d'agriculture de Lyon aux habitants de la campagne'.13 The latter was an address
written to persuade the peasants to vote for the right changes in the coming
municipal elections in Lyon — in other words, to vote men like Roland into office.
In a Supplement to the edition of 11 March, Brissot printed Roland's in which he
praised Brissot for having reproduced excerpts from his 'Declaration formelle a la
municipalite de Lyon.' 14 On 25 November 1790, Brissot announced that five
municipal officers of Lyon had been replaced by five 'patriots', one of whom was
Roland: 'Les patriotes doivent se rejouir de ce remplacement. Lyon aura done
enfin une municipalite patriotique . . . Je saisis cette occasion de donner au public
le discours qu'il prononca au conseil general.'15
The collaboration of Brissot and his provincial-based friends demonstrates the
way in which his newspaper operated as an informal club. It was composed entirely
of a select group who would later make up the core of the Brissotin faction in the
National Convention.
1
Jeremy D. Popkin, Revolutionary News. The Press in France (Durham, N.C., 1989), p. 180.
Other recent studies which emphasize the political nature of the press are those of Hugh Gough,
The Newspaper Press in the French Revolution (London, 1988) and Claude Labrosse and Pierre
Retat, Naissancedu journal revolutionnaire (Lyon, 1989).
2
'Cahier inedit des Memoires de Madame Roland', cited in Marie Jeanne Phlipon Roland,
Lettres de Madame Roland, ed. C. Perroud, 2 vols. (Paris, 1900-02)11^.732.
3
Marie Jeanne Phlipon Roland, Memoires de Madame Roland, ed. C. Perroud, 2 vols. (Paris,
1905). 1. P-61.
4
See Bancal's letters from Clermont-Ferrand dated 1 September, and 12 November 1789.
5
For a catalogue of letters and articles written by Brissot's friends in Lyon, mainly the Rolands,
Lanthenas and Bancal, published in the Patriote Francois between 12 August 1789 and 12 January
1791, see Claude Perroud, 'Brissot et les Roland. Collaboration de Roland au Patriote Francais',
Revolution Francaise, Tome xxxiv (1898), 412-20.
6
C. Perroud, 'A Propos de Pabolition du droit d'ainesse', Revolution Francaise LIV (1908),
193-202.
1
Patriote Francais, [PF] 14, 20 July, 14 August 1790; Letter of Lanthenas to Brissot,
12 September 1790, in AN, 'Papiers Brissot', 446 AP7.
8
Ibid., 14 August 1790; 18 September 1789.
9
See issues of 1 November, 24,25 December 1790; 5 December 1791.
10
Ibid., 11 November 1790; 14 February 1791.
11
For articles on popular societies established by Roland and Lanthenas, see PF, 29 December
179°; 5> r 4) 23 February, 2 March 1791.
12
Ibid., 1 August 1789.
13
Ibid., 12 September 1789; 18 January, 25 February 1790.
14
Ibid., 11 March 1790. Roland had written to Brissot on 1 March requesting him to publish this
'Declaration formelle'. AN., Papiers Brissot, 446 AP, 7.
15
Ibid., 25 November 1790.
COMMENT
BAUDELAIRE'S POTENTIAL SONNETS
RACHEL KILLICK, Leeds
How exactly is a sonnet defined — by its bi-partite structure, by its length, by its
rhyme, or by a combination of all three? For P. M.W. Cogman (FSB, 37
(1990-91), 10-13), the crucial element is the oppositional structure pivoting on a
'turn' which divides the poem in an 8:6 ratio. This model, he argues, is not
confined to the actual sonnets of Lex Fleurs du Mai but underpins poems such as
'Chant d'automne', 'Hymne a la Beaute' and 'L'Heautontimoroumenos'.
Awareness of their nature as potential sonnets enhances our understanding of the
dualistic workings of their structure.
But how far is it possible to apprehend these poems as potential sonnets when
other requirements of the sonnet form are not met, even in an approximate
[40] 13
manner? Does a sequence of quatrains, even if it divides thematically in an 8:6 ratio
into a group of four quatrains (16 lines) and one of three (12 lines), produce the
same effect as the 'imbalance' of the sonnet which, as Cogman himself notes,
'combines two different systems:1 the octave with its rhyme-scheme based on pairs,
reversal and symmetrical internal structure; the sestet with its different pattern,
and as it were different rhythm'? In the seven quatrain poem with its ongoing
pattern of pairs of enclosed or alternate rhymes, there is no prosodic disequilibrium between component elements. At the same time the extended length of the
poem precludes ready apprehension of thematic differentiation between different
sections.2 Airline poem can be scanned more speedily than a 28-line one, and its
overall pattern be more rapidly perceived. In the case of the sonnet furthermore,
the reader is usually assisted by the typographical breakdown of a distinctive visual
layout which automatically creates certain immediate expectations in his mind.
Not all 14-line poems are sonnets since a structure based on opposition and
symmetry is obviously an important part of the definition3 but equally every sonnet
is defined, amongst other things, in terms of a structure of fourteen lines. For a
poem to qualify as a potential sonnet, it must dierefore approximate fairly closely
to this norm.
For this reason a better candidate for the role of potential sonnet might be the
poem of four quatrains incorporating a 'turn' at the beginning of the final stanza,
for here though the characteristic imbalance of rhyme patterns between the two
parts is not satisfied, the total length and the relative proportions of the stanzas
equate to those of the sonnet, enabling the thematic imbalance of three to one to be
readily appreciated. The three to one pattern is moreover found in many actual
sonnets where the 'turn' occurs not in line 9 but in line 12 and it is furthermore a
characteristic feature of the 'quatorzain' or Shakespearian model with its sequence
of three quatrains and final couplet. lnLesFleursduMal, 'L'Albatros' (description
1-12 and symbolic interpretation 13-16), 'L'Homme et la Mer' (similarities of the
two protagonists 1-12, hostility between them 13-16) and 'Ciel brouille' (description of the woman 1-12, emotional self-questioning of the poet 13-16) could thus
all be considered potential sonnets. However they are isolated examples in
comparison with the actual sonnets of Lex Fleurs du Mai (44 of the 100 poems of the
first edition, 60 of the 127 of the second). Baudelaire seems to have borrowed the
four quatrain form from Gautier who used it in several pieces of the Poesies diverses
(1833-38) and again in 'Le Pin des Landes', Espaiia (1845).4 Gautier's taste for
narrative and for visual description is appropriately accommodated within the
greater length and more relaxed structures of the quatrain sequence.5 Baudelaire,
on the other hand, focussing on 'les deux postulations simultanees' within the heart
of man, finds formal emphasis for his vision in the tight configurations of identity
and contrast provided by the sonnet. He avoids, though, any simplistic use of the
1-11/12-14 pattern, preferring more evenly balanced arrangements, which escape
the reductive tendency of the three stanza to one pattern.6
Returning then to Cogman's argument, is it more accurate to see potential
sonnets in pieces such as 'Chant d'automne', 'Hymne a la Beaute' or 'L'Heautontimoroumenos' or rather, accepting Cogman's own point that such structures are not
necessarily intentional, to view all the poems of Les Fleurs du Mai as bearing the
imprint of a dualistic cast of mind? In this perspective the sonnets, at one end of the
formal spectrum, can be seen as providing a succinct and emphatic encapsulation
of the tensions and ambiguities of the spleen and ideal opposition7 while other
14 [40]
poems in the collection explore the ramifications of that opposition in a variety of
more extended and more flexible modes.
1
My emphasis.
The division of 'Chant d'automne' into two parts in the 1861 edition of Les Fleurs du Mai does
not resolve this problem since the reader loses the sense of an integrated whole and is left hesitating
over whether one poem or two is involved.
3
The status of 'Une Gravure fantastique', the only 14-line poem in Les Fleurs du Mai not
following an obvious sonnet pattern, has given rise to debate. Jean Prevost, Baudelaire (Paris,
1964) pp. 264-65, suggested that the poem could be 'decoupe' en sonnet' according to the usual 8:6
division. The 'rimes plates' and syntactic divisions (1-3/4-6/7-8/9-14) of the poem would seem to
militate against this idea. Another way of looking at 'Une Gravure fantastique' however, would be
to see it as being very close to a (potential) inverted sonnet dividing syntactically and thematically
into two 'tercets' (opening description of the horseman) followed by 'quatrains' (his conquering
ride across the vastness of space and time), the latter syntactically subdivided into a 2:6
arrangement which provides a formal parallel to the infinite expansion of his trajectory.
4
'L'Albatros' seems to have been composed in two stages, the third stanza being a later addition
probably inspired by a comment from Asselineau: 'La piece de 'L'Albatros' est un diamant! —
Seulement je voudrais une strophe entre la deuxieme et la derniere pour insister sur la gaucherie,
du morns sur la gene de l'albatros, pour faire tableau de son embarras. II me semble que la derniere
strophe rejaillirait plus puissante comme effet.' Asselineau's admiration for Gautier and his
memory of 'Le Pin des Landes' may well have inspired his remark, leading to a final version of
'L'Albatros' with a visual emphasis similar to Gautier's. See Baudelaire, CEuvres completes I ed.
Claude Pichois (Paris: Gallimard, 1975), 835-38.
5
Leaving aside the social sonneteering of his later years, Gautier's general preference is not for
the sonnet but for longer, more flexible forms where he can indulge his passion for visual detail and
where he can, if he wishes, reflect more freely on the scene or picture he depicts.
6
The short concluding tercet of the sonnet inevitably exacerbates this difficulty. Traditional
disapproval in France of the 'quatorzain' or 'faux sonnet' on the Shakespearian model derives
similarly from the reductive emphasis felt to be implicit in the substantial formal imbalance of
twelve lines to two.
7
Baudelaire's use of the sonnet is not limited to its oppositional aspects. More innovatively he also
explores the repetitive possibilities of the form, developing its prosodic symmetries and the
phonetic intensity of its regular rhyme-scheme as part of a musically suggestive 'sorcellerie
eVocatoire'. See Rachel Killick, '"Sorcellerie evocatoire" and the Sonnet', Dalhousie French
Studies 2 (1980), 21-39.
2
COURBET'S PARROT
MICHAEL PAKENHAM, Exeter
One so readily agrees with Eileen Souffrin-Le Breton ('Baudelaire's Parrot and
Banville's Parrot', FSB, 39 (Summer 1991)), that not a single feather is ruffled.
Yes, many parrots are both green and red. The point in question is one of degree; as
Baudelaire s a y s : ' . . . il y a des milliers d'atmospheres jaunes ou rouges, et toutes
les autres couleurs seront affectees logiquement et dans une quantite proportionnelle par l'atmosphere dominante' (Salon de 1859, iv; OC 11, 625). I still
maintain however that Baudelaire's 'perroquets' must be predominantly red —
they, and/or the poppies, are the equivalent of the 'lac de sang' conteracting 'un
bois de sapins toujours vert' of the Delacroix stanza in Les Phares. With the Salon
de 1846, the context of the phrase under discussion — 'Ce qui me frappe d'abord,
c'est que partout, — coquelicots dans les gazons, pavots, perroquets, etc., — le
rouge chante la gloire du vert' — makes it clear. Perhaps a longer quotation than
the one in FSB, 36, from chapter in will help?
Une immensity, bleue quelquefois et verte souvent, s'6tend jusqu'aux confins du ciel:
c'est la mer. Les arbres sont verts, les gazons verts, les mousses vertes; le vert serpente
dans les troncs, les tiges non mures sont vertes; le vert est le fond de la nature, parce que
le vert se marie facilement a tous les autres tons. Ce qui me frappe d'abord, c'est que
partout, — coquelicots dans les gazons, pavots, perroquets, etc., — le rouge chante la
gloire du vert [...] (OC 11,422)
[40] 15