Chapitre 1893

15. L’HYVER. 14. IRONDELLES, hirondelles. 19. N’ESLOIGNE, ne s’éloigne de.

16. 2. COMME IL FIT, i.e. comme il alluma des flammes. 10. SEREINES, sirènes. 14. USAGE, fruition.

JEAN BERTAUT.

1552-1611.

A man by no means of the poetic stature of Ronsard, du Bellay, and D’Aubigné; he found great favor in his day, but his lyric note was not powerful enough to endure long. He is most successful in the graceful expression of a natural melancholy, as in the example here given. He was a follower, in moderation, of the Pleiad.

Works : Recueil des oeuvres poétiques de J. Bertaut, l601; appeared again enlarged in 1605 ; Recueil de quelques vers amoureux, 1602 : both collections are included in Oeuvres poétiques, 1620; a recent edition is edited by A. Chenevière, 1891 (_Bibliothèque elzévirienne_). CHANSON. 27. DEMEURE, delay.

17. 4. FAY, fais.

23. VOY, vois.

25. VY, vis.

MATHURIN REGNIER.

1573-1613.

Though bred to the church and early settled in a good living, he led a life that was hardly edifying. He possessed brilliant talents, but failed to make the most of them. He was indolent and fond of good living, and was restive under discipline, as is evident in his work and in his irritation at Malherbe. He had a gift of keen observation, and his satires excelled in interest what he composed in the more lyrical forms of ode and elegy.

Works : Oeuvres, 1608, 1612 ; recent editions are those of Viollet le Duc, 1853 (_Bibliothèque elzévirienne_), and E. Courbet, 1875.

For reference : J. Vianey, Mathurin Régnier, 1896.

FRANÇOIS DE MALHERBE.

1555-1628.

He marks an epoch in the history of French letters. Boileau’s famous phrase, “enfin Malherbe vint,” dates from him the beginning of worthy French poetry. What did begin with him was that tradition of refinement, elegance, polish and perfect propriety of phrase that continued to rule French literature for two centuries. He lent the influence of a very positive voice to the growing demand for a standard of authority in grammar and versification and for recognized canons of criticism. The lyrical impulse in him was small, but some of his lines live in virtue of the finished propriety and harmony of expression.

Works: Oeuvres, 1628; the best edition is that of L. Lalanne, 5 vols., 1862-69 {_Collection des Grands Écrivains_).

For reference: G. Allais, Malherbe, 1891; F. Brunot, la Doctrine de Malherbe, 1891; F. Brunetière, l’Évolution des genres, vol. i, 1890; Études critiques sur l’histoire de la littérature française, vol. v, 1893.

21. CONSOLATION À M. DU PÉRIER. 5. TITHON, Tithonus, who obtained from the gods immortality but not eternal youth. After age had completely wasted and shriveled him he was changed into a grasshopper. 6. PLUTON, Pluto, god of the nether world, the abode of the dead. 8. ARCHÉMORE, Archemorus or Opheltes, son of Lycurgus, king of Nemea, died in infancy from the bite of a serpent.

22. I. FRANÇOIS, Francis I.; his oldest son, Francis, born in 1517, died suddenly in 1526, and Charles V. was suspected of having had him poisoned, and dire vengeance was wreaked upon the person of Sebastian de Montecuculli, cupbearer of Charles V. The suspicions proved to be wholly groundless. 5. ALCIDE, Alcides, by which name Hercules was known till he consulted the oracle of Delphi. 9. LA DURANCE, a river in southwestern France, flowing into the Rhone below Avignon. After beginning an agressive campaign in this part of France in the summer of 1536, the Spaniards were in September forced to a disastrous retreat. 13. DE MOI, for my own part; Malherbe had lost his first two children, Henry in 1587 and Jourdaine in 1599. 27. LOUVRE; the palace of the Louvre, begun in 1541 by Francis

I. on the site of a royal château built by Philip Augustus, and added to by his successors, was a royal residence until the Revolution.

23. CHANSON. 20. en sa liberté, i.e. free from her pursuit. PARAPHRASE DU PSAUME CXLV. This is Psalm CXLVI in our English Bible.

JEAN RACINE.

1639-1699.

A dramatic genius of the highest order. But besides being a great dramatist he was a consummate master of language. The choruses in Esther and Athalie are excellent examples of the kind of lyric that the tendencies represented by Malherbe permitted. The extract here given is from Esther, Act III. The approach to the language of the Psalms is evident throughout.

JEAN-BAPTISTE ROUSSEAU.

1670-1741.

The chief representative of the serious lyric in the eighteenth century. This ode is a favorable example of the form which lyric utterance assumed in this philosophizing century and under the tradition of poetic dignity and propriety.

27. ODE À LA FORTUNE. 16. SYLLA (138-78 B.C.), the enemy of Marius and author of the bloody proscription against the adherents of his rival. 17. ALEXANDRE, Alexander the Great. 18. ATTILA, king of the Huns from 434 to 453, who ravaged southern and western Europe from 450 to 452 and was known as “the scourge of God.”

28. 16. LE RETOUR, i.e. the adverse turn.

ÉVARISTE-DÉSIRÉ DESFORGES DE PARNY.

1753-1814.

He wrote mostly in a lighter and erotic vein. He had many admirers in his day who styled him the French Tibullus. His influence is perceptible in the style of Lamartine.

Works: Poésies érotiques, 1778; Opuscules poétiques, 1779, enlarged in succeeding editions; les Rosicroix, 1807; Oeuvres, 5 vols., 1808; Oeuvres choisies, 1827.

For reference : Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi, vol. xv; Portraits contemporains, vol. iv; George Saintsbury, Miscellaneous Essays, London, 1892.

NICOLAS GILBERT.

1751-1780.

He has often been compared with Chatterton and has owed much of his fame to the unfounded legend that he was a child of genius brought to an untimely death by poverty and lack of recognition. His satires on the vices of his time enjoyed a temporary reputation, but his real legacy to posterity is the well-known lines here given.

Works: Oeuvres complètes, 1788, and frequently thereafter.

ROUGET DE L’ISLE.

1760-1836.

Though he wrote much in both prose and verse, nothing of his lives except the Marseillaise, which has become the national song of France. He composed both words and music in the night of April 25, 1792, while he was an officer of engineers at Strassburg. The last stanza vas added later by another hand. The name, la Marseillaise, comes from the fact that it was introduced to Paris by the troops from Marseilles.

Works: Essais en vers et en prose, 1796.

For reference: J. Tiersot, Rouget de l’Isle, son oeuvre, sa vie,