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    Poems That Sing by French Masters
    Poems That Sing by French Masters
    Poems That Sing by French Masters
    Ebook59 pages34 minutes

    Poems That Sing by French Masters

    By Leon Schwartz

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    About this ebook

    A collection of fifteen poets representative of their times and their stature in French poetry. Translated by Leon Schwartz, a professor of French at California State University. Schwartz remained as faithful as he could to particular schemes of rime and meter, as well as the sound play, imagery, and meaning of each poem. Themes include life's beauties, the emotions of love, and the pain of loss.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWorthy Shorts
    Release dateDec 15, 2009
    ISBN9781935340584
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      Book preview

      Poems That Sing by French Masters - Leon Schwartz

      Poems That Sing by French Masters

      Fifteen Great French Poets and Their Verses of Life, Love, and Loss

      Original Texts with English Translations by Leon Schwartz

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright © 2008 by Leon Schwartz

      Published by Worthy Shorts

      The On-Line Private Press for Professionals

      on Smashwords

      Design and organizing elements copyright © 2008 by Worthy Shorts.

      Sale of this imprint or design, except by Worthy Shorts or its agents, is prohibited.

      ISBN 978-1-935340-58-4

      WS118

      Worthy Shorts ® is a registered trademark.

      For more information, visit www.WorthyShorts.com

      ~~~~~

      DEDICATION

      I dedicate this book to my daughter Claire, who teaches French; to my son Eric, who lives and works in France; and to my five granddaughters: Rachel, Laura, Mira, Julia and Lucie, and step-granddaughter, Charlotte, all of whom are bilingual in English and French

      CONTENTS

      Foreword

      Charles d'Orléans, «Le Printemps» (Rondeaux)

      François Villon, «Ballade des dames du temps jadis» (Le Grand Testament)

      Louise Labé, «Je vis, je meurs» (Vingt-trois sonnets)

      Pierre de Ronsard, «Ode à Cassandre» (Odes), «Quand vous serez bien vieille» (Sonnets pour Hélène)

      Joachim du Bellay, «Sonnet XXXI, Heureux qui comme Ulysse» (Regrets)

      Jean de La Fontaine, «Le Corbeau et le Renard» and «La Cigale et la Fourmi» (Fables)

      André Chénier, «La Jeune Captive» (Œuvres)

      Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, «Point d'adieu» and «Les Roses de Saadi» (Poésies)

      Victor Hugo, «Demain dès l'aube» (l,es Contemplations)

      Charles Baudelaire, «La Vie antérieure» and «Correspondances» (Les Fleurs du mal)

      Paul Verlaine, «Mon Rêve familier» (Poèmes saturniens,)

      Arthur Rimbaud, «Le Dormeur du val» and «Ma Bohème» (Poésies)

      Guillaume Apollinaire, «Le Pont Mirabeau» (Alcools)

      Louis Aragon, «Les Lilas et les Roses» (le Crève-coeur)

      Jacques Prévert, «Paris at Night» and «Le Jardin» (Paroles)

      *****

      FOREWORD

      In conformity with the principle that lyric poetry should be lyrical, i.e. musical, and delight not only by its imagery and language but by its sounds and rhythms, a principle advocated and illustrated by Edgar Allan Poe, and, after him, especially such great 19th-century French poets as Baudelaire and Verlaine, it is my strong belief that the translation of a lyric poem should attempt to be as musical as the original, adhering to its rime scheme, rhythm, and play of sounds. I therefore take issue with the common practice of translating the twelve syllable French alexandrine, the classical French verse form, into ten syllable iambic pentameter, which happens to be the classical verse form in English but alters the poem's rhythmic effect, thereby altering the feeling conveyed by the poem. Even worse, as far as I am concerned, is a translator ignoring the rime, or rhythm, or sound play of the poem altogether and turning the lyric poem into something that sounds more like prose.

      In this collection, for better or worse, I have applied the Poe principle of musicality to all the translations, remaining as faithful as I could

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