Need a French poem

I would like to set a short French poem to music for a song composition for my AS Music. However I am struggling to find a suitable poem. It needs to be fairly short - perhaps 2 4-line stanzas - have a good rhythm and be 'singable' if you get me!

Do any French students know of any French poems that might be suitable?

Thanks in advance. :smile:

Reply 1

Piggsil

16

Ah Rass

I would like to set a short French poem to music for a song composition for my AS Music. However I am struggling to find a suitable poem. It needs to be fairly short - perhaps 2 4-line stanzas - have a good rhythm and be 'singable' if you get me!

Do any French students know of any French poems that might be suitable?

Thanks in advance. :smile:

I absolutely LOVE this poem by Ronsard. I think the last two lines are so beautiful. If it needs to be short I would just take the last two stanzas, as the first is a bit personal (I think he wrote this for his wife).
Just reading the last two lines of this poem makes me want to cry, it's so beautiful!!!!!!
It's all about seizing the moment and enjoying life and love.
Ah it's so amazing!!! :biggrin:

Ronsard

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 Ronsard ne s'aille réveillant,
Bénissant votre nom de louange immortelle.

Je serais 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 dès aujourd'hui les roses de la vie.

Reply 2

dinkymints

12

I really like this one by Baudelaire, and you could take just one bit:

L'invitation au voyage

Mon enfant, ma soeur,
Songe à la douceur
D'aller là-bas vivre ensemble !
Aimer à loisir,
Aimer et mourir
Au pays qui te ressemble !

Les soleils mouillés
De ces ciels brouillés
Pour mon esprit ont les charmes
Si mystérieux
De tes traîtres yeux,
Brillant à travers leurs larmes.

Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté.

[you could cut off here]

Des meubles luisants,
Polis par les ans,
Décoreraient notre chambre ;
Les plus rares fleurs
Mêlant leurs odeurs
Aux vagues senteurs de l'ambre,

Les riches plafonds,
Les miroirs profonds,
La splendeur orientale,
Tout y parlerait
À l'âme en secret
Sa douce langue natale.

Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté.

Vois sur ces canaux
Dormir ces vaisseaux
Dont l'humeur est vagabonde ;
C'est pour assouvir
Ton moindre désir
Qu'ils viennent du bout du monde.

Les soleils couchants
Revêtent les champs,
Les canaux, la ville entière,
D'hyacinthe et d'or ;
Le monde s'endort
Dans une chaude lumière.

Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté.

A rough translation:
My child, my sister,
dream of the sweetness
of going over there to live together!
To love at leisure,
to love and to die
in the country which resembles you!
The watery suns
of those misty skies,
for my mind, have the charms,
so mysterious,
of your betraying eyes,
shining through their tears.

There, all is but order and beauty,
luxury, calm and voluptuousness.

See, on these canals,
those vessels sleeping
whose disposition is to roam;
it is to fulfil
your slightest desire
that they come from the end of the earth.
The setting suns
reclothe the fields,
the canals, the whole town,
in hyacinth and in gold;
the world falls asleep
in a warm light.

There, all is but order and beauty,
luxury, calm and voluptuousness.

Reply 3

Da Bachtopus

12

Re: Becca's post. I don't think Ronsard ever married. He wrote the 'Sonnets pour Hélène' for Hélène de Surgères, whom he met at the court of Catherine de Medicis. Ronsard was quite old at this time, and whilst this doesn't preclude a romantic affection (she was young), I think they're better seen as exercises in the Petrarchan tradition than as "personal" expressions. Reading in that way distorts the environment of Renaissance culture with Romantic spectacles. The argument and development of the sonnet, the artifice of its execution, is more important than its (hackneyed) sentiment. In fact, I read that Ronsard was asked by Catherine to write the sonnets for Hélène after her lover was killed in the civil wars; that is, to console her. The cultural role of poetry in the 16th Century was quite different from that that today, where our notion of writing is still bound up with the residue of the Romantic movement. Hence, I'd say that Ronsard poem is more an argument towards seduction than a celebration of life and love: the 'carpe diem' ending urges Hélène to submit to the speaker's desires and crowns what is a carefully-constructed argument; it isn't simply a hyperbolic exclamation of joie de vivre.

Anyway, to the OP: if you're going to set a French poem you MUST read something about French versification, otherwise you're likely to misconstrue it entirely. Most importantly, the mute 'e's at the ends of many words will be pronounced, and you'll have to take this into account. If you can get hold of some of Fauré's songs they would act as a good guide to how to shape vocal lines in French, and how to pronounce the poetry. He set a lot of stuff by Hugo and Verlaine, the latter being particular "singable", since he emphasised "la musique avant toute chose".

You might find it difficult to come across a decent eight-line poem that you like, though you could do something longer that uses short lines. Although it might be too long, I think you could do something nice with this one of Verlaine's:

Le piano que baise une main frêle
Son joyeux, importun, d'un clavecin sonore - Petrus Borel

Le piano que baise une main frêle
Luit dans le soir rose et gris vaguement,
Tandis qu'avec un très léger bruit d'aile
Un air bien vieux, bien faible et bien charmant
Rôde discret, épeuré quasiment,
Par le boudoir longtemps parfumé d'Elle.

Qu'est-ce que c'est que ce berceau soudain
Qui lentement dorlote mon pauvre être?
Que voudrais-tu de moi, doux Chant badin?
Qu'as-tu voulu, fin refrain incertain
Qui vas tantôt mourir vers la fenêtre
Ouverte un peu sur le petit jardin?

I stand corrected

Oooh nice idea. I set a poem by Wilfred Owen to music and it worked really well! good luck!

Reply 6

Aitch

2

Ah Rass

I would like to set a short French poem to music for a song composition for my AS Music. However I am struggling to find a suitable poem. It needs to be fairly short - perhaps 2 4-line stanzas - have a good rhythm and be 'singable' if you get me!

Do any French students know of any French poems that might be suitable?

Thanks in advance. :smile:

Demain, dès l'aube... Victor Hugo:

Demain, dès l'aube, à l'heure où blanchit la campagne,
Je partirai. Vois-tu, je sais que tu m'attends.
J'irai par la forêt, j'irai par la montagne.
Je ne puis demeurer loin de toi plus longtemps.

Je marcherai les yeux fixés sur mes pensées,
Sans rien voir au dehors, sans entendre aucun bruit,
Seul, inconnu, le dos courbé, les mains croisées,
Triste, et le jour pour moi sera comme la nuit.

Je ne regarderai ni l'or du soir qui tombe,
Ni les voiles au loin descendant vers Harfleur,
Et quand j'arriverai, je mettrai sur ta tombe
Un bouquet de houx vert et de bruyère en fleur.

Reply 7

Piggsil

16

Aitch

Demain, dès l'aube... Victor Hugo:

Demain, dès l'aube, à l'heure où blanchit la campagne,
Je partirai. Vois-tu, je sais que tu m'attends.
J'irai par la forêt, j'irai par la montagne.
Je ne puis demeurer loin de toi plus longtemps.

Je marcherai les yeux fixés sur mes pensées,
Sans rien voir au dehors, sans entendre aucun bruit,
Seul, inconnu, le dos courbé, les mains croisées,
Triste, et le jour pour moi sera comme la nuit.

Je ne regarderai ni l'or du soir qui tombe,
Ni les voiles au loin descendant vers Harfleur,
Et quand j'arriverai, je mettrai sur ta tombe
Un bouquet de houx vert et de bruyère en fleur.

Oh! I love that one too!
Why is French poetry so much better than any other? It's just so amazing!!! :biggrin:

Reply 8

Fleece

15

German's actually better :p:

lot more expressive ---> more words

Reply 9

abc101

OP

17

Thanks soooo much! You're all stars! Now I know this is a bit cheeky but Da Bachtopus and Aitch, would you mind posting a rough idea of what the poem's about? Just my French isn't amazing and I'm prone to making v.random translations! Oo, on second thoughts, tis ok, I'll run it through an online translator or something!

Thanks a ton all of you, I look forward to perusing these poems at length! Thanks a lot :biggrin:

Reply 10

abc101

OP

17

Aitch

Demain, dès l'aube... Victor Hugo:

Demain, dès l'aube, à l'heure où blanchit la campagne,
Je partirai. Vois-tu, je sais que tu m'attends.
J'irai par la forêt, j'irai par la montagne.
Je ne puis demeurer loin de toi plus longtemps.

Je marcherai les yeux fixés sur mes pensées,
Sans rien voir au dehors, sans entendre aucun bruit,
Seul, inconnu, le dos courbé, les mains croisées,
Triste, et le jour pour moi sera comme la nuit.

Je ne regarderai ni l'or du soir qui tombe,
Ni les voiles au loin descendant vers Harfleur,
Et quand j'arriverai, je mettrai sur ta tombe
Un bouquet de houx vert et de bruyère en fleur.

Am really loving that one from my attempt at translating on the internet! Do you know where I can find a good translation on the internet that reads well? Thanks a lot.

Reply 11

Piggsil

16

Tomorrow, at the hour when the land is bleached by daybreak
I will leave. You see, I know that it's me you wait for.
I will go through forests, I will go by peaks.
I cannot stay away from you anymore.

I will walk with my eyes fixed on my thoughts,
Without hearing anything, without outside sight,
Alone, unknown, back bent, hands folded,
Desolate. And the day, for me, will be like night.

I will not observe the gold of falling dusk,
Nor the sails in distant descent upon Harfleur,
And when I arrive, I will lay on your tomb
A posy of evergreen holly, and heather in bloom.

That's a translation I found online. It's not great (not that I could do better!!), it's just a bit flat in comparison with the French version.

Reply 12

Da Bachtopus

12

Are you planning on setting an English translation or the French original? The lyricism of the translation shouldn't matter if you're just using it as a gloss.

Here's a literal, unpoetic version of the Verlaine with English word-order:

The piano that a frail hand kisses
shines vaguely in the red and grey evening
while, with a very light sound of wings,
an old, weak and charming air
roams discreetly, as if frightened
by the boudoir perfumed for a long time with Her.

What is this sudden cradle
that slowly pampers my poor being?
What would you like from me, sweet, playful Song?
What did you want, fine, uncertain refrain
that now goes to die towards the window,
open a little over the small garden?

Both "frêle" and "faible" here suggest "slight" rather than just "weak" &c.

Reply 13

abc101

OP

17

Thanks very much. Intending to set the French original, just that I need to know which words are the most important and to put on the strong beats, and word painting and all that. Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it! I think I'm gonna have to get into French poetry, it's cool!

Reply 14

fizzyfish

1

There is one...but i think it has already got a kind of tune.

Fait pipi sur le gazon
Pour embeter les coccinelles
Fait pipi sur le gazon
Pour embeter les papillions.
(Chorus)
Pipi, gazon, embeter, coccinelles
Pipi, gazon, embeter, pappilions.

I got taught it by my French teacher when i was 10, spose it has a catchy rythym. You may not want to translate it tho...

Reply 15

maclin

Hundreds of French poems are available online from:
http://france.poetryinternational.org/
its a really good and easy site to use and I want to tell the world about it! :smile:

Need a French poem

Related discussions

Articles for you