French poetry 101: Joachim Du Bellay

[foudebassan]

François the First becomes King of France in 1515. He is not the last King’s son, he is from a younger branch of the royal family. To assert his authority, he starts by leading military campaigns that do not turn out to be unmitigated success, before trying to reform the kingdom. In 1539, he passes the Edict of Villers-Côtterêts, stating that Latin is no longer the official language. The commonly spoken dialect takes precedence instead, and it shall be named after the King himself – “ai” was then pronounced “oi”, and so le français it is.

The best known and most prolific poet of the time is Pierre de Ronsard, who decides to make the most of this opportunity and founds a group of poets, la Pléiade, whose task would be to make this new language a refined, versatile one, with lots of imports from the recently re-discovered texts from the Antiquity. A language that could rival even Latin. And so Joachim du Bellay (1522-1560), one of the member of the group, publishes Défense et Illustration de la Langue Française, a pamphlet in and for French.

Du Bellay was poor, but the book was noticed by the King’s sister, Marguerite de Navarre, and by his own Uncle, the cardinal du Bellay. He is asked to join a very well-paid diplomatic mission to the Vatican. He accepts, but he hates the financial administrative work he’s given, he hates the Vatican and he only dreams of coming home. Today’s poem is quite representative of that mood.



Listen to something inspired by it here!



Heureux qui, comme Ulysse, a fait un beau voyage,
Ou comme cestuy-là qui conquit la toison,
Et puis est retourné, plein d'usage et raison,
Vivre entre ses parents le reste de son âge !

Quand reverrai-je, hélas, de mon petit village
Fumer la cheminée, et en quelle saison
Reverrai-je le clos de ma pauvre maison,
Qui m'est une province, et beaucoup davantage ?

Plus me plaît le séjour qu'ont bâti mes aïeux,
Que des palais Romains le front audacieux,
Plus que le marbre dur me plaît l'ardoise fine :

Plus mon Loir gaulois, que le Tibre latin,
Plus mon petit Liré, que le mont Palatin,
Et plus que l'air marin la doulceur angevine.




(Happy him who like Odysseus had a beautiful trip
Or like him who conquered the golden fleece
And then came back, full of practice and wisdom
To live between his parents the rest of his life !

When, alas, shall I see the chimneys smoke
In my small village again, and in which season
Shall I see the fence around my poor house again
What is a province and many favours to me ?

I prefer the residence my ancestors built
To the audacious brow of Roman palaces,
I like fine slates more than hard marble,

My Gaul Loire more than the Latin Tiber,
My little Liré more than the Palatin hill
And more than the sea air my angevine mildness.)

Notes: Odysseus is of course from the Odyssey, and Iason from the Argonauts. Liré is Du Bellay’s home town, and angevin is the adjective from Anjou (a French region).

Now look at the form of the poem… yes, we’ve entered the era of the sonnet. The rime pattern is as classic as it gets (abba, abba, ccd, eed). The first part is nostalgic, the second a much harsher comparison between Rome and Anjou. It is in alexandrine verses (12 syllable verses, with a rupture in the middle).

This is a winner. It is The Poetical Form that will dominate French poetry for several centuries, and the alexandrine rhythm still haunts modern verse. The Pléiade did succeed in giving its lettres de noblesse to the new official language.



Coming soon, er, I dunno. What would you like? Stoics vs. Epicurians on the rose theme? Women in Renaissance poetry? A little jump in time to the 17th century? A poll?