Poetry and Song : Year 9 Activity 2
Target Audience: Year 9 students studying French.
Key Concepts: poetry, ‘chanson française’, Ronsard , ‘carpe diem’.
Background Knowledge: Students need never have studied French poetry before. A basic knowledge
of English poetry would be helpful and teachers could compare the French texts studied in the unit
with some Shakespeare sonnets or Marvell’s ‘To his coy mistress’.
Resources: See online resources and bibliographic information provided. These are on French poetry,
French songs and songwriters.
Outcome: As well as having worked on the language of the texts, students will have been introduced
to a range of French poetry and songs and will be able to make links across the centuries and come
to appreciate common themes and rhetorical strategies. Students will also have been introduced to a
poem from the 16th century (by Ronsard) and have compared this with a song from the 20th century
(by Queneau).
Helpful Hints : This material can be used over 4 classes: discovering poems through activities 1 and 2
(you can divide the class into groups to work on the different sections); discovering songs in activity 3
(this can be divided up with groups but all can work on Brassens and sing the song together) and
working on a poem and comparing it with a song in activity 4.
Going Further: Students can familiarise themselves with other poems and discover different songs.
(Key : Teachers and online activities)
Activity 1
Poetry in French is rich and varied. France has a long tradition of poetic works which stretch back to
the middle ages. The first literary works written in Old French (an earlier form of the French
Language) described saint’s lives. From the twelfth-century there were chansons de geste (songs of
heroic deeds), epic poems, written in stanzas known as laisses and in ten syllable lines. The principal
subject matter of these early epics were on the battles between the Christian soldiers of
Charlemagne against the Moors and Saracens. The most famous of these chansons de geste is the
Chanson de Roland (Roland’s Song) which recounts the warrior’s bravery in battle against the enemy
Saracens and his ultimate self-sacrifice.
Renaissance poetry (in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries) was influenced by Italian sonnets
(poems of fourteen lines with a particular rhyme scheme and structure), and particularly poetry by
the Italian writer Petrarch who wrote sonnets about his beloved Laura. Another important literary
influence was ancient Greek and Roman writing, since French writers of the time were keenly
interested in imitating ancient models.
We will study a sonnet by Ronsard who was a member of a group of noble poets of the court (the
group known as the ‘Pléiade’). This group aimed to break with earlier traditions of French poetry
maintaining that French was a worthy language for literary expression, privileging writing in
vernacular French over Latin which had previously been the language for grand eloquent expression.
If you are familiar with any French poetry, it will probably be from the nineteenth or twentieth
century. Poetry from this time span has often been translated into English and poets such as Victor
Hugo, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine and Apollinaire have been extremely influential literary works.
Modern poetry of the later twentieth century, like visual art, became more experimental, playful and
abstract. Although poetry by Mallarmé, for example, is notoriously viewed as cryptic and challenging.
Try to explore as many of these works and earlier poetry as you can !
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Of all the literary genres, poetry may be perceived as the most tricky for non-native speakers since
poets often break rules of grammar or sentence structure and may use unusual vocabulary.
However, whilst acknowledging these specific challenges, poetry can be an excellent tool for
enriching one’s appreciation of the musicality of the language, its sounds and rhythms, the nuances
of words (poetry often harnesses the different shades of meanings of words and what they evoke)
and for gaining greater cultural understanding (appreciating poetry that has become popular
throughout different generations and understanding the resonances of different themes or feelings
evoked).
Learning poems by heart is still an important part of the primary school education in France.
In Britain this tradition of reciting poems has faded out in schools. Yet this exercise can be
particularly useful and satisfying when learning a foreign language. If you learn a piece by heart you
can speak French at speed and, if you listen to readings and repeat, you can improve your accent and
your ear for the language. Much 20th century poetry uses simple words and sparse sentences. This
makes the task of comprehending the French easier.
Poetry, as you will know from studying the genre in your own language, has conventions. Poetry can
be rhyming or in free verse, can be in different forms (such as a sonnet or ode) and can be
experimental with language and form.
The modern French language does not have a significant stress accent (like English). This means that
the French metric line is not determined by the number of beats, but by the number of syllables. The
most common metric lengths are the ten-syllable line (decasyllable), the eight-syllable line
(octosyllable) and the twelve-syllable line (the so-called ‘alexandrin’ or alexandrine).
Unlike modern spoken French (at least in the north of France), a silent or mute 'e' counts as a syllable
before a consonant and is pronounced, but is elided before a vowel. When it falls at the end of a
line, the mute ‘e’ is hypermetrical (outside the count of syllables).
Some poetry you might like to examine :
A.
17th Century
Jean de La Fontaine
Is the most widely read 17th century French poet. He is known above all for his fables, tales adapted
from classical writers like Aesop and Horace but also from tales in French and Italian.
You can hear them recited on:
Online resource :
http://www.frenchtoday.com/learn-french/poem-analysis-reading/poem-le-corbeau-et-le-renard-lafontaine
This includes other poems by La Fontaine.
You can find them in French and English:
Online resource :
http://www.la-fontaine-ch-thierry.net/fables.htm
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Some interesting poems to look at :
Le Corbeau et le renard
Le Loup et l’agneau
Questions on the poems
Le Corbeau et le renard
1. What strategy does the fox adopt? Which animal is tricked? What do you think the moral of the
tale is?
Le Loup et l’agneau
2. What, according to the speaker of the poem is the moral of the story? What does the wolf say to
the lamb? What does the lamb respond ? What does the wolf go on to say? What does the lamb say
to this ? What happens in the end? Do you find the scene amusing? Why?
B.
19th century
Charles Baudelaire 1821-1867
Baudelaire was an essayist, art critic, and translator of the English writer Edgar Allan Poe. His most
famous work is Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil). This work led him to be prosecuted for ‘public
indecency’. The initial publication of the book was arranged in six thematically segregated sections:
Spleen et Idéal (Spleen and Ideal); Tableaux parisiens (Parisian Scenes); Le Vin (Wine); Fleurs du mal
(Flowers of Evil); Révolte (Revolt) and La Mort (Death).
The preface to the collection, calls ‘l’ennui’ (a word which is very difficult to translate since
‘boredom’ does not quite cover the gnawing, apathetic pain it engenders) the worst of miseries and
sets the tone for the following poems:
Si le viol, le poison, le poignard, l'incendie,
N'ont pas encore brodé de leurs plaisants dessins
Le
canevas banal de nos piteux destins,
C'est que notre âme, hélas! n'est pas assez hardie.
If rape and poison, dagger and burning,
Have still not embroidered their pleasant designs
On the banal canvas of our pitiable destinies,
It's because our souls, alas, are not bold enough!
This poem, entitled ‘Au Lecteur’ concludes with:
C'est l'Ennui! —l'œil chargé d'un pleur involontaire,
Il rêve d'échafauds en fumant son houka.
Tu le
connais, lecteur, ce monstre délicat,
—Hypocrite lecteur,—mon semblable,—mon frère!
It's Ennui! — his eye brimming with spontaneous tears
He dreams of the gallows in the haze of his hookah.
You know him, reader, this delicate monster,
Hypocritical reader, my likeness, my brother!
The last line launches an agressive challenge to the reader making it impossible for him/her to sit at a
comfortable distance from the poems. He/she must acknowledge his likeness to the speaker and in
enjoying the poems, the revelling in the darkness and suffering that the poetry exploits.
Online resource :
http://fleursdumal.org/
and
http://www.piranesia.net/baudelaire/fleurs/index.php
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Some interesting poems to look at:
Au Lecteur
Une Charogne
Questions on these poems
Au Lecteur
1. The poem begins in a way that seems to condemn sinful behaviour and the weakness of human
folly. Yet as the poem progresses, we begin to see that what seemed repugnant is actually enjoyed
and pursued.
Who according to the speaker is controlling us like a puppet ? What monstrous creatures are
featured in the nightmarish world ? What is even more hideous than these beasts?
Une Charogne
2. The poem begins in such a way that we might think this is going to be a romantic poem and scene
of love. How does the poet achieve this? Where is the shock? How is the body described? Do you
find this macabre and amusing? At the end of the poem what does the speaker say to his beloved in
relation to the dead body? What is the purpose of this comparison? Keep this ending in mind when
we look at Ronsard’s sonnet and Raymond Queneau’s poem turned into a song by Juliette Greco.
You can hear some of Baudelaire’s poetry recited here:
Online resource :
http://www.frenchtoday.com/learn-french/poem-analysis-reading/Page-5
Activity 2
A.
Arthur Rimbaud 1854-1891
Rimbaud produced his poetry while still a teenager and gave up creative writing before the age of
twenty. He had a tumultous affair with the poet Verlaine. He has been seen as a restless soul and a
rebellious figure. Rimbaud's poetry, as well as his life has influenced 20th century writers, rock
musicians and artists. These include Pablo Picasso, Bob Dylan, and Jim Morrison.
Online resource :
http://www.mag4.net/Rimbaud/Poesie.html
You can find them with English renderings.
Some interesting poems to look at:
Voyelles
Le bateau ivre
Ophélie
Questions on these poems
Voyelles
1. The sonnet on the vowels plays with words, sounds and something else ? What is this ?
2. The poet lists imagery and sensations that each vowel suggested to him. Can you explain what
these are for the different letters ?
3. Do you know the term for the experience in one sense triggering another sense (e.g sound
triggering colour in the mind)?
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Le Bateau Ivre
4. Rimbaud wrote this poem when he had never even seen the sea. Trace the different ways he
describes the sea, the water and the waves.
Ophélie
5. The character Ophelia is taken from a tragedy by Shakespeare. Do you know which play ?
6. What flower is Ophelia compared to?
7. What word is continually used to describe the girl?
B.
20th century
Guillaume Apollinaire 1880-1918
Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki, known as Guillaume Apollinaire, was a French
poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic born in Italy to a Polish mother.
Among the foremost poets of the early 20th century, he is credited with coining the word surrealism.
Surrealism is an artistic movement that attempts to express the workings of the subconscious and is
characterized by fantastic imagery and mismatched subject matter placed side by side.
His major works include the poetry collections Alcools: Poemes 1898-1913 and Calligrammes:
Poemes de la paix de la guerre (Calligrams). Both, Alcools and Calligrams, are notable for their
stylistic experimentation. Many of these themes—particularly those taken from contemporary life,
including technology and the alienation of modern existence—had never been treated before in
serious poetry.
A calligram is a poem, phrase, or word in which the typeface, calligraphy or handwriting is arranged
in a way that creates a visual image. Apollinaire’s calligrams include a lady in a hat, the Eiffel tower,
and the rain falling. You can see these poems on:
Online resource :
http://www.guillaume-apollinaire.fr/calligrammes.htm
C.
Jacques Prévert 1900-1977
Prévert was a poet and screenwriter.
Prévert's poems were collected and published in his books: Paroles (Words) (1946), Spectacle (1951),
La Pluie et le beau temps (Rain and Good Weather) (1955), Histoires (Stories) (1963), Fatras (1971)
and Choses et autres (Things and Others) (1973). His poems are often about life in Paris and life after
the Second World War. Some of his poems have been sung by prominent 20th century French
vocalists.
Online resource :
http://xtream.online.fr/Prevert/
You can find English translations on this site as well.
Some interesting poems to look at:
Barbara
Déjeuner du matin
Page d’écriture (also known as l’oiseau lyre’) which can be found:
online resource :
http://www.learn-french-help.com/french-poems-for-children.html
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Some questions on the poems
Barbara
1. What is the speaker’s refrain in this poem ?
2. He ‘tutoies’ her (uses ‘tu’ not ‘vous’) ; does he know her very well ? How many times has he
seen this woman?
3. What kind of mood do you sense is conjured up in the poem?
Déjeuner du matin
4. In this poem which uses very simple language, what is the speaker describing? What effect do
you think the detail of every action and description gives?
Page d’ecriture
5. In the harsh classroom environment what is the teacher making the pupils do? What is the
child doing instead? What does he see? How is the classroom and its objects transformed?
Going further :
Stanley Appelbaum, An Introduction to French Poetry: A Dual Language Book (New York: Dover
Publications, 1991).
The Penguin Book of French Poetry 1820-1950 (London: Penguin Classics, 2005).
Activity 3
There has been a tradition in France for singers to provide musical interpretations and renditions of
poems. Leo Ferré, Juliette Gréco, Serge Gainsbourg and Jacques Brel are just a few of the singers who
have incorporated French poetry into their repertoire.
We should not be surprised at the link between poetry and song given how poetry is particularly
interested in the sonority of the language. Additionally, the origins of poetry were stories recited for
oral performance which may well have been sung to music.
You can hear some different versions of singers using poems here :
http://chansons-fr.com/category/francais/texte-litteraire
There are a vast range of songs and musical styles in France and this outline can in no way be
comprehensive. A few names have been provided. A vous de découvrir !
A.
Some Classics- from the 20th century
30s-60s
Edith Piaf (1915-63)
One of the most famous of French singers, known for ‘La Vie en Rose’ and ‘Non, Je ne regrette rien’.
She was born into poverty but became an international star. She became a cultural icon and her
death brought a crowd of thousands of mourners to the streets of Paris.
Non, je ne regrette rien
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFtGfyruroU
50s
Boris Vian (1920-59)
Boris Vian (writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer). He is best
remembered today for his novels. Vian was also an important influence on the French jazz scene.
His own music and songs were very popular during his lifetime, particularly the anti-war song ‘Le
Déserteur’ (The Deserter).
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The following song ‘Complainte du Progrès’ comically criticises consumer society and the obsessive
need to buy endless objects as a form of amorous exhange. The speaker laments that once couples
gave their heart to each other, now they just offer an endless supply of kitchen equipment ranging
from fridges and sinks, to the more absurd ‘shoe waxer’, ‘slug ironer’, ‘tomato ripper’ and ‘chicken
skinner’. When couples are on the brink of separating this is what they argue over. Then the woman
goes to live with someone else, offering similar material wealth (until it ends badly again).
You can listen to the song :
Online resource :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVW0sMf0eFM
An English rendering can be found on:
Online resource
http://rennard.canalblog.com/archives/boris_vian_in_english__translation_marie_fox_/index.html
B.
50s-70s
Georges Brassens (1921-81)
Brassens was a singer and songwriter. Now an iconic figure in France, he achieved fame through his
songs which he accompanied with guitar and is widely considered one of France's most accomplished
postwar songwriters. He has also set to music poems by Louis Aragon (Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux),
Victor Hugo (La Légende de la Nonne, Gastibelza), François Villon (La Ballade des Dames du Temps
Jadis), and Guillaume Apollinaire.
Try the following.
Here are the words :
Online resource :
http://cp.lakanal.free.fr/chansons/canejeanne.htm
vocab:
La cane- female duck (canard)
au gui l’an neuf- expression which means Happy New Year
La veille- the day before
Un rhume- a cold
Veuf- widow
Eumes- literary form of the verb avoir. Past tense 1st person plural ‘we had’
Morbleu- old-fashioned swear word, ‘Heck’ or ‘ Zounds’
Comprehension Questions
1. What had Jeanne’s duck done the day before she died ?
2. What is it presumed she died of ?
3. Where did she die?
4. Did she leave a husband ?
5. What happened to her feathers?
6. Will we remember this duck for a long time according to the song ?
Here is the song sung by Brassens :
Online resource :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Yojf9Tinoo&feature=related
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50s-70s She still performs today !
Juliette Greco (1927-)
Gréco is a singer and actress. She joined the bohemian fashion of some intellectuals of post-war
France. She was known to many of the writers and artists working in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, such
as Jean-Paul Sartre and Boris Vian. Greco became acquainted with Miles Davis and Jean Cocteau,
even being given a role in Cocteau’s film Orphée in 1949. She plays the role of Death :
Online resource :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91cniSsNwz8
That same year, she began a new singing career with a number of well-known French writers writing
lyrics; Raymond Queneau's ‘Si tu t’imagines’ was one of her earliest songs to become popular.
This is a silly song (originally a poem by Robert Desnos) about an ant that measures 18m. It is a
popular song with French school children:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfsxVn-4DF8
Here are the words :
http://www.clicksouris.com/poesie/fourmi.htm
Vocab :
Trainant- pulling
Char-wagon
Javanais- javanese
1. Describe the ant from the song
C.
50s-70s
Jacques Brel (1929-78)
Brel was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed theatrical songs that generated a
large, devoted following in France and later throughout the world. His songs were performed by
many top performers in the United States, including Ray Charles, Nina Simone and Frank Sinatra, In
French-speaking countries, Brel was also a successful actor, appearing in ten films. He also directed
two films. Jacques Brel has sold over 25 million records worldwide, and is the third best-selling
Belgian recording artist of all time.
Jacques Brel ‘Ne me quitte pas’ is a song where a lover begs not to be abandoned by his beloved. He
begins by asking his listener to forget the past and their arguments. He then starts bargaining saying
he will offer her unimaginable treasures (pearls of rain, a land where she will be queen and he will
dig until his death to cover her with gold). He then goes on to tell her how he will invent words for
her and tell her magical stories. With the comparison of a volcano, long thought inactive coming back
to life, he suggests the passion of their love can be reignited. The tone gets more and more
desperate and even disturbing as he ends saying he will no longer try to persuade her, he will just
hide away and watch her, begging her to let him become her shadow, the shadow of her hand, or
just of her dog. Throughout we have the insistent plea ‘Don’t leave me’.
Here are the words:
Online resource
http://www.frmusique.ru/texts/b/brel_jacques/nemequittepas.htm
You can see Brel perform this with his mesmersing intensity:
Online resource
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N0KLu4vfkE
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60s and 70s
Serge Gainsbourg (1928-91)
Known as suave and sleazy, Gainsbourg was an exceptionally talented French singer, songwriter and
composer. His early songs were influenced by Boris Vian. However Gainsbourg began to move
beyond this and experiment with a succession of musical styles: jazz early on, pop in the 1960s, funk,
rock and reggae in the 1970s, and electronica in the 1980s. Many of his songs contained themes with
a morbid or sexual twist in them (for example his ‘Lemon Incest’ song, sung with his young daughter
Charlotte Gainsbourg, and his song with lover Jane Birkin ‘Je t’aime, moi non plus’ where we hear her
moans of pleasure).
This is a song sung with Brigitte Bardot, the glamorous actress and pin-up of the period.
The song focuses on the criminal couple ‘Bonnie and Clyde’.
Here is the video from 1968 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doYLWFftJ2M
60s and 70s
Claude François (1939-78)
Claude François was a French pop singer, songwriter and dancer. He notably wrote and composed
‘Comme d'habitude’, the original version of ‘My Way’. Some of his most famous songs include
Magnolias for ever and Alexandrie Alexandra. Cheesy and often played for dancing at French
weddings !
Claude François sold some 70 million records during his career (and after his death).
This song ‘Le Téléphone pleure’ stages a conversation between a father who is estranged from the
mother of his child along with his child. He is ringing begging to speak to the mother and is trying to
be close with his child who doesn’t even know who this ‘Monsieur’ calling is. The child is surprised
that the man knows facts about them. The man is desperate and misses them and says he can’t go
on. Despite the cute tone, he is saying that this is the last time he is going to phone and he is going
to throw himself in front of a train! The child does not understand the conversation or its
significance.
You can find the lyrics:
Online resource
http://www.lyricspedia.com/claude-francois/le-telephone-pleure-lyrics/
Online resource
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzMI91sdWqc
Going further :
There are lots of other songs for you to discover.
You can find a good selection with language help and discussion on :
Online resource
http://chansons-fr.com/a-propos
Activity 4
A.
Let’s now look at a poem written in the 16th century by Pierre Ronsard and a song performed by
Juliette Greco (of a poem written by Raymond Queneau in 1947).
It is interesting that although in different genres, using different kind of language and from very
different periods in history, the two works have a common theme and the later poem is most
definitively echoing the earlier poem and making use of a past literary tradition of love poetry and a
specific type of rhetoric (or persuasive technique).
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In fact Queneau is deliberately using the ideas from Ronsard (and is making an intertextual
reference) but is parodying (mocking) them by making his own version much more colloquial and
playful in tone and the description of the woman in the future explictly uglier and more comical. The
phonetic spelling of a vernacular contraction (xa va for que ça va) is Queneau’s trademark in both
verse and fiction.
Let’s look at each text closely :
Pierre de Ronsard
Read about the poet :
Online resource
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/509148/Pierre-de-Ronsard
The following poem is from his Sonnets pour Hélène
Quand vous serez bien vieille, au soir, à la chandelle,
Assise auprès du feu, dévidant et filant,
Direz, chantant mes vers, en vous émerveillant :
Ronsard me célébrait du temps que j'étais belle.
Lors, vous n'aurez servante oyant telle nouvelle,
Déjà sous le labeur à demi sommeillant,
Qui au bruit de mon nom ne s'aille réveillant,
Bénissant votre nom de louange immortelle.
Je serai sous la terre et fantôme sans os :
Par les ombres myrteux je prendrai mon repos :
Vous serez au foyer une vieille accroupie,
Regrettant mon amour et votre fier dédain.
Vivez, si m'en croyez, n'attendez à demain :
Cueillez dés aujourd'hui les roses de la vie.
(Pierre de Ronsard, Sonnets pour Hélène, 1578, II, 24)
Vocab
Chandelle-candle
Devidant(devider)- unwinding
Filant- spinning
Oyant- hearing
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Bénissant (bénir)- blessing
Accroupie- hunched up
Fier- proud
Dédain-disdainful, haughty
Cueillez (cueillir), pick (as in flowers), pluck
See a translation :
http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue177/Ronsard_Helene.html
Comprehension Questions
1. The speaker of the poem is imagining a future moment. What does he say the woman will be
then? (line 1, line12)
2. When she is sitting by the fire, what will she be reciting ?
3. The servant by her will be half-asleep (demi-somneillant) and will not be listening to her speak
of how she was once worshipped. Why is the servant said to be so tired (line 6) ?
4. Where will the speaker of the poem be?
5. What sentiment does he suggest she will fear about her ‘disdainful pride’ in the past ?
6. What then does he tell her to do in the present time, given this imagined unfortunate future
time?
7. What, in blunt terms, do you think is the purpose of his persuasion ?
The common expression you might have heard, ‘seize the day’ or the original Latin ‘carpe diem’ is
taken from an ode by the Roman poet Horace. In Latin the verb ‘carpo’ literally means ‘pluck or
pick’. This idea, along with ‘tempus fugit’ (‘time is fleeing’) from the Roman writer Virgil,
encourages one to make the most of the present since time is slipping away. These universal
themes have often been incorporated into poetry.
B.
Greco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKKFGedanjU
Si tu t'imagines
Si tu t'imagines
Fillette fillette
Si tu t'imagines
Xa va xa va xa
Va durer toujours
La saison des za
La saison des za
Saison des amours
Ce que tu te goures
Fillette fillette
Ce que tu te goures
Si tu crois petite
Si tu crois ah ah
Que ton teint de rose
Ta taille de guêpe
Tes mignons biceps
Tes ongles d'émail
Ta cuisse de nymphe
Et ton pied léger
Si tu crois xa va
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Xa va xa va xa
Va durer toujours
Ce que tu te goures
Fillette fillette
Ce que tu te goures
Les beaux jours s'en vont
Les beaux jours de fête
Soleils et planètes
Tournent tous en rond
Mais toi ma petite
Tu marches tout droit
Vers sque tu vois pas
Très sournois s'approchent
La ride véloce
La pesante graisse
Le menton triplé
Le muscle avachi
Allons cueille cueille
Les roses les roses
Roses de la vie
Roses de la vie
Et que leurs pétales
Soient la mer étale
De tous les bonheurs
De tous les bonheurs
Allons cueille cueille
Si tu le fais pas
Ce que tu te goures
Fillette fillette
Ce que tu te goure
Vocab
Fillette- little girl
Tu te goures- you are fooling yourself/deluding yourself (se gourer)
Taille de guêpe- tiny waist
Email- enamel
De nymphe- of a nymph
Sournois- sly, underhand
La ride- wrinkle
Graisse- fat
Avachi- limp
1. What features does the young girl have ?
2. What physical features will she have in the future ?
3. Why does the speaker of the song say the girl is deluding herself ?
4. What, given this situation is the girl encouraged to do now ?
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Answer Key
1 A.
Le Corbeau et le renard
1. He flatters the crow to get him to open his mouth. The crow. Don’t fall for flattery. Vanity will
be one’s downfall.
Le Loup et l’agneau
2. The logic of the strongest is always the best. Wolf- ‘What makes you so bold as to upset my
drink ? You shall be punished for your recklessness’. The lamb responds- ‘ Please your
majesty, don’t be angry given that I quench my thirst more than 20 paces from you and
therefore do not upset your drinking in any way’. The wolf replies, ‘You upset my drinking
and last year you spoke ill of me’. When the lamb says last year he was not even born yet,
the wolf says that if it was not him, it was one of his brothers. Wolf eats the lamb. Yes, idea
of sweet little lamb trying to reason with the angry wolf. The wolf’s logic is peculiar and
‘sans autre forme de proçès’ (without anymore of a courtcase/debate) he eats the lamb.
The incongruous placing togther of debate and reason with the natural world of predators is
amusing in my opinion.
B.
1. Satan. Ennui is more hideous.
2. It starts off recalling a moment in the past, setting the scene by describing it as a very
beautiful morning during a beautiful summer. The shock comes when he says they saw a
carcass.
The body is described : monstrous, on a bed of pebbles, legs in the air like a lewd woman,
burning and sweating poisons (with its belly full of gas), cooked well in the sun, blossomed
like a flower, it had a stench, flies over it and maggots inside, moved (looked like it was
breathing with the multiplying insects).
I find it disgusting and out of place in a love poem- therefore very amusing and twisted.
At the end of the poem, the speaker says that his beloved will one day also be like this rotten dead
body. But that the poet (like a God like figure) can keep her enshrined/immortalised in his verse.
Also to make her value her youth and life now (to seize the day) and give in to his advances.
2 A.
1. colours
2. A- black velvety jacket of flies with shadows
E- whiteness of vapours and tents, shivers of glaciers, white Kings, bits of cow-parsley
I- purple, spat blood, smiles of beautiful lips
U- waves, shuddering of green seas, peace of the pastures and furrows, furrowed brow of
studious alchemists,
O- trumpet full of piercing sounds, silence crossed by worlds and angels, Omega and the violet
ray of her eyes.
3. synesthesia
4. sweeter than the flesh of sour apples to children, green water washed him clean, star-infused
and churned with milk, devouring green azures, containing drowned men, fermenting love,
the swell like hysterical herds of cows, swamps where things rot, downfalls, foam of flowers,
life force of the future
5. Hamlet
6. Lily
7. Folle- mad
2C
1. Remember, Barbara, it was raining endlessly that day over Brest
2. No, he has only seen her once
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3. Melancholy, longing, sadness
4. robotic, transfixed and intense on every action of the other person, numb and distanced yet
acutely observant, or trying to replay everything back to make sense of it
5. Imagining, seeing a bird enter the room
3B
1. Laid an egg
2. A bad cold
3. On her egg
4. No
5. People took them
6. Yes, we will.
Greco
1. It is an ant, 18m long with a hat on his head, pulling a cart filled with ducks and penguins. He
speaks Latin and Javanese.
4 A.
4 B.
1. old (vieille)
2. Ronsard’s verses that celebrated when she was beautiful
3. Form working
4. In the ground (dead), a ghost without bones
5. regret
6. to seize the day, live for the moment and not wait for tommorow
7. to give in to his advances of love (to agree to sleep with him?)
1. thin waist (like a wasp), rosy hue, cute biceps, ivory nails, nymph’s thigh, light foot
2. wrinkles, fat, triple chin, flabby muscle
3. She is deluding herself if she things she will stay young
4. To seize the day
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