maker of progress; and this implies as August Comte’s positivist philosophy prescribes, the scrupulous 

and methodical observation of events. This does not mean that the past ought to be forgotten; on the 

contrary, it must be revived with recent and accurate documentations. 

Nevertheless, the Parnasse’s ultimate ambition is the realisation of beauty in its purest form as 

Théophile Gautier, Leconte de Lisle, and Théodore de Banville show in their works. Unsurprisingly, the 

Parnassians venerate Ancient Greece as it offers ideal models of perfection and harmony in all its arts and 

even in its constitution. 

From the fusion of the Parnasse’s first review, La Revue fantaisiste (Whimsical review) founded 

by Catulle Mendès in 1861 and Xavier de Ricard’s Revue du Progrès in 1864, comes out the weekly 

newspaper l’Art; but unable to assure its regular publication, the young poets edit a collection of new 

verses titled Le Parnasse Contemporain in 1866. This excellent compilation presents poems by Gautier and 

de Lisle of course, but also Baudelaire, José-Maria de Heredia, Louis Ménard, François Coppée, Mendés, 

Léon Dierx, Sully-Prudhomme, Verlaine, and Mallarmé. While Mendès rehabilitates virtuosity and 

Ricard praises scientific poetry, de Banville writes his Petit Traité de Versification française, and Heredia 

composes les trophées, a collection of beautiful sonnets mastering with excellence the Parnassian art and 

its techniques. 

Many poets however believe that the Parnasse is going too far; they disapprove their solemnity 

and coldness. Time is changing and the Wagnerian dramas especially Tannhäuser, which was booed in 

1861 are now stirring the heart of French people. Inspired by music, a new generation of poets, the Néo- 

Romantiques, wants to unveil its secrets announcing the birth of symbolism, which regroups the Décadents 

and the Idéalistes. In 1861, Baudelaire already wrote a very enthusiast and interesting article on Wagner’s 

exceptional music 

Ce qui serait vraiment surprenant, c’est que le son ne pût pas suggérer la couleur, que les couleurs 

ne pussent pas donner l’idée d’une mélodie, et que le son et la couleur fussent impropres à traduire 

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des idées ; les choses s’étant toujours exprimées par une analogie réciproque, depuis le jour où Dieu 

a proféré le monde comme une complexe et indivisible totalité. 1 

What would be surprising is that sound could not suggest colour, that colour could not give the 

idea of a melody, and that sound and colour could be improper for the translation of ideas; things 

have always been expressed through reciprocal analogy since the day God uttered the world as a 

complex and indivisible totality. 

Yes yes yes!!! But if the Décadents are the adepts of Montmartre’s new Bohème, unlike the 

Dandies who distinguished themselves by their elegance, the Bohemians want to be the symbol of their 

decadent society so they deliberately neglect their appearance. Some of these Décadents are Idéalistes 

whose dream is to reach transcendental reality, a spiritual world where their sensitivity blooms. To 

describe this impalpable universe, they use the fluidity of language and the evocative power of music. 

Who are their masters? From whom do they take their inspiration? Essentially, from Baudelaire but also 

from Gérard de Nerval who as early as 1831 evokes in one of his odelettes titled Fantaisie (Whim), a 

chimerical world of poèsie pure, where dreams and memories mingle. Of course, there are also Verlaine 

and Rimbaud whose fame has not reached the public yet. 

The Décadents and the Idéalistes such as Paul Verlaine, Jean-Arthur Rimbaud, and Stéphane 

Mallarmé are the greatest Symbolists. As Charles Chadwick so cleverly perceived, Symbolism is not only 

the use of concrete imagery to express abstract ideas and emotions 

(it is) the art of expressing ideas and emotions not by describing them directly, nor by defining them 

through overt comparisons with concrete images but by suggesting what these ideas and emotions 

are, by re-creating them in the mind if the reader through the use of unexplained symbols. 2 

Those images however do not always convey the poet’s emotions or thoughts but an ideal 

world close to Plato’s ideal and accordingly, poets who can see beyond the real world are the new 

prophets, the seers. Baudelaire’s magnificent Fleurs du mal is in itself a world of symbols; and 

Correspondances 3 is the symbolist poem 4 par excellence. 

1 Baudelaire (1861) Richard Wagner et Tannhäuser à Paris 

2 Charles Chadwick (1971) Symbolism, p 1. 

3 Baudelaire, Correspondance, Poem VI of Les Fleurs du mal, p 19 

4 To my dear son Francky so he may discover and love Baudelaire 

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Correspondances 

La Nature est un temple où de vivants piliers 

Laissent parfois sortir de confuses paroles ; 

L’homme y passe à travers des forêts de symboles 

Qui l’observent avec des regards familiers. 

Comme de longs échos qui de loin se confondent 

Dans une ténébreuse et profonde unité, 

Vaste comme la nuit et comme la clarté, 

Les parfums, les couleurs et les sons se répondent. 

Il est des parfums frais comme des chairs d’enfants, 

Doux comme les hautbois, verts comme les prairies, 

— Et d’autres, corrompus, riches et triomphants, 

Ayant l’expansion des choses infinies, 

Comme l’ambre, le musc, le benjoin et l’encens, 

Qui chantent les transports de l’esprit et des sens. 

Correspondences 

Nature is a temple where living pillars 

Sometimes utter confusing words; 

Man walks through these forests of symbols 

Staring at him with familiar gazes. 

And like long echoes mingling from far away 

In a puzzling and profound unity, 

Vast as the dark of night and the light of day, 

Scents, colours, and sounds respond to each other. 

There are scents as cool as children’s flesh, 

Soft like oboes, green like meadows, 

— And others, corrupted, rich and triumphant, 

Expanding as infinite things, 

Like amber and musk, benzoin and incense, 

Singing the rapture of the mind and senses. 

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Music, colour, and perfume evocating mysterious worlds captivate the mind of the youth who 

are unable to take any bearing in a society, which is changing too rapidly. All is going too fast and instead 

of bringing universal happiness, which was so dearly expected, science and industrialisation have only 

created a materialist world. Paul Verlaine, one of these young people chooses music and blurred reality. 

Though the poet minimises the importance of his Art Poétique composed in 1874, it is the manifesto of the 

Symbolist School. Here, Verlaine defines his conception of poetry and insists on three essential points 

L’Art Poétique Poetic Art 

De la musique avant toute chose, Before anything, think of music, 

Et pour cela préfère l'Impair And so prefer uneven lines 

Plus vague et plus soluble dans l'air, Vaguer and more soluble in air 

Sans rien en lui qui pèse ou qui pose. With nothing that weighs or arrests it. 

Il faut aussi que tu n'ailles point Remember also not to choose 

Choisir tes mots sans quelque méprise Words, which are unambiguous: 

Rien de plus cher que la chanson grise Nothing is dearer than the grey song 

Où l'Indécis au Précis se joint. Where Imprecise melts in Precise. 

C'est des beaux yeux derrière des voiles Like beautiful eyes behind a veil, 

C'est le grand jour tremblant de midi, Like daylight trembling at noon, 

C'est par un ciel d'automne attiédi Like the Autumn sky softening, 

Le bleu fouillis des claires étoiles! The confused blue of clear stars! 

Car nous voulons la Nuance encor, For we always want Nuance, 

Pas la Couleur, rien que la nuance! Not colour, only nuance! 

Oh! la nuance seule fiance O! Nuance only marries 

Le rêve au rêve et la flûte au cor ! Dream to dream and flute to horn! 

Fuis du plus loin la Pointe assassine, Flee the lethal Point as far as you can, 

L'Esprit cruel et le Rire impur, The cruel Wit and the impure Laugh 

Qui font pleurer les yeux de l'Azur Which bring tears to Azure’s eyes, 

Et tout cet ail de basse cuisine ! As garlic does in vulgar cuisine. 

Prends l'éloquence et tords-lui son cou ! Take eloquence and break its neck! 

Tu feras bien, en train d'énergie, You will do well if with energy, 

De rendre un peu la Rime assagie. You soften the Rhyme a little, 

Si l'on n'y veille, elle ira jusqu'où ? If we do not watch it, where will it end? 

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Ô qui dira les torts de la Rime ? O! who can talk about the wrong-doings of Rhymes? 

Quel enfant sourd ou quel nègre fou Which deaf child or mad nigger 

Nous a forgé ce bijou d'un sou Fooled us with this worthless jewel 

Qui sonne creux et faux sous la lime ? That sounds hollow and false to the ear? 

De la musique encore et toujours ! Yes, music! Always music! 

Que ton vers soit la chose envolée So that your verse can fly 

Qu'on sent qui fuit d'une âme en allée So that we may feel the soul fleeing 

Vers d'autres cieux à d'autres amours. To other skies and other loves. 

Que ton vers soit la bonne aventure Let your verse be the happy event 

Éparse au vent crispé du matin Scattered on the crisp morning wind 

Qui va fleurant la menthe et le thym... Scented with thyme and mint... 

Et tout le reste est littérature. All the rest is literature. 

Baudelaire, Verlaine and Rimbaud are the precursors of Symbolism, which emerges after Jean 

Moréas’s article published in le Figaro in September 1886. Moréas claims that Romanticism, the Parnasse, 

and the Naturalist movement have been supplanted by poets who reject false sensibility, declamation, 

and objective description. Their aim is to provide forms to ideas. The most known members of this school 

are Moréas of course, Gustave Kahn, Stuart Merrill, Vielé-Griffin, and René Ghil. They all agree that the 

glorious names of Nerval, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud, and Mallarmé symbolise the essential of what 

Paul Gauguin called l’école d’avant-garde du XXe (‘avant-garde’ school of the 20 th Century). 

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Paul Verlaine 

(1844-1896) 

Paul-Marie Verlaine was born on 30 March 1844 in Metz, a city close to the German border. 

Captain Nicolas Verlaine, his father, is an irreproachable army officer of Walloon origin from the Belgian 

Ardennes. His mother, Élisa Dehée, comes from a bourgeoise family in Artois; she has a deep affection for 

country life. Paul’s mother and his cousin Elisa Moncomble adore him and 

their excessive indulgence strongly affects Verlaine’s stability and behaviour. 

All his life, Verlaine will remain a spoiled child fond of merry-goes-around, 

clowns, old children songs, and Perrault’s Tales. 

In 1851, the Captain resigns and the family moves to Les Batignolles, 

a Parisian suburb. Paul is sent to the Institution Landry and studies at Lycée 

Bonaparte. In love with literature, the boy starts writing poetry; and at 

fourteenth, he sends one of his poems La mort (Death) to Victor Hugo. 

However, Paul cannot fail to notice his ugliness; at this early age, he looks like a 

faun escaped from a magic forest. 1 It is also at this time, and probably for this 

reason, that Verlaine starts searching comfort in boyfriends’ arms. 

After his bacchalauréat in 1862, Verlaine 2 goes on holiday at Lécluse 

where his cousin Elisa who is now married lives. In October, he comes back to 

Paris and enters the École de Droit but shows no interest in the course; he 

prefers the Quartier Latin’s Cafés and Alphonse Lemerre’s famous bookshop, where he chats with the 

Parnassians. 

The following year in August, Verlaine publishes his first sonnet Monsieur Prudhomme in Xavier 

de Ricard’s Revue du progrès moral, littéraire, scientifique et artistique. Unsurprisingly, Verlaine abandons his 

law study two years later, and decides to devote himself to poetry. First, he is in charge of the literary 

critique at the review L’Art and writes articles on Baudelaire and Victor Hugo. Verlaine also continued to 

haunt Paris’s Cafés, laughing with villains and prostitutes and drinking Absinthe, a strong and 

destructive alcohol causing hallucinations. Worried about his son, Monsieur Verlaine persuades him to 

work as a clerk in an insurance company. A few months later, Verlaine finds a better job at the Hôtel de 

Ville (City’s council) but his passion is poetry; and in 1864, Dans les bois (In the woods) and Nevermore 

appear in L’Art. 

1 In Nina de Callias’s salon, Verlaine was nicknamed Gwynplaine, character from Victor Hugo’s play 

L’homme qui rit; Gwynplaine was captured and one of the queen’s surgeon carved a grin on his face so he 

might laugh forever at his father even when he is sad. Nina was Manet’s muse, model of the Dame aux 

Éventails. 

2 http://www.nndb.com/people/874/000031781/verlaine8.jpg 

190

Verlaine also frequently visits his Cousin. In love with her, he declares his flame but Élisa 

refuses firmly this unacceptable affection. Nevertheless, she still 

consideres Verlaine as her dear little brother so she wants to help 

him as much as she can; and in 1866, Verlaine is able to publish 

Poèmes saturniens. 

In this first collection, Verlaine shows a Parnassian 

impassibility but the influence of his venerate master, Baudelaire, 

transpires. While Baudelaire exquisitely extracted beauty from 

evil with the languorous beat of his alexandrins, Verlaine gives 

musicality to his poetry with a quicker rhythm. Further-more, 

and as if the sun has never shone in the poet’s world, hazy 

landscapes reveal his états d’âme. Verlaine only uses images reflecting his emotions. The poet indeed 

abhors Nature and clearly says so in L’Angoisse (Distress) 

Nature, rien de toi ne m’émeut, ni les champs 

Nourriciers, ni l’écho vermeil des pastorales 

Siciliennes, ni les pompes aurorales, 

Ni la solennité dolente des couchants. 3 

Nature, nothing in you moves me, neither the fields 

Feeding us, nor the reddish echo 

Of the Sicilian pastorals, nor the splendour 

Of dawn, nor the sad solemnity of sunsets. 

In the same poem, Verlaine goes much further and releases the bitterness and despair of his hopeless 

soul 

Je ris de l’Art, je ris de l’Homme aussi, des chants, 

Des vers, des temples grecs et des tours en spirales 

Qu’étirent dans le ciel vide les cathédrales, 

Et je vois du même œil les bons et les méchants. 

Je ne crois pas en Dieu, j’abjure et je renie 

Toute pensée, et quant à la vieille ironie, 

L’Amour, je voudrais bien qu’on ne m’en parlât plus. 

3 Verlaine L’Angoisse, poem VIII from Poèmes Saturniens, p 30. Image from 

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Paul_Verlaine.jpg 

191

Lasse de vivre, ayant peur de mourir, pareille 

Au brick perdu jouet du flux et du reflux, 

Mon âme pour d’affreux naufrages appareille. 

I laugh at Art, I also laugh at Man, songs, 

Verses, Greek temples and spiral towers 

That mighty cathedrals stretch in the empty sky; 

And with the same eyes, I see good and evil people. 

I do not believe in God, I abjure and deny 

All thoughts, and of the old irony 

That we call Love, I wish to hear no more. 

Tired of living, frightened to die, like 

A lost boat, the toy of ebb and flow, 

My soul sails toward awful shipwrecks. 

Neither God nor Love exists and the future only pledges disasters. This is Verlaine’s whole life! 

Nevertheless, and despite this malaise of living, Verlaine’s poetry is tranquil and melodious. Rocked by 

the soft and languid music of the verses, the reader rests and dreams. 

A year later, Élisa dies and Verlaine is devastated by this sudden calamity. To numb his sorrow, 

he drinks and writes; and in 1868, Les Amies (Friends), a compilation of erotic poems appears 

clandestinely in bookshops. Then, follows Fêtes galantes (Galant Festivities), a collection inspired by 

Watteau’s paintings and Victor Hugo’s Fête chez Thérèse (Festivity at Therese’s). Magnificent works 

certainly, but Verlaine handles alcohol very badly; and one day, he almost kills his mother. 

The same year, Paul meets Mathilde Mauté, stepsister of his friend Charles de Sivry. Charmed 

by the beauty and freshness of this sixteen years old woman, Verlaine begins to hope that a happy 

marriage could change his despicable conduct. She dearly loves him and Verlaine passionately composes 

for his fiancée. His destructive anxiety becomes pure joy; and the wedding is celebrated on 11 August 

1870. As a wedding present, he publishes La Bonne Chanson (Good Song), the collection of his love poems. 

Here, Verlaine’s true poetic nature emerges. Far from Poèmes Saturniens, the poet reveals his weaknesses, 

his dreams morbid or innocent, and his remorse, with touching simplicity. 

The young couple now lives rue du Cardinal-Lemoine but the Franco-Prussian war starts and 

Verlaine must enrol in the National Guard. Paris is under siege a month later, and after Napoléon III’s 

defeat, France becomes a republic. In March 71, Verlaine becomes the attaché de presse of the Commune 4 , 

4 This insurrectional government controled Paris from March to May 1871. It re-established the 

revolutionary calendar, proclaimed the separation of the State from Church, raised the lowest wages, 

proposed free and compulsory education, and encouraged the formation of cooperatives. Its tentative to 

192

which has taken over the French government; and during the semaine sanglante (bloody week), he must 

hide as anyone having shown sympathy for the Communards are either sent to jail or deported. Luckily, 

Verlaine is not arrested but he loses his job at the Prefecture. Unable to pay the rent, the young couple 

leaves their apartment and moves rue Nicolet at Mathilde’s parents. 

Verlaine and Rimbaud by Henri Fantin-Latour 1872 5 

Despite the small success of Verlaine’s publication, his notoriety is growing and Jean-Arthur 

Rimbaud, an impetuous but incredibly talented adolescent from Charleville, sends him some poems. 

Very impressed, Verlaine invites him to Paris but Rimbaud’s anti-social behaviour displeased his family 

and he must find another place to stay. This does not end Verlaine and Rimbaud’s relation. The young 

poet literally revives the poetic verve of his master who has not written a single line in thirteen months. 

Yes, Verlaine loves his wife; but his inspiration has faded and he blamed her for not been able to control 

his weaknesses. 

Mathilde however hopes that the expected birth of their son Georges will give a sense of 

responsibility to her husband. This is not the case; Verlaine and Rimbaud’s friendship is equivoque to 

impose socialist ideas fails and the moderate Republicans, Jules Ferry and Léon Gambetta reject La 

Commune. With Adolphe Tiers, Chief of the executive power of the provisory government, and Marshall 

Mac-Mahon, they regain control of Paris after the ‘semaine sanglante’ of May 22 to 28 when more than 

25000 people are arrested or deported in Algeria, Guyana, and New Caledonia. 

5 http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Henri_Fantin-Latour_005.jpg 

193

everyone and the two compeers are always drunk. Verlaine knows that he cannot handle such heavy 

drinking but ignores it; and unable to control his savage temper, this time, he nearly kills his wife and the 

little Georges. Probably ashamed but sick of Mathilde’s reprimands, he moves rue Campagne-Première 

with Rimbaud. 

The latter however returns to Charleville in March 1872 and Verlaine finds a job at Lloyd Belge, 

another insurance company. Believing her husband’s light promises, Mathilde moves in, failing to see 

that Verlaine is still in love with Rimbaud. A secret correspondence between the two men soon begins, 

and in May, Rimbaud is back in Paris. His return stimulates Verlaine who sends Ariettes oubliées 

(Forgotten Arias) to the publishing company La Renaissance littéraire et artistique. 

Tired of Paris, the two villains run off to Arras, then Charleville, and Brussels. Still hopeful, 

Mathilde and her mother try everything to bring back the incorrigible husband. They almost succeed, but 

at the last minute, Verlaine changes his mind and even blames their attempt, which could have destroyed 

the wonderful relationship blossoming between him and Rimbaud. The distressed women leave and the 

scoundrels decide to settle in London where they will be able to enjoy total freedom. 

Certainly, the poets’ extravagant and stormy passion exalts their imagination. While Rimbaud 

works at Les Illuminations, Verlaine composes Romances sans paroles (Romances without Words), title 

probably inspired by Mendelssohn’s Songs without Words. This time, Verlaine’s objective is to make the 

readers physically feel his emotions so he becomes Verlaine the impressionist of the words. 

As always, the poet is sad. Fully aware that his love for Rimbaud is doomed, he regrets his 

devoted wife and the conflict is evident in Romances sans paroles. But from a poetic perspective, 

Rimbaud’s influence is very positive. Liberate from strict conventions, Verlaine’s poetry has evolved; his 

genial predilection for uneven verses of nine, eleven, and thirteen syllables is brilliant, and the rime is soft 

and evocative unlike the barbarian rime riche. Verlaine even prefers the assonance sometimes; he also 

uses alliterations and dissonances, and he discards the sacrosanct alternation of the rimes masculines and 

féminines. In this spoken language, words are the voice of the poet’s soul and poems the melodies of his 

life. 

In July 1873, Verlaine flees to Brussels; and in a letter addressed to Rimbaud, he explains that he 

wants to go back to his wife stressing that if she refuses, he will kill himself. He sends the same message 

to his mother hoping that she may help him to re-conquer Mathilde. Worried, Madame Verlaine and 

Rimbaud arrive and find the poet in a disastrous state of mind. Exacerbated by drinking, his despair 

turns into rage; and stupidly, he shoots his friend twice. Rimbaud is lightly wounded; but the medical 

report presented in court mentions the homosexual character of the two men’s relation and because of 

this irrelevant but infamous detail, Verlaine gets the maximum penalty: a heavy fine and two years of 

hard labour at Mons’s prison Les Petits-Carmes. 

Verlaine agrees that he deserves the sentence and seizes the opportunity of the prison’s 

austerity to concentrate his life on poetry. He deeply regrets his licentious conduct; and in Kaleidoscope, 

he gives his impressions of a world beyond the world. Meanwhile in Paris, his friend Lepelletier 

publishes Romances sans paroles. 

194

Verlaine’s imprisonment facilitates Mathilde’s demand for separation. Shaken by the judgment, 

Verlaine weeps and accepts to see the prison’s chaplain who revives his Catholic faith. In Sagesse, the 

repented poet discloses his obsessions of the past. 

Released from jail in 1875, Verlaine’s first visit is to Rimbaud at Stuttgart. Still under the charm 

of his rejuvenate faith, Verlaine tries to convert his friend; he also tells him of his decision to lead a 

respectable life. Rimbaud laughs; but as planned, the poet wisely avoids Paris’s temptations and goes to 

Stickney, a small village in England. He stays there two years teaching French, Greek, Latin, and 

Drawing. Then, he moves to Bournemouth and becomes teacher at the Catholic school. In 1877, he finally 

comes back to France. 

While teaching at the Collège Notre Dame in Rethel, Verlaine hopes to reconcile with Mathilde. 

Probably afraid of her ex-husband’s violent outbursts, she refuses. Disgusted, Verlaine succumbs to his 

weaknesses again. Unsurprisingly, he loses his job; and with his new friend, Lucien Létinois, one of his 

students, he moves to England. While Lucien teaches at Stickney Grammar School, Verlaine is professor 

at Lymington near the Isle of Wight. 

In 1880, the two friends return to France and buy a small farm at Juniville. Due for his military 

duty, Lucien goes to Reims and Verlaine follows him. In this old city, the poet composes Voyage en 

France par un Français and sends Sagesse for publishing at the Société Générale de Librairie Catholique. 

In autumn 1881, Verlaine sells the farm, which brings no profit; he returns to Paris in 1882 and 

applies for a clerk position at the Prefecture, where he worked nearly twenty years earlier. Then, he 

rejoins Lucien now supervisor at Boulogne-sur-Seine; and new poems appear in Léon Vanier’s review 

Paris Moderne. 

Verlaine is still waiting for the Prefecture’s reply; restless, he leaves Boulogne and stays with his 

mother in Paris, rue de la Roquette. Soon, he learns that his candidature has been rejected due to his past 

record. The poet has no choice, he must go back to his writing; and in 1883, Karl Mohr’s Nouvelle Rive 

gauche publishes other poems. 

Unfortunately, 1883 is another sad year for Verlaine when Lucien dies from typhoid in April. 

Inspired by Tennyson’s In Memoriam, Verlaine commemorates his love in Amour. This work is 

disappointing but the new collection Jadis et Naguère (Long ago and Yesterday) is superb. Soon, it is 

published in Lutèce – formerly the Nouvelle Rive gauche —and in La Revue critique. Verlaine is now 

acclaimed the leader of the Decadents’ school but he distances himself from them with Les Poètes maudits 

(Accursed Poets) praising Baudelaire, Rimbaud, and Mallarmé. Unfortunately, Verlaine continues to 

drink heavily and after a failed attempt to strangle his mother, he spends another month in jail. 

Verlaine’s mastery is now acknowledged but the poet is still very poor. After his release, he 

settles at the sordid Hôtel du Midi with his mother and publishes the series Les Hommes d’aujourd’hui 

(Today’s Men). In this insalubrious logging, Madame Verlaine dies and the poet sends his small 

inheritance to his wife. He then moves Cour Saint-François with Marie Gambier a prostitute nicknamed 

Princesse Roukhine. Verlaine’s health is precarious; he suffers from rheumatisms and goes from one 

hospital to another. Nevertheless, he still searches comfort in men’s arms and falls in love with the 

195

painter Frederic-Auguste Cazals, who will never share his feelings. Rue Royer-Collard and Rue 

Vaugirard, Verlaine organises literary meetings every Wednesday; and his editor Vanier publishes Amour 

in March 1888 and Paul Verlaine written by Charles Morice in November. 

After the publication of Parallèlement in June 1889, Verlaine stays for two months at Aix-les- 

Bains to rebuild his health. In Variété, Paul Valéry gives a fair description of the poet: 

Ce maudit, ce béni, boitant, battait le sol du lourd bâton des 

vagabonds et des infirmes. Lamentable, et porteur de flammes 

dans ses yeux couverts de broussailles, il étonnait la rue par sa 

brutale majesté et par l’éclat d’énormes propos…développant 

une colère magnifique qui se changeait quelquefois, comme par 

miracle, en un rire presque aussi neuf qu’un rire d’enfant. 6 

This lost but blessed limping man used to strike the ground 

with the heavy cane of the vagabonds and the cripples. 

Lamentable, flames carrier in eyes covered with brushwood, he 

amazed people on the street by his brutal majesty and the burst 

of enormous sayings… developing a magnificent anger, which 

sometimes and like a miracle turned into a laugh almost as fresh 

as a child’s. 

At this time, Verlaine 7 lives with a middle-aged woman, 

Philomène Boudin who accepts his numerous boyfriends. Inspired 

by his homosexual experiences, the poet writes Hombres and Femmes (Women), published clandestinely at 

the end of the year. 

In 1891 and 1892, Verlaine settles with Eugénie Krantz, another prostitute. He publishes 

Bonheur, Les Uns et les Autres, Chansons pour elle, and Mes Hôpitaux (Happiness, Ones and others, Song for 

her, and My Hospitals) while the Bibliothèque-Charpentier presents Choix de poésies (Choice of poetry). 

Verlaine then conducts lectures in Holland; and after four weeks spent at the hospital, he organises a 

series of conferences throughout Belgium and in London, Oxford, and Manchester. 

In 1893, the poet is exhausted but composes Élégies, Odes en son honneur, and Mes Prisons. He 

also presents his candidature to the Académie Française. Although a referendum in Le Journal elects him 

Prince des Poètes, his outrageous attitude is on everyone’s mind and no Academicians vote for him. 

In 1894 and 1895, Verlaine publishes Dans les Limbes, Épigrammes, and Les Confessions. However, 

all these publications hardly pay Verlaine’s heavy debts, and after a petition signed by many friends, the 

government finally agrees to give him a small allowance for his medications. 

6 Paul Valéry, Variété II, p 176. 

7 Verlaine by Eugène Carrière (1890) 

196

Verlaine has now made his name; Ariettes Oubliées and Fêtes galantes are put into music by 

Debussy; and Faurés is composing a beautiful arrangement for Paroles, one of the poems from La Bonne 

Chanson. 

At fifty-one, the poet is an old man; his health is deteriorating rapidly; and on 8 January 1896, 

comforted by the many prostitutes living in his hotel, Verlaine dies of pulmonary congestion after having 

received the last sacraments. Several thousand people follows the funeral procession up to his last 

dwelling, cimetière des Batignolles where the poets Lepelletier, Moréas, Kahn, Mendès, Barrès, Coppée, 

and Mallarmé pay tribute to the great Verlaine. 

Despite his outrageous way of life and weaknesses, Verlaine’s genius is undeniable and as 

Ernest Raynaud 8 claims, Verlaine’s poetry is the apotheosis of transient sensation. 

Mon rêve familier, 9 poem VI of Mélancholia in Poèmes Saturniens is dedicated to Ernest Boutier 10 . 

Verlaine is twenty years old when he writes this beautiful sonnet reflecting his hope to find someone who 

will at last understand and comfort his soul. He knows however that such hope is an illusion as he is 

convinced that he will never find the love he desperately seeks. 

In this poem, the poet plays with the word rêve (dream) and in this obsessive dream, the loving 

woman keeps a mysterious nature. In the first quatrain, Verlaine repeats words like et (and) and aime 

(love) creating a stuttering effect leading to the final and essential me comprend (and understands me). In 

the second quatrain, he develops the idea; again, repetitions and caesuras are skilfully used to stress that 

she, only, can comfort him. In the tercets, the rhythm and the tone change as the poet admits his inability 

to describe this woman. Bitterly, he has finally realised that she is just an illusion and as in Baudelaire’s 

Rêve de Pierre, the poet becomes insensitive, lingering on a forgotten name, an empty gaze, and finally 

silence. The pattern abba, abba, dde, fef, the alexandrins, the repetitions, and the enjambments create a 

subtle cadence, a soft music as in all Verlaine’s poem. 

8 Ernest Raynaud (1864-1938) Writer and poet 

9 This poem is for my dear son Mickael. Paul Verlaine (1969) Oeuvres poétiques, p 29 

10 One of the main contributors of L’Art and violonist amator 

197

Mon rêve familier 

Je fais souvent ce rêve étrange et pénétrant 

D'une femme inconnue, et que j'aime, et qui m'aime, 

Et qui n'est, chaque fois, ni tout à fait la même 

Ni tout à fait une autre, et m'aime et me comprend. 

Car elle me comprend, et mon coeur, transparent 

Pour elle seule, hélas! cesse d'être un problème 

Pour elle seule, et les moiteurs de mon front blême, 

Elle seule les sait rafraîchir, en pleurant. 

Est-elle brune, blonde, ou rousse? - Je l'ignore. 

Son nom? Je me souviens qu'il est doux et sonore 

Comme ceux des aimés que la Vie exila. 

Son regard est pareil au regard des statues, 

Et pour sa voix, lointaine, et calme, et grave, elle a 

L'inflexion des voix chères qui se sont tues. 

My familiar dream 

I often have this strange and profound dream 

Of an unknown woman whom I love and loves me. 

And who, each time, is neither quite the same 

Nor another, and she loves and understands me. 

Yes, she understands me, and my transparent heart 

To her only, alas, is no more a problem 

To her alone, and my feverish and pale forehead 

She alone knows how to cool it with her tears. 

Is she brunette, blond, or red-haired? - I do not know. 

Her name? I remember that it is sweet and clear 

Like those of the loved ones that were banished from Life. 

Her gaze is the same as the gaze of the statues 

And in her voice, distant, and calm, and grave, it has 

The inflexion of beloved voices now silent. 

198

Ariette III of Romances sans paroles was probably written in Spring 1873; it evocates the London 

rain and Verlaine identifies the landscape with his état d’âme. With mingling words and even losing the 

reason why he is so sad, Il pleure dans mon coeur and Chanson d’Automne are two of the greatest 

masterpieces of French poetry. 

Il pleure dans mon cœur 11 It rains in my heart 

Il pleut doucement sur la ville (Arthur Rimbaud) It gently rains on the town 

Il pleure dans mon cœur It rains in my heart 

Comme il pleut sur la ville, As it rains on the town. 

Quelle est cette langueur What is this languor 

Qui pénètre mon coeur? Penetrating my heart? 

O bruit doux de la pluie O soft sound of the rain 

Par terre et sur les toits! On the ground on the roofs! 

Pour un coeur qui s'ennuie For a bored weary heart 

O le chant de la pluie! O the song of the rain! 

Il pleure sans raison It rains without cause 

Dans ce coeur qui s'écoeure. In this unhappy heart 

Quoi! nulle trahison? What! No sad betrayal? 

Ce deuil est sans raison. This grief has no reason. 

C'est bien la pire peine This is the worst distress 

De ne savoir pourquoi Not knowing why 

Sans amour et sans haine With no love and no hate, 

Mon coeur a tant de peine. My heart has so much pain. 

11 Ibid, p 148. 

199

Les sanglots longs or Chanson d’Automne is probably the most well-known poem of Verlaine. It is 

also the famous code from the BBC; on 4 June 1944 at 11pm, the resistants received the first part of 

message Les sanglots longs de l’automne to start the sabotage of all the railway and telephone installations; 

and on 5 June, the second part Bercent mon coeur d’une langueur monotone was broadcasted at 8pm calling 

for the offensive. 

Its rhythm, the soft sonority of the consonants l, m, n, the musicality of the words and their 

simplicity, transform the exquisite poem into a song easy to remember. Autumn and the approaching 

winter is the ideal season to reflect melancholy; swerving from the soaked landscapes to the poet’s soul, 

slowly the I disappears and the inside and outside worlds finally meet in the last verse suggesting death. 

The rythmus tripertitus (repeated rime after a group of two verses) and the three-syllable verses create a 

touching music fading away as the days of summer. The colours of this superb Verlainian poem are faint 

and the forms dissolve in the mist of the poet’s tears. 

Chanson d’automne Autumn’s song 

Les sanglots longs The long sobs 

Des violons Of Autumn's 

De l'automne Violins 

Blessent mon coeur Wound my heart 

D'une langueur With a monotonous 

Monotone. Languor. 

Tout suffoquant Breathless 

Et blême, quand And pale, when 

Sonne l'heure, Time strikes 

Je me souviens I remember 

Des jours anciens The bygone days 

Et je pleure. And I weep. 

Et je m'en vais And I go 

Au vent mauvais In the mean wind 

Qui m'emporte that carries me 

Deçà delà, Here and there 

Pareil à la Like the 

Feuille morte. Dead leaf. 

200

Jean-Arthur Rimbaud 

(1854-1891) 

Jean-Arthur was born on 20 October 1854, in Charleville a small city in the North of France. In 

1862, Captain Rimbaud rejoins his garrison and from that time, Arthur’s parents live separately. Madame 

Rimbaud rents a flat Cour d’Orléans where she raises her three children, 

and Arthur is sent to the Institution Rossat. In 1865, he studies at the 

Collège and his excellent results allow him to skip a class. At fourteen, the 

boy shows a deep interest for literature and already excels in poetry. Aware 

of his precautious talent, he sends a letter in Latin verses to Napoléon III and 

the following year, he wins the first prize of the French Académie’s 

competition with his Latin poem Jugurtha. Arthur now prepares his 

bacchalauréat and studies rhetoric with Georges Izambard, his teacher, 

mentor, and friend who introduces him to Victor Hugo and the Parnassians. 

Well inspired, the adolescent composes Les Étrennes des Orphelins (New 

Year’s gift for the Orphans), one of the twenty-two poems he avidly writes 

in 1870. In this superb collection, we see the incontestable influence of Victor 

Hugo. Impressed by the boy’s originality, Izambard encourages him to send 

a series of poems to Théodore de Banville so he may publish some in the 

Parnasse Contemporain. 1 

The same year in August, Rimbaud obtains his baccalauréat with flying colours; and at the end 

of the month, he takes the train to Paris where he is arrested for not having paid his fare. Alerted by the 

boy’s letter, Izambart immediately comes to his rescue; he pays the fine and brings the young man home. 

A week later, Rimbaud is on the road again, this time, he goes to Brussels and then Douai where Izembart 

lives. 

Back to Charleville and inspired by his escapade, Rimbaud composes Ma Bohème, Le Buffet (The 

Cupboard), Au Cabaret-Vert (At the Green-Cabaret) and Les assis (The sitted) at Charleville’s small library 

where he spends most of his time. 

Since July, the Franco-Prussian war is raging and January 1871, Mézières and Charleville are 

occupied by the enemy. Unconcerned, Rimbaud makes a second trip to Paris and comes back to 

Charleville on foot around March. He now works for Le Progrès des Ardennes; and when the newspaper 

ceases to be published, he returns to Paris. In a letter sent to his friend, Paul Demeny, Rimbaud defines 

his conception of poetry. 

1 Letter sent to Théodore de Banville on Mai 24, 1870, p 236-237.

Primarily, Arthur states that it is through the derangement of the senses that a true poet can 

discover the unknown. This implies searching all forms of love, suffering, and madness; and when all 

poisons are exhausted, quintessence only remains. Furthermore, being the language of the universal soul, 

poetry must contain the poet’s aspiration and anger, but reflecting what we see or feel with colours, 

scents, and sounds is not enough; the poet must also become a seer and a multiplier of progress. Finally 

in line with Greek poetry, his poems will endure as Greek poetry has endured. 

Rimbaud indeed praises the seers among the first Romantiques; Lamartine, Théophile Gautier, 

Théodore de Banville, and Leconte de Lisle are remarkable poets but they lack Baudelaire’s genius; and 

among the Parnassians, the real voyants (seers) are Albert Mérat 2 and Paul Verlaine. 

Back in Charleville, Rimbaud sends his best poems to the latter who, as we already know, 

immediately invites him to Paris. 3 In September, Rimbaud arrives with new poems among them Le 

Bateau ivre (the drunken boat). 

With his master, the adolescent’s obsession is to translate his états d’âme (state of mind) in poetic 

form; and to reproduce all types of sensation, he uses colour and rhythm. Rimbaud and Verlaine are the 

new impressionists of poetry; but while Verlaine believes in the softness of hazy landscapes where the 

sound of springs is muffled by vaporous mists, Rimbaud prefers radiant images, primary colours, and 

marked lines. He probably writes the Illuminations in London in 1872 and Une saison en enfer (Season in 

hell) in April 1873 in his mother’s farm at Roche. Like Baudelaire, Rimbaud is attracted by death. In Une 

saison en enfer, the poet describes his tremendous will to live and climb the ladder of fame, but he also 

reveals his mysterious and deadly aspiration. After a joyous and dynamic attitude toward life, the poet 

now rejects all values and jump in hell so he can wake up ready to face life again. 

Rimbaud’s Illuminations are the gleams of enlightenment to escape death and crime. They are 

the responses to his questions, the solutions to his contradictions; but as Rimbaud emphasises, these 

illuminations are the enluminures of his life, especially the season in hell. Life is now bearable; no more 

revolt, desire and reality cohabite in harmony, and Génie is the fusion of the human being and the ideal 

being—perhaps Nietzsche’s superman. The new world Rimbaud describes is the work of a seer, the work 

of his imagination; this illuminated world exists only in a poet’s soul. 

Rimbaud is nevertheless more concern about Une Saison en enfer and thanks to his mother, who 

accepts to pay for its publication, five hundred copies of the book are printed in a small publishing house 

in Brussels. Rimbaud sends some to his friends in Paris including Verlaine who is in jail. 

Then, we see him with Germain Nouveau in Paris in March 1874, later, he teaches French in 

London and Scotland, comes back to Charleville in winter; and in February 1875, he goes to Stuttgart 

where Verlaine sees him after his release from prison. The same year, he sends his poems in prose— 

Illuminations—for publication in Brussels, and he asks Verlaine to return all poems in his possession. 

2 Albert Merat (1840-1909) French poet 

3 I shall not linger on Rimbaud and Verlaine’s adventurous affair as I discussed it in Verlaine’s chapter. 

202

Rimbaud is now twenty-one and the poet is dead; carelessly, he turns the page to live new 

adventures. He travels to Switzerland and Italy. Back in Charleville at the end of the year, he perfects his 

German and studies Spanish, Italian, Modern Greek, Arabic, and Dutch. Later, we find him in Holland 

where he enrolled in the Dutch army; but unable to handle the military discipline, he deserts and returns 

to Charleville. Expelled from Austria in 1877, he visits Sweden and Denmark. 

In 1878, Rimbaud is in Cyprus where he works as a supervisor in a stone quarry; he also makes 

some trips to Egypt and Aden. Then, he works for an export company and goes to Somalia to buy coffee 

and sell guns. Having lost a small fortune in his affair with King Menelik of Choa, he moves to Harar and 

works for a coffee exporter. Meanwhile Verlaine edits and publishes the Illuminations in La Vogue in 1886. 

All these years, Rimbaud spends his holidays at Roche with his mother and his sister Isabelle; his other 

sister Vitalie died in December 75. 

Up to February 1891, Rimbaud is working in Harar but a tumour in his right knee brings him 

back to France. Hospitalised in Marseille, his leg is amputated and Rimbaud returns to Roche under his 

mother’s and sister’s care. Unfortunately, his condition worsens and to avoid the cold winter in 

Ardennes, he goes back to Marseille where he dies at the hospital on 10 November 1891. 

Rimbaud’s life was brief but his legacy is magnificent. Furthermore, it is indubitable that he 

lived with tremendous intensity. Rimbaud is neither an angel nor a demon as so many wrongly assume; 

he is a rebellious adolescent curious to know and experience everything possible. Voyant (seer) perhaps, 

voyou (scoundrel) certainly. Rimbaud is the Villon of modern time and if he is not the greatest poet of his 

century as some suggest, he is one of them. 

The last extract in the Epilogue is taken from Phrases in Illuminations; 4 this exquisite piece of 

prose will end the 19 th Century. 

It is brilliant by its naïve simplicity considering the complexity of the whole. Indeed, 

Illuminations and Une Saison en enfer are two of the most difficult works of French literature. Their 

intricacy, cryptic outbursts, and contradictions as well as their lack of transitions require unusual 

concentration to apprehend their meanings, and poetic eagerness and agility to restore their melodies. 

Les Éffarés is one of the magnificent poems of Poésies written in 1870. Enraged by what he sees 

in the streets of Paris, Rimbaud denounces it for all to know. Admirably, the poet shows his sensitivity to 

visual impressions through the vivid painting of hungry children. 

Rhythmic alternations, symbols, focal contrasts (the street and the bakery, the cold and the 

heat), Rimbaud the photograph-reporter haunts Paris’s streets for a scoop and finds it! The brilliant 

republic promising Human Rights… The Church preaching Charity… and here they are, five homeless, 

frozen, and starving little children! 

4 Phrases in Illuminations, p 132. 

203

In this superb and striking poem, we almost literally see the poor little wretches trembling, we 

feel the cold of the street, the heat escaping from the small window, we smell the heavenly scent of the 

golden bread; we even feel its delightful crust, and suddenly… we shiver and weep… 

A diamond of French literature! 

Les Effarés 5 The Startled 

20 Septembre 1870 

Noirs dans la neige et dans la brume, Black in the snow and the fog, 

Au grand soupirail qui s'allume, Near the basement’s hole glowing, 

Leurs culs en rond A ring of small bottoms 

À genoux, cinq petits, - misère! - Five little ones on their knews—misery! 

Regardent le boulanger faire Stare down at the Baker making 

Le lourd pain blond… The heavy golden bread. 

Ils voient le fort bras blanc qui tourne They see his strong white arms kneading 

La pâte grise, et qui l'enfourne The grey dough and putting it 

Dans un trou clair. In a bright hole. 

Ils écoutent le bon pain cuire. They listen to the good bread baking. 

Le boulanger au gras sourire With a well-fed smile, the baker 

Chante un vieil air. Sings an old tune. 

Ils sont blottis, pas un ne bouge, None moves, huddled 

Au souffle du soupirail rouge In the draught of the red basement’s hole 

Chaud comme un sein. Warm as a breast. 

Et quand, pendant que minuit sonne, And while midnight strikes 

Façonné, pétillant et jaune, When the well-shaped, crackling, and 

On sort le pain, Yellow bread is taken out, 

Quand, sous les poutres enfumées, When, under the smoke-blacken beams, 

Chantent les croûtes parfumées, Sing the sweet-smelling crust 

Et les grillons, And the crickets 6 

5 Arthur Rimbaud (1972) Les Effarés in Poésies, Œuvres Complètes, pp 27-28. 

6 Children 

204

Quand ce trou chaud souffle la vie When this warm hole breathes out life, 

Ils ont leur âme si ravie Their souls are so happy 

Sous leurs haillons, Under their rags, 

Ils se ressentent si bien vivre, They feel so much alive, 

Les pauvres petits plein de givre ! The poor little ones covered with frost, 

—Qu’ils sont là, tous, That they are, all, 

Collant leurs petits museaux roses Their small pink snouts glued 

Au grillage, chantant des choses, To the grille, and singing words 

Entre les trous, Through the holes, 

Mais bien bas,—comme une prière… But very low,—like a prayer… 

Repliés vers cette lumière Crouched toward this light 

Du ciel rouvert, From heaven again opened, 

—Si fort, qu’ils crèvent leur culotte, So hard that they burst their pants, 

—Et que leur lange blanc tremblote Their white diapers fluttering 

Au vent d’hiver… In the winter’s wind... 

The next poem Le Dormeur du Val, 7 is a magnificent sonnet certainly inspired by Victor Hugo’s 

Souvenir de la nuit du quatre, Leconte de Lisle’s La Fontaine aux lianes, and Léon Dieux’s Dolorosa mater. 

Here, Rimbaud uses a classic form of poetry, the sonnet dear to Ronsard with a somewhat new pattern 

abab cdcd eef ggf; dismembering the alexandrin with rejets, contre-rejets, and punctuation, the poet gives life 

to his poem; and the clever alliterations and assonances skilfully change the atmosphere. 

First, the poet presents a panoramic view of an idyllic and lively landscape bathing in sunlight. 

In this quatrain, the two rejets ‘D’argent’ and ‘luit’ accentuate the brightness of the light; and the 

personified elements symbolise the easy-going character of youth. The singing river, the watchfulness of 

protective parents, the proud mountain and the shining sun, all convey a feeling of naïve cheerfulness, 

the pleasure of being alive and happy in a secure environment. 

In the second quatrain, the photographer-poet uses his zoom and we can now see someone 

resting peacefully in the grass. In the diffused light, the colours are slightly cooler where the pale soldier 

sleeps; but again, the light suggests a peaceful atmosphere skilfully reproduced with the artful 

arrangement of the labial and liquid consonants at the beginning and the end of the verse as well as the 

assonances vert and lumière. In the tercets, the photographer-poet gets closer and closer. 

Le Dormeur du Val is not only one of the greatest French masterpieces; literally it is the Chef 

d’oeuvre, par excellence. 

7 Arthur Rimbaud (1972) Le Dormeur du Val in Poésies, Œuvres Complètes, p 32 

205

Le Dormeur du Val 

Octobre 1870 

C'est un trou de verdure, où chante une rivière 

Accrochant follement aux herbes des haillons 

D'argent; où le soleil, de la montagne fière, 

Luit: c'est un petit val qui mousse de rayons. 

Un soldat jeune, bouche ouverte, tête nue, 

Et la nuque baignant dans le frais cresson bleu, 

Dort; il est étendu dans l'herbe, sous la nue, 

Pâle dans son lit vert où la lumière pleut. 

Les pieds dans les glaïeuls, il dort. Souriant comme 

Sourirait un enfant malade, il fait un somme: 

Nature, berce-le chaudement: il a froid. 

Les parfums ne font pas frissonner sa narine; 

Il dort dans le soleil, la main sur la poitrine 

Tranquille. Il a deux trous rouges au côté droit. 

206

Le Dormeur du Val by Claudine Bigaut (Oct. 2005) 

207

The sleeper in the vale 

It is a green hollow, where a river sings 

Hanging here and there pretty silver tatters 

On the grass; where the sun, on the proud mountain, 

Shines: It is a little vale sparkling with light 

A young soldier, his mouth opened, bareheaded, 

And the nape of his neck in the cool blue cress. 

Sleeps; he lays there in the grass, under the clouds, 

Pale in his green bed where light is pouring down. 

His feet in gladioli, he sleeps. Smiling as 

An ill child would smile, he is taking a nap: 

Nature, cuddle him warmly; he is cold. 

The sweet scents do not make his nostril quiver; 

He sleeps in the sun, his hand on his breast 

Tranquil. He has two red holes in his right side. 

208

Epilogue 

Poetry in every language is a refuge away from life’s tribulations, 

a world of dreams 

where the power of words draws luminous sceneries as in Baudelaire’s magnificent 

Invitation au voyage 

where words become notes and poems melodies as in Verlaine’s Chanson d’Automne and 

Rimbaud’s Illuminations 

where symbols, objects, or animals become vividly human as in the comical Roman de 

Renart, Guillaume de Lorris’s Roman de la Rose, Ronsard’s Comme on voit sur la branche, La Fontaine’s 

Fables of course, and in Baudelaire’s Recueillement 

the world of the soul 

where Verlaine’s melancholy strolls in hazy landscapes, where it rains in his heart as it 

rains on the town. 

Poetry is also 

a means 

to meditate and pray 

to remember and give homage to Love ones as in Lamartine’s Lac and Victor Hugo’s 

Demain dès l’aube 

to convey anger, disappointment, fear, and distress as in Ronsard’s Elégie about the 

Gastine Forest, Voltaire’s Mort de Mademoiselle Lecouvreur, Victor Hugo’s Châtiments, and in Vigny’s La 

Mort du Loup. 

More or less, poets are the chroniclers of the society in which they live. Some such as Ronsard, 

Voltaire, Victor Hugo, and Rimbaut are master-reporters who focused on crucial events and often 

disturbing images. 

Some believe that poetry ought to distance itself from politics and religions; but it seems to me 

that poets write because they have to exteriorise what is in their heart, in their mind, in their soul. Some 

also need to share this with others and the reader chooses to read or not read it taking the risk to like or 

not like it. 

Nevertheless, poems are like music. As soon as the poet’s or musician’s work leaves his/her 

hands, it becomes universal and readers or listeners receive it with their own mind. Consequently, the 

author’s message may not reach readers or listeners as (s)he expects them to do. In other words, when 

209

eaders read a poem, they create their own music and perceive their own message, as much as performers 

play a Symphony or Adagio in their own way. No interpretations are alike because the mind is Free and 

for this reason alone, 

Literature, Poetry, Painting, and Music are magical. 

But for now, let poetry be just music with Rimbaud’s Illuminations, as the final words of this 

anthology, which I hope pleased you. 

*** 

J’ai tendu des cordes de clocher à clocher ; 

des guirlandes de fenêtre à fenêtre ; 

des chaînes d’or d’étoile à étoile, 

et je danse. 

I stretched ropes from stipple to stipple; 

garlands from window to window; 

golden chains from star to star, 

and I dance. 

*** 

210

À Bientôt et Merci - 

See you soon and Thank you 

Christiane 

211

References 

Baudelaire, C. L'art romantique, Calmann-Lévy, Paris. 

Baudelaire, C. (1945) L'art romantique, Skira, Genève. 

Baudelaire, C. (1955) Oeuvres complètes, Club du meilleur livre, Paris. 

Baudelaire, C. and Auserve, P. (1966) Lettres inédites aux siens, Grasset, Paris. 

Baudelaire, C. and Crépet, J. (1947) Correspondance générale, L. Conard, Paris. 

Baudelaire, C. and Didier, B. (1972) Mon cœur mis à nu; Fusées; Pensées éparses, le Livre de poche, Paris. 

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