Au Fleuve De Loire’

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ABSTRACT

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN JOACHIM DU BELLAY’S DIVERS JEUX RUSTIQUES AND ‘AU FLEUVE DE LOIRE’

by Masnoon Majeed

This thesis, written in English, aims to demonstrate that many of Joachim du Bellay’s poems in Divers jeux rustiques and Vers Lyriques disclose a conscious way of perceiving the environment. A detailed analysis of ‘D’un vanneur de blé aux vents’ reveals how the poem questions the privileging of humans in their relationship with the environment by dismantling the environment-human binary. I examine the symbolism of Roman mythology in ‘À Cérès, À Bacchus et À Pales’ and ‘D’un berger à Pan’ in order to explain how this symbolism represents the dependency of humans on their environment and creates the possibility of converting arduous rural chores into meaningful and pleasurable activities. Lastly, I explain how the poem ‘Au Fleuve de Loire’ can be read as a cartographic poem that highlights the economic, literary, and environmental importance of the Loire river. I conclude that these poems exemplify a consciousness that rejoices, reinforces, and recognizes the role of the environment in the lives of its inhabitants.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN JOACHIM DU BELLAY’S DIVERS JEUX RUSTIQUES AND ‘AU FLEUVE DE LOIRE’

A Thesis

Submitted to the

Faculty of Miami University

in partial fulfillment of

the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts

Masnoon Majeed

Miami University

Oxford, Ohio

2018

Advisor: Dr. Elisabeth Hodges

Reader: Dr. Jeremie Korta

Reader: Dr. Anna Klosowska

This Thesis titled

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN JOACHIM DU BELLAY’S DIVERS JEUX RUSTIQUES AND ‘AU FLEUVE DE LOIRE’

Masnoon Majeed

has been approved for publication by

The College of Arts and Science

and

Department of French and Italian

______Dr. Elisabeth Hodges

______Dr. Jeremie Korta

______Dr. Anna Klosowska

Table of Contents

Introduction 1 Chapter One: Jeu of the Winnower 7 Chapter Two: Jeu of the Mythology 17 Chapter Three: Jeu of the River 26 Conclusion 38 Works Cited 41

iii

To my family

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like to thank my thesis advisor Dr. Elisabeth Hodges. With her support, encouragement, challenging, and guidance, I was able to grow as a writer and develop my thinking in ways that will carry on with me beyond my graduate years at Miami University.

I would like to thank Dr. Anna Klosowska and Dr. Jeremie Korta for their encouragement, constructive comments, and suggestions to improve my thesis. Additionally, I would like to thank Dr. Jonathan Strauss for helping me find my literary voice and Michel Pactat for helping me learn and grow as a teacher. Also, I would like to thank my professors at University of Richmond for revealing to me the value of literature.

I would like to recognize my friends in Irvin 001 for celebrating the good times, supporting me during tough times, and being there for everything in between.

Finally, I would like to recognize that without the support of my brothers, Ahsan and Mustahsan, my parents, Asad and Nazli, my sisters, Madeeha and Wajeeha, and my soulmates, Chloe and Adam, this journey would have been impossible.

Introduction

Joachim du Bellay, in his famous sonnet ‘Heureux qui comme Ulysse’, 1 which appears in his first major collection of poems, Les Regrets, juxtaposes his native Anjou with the grandeur of Rome (Œuvres complètes 506). Through this simple juxtaposition, the poet inverts perhaps one of the most nostalgic images in early modern Europe, the ruins of Rome, to create a positive image of his native Anjou, and highlight the beauty of the poet’s ‘petit village’.2 The small houses built by the poet’s ancestors, the fine slate, the Gallic Loir, the ‘little’ Liré and the mild climate of Anjou, all become more desirable to the poet than the Roman palaces, the hard marble, the Latin Tiber, the ‘mountain’ Palatine and the Mediterranean climate of Rome. The poet creates a diptych by separating the two separate spaces of Rome and Anjou, and then, in a stroke of perception, transfers the value from one space to another, from Rome to Anjou. This spatial substitution prompted me to ask the following questions: how are the topographical features of these two regions used to make an argument in favor of Anjou? What is the relationship between Rome and Anjou? What does the poet mean when he says, “mon loyre”? Thus, I decided to look further into du Bellay’s poetry to understand the complex relationship between the physical features of Anjou and his poetry. Joachim du Bellay was born in 1522 to Jean du Bellay and Renée Chabot in the Château de la Turmelière on the Loire river in the historic province of Anjou. Verdun-Louis Saulnier poignantly notes that, “c’est dans l’éclairage de la Loire, dans ce climat délicat, soleilleux, un peu mou, propre aux mélancolies sereines et charmantes, qu’il va vivre sa première vingtaine d’années.” (3) As a second son, he could not inherit land, and had to find other ways to sustain himself. Because of his “santé chétive” du Bellay could not be conscribed in the French military in all his thirty-eight years. (10) He studied law at the University of Poiters. Later, he studied the humanities under the tutorship of Jean Dorat, at the Collège of Coqueret along with other poets, including Pierre de Ronsard, all of whom became part of La Pléiade. Their collective goal in du

1An excellent sung version of the poem can be found on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzvQXT2DQ-0&t=2s 2 Ruins of Rome were a common motif in Renaissance Literature. For further details, see The Poetics of Ruins in Renaissance Literature by Andrew Hui 1

Bellay’s La Défense et illustration de la langue française (1549) was to be inspired by Classical models to improve the French language and letters to create a national style that would rival the great works of the past. Du Bellay wrote many collections of poems, including L’Olive and Vers lyriques in 1549, which demonstrated his commitment to the ideals championed in his literary manifesto, La Défense. In 1553, he secured a position as a secretary to his uncle Cardinal Jean du Bellay in Rome. There, he published other collections, including the well-known Les Regrets (1558), Les Antiquités de Rome (1558), and Divers jeux rustiques (1558). Du Bellay did not enjoy as much critical attention as other poets, like Ronsard, have received. Saulnier notes that du Bellay is one of those writers who “on l’explique volontiers dans les classes, si bien que le nom demeure illustre, mais la mémoire n’a guère retenu que le premier vers de deux ou trois morceaux.” (5) Nevertheless, after Henri Chamard’s intensive writing on du Bellay in the latter half of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, du Bellay became one of the most studied poets of early modern France. One collection, Divers jeux rustiques, published in 1558, is relatively less famous and perhaps less appreciated by critics. Kathleen M. Hall and Margaret B. Wells tactfully summarize the reception of the collection in the following terms: “For Chamard it is ‘très inégale’ (21, II, p.211), for Dorothy Coleman ‘a patchy collection’ (9. p.74). Gaddoffre and Gray neglect it; for Saulnier, ‘ce recueil n’est qu’un beau sourire’ (4, Lxiii); and Du Bellay himself had offered it as merely ‘un entre-mez delectable.3” (79) Other critics have attempted to problematize such a reception by highlighting the richness of the collection. For instance, Louis Mackenzie, has offered a detailed analysis of the poem ‘D’un vanneur’ to highlight its meta-poetic richness.4 (133). Isabelle Fernbach’s excellent analysis of ‘Le Morteum’ elucidates a poetic theory of labor according to which one must work hard to become a good poet. (94) Through my own research and a careful reading of selected poems in Jeux, I realized that the poems could be read as an invitation to look at the landscape in a guided way.56 The poetry

3 The citations within the citation are quoted from Hall and Wells’s Du Bellay : poems. 4 Please note that I have referred two different scholars Louisa Mackenzie and Louis Mackenzie. Every time I mention the two scholars I use their full names, with one exception: I use the last name when I have mentioned the first name within the same paragraph. 5 From this point onwards, I will refer to the collection merely as Jeux. 6 Many of the poems in Jeux are ‘translations’. As Fernbach says in her book chapter ‘From Copy to Copia: Imitation and Authorship in Joachim du Bellay’s Divers Jeux Rustiques’ considering these translations significantly modify (including add liberally) and creatively interpret the original works, du Bellay’s poems deserve analysis in their own right rather than merely as translations (98). In this thesis, I concern myself with the poems themselves 2 has a deep and varied sensual dimension to it because the images presented can not only be conceptualized but they can also be touched, smelled, and felt, as if the reader was kinesthetically reading the poem. Through such imagination, the poet offers a way to make daily rural chores of life in 16th century Anjou possibly pleasurable. In these poems, the environment was not subservient to the inhabitants; instead, the poet places the inhabitants of Anjou in a position of dependence and awe regarding their surroundings. I was surprised by these findings, because the sixteenth century French poems that I studied seemed to embody a version of what we might call today, environmental consciousness. Inspired by these observations, in this thesis, I will investigate how du Bellay’s poetry invites an environmentally conscious perceptual change that results in an awareness of the dependency of inhabitants on their environment in Jeux and to a lesser extent in Les Vers Lyriques. Les Vers lyriques is a collection of odes published in 1549. The only ode I analyze in this thesis is ‘Au Fleuve de Loire’ (Œuvres complètes 1293) . This ode is an excellent example of a poem that can be seen as environmentally conscious. The first chapter examines the invitation to an environmentally conscious perceptual change on an individual level. I begin with a phenomenological analysis of the term jeu itself and then offer a detailed analysis of the poem ‘D’un vanneur de blé aux vents’ to demonstrate this environmentally conscious perceptual change. My analysis in this chapter is multidisciplinary in nature, as I draw upon the work of Michel Foucault to demonstrate how perceptual change can be pleasurable and also the work of Stacy Alaimo to demonstrate the environmental aspect of perceptual change. In the second chapter, I examine the role of Roman mythology in bringing about a similar perceptual change in various poems in Jeux, including ‘À Cérès, À Bacchus et À Pales’ and ‘D’un berger à Pan’. The focus of this chapter is on the importance of the environment for agriculture and on the examination of how poetry can make agricultural activities sensual, and thus possibly pleasurable. The third chapter of this thesis focuses on explaining how the poem ‘Au Fleuve de Loire’, functions as a cartographic poem. Through such a role, the poem can be read as an invitation to look at the Loire river while being cognizant of the economic, literary and environmental importance of the river. Through detailed analysis of the aforementioned poems

rather than offering a comparative analysis of the poems with their sources. Such a comparative analysis could be extremely fruitful but it is not the main issue I want to deal with in this thesis. 3 of du Bellay, I conclude that these poems exemplify a consciousness that rejoices, reinforces, and recognizes the enhanced role of the environment in the lives of its inhabitants. Before moving on to the main body of the thesis, I would like to clarify some key terms used in this thesis. The term environment is used instead of nature for the purpose of clarity. Nature, as Raymond Williams identifies, it “is perhaps the most complex word in the English language.” (184) Williams distinguishes three commonly used senses of the word, “ (i) the essential quantity and character of something; (ii) the inherent force which directs either the world or human beings or both; (iii) the material world itself, taken as including or not including human beings.” (184) Considering the complexity of the word nature, it will be imprecise to use nature in any one of these three meanings, especially considering that other words may be used to refer individually to these concepts. Throughout this thesis, instead of nature, I will be using the term environment, which signifies “the spaces in which people lived and with which they engaged physically, intellectually, spiritually and imaginatively.” (Sarah Miglietti and John Morgan 3) Environment, as a term, allows me to focus on the interaction between humans and their surroundings without the metaphysical implications of the term nature. By inhabitants, I refer to the individuals who live in and occupy an environment. Similarly, by environmentally conscious perception change, I refer to the change that occurs while perceiving an environment in a way that recognizes and cherishes the interdependent relationship between the environment and its inhabitants. Moreover, in this thesis, landscape “refers to the shape – the material topography – of a piece of land.” (Tim Cresswell 11) As such, when du Bellay refers to topography in his poems like “Forêts & bocages” in ‘D’un berger à Pan’ I take him to be constructing a landscape out of words that designate specific sites in the physically existing environment and in the poet’s imagination. I use the term space to refer to an area which could be imagined or real. Michel de Certeau defines “places” as “order (of whatever kind) in accord with which elements are distributed in relationships of coexistence.” (117) De Certeau explains that everything has a place by the virtue of its existence. Comparing space with place, he states that “space is a practiced place” (117) and that space is constructed by the “actions of historical subjects.” (118) As such a space is brought into existence by movement. For instance, in du Bellay’s poetry we often find Roman gods walking in Anjou, and, in this way, a mythological space is created. The

4 space in which this interaction happens is imagined. However, a space, can equally be real. For instance, the space of the Loire river valley is an example of a real space. The best way to understand environmental consciousness is to understand it as an embodied philosophy. The philosophical part of the term comes from taking an environmental perspective. For instance, in du Bellay’s poetic landscapes, the interlocutors, like the winegrower and the farmer in the poem ‘Sur le memse sujet’, are cognizant that their well-being depends upon their environments because they are aware of the need to reciprocate what they have taken from the environment. In addition, the embodied part of the term comes from a physical awareness of the environment. For instance, in du Bellay’s poetry this concept can best be seen in the poem ‘D’un vanneur’ where the winnower is not only aware of the importance of the wind to accomplish his task, but he also develops a kinship with the wind, ‘breathing’ in and communicating with the wind. Such a comparison between an embodied philosophy (environmental consciousness) and sixteenth century poetry raises could be considered an anachronism. However, Louisa Mackenzie addresses this concern by proposing that a “historically appropriate eco-critical theory:” can be used “to look beyond the densely intertextual referential universe of early modern descriptions of nature to try to understand something of how lived experience of environments and written descriptions worked together.”7 (“It's a Queer Thing” 23) Similarly, I noticed while conducting my research that poetic descriptions of landscapes in the poems analyzed in this thesis reveal a lived experience in which inhabitants of an environment demonstrate an awareness that the energy that empowering the individual and the community stems from the environment. In the last ten years, many scholars have made a serious effort to understand the relationship between poetry and the environment of the early modern period. Louisa Mackenzie has suggested that “poetry not only captures and describes a certain affect towards this landscape but is also one of the filters we bring to our experience in the first place.” (The Poetry of Place 1). Mackenzie’s idea of poetry as a filter made me think of the possible presence of an

7 The definition of the term ‘eco-critisim’ is hotly debated and as such it is difficult to offer one coherent definition. The canonical departure point is Cheryl Glotfelty’s definition: “the interconnections between nature and culture, specifically the cultural artifacts of language and literature (xix)” as cited in Louisa Mackenzie’s article It’s a Queer Thing: Early Modern French Ecocriticism 15). The article is an excellent introduction to the complexities of using Ecocriticism to analyze Early Modern French Literature.

5 environmentally conscious filter in du Bellay’s poems. Similarly, Philip John Usher, in his recently published book, L’Aède et le géographe, argues that many poets of the early modern period provided guidance throughout their poems about how to interpret historical geography. (4) Usher’s work in demonstrating this cartographic aspect of early modern poems made me realize that perhaps the best way to understand the diverse imagery within du Bellay’s poems is to read it as an attempt at to use poetry to construct a larger space: a map. This map is then used as a medium to understand the space it represents. For instance, the mapping of the Loire valley in ‘Au Fleuve de Loyre’ serves to highlight the aesthetic and literary importance of the Loire. Similarly, Ken Hiltner in his book What Else is Pastoral? called for reexamining Renaissance landscapes, not just as representations, but as literal depictions of landscapes. (3) Following Hiltner, I highlight the importance of literal landscapes in the construction of larger spaces in Jeux and ‘Au Fleuve de Loire’. Considering these theoretical influences on my research, the best way to situate this thesis is perhaps within the eco-critical work done by scholars with regards to the rich territory of early modern literature.

Chapter One: Jeu of the Winnower

In his introduction to Jeux, du Bellay states: “Reçoy donques ce présent, tel qu’il est, de la mesme volonté, que je te le présente : employant mesmes heures à la lecture d’iceluy, que celle que j’ay employées à la composition.” (3) Du Bellay asks the reader to invest the same time in reading and understanding Jeux as the poet spent writing the collection. It is no exaggeration to proclaim that writing poetry is an immensely time-consuming activity. Du Bellay asks the reader to read deeply into the poetry, rather than cursorily reading the poems. Following upon the advice of the du Bellay, I have devoted this chapter to understand one poem: ‘D’un vanneur de blé aux vents’. Before I discuss the poem itself, I will engage in an analysis of the key term of the title jeux. Such an exploration is crucial, because it is a reading of this term that allows me to demonstrate that the poem ‘d’un vanneur’ is providing tools that could offer a way to blur the boundaries between humans and their environments, and interact with the environment in a pleasurable manner. Jeu refers to an activity which is followed freely.8 When we follow a jeu freely, we act as if the jeu were the reality, whilst knowing that the jeu is merely a game. This make-believe gives jeu a peculiar ontological standing, because the existence of such a phenomenon solely depends on a free acceptance and voluntary enactment of the activity in question. The Dictionnaire de Moyen Français documents that this activity could either come with rules or without rules. If it is an activity without rules, then it “n’a d’autre but que le plasir qu’elle procure: divertissement, amusement.” (CNRTL: DMF n.p.)9 The goal of jeu being pleasurable is important because it identifies that the main goal of a jeu is pleasure. Apart from pleasure, play is also considered a divertissement. The etymology of divertissement shows that the sense of the term corresponds to its English homophone: diversion. The first use of the term occurs in 1494 in the sense of “action de détourner quelqu’un de ses préoccupations.” (CNRTL: Le Trésor de la langue Francaise Informatisé) By the early seventeenth century, the term takes on a non-monetary meaning,

8 My analysis of the term is inspired by Hans-Georg Gadamer’s chef-d’oeuvre Truth and Method. I used my understanding of Gadamer’s work to interpret meaning of the term Jeu as it appears in Le Dictionnaire de Moyen Français. 9 Following MLA standards, I have cited CNRTL, the name of the website. However, CNTRL (Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexiques)’s website has various dictionaries that one may use. Therefore, I added the DMF, which is the abbreviation for the dictionary that I used: Le Dictionnaire de Moyenne Français. 7 signifying a distraction from one’s preoccupations10. As such, the peculiar ontology of jeu is further highlighted by the fact that its existence comes from the separation between a real preoccupation and an imagined alternative. This makes jeu associated with “les notions de totalité, de règle et de liberté.” (Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant 538) Totality comes from the idea that when playing a game or enacting an activity there is total immersion and acceptance of the perceived ontology of the game. This totality is important because ‘make-believe’ in play is not a mere weak imagination but is a complete immersion into the alternative imagined reality. The second type of game is an activity in which some rules must be followed in a make- believe group of actions. What could these rules possibly be in a collection of poems? The poem itself could be considered as a regulatory document. Like the rules of a game, poetic structure can guide our perception. In this sense, the jeux could be a document which allows a certain game to be played. Moreover, the term, interestingly, does not only refer to the rules of the activity but also to the activity itself. In fact, the method of the activity or the technique of the game is also referred to as the jeu, as an activity or a game that has rules and that can be played in many ways. As such, there is room for creativity in how a game or an activity is enacted. As when explaining the symbolism of jeu in the Western literary tradition, Chevalier and Gheerbrant stress, “mais sous le respect des règles, le jeu laisse percer la spontanéité la plus profonde, les réactions les plus personnelles aux contraintes extérieures.” (528) In this sense, poetry might not simply restrict possible actions to create an activity, but also suggest a certain way in which this game could be successfully completed. The term also refers to the enactment of the activity and the playing of the game, like a representation of a theatrical play. In this sense, the poetry is not only defining the rules and suggesting how to play them, but it is also describing the play of a game itself. As such, if we refer to a poem as a jeu, it could simultaneously imply that an alternative ontology, to an ontology where the being is only constrained by physical restrictions, has been freely established through voluntary intentions, the rules for such an existence are defined, a creative plan of action has been offered, and finally this game plan is also described. In order to contextualize this analysis into contemporary times: let us take an example. Imagine a five-minute video of a soccer game and use a linguistic term to refer to each of the following: the fact that players are pretending to follow rules, the rules of the games, the creative manipulation within the rules, and the fact of playing the game itself.

10 (Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexiques) 8

It is not by chance that jeu has such a rich and complex meaning. Games, just like dance, have origins in the sacred (ibid). Both games and dance share the basic ontological status as an activity, where structure is given through intention, rather than physical necessity. The games, like the Olympic games, were sacred rites which involved giving a space for expression of conflict and the development of a healthy team. From a psychological point of view, Chevalier and Gheerbrant argue that “le jeu suractive l’imagination et stimule l’émotivité.” (ibid) From a historical perspective, games have always had this peculiar ontological status where their structures enable us to realize experiences that might not be possible without the voluntarily accepted restrictions. Finally, within the French language, jeu is also a homonym of je, which refers to ‘I’ or ‘self”. In this way, jeu has also has a self-referential aspect where the game is constantly harkening back to the creator of the game: the je of the jeu. This je of the jeu is an apt introduction to the analysis of Jeux, because most of the poems in the collection are situated in Anjou, the ancestral province of the poet – or, the jeu is set in the space of the je. The poems not only take place in Anjou, but they are also about Anjou or a way of looking at Anjou. The game at play in du Bellay’s Jeux could thus be said to be that of perception, a way of looking at and interacting with the environment. This new outlook on the environment has the potential to transform an arduous activity into a pleasurable one, by finding richness in everyday activities. The structure of the poem acts like the rules of a game, restricting the possible actions of an activity, while guiding the actions towards a new direction. The poems literally engage the reader in diversion, which represents a shift in direction which leading towards a greater understanding of what the environment can offer to its inhabitants. Saulnier, along with other literary critics, has singled out and praised the poem ‘D’un vanneur’ (Louis Mackenzie 133). The three-stanza poem with a tripartite rich rhyme is addressed to the wind from the perspective of a winnower and presents a winnower who is working on a hot windy day. Throughout the poem, the poet emphasizes the omnipresence of wind and the fragility of its interaction. In the first stanza, the wind is addressed through a periphrasis, “troppe légère.” The “troppe” establishes the omnipresence of the wind while “légère” emphasizes the ephemerality of the wind. Moreover, this ephemerality of the wind is established throughout the poem. In the second verse of the first stanza, the poet describes wind as having an “aile passagère.” As if the lightness of the singular “aile” were not potent enough to express the

9 softness of the wind, the poet adds the adjective “passagère” to give prominence to the transient quality of the wind. Moreover, the accumulation of flowers in the second stanza emphasizes fragility in temporal and physical senses. The addition of –ettes, in “fleurettes” and “vermeilettes” physically evokes the smallness of flowers through the diminutive suffixes. Throughout the poem, the theme of flowers, feather, and wind, is described using a similar lexicon. The fresh petals of flowers, a lone feather of a bird, and the “troppe lègere” evoke the same fragility and ethereality. Such close association between key words of the poem enables the images presented in the poem to blend into one another. As the fragility of the flowers and feathers gets imbued into the wind, the omnipresence of the wind, evoked by “troppe légère” and “par le monde volez” itself becomes fragile. This combination of omnipresence with fragility gives wind an almost impossible lightweight metaphysical existence. Due to its ethereal form, the wind can transcend physical boundaries – it is after all flying throughout the world freely. It is in such a wind that the winnower himself is present, and due to the omnipresence of the fragile wind the poet from the beginning hints at the impossibility of the separability of the winnower and the wind. In the poem, the winnower welcomes this fragile and ethereal presence by opening himself to it, as he engages with the wind in a physical and imaginative way.11 At a physical level, the winnower, by definition, interacts with wind. He uses a winnow to throw the harvest wheat which consists of both the chaff and the wheat in order to separate them. The wind blows away the chaff as the seed is collected on a winnow. The winnower must do this repetitively because each time only a little bit of chaff blows away. Moreover, winnowing is best done outside when it is windy and not raining so the winnowers must take full advantage of suitable days. On a more imaginative level, the first step the poet takes is the establishment of two interlocutors: the poem is addressed from the point of view of the winnower to the wind; the winnower talks to the wind. Through this addressing of wind, wind becomes an active agent of communication rather than a passive instrument of the winnower. The second verb of the stanza ebranler can help us identify this aspect. The wind in the poem is not merely blowing over the

11 Such an interaction mirrors the use of Sarah Miglietti and John Morgan’s use the word environment “to signify the spaces in which people lived and with which they engaged physically, intellectually, spiritually and imaginatively” in their collection Governing the Environment in The Early Mordern World (3). 10 land but it is also interacting with plants on it to create “un sifflant murmure.” A “murmure” is a sound usually used to describe humans talking to each other secretly, and when wind and plants murmur they become interlocutors to one another, and engage in the production of a conversation. The creative and the productive aspects of the wind thus allow the poet to breathe life into plants and winds as they join to produce sound. If the wind is producing the sound, the next question is who is the listener? The listener, evidently, is the winnower, who could imagine the wind as talking to him. In this way, the wind and the winnower become closer to one another, as the environment represented by the wind enters the inhabitant, the winnower, who joins in the activity of production through the act of breathing and speaking to the wind. In the third stanza, their interaction concludes as the wind and the winnower both seem to breathe. The personification of the wind continues into the third stanza, as the poet invokes its breath, its “doucle hailaine.” Through “j’ahanne” et “je vanne”, a similar breathing quality is established for the winnower. Ahanner translates into working hard or grunting when one works hard. It reflects the poet using his breathing to gain force to pick the chaff up and throw it into the wind. Moreover, the verb has a sonorous similarity with ahanner, as one that mimics the action of breathing when saying the word. Furthermore, the verb vanner, which translates as to winnow, is also important because the action of winnowing requires the use of the entire body. While using his lower body to balance and keep himself grounded, the winnower must use his upper body strength to throw the chaff into the air, which would then blow away the chaff while the heavier grains would fall. The rich rhyme between “ahanne” and “vanne” along with the repetition of “que je” adds to the mingling of the wind and the winnower’s body by connecting the actions of breathing in to the labor of winnowing. Moreover, the rich tripartite rime reinforces the image of breathing: the poem’s oscillation between one rime and another mimics the actions of breathing in and breathing out. As the body takes in air, the air becomes an inward wind, and as the air is exhaled it becomes an outward wind. This connection between wind and winnower establishes a physical link between the two phenomena. Furthermore, it is important to note that wind has a life-giving function in the poem, because it is being used to separate the wheat grains from the chaff. This separation is vital for the food supply of the region because wheat was one of the staple foods of Anjou (Jean-Laurent Rosentha 62). This life-giving is also made visible by the various images of breath, notably the reference to “doulce hailaine” and “j’hannne” in the poem. Therefore, the

11 image presented in the poem is one of a continuous interaction: the wind provides the winnower with energy to breathe, the winnower uses his bodily strength and the wind to separate the grain from the chaff, the grain is then consumed by the winnower also to provide energy and therefore life. Moreover, breath imagery allows for the wind to be situated inside the winnower’s body. This intimacy allows the winnower the pleasure of another form of interaction. The presence of the pleasure could be evoked through flowers that are sensually emblematic of pleasure; their fragrance invites olfactory pleasure; their softness and fragility can be experienced as a tactile pleasure; their vibrant colors offer visual pleasure. Moreover, when the adjective “freshement” is used, it evokes the vividness of the flowers, their nascent blooms, their soft texture, and their strong early fragrance. These cycles of structuring perception can also be read on the meta- poetic level, where through restricting one’s perceptions, either through the writing or reading of poetry, a chaotic experience is given structure, and made pleasurable. Louis Mackenzie analyzes this poem on the meta-poetic level, to demonstrate that using the deictic, ces, the poet makes flowers central to a metaphoric reading of the poem because the flowers are words that “shower a hot, workday world, surprising it with relief of unanticipated beauty and color.” (138) Thus, the offering of the flowers, which are the words of the poem, to the wind, can be seen as an attempt to infuse pleasure into perception of the fragile and omnipresent wind. In this way, through poetic imagination, the poet opens the possibility of pleasure for a person who interacts meaningfully with the physical space of Anjou. Through the act of winnowing, the space no longer remains empty, but is filled with a life-giving activity. Through his actions, a man becomes a winnower. The wind opens to him the possibility of becoming someone, a winnower, in relation to it. The possibility is welcomed by the winnower in the poem, and the connection is reinforced through the act of offering the roses and through the act of communicating. An egalitarian dynamic is established by winnower offering the wind flowers, and by winnower addressing the wind with the formal vous, which establishes a power differential, both in terms of elevating respect and recognizing the plurality of the wind, its presence is total, multiple, everywhere. In this way, the winnower is not domesticating the wind, he is letting himself be domesticated by the wind. Moral agency is established through the combined presences of the wind and the winnower. The agency, the capacity to follow through with one’s intentions, comes from the fact

12 that both the winnower and the wind are engaged with one another, actively helping the winnower to follow his goals. It is moral because the relationship is not one-sided, as the winnower imagines that he single-handedly exploits the wind. I borrow the term ‘moral agency’ from Stacy Alaimo, who, in Exposed, offers a more inclusive ethics for the twenty-first century. She claims, “An ethics in place can be sparked by the human desire for surprise for play, for the possibility of becoming, by realizing it is possible for the agency, the activities, the becoming of the non-human to recreate a seemingly static site into a place of energy and transformation.” (38) At first glance, the parallel between du Bellay and Alaimo will seem puzzling and problematic. However, Alaimo does not claim that her ethics is ‘new’ in the sense that it did not exist before, in fact, she cites many different cultures throughout different periods in human history that embody some of the characteristics of an ethics of inhabiting. In this way, it is not anachronistic to find elements of this ‘new’ ethics in the writings of a sixteenth century poet. Elaborating on the nature of interaction between the environment and the inhabitant, Alaimo says “the exposed subject is always already penetrated by substances and forces that can never properly be accounted for.” (7) This elaboration can explain the relationship between the winnower and the wind in ‘D’un vanneur’ because the winnower can be the “exposed subject” who is “penetrated” by the wind. The penetration of the wind and winnower in the poem was established by giving the wind an almost impossible presence and the linking of wind with the winnower through the acts of breathing and communication. Similarly, Alaimo stresses the need to “emphasize human dwellings as habitats, reveal our interconnections with non-human nature and the possibilities for a multitude of sustainable pleasures.” (30) In the previous citation, Alaimo is not focusing on the ways we need physically to change human dwellings. Instead, she is asking for non-human entities to be recognized. This recognition at a very basic level would involve being seen. For instance, when a person walks from their house to their office, they might get lost in their own world separating themselves from the environment by putting on ear phones and focusing all visual energy on their phones. In this mode of being, a chirping bird or a light breeze is likely to be missed. Thus, when Alaimo talks about changing dwellings to habitats, she emphasizes the need to recognize others in our environment because, in a habitat, different species are imagined as living together, while a dwelling is imagined as a place of residence for an individual. On another level, once non-human entities are recognized, it is possible to benefit from such recognition by playfully interacting with it. ‘D’un vanneur’

13 embodies both of these concepts. Firstly, through addressing the wind, the act of breathing, communicating with the wind, the wind is indeed recognized in the poem but it is presented as interconnected with the winnower and his surroundings like the plants in plains where the winnower is standing. Secondly, through the presence of flowers in the omnipresent winds, the manifestation of wind and its interaction with the winnower are presented as pleasurable. In this way, the poem reveals the “interconnection with non-human nature” through the act of breathing and act of communication, both of which enable the winnower to take pleasure in the winnowing. Through ‘pointing out’ the winnower, the wind, and the wheat, the poet establishes a relationship between the environment and the winnower. Similarly, by juxtaposing and superimposing the ‘real’ environment of Anjou, as represented by the winnower, and its represented equivalent, the imagined interaction between the winnower and the wind. There might be hundreds of winnowers in sixteenth century Anjou, and the reference to winnower could thus be considered a reference to the physical environment. However, not every winnower might have a similar perception towards the wind. In this sense, the imagined interaction could be considered as a possibility that could become available to all the other winnowers. Moreover, if we read the poem in an allegorical manner, then the imagined interaction is a possibility for everyone who can welcome the environment that surrounds and feeds them. As such the poem illustrates one way of taking care of oneself: taking pleasure in that which surrounds a person: the environment. Perhaps, the poem could be understood as one way of taking care of oneself. The poet can be conceived as evoking ideas discussed many centuries later by Michel Focuault in “La culture de soi” in the third volume of Histoire de la sexualité. In this chapter, Foucault identifies the rise of a certain individualism in Hellenistic and Roman worlds. He explains this individualisms in the following terms, “l'intensité des rapports à soi, c'est-à-dire des formes dans lesquelles on est appelé à se prendre soi-même pour objet de connaissance et domaine d'action, afin de se transformer, de se corriger, de se purifier, de faire son salut.” (69) Such individualism calls upon the subject to look within the self not only better to understand the self but to be more conscious of one’s actions with the aim of being more mindful in the future. Foucault emphasizes that such a care of the self is not narrow and restricted to a few activities but involves taking care of all the aspects of a person’s actions and then attempting to change and govern

14 them in a meaningful way. (82) More importantly, care does not mean a retreat into the wild to study oneself, but as a “véritable pratique sociale.” (84) Taking care also means being more aware of one’s responsibilities and actions towards society. The goal of such transformation of the self is to search “en soi-même, dans le rapport de soi à soi.” (107) This relation to the self is also the capacity to appreciate or enjoy what is in front of us, “le rapport à soi est aussi défini comme une relation concrète qui permet de jouir de soi, comme d’une chose qu’on a à la fois en sa possession et sous les yeux.” (109) Later in the same paragraph, Foucault denies that this experience of self relates to the exercise of power but instead it is “un Plaisir qu’on prend à soi- même.” (109) Taking a cue from Foucault’s notion of care, I would argue that the possibility of pleasure in du Bellay’s winnower poem refers to an experience attained by changing perceptions of an activity through an epistemic and moral recognition; the epistemic aspect comes from the recognition of the reality which is often the dependence on the environment while the moral aspect comes from having a reciprocal and respectful attitude towards the environment. Such pleasure is always a possibility because the awareness of environment is necessary and sufficient for its achievement since all the pleasure requires is a perceptual change. This pleasure is essentially a meditative exercise, as I hope to have shown, which requires practice, patience, and awareness. In a certain way, one could conceptualize this endeavor towards pleasure as thinking of it as opposed to ascetic lifestyle, where the goal is total renunciation of sensual delights. Instead of renouncing sensuality, I think du Bellay’s poetry instructs us to take and maximize such pleasure in two coterminous environments; the wheat fields of Anjou and the spatial landscape of the poem itself. Thus, pleasure is maximized by the structuring of experience through the verses of the poem. In this way, the game that the poet is inviting us to play is the game of the perception: a challenge to perceive winnowing in a new way. ‘D’un vanneur de blé aux vent’, suggests a way of taking care of oneself by offering a possibility of taking pleasure in something as arduous as winnowing the wheat on a hot day. The poet systematically demonstrates how this new attitude can be established. Firstly, the fragility and ethereality of the wind is established which enables the wind to cross over into the body of the winnower. Secondly, communication is enabled through opening the possibility for interaction and mutual recognition of the wind and the winnower. Thirdly, the wind and the winnower are intertwined through the intimacy of breathing, which establishes not only a

15 proximity of the two but also establishes the dependency of the winnower on the wind on multiple levels. Through this entire process, the distinctions between the environment and the inhabitant is broken down as it becomes difficult to separate the wind, which is an environmental phenomenon, from the winnower, who is an organic being. By being aware of the processes around him, and by welcoming the presence of wind into his body and letting it empower him, the winnower is able to make winnowing pleasurable.12 By making the winnowing pleasurable, the winnower engages in the process of taking care of oneself in the Foucauldian sense of the term, because the pleasure does not come from indulging in a physical delight, but through a reconceptualization of experience.

Chapter Two: Jeu of the Mythology

In the previous chapter, I discussed the relationship between the wind and the winnower, and highlighted how the poet challenges the environment-inhabitant binary by demonstrating the porosity of the boundary that divides them. Such a reading of the poem clearly shows how the wind is in the winnower and how it not only enables him to winnow the wheat but, if this interaction in understood in an environmentally conscious way, winnowing become pleasurable as well. In this chapter, I will explain how many of the poems in Jeux, can be interpreted through a symbolic lens. I will show how this symbolism establishes at a subconscious level an appreciation of the environment by its inhabitants. Apart from a symbolic analysis, I will also show how these poems textually embody the geographical and economic realities of the sixteenth century agriculture in France. Lastly, I will demonstrate how the poem ‘D’un berger à Pan’ identifies a way in which an inhabitant can interact playfully with their environment. In a one stanza poem with four rhyming couplets, ‘À Cérès, À Bacchus et À Pales’,13 the poet mentions three products: grains, two pots of milk, and a vine branch, three spaces: the plain, the vineyard, and the meadow, and three gods: Ceres, Bacchus and Pales. The poet offers each of three gods, one of the three products so that they would make one of three spaces fertile. For instance, we can combine the first, fourth and fifth verses to produce a coherent invocation to Ceres who is given grains and invoked to make the plain fertile: “Ceres d’espicz je couronne,” and “Afin que Ceres la blonde / Rende la plaine feconde.” Apart from Ceres being given the grains, Pales is offered milk, the product of livestock, with the expectation of making the meadows fertile, and Bacchus, is offered a vine, the product of a winery, with the expectation of making the vineyards fertile. This seemingly simple poem is exceedingly complex to interpret. The first complexity is that it might seem bizarre that a god who is able to endow the worshipper with a kind of produce would want the same of the produce back. The second complexity is that the poem was written in sixteenth century Europe and not in Ancient Rome. Thus, it would be extremely unlikely that the invoking of the ancient Roman gods is a religious one. The third complexity is that it is difficult to situate the poem in a ‘real’ landscape. Is the poet imagining a scene in Ancient Rome? Is the

13 From this point on, I refer to this poem only as ‘À Cérès’ 17 poet imagining the French peasants giving offerings to the Roman gods? Perhaps, this landscape is not ‘real’ at all? The fourth complexity is identifying the identity of the poet. Who does the je refer to? It is important to note that these complexities are not restricted to this poem but similar questions can be asked for the other two poems analyzed in this chapter. I suggest an interpretation of the poem which could answer some of these questions. Before I offer my interpretation let us look at two ways in which a farmer could conceptualize his relationship with his environment. One way a farmer could conceive of the planting of his crops is by centering himself in this entire activity. He could think that it is solely the results of his efforts that an ‘unproductive’ land has become ‘productive’. However, the farmer, or any other person describing the scene, could conceive this scene differently. The farmer is not independently responsible for the products of his farm, because without the initial resources used from the environment the efforts of a single farmer would be almost useless in producing anything. We can plausibly interpret the poem as representative of the second proposed conception of the inhabitant-environment relation. The exchange happening in the poem is a symbolic exchange. Such an interpretation makes sense because the gods associated with the spaces are in harmony with their symbolic roles. Ceres, for instance, is the goddess of spring and summer who represents fertility (Luke Roman and Monica Roman 133).14 Thus, in the ‘crowning’ of Ceres it is not only an imagined goddess that is being crowned but the role of the environment in a good harvest is being recognized through the symbolism of the Roman goddess. The giving of the grain to a grain goddess can be interpreted in a similar way. The grain offered is a symbol of recognition that the environment has contributed to the growth of the grain itself. Since the space of the plains, represented by Ceres, had a role in the production of grain, the farmer must also offer Ceres, and through the symbol of Ceres subconsciously to the environment, grain back in return. In this way, a relationship of recognition is established because the farmer is presented as being aware, subconsciously, of the importance of the environment for his produce through his recognition of the importance of the Roman god. This relationship is expressed through the poetic structure of the poem as well. A colon at the end of the fourth verse divides the poem into two equal parts. The first part describes

14 I will discuss the Ovid’s myth of Ceres in the third chapter in further detail. 18 offerings, and the second, delineates expectations. To connect these two parts, the poet uses the strong conjunction “afin que” which makes a ritual offering accompanied by the strength of the worshipper’s belief in these gods as agents who influence the production of their respective goods. Again, I interpret this belief in a symbolic sense: the farmers have a strong faith in the environment to help with their produce if they are appreciative of the role of environment in their endeavors. This binary structure, along with the rich rhyme every couple of verses, adds balance to the mutual expectations expressed in the poem: the worshippers want something from their environment symbolized by specific gods, and the environment deserves something in return for helping the agriculturalists, symbolized by the offering of the grains. Similarly, the one-syllable rhyme throughout the single-stanza poem presents the poem as one whole. This is interesting because, as I mentioned in my introduction to the poem, there are three separate images in the poem. One way to understand the three images interposed in one stanza, is to consider each image as representing one part of a larger space. In this way, the vineyard, the meadow and the farm are all part of one coherent region.15 A symbolic interpretation also allows us to see how the poem is environmentally conscious. The three spaces,— the vineyard, the meadow, and the plain —are common nouns with definite articles. However, the poet does not refer to a space owned by one person. Instead, the poet uses definite articles to represent the idea of these places in general. This use of a definite article with a ‘general’ sense can be read from a Neo-Platonist lens. Plato in his famous dialogue, Republic, had laid out his theory of Forms. Each object can be best understood as an imperfect manifestation of the ideal object. Though, if the poet were referring to the ideal object itself, the first letter of the word would be capitalized, as is the convention with the Forms because the Form of something is a proper noun. However, from a Neo-Platonist standpoint, we can interpret this definite article as a reference through representation of every similar space but not, at least not yet, the perfect manifestation. In this sense, every reference to ‘the’ space like “la vignerie” could be understood as an evoking of the plural through the singular. If one vineyard can stand for all vineyards, if one farm can stand for all farms, and if one meadow can stand for all meadows, then this sixteenth century poem becomes something akin to a modern day aerial photo documenting an entire landscape. When we add the agriculturalist to this landscape, who is actively interacting and influencing it, we have an environment. However, is

15 Which is plausibly Anjou, however, this poem lacks a toponym. 19 this environment presented as clearly under the control of its inhabitants? Clearly not, an analysis of the symbolism of Roman gods, which are invoked for the fertility of every space, reveals that the inhabitants are subconsciously aware of two things. Firstly, the environment, symbolized by the gods, can influence their events. Secondly, this strength of the environment needs to be recognized, symbolized by the offerings. When we jointly consider the awareness of the strength of the environment and the need for recognizing the environment as present in the poem, it is not unfair to say that this poem demonstrates consciousness of the environment. If ‘À Cérès’ establishes three images which demonstrate through the tripartite structure an awareness of the dependency of agriculturalists on the environment, the next poem in the book, a sonnet, ‘Sur le mesme subject’, solidifies this awareness. Firstly, in my analysis of ‘À Ceres’, I observed how the poem seems to have three separate interactions combined into one. In the next poem, what was individual, the three separate relationships, in the first poem, become collective in the second poem. This sonnet has fifteen different sets of three(s). Each set describes a different aspect of the rural life. The first stanza has three similar sets to ‘À Cérès’: “de fleurs, d’espics, de pamper je couronne / Palès, Ceres Bacchus: à fin qu’icy / le pré, le champ et le terroy aussy” along with an additional fourth one “En fein, en grain, en vandage foisonne”. The additional set in the fourth verse of the stanza adds emphasis for the hope that the harvest will be plenty in all the fields. Through different sets of three, the second stanza establishes the influence of weather conditions on the crops. For instance, the first verse of the second stanza, “de chault, de gresle, et de froid qui estonne”, invokes the different threats that could be faced by “fleurs”, “grains” et “raysins” in “le printemps”, “L’aesté” or “l’automne”. This reference should be understood with the particularity of “le douceur Angevin” as evoked in the poem ‘Heureux qui comme Ulysse’ (Œuvres complètes 506). With a rainfall of 650 mm and a mild summer and a mild winter, the climate in Anjou tends to be moderate and due to this reason, the countryside is extremely fertile.16 Klement Tockner, U Uehlinger, and Christopher T. Robinson note, “a mild oceanic climate has promoted human activities for a long time in this area, allowing agriculture (cereals, garden products, vineyards) and cities (the Angers area is well known for its ‘mildness’).” (168) However, any changes in this climate, like the advent of frost can have negative impacts on the agricultural production. As O. Leclerc Thouin, a nineteenth-century agricultural statistician,

16 Citation from www.mairie.net. 20 noted in his book L’agriculture de l’ouest de la France, “Le climat de Maine-et-Loire n'est pas, tous les ans, également favorable à la végétation de la vigne. Lorsque les gelées hivernales succèdent brusquement à des pluies ou à la fonte des neiges, dans les lieux bas et disposés à retenir les eaux, on voit assez souvent des ceps entiers périr ou ne repousser que du pied.” (360) Keeping this vulnerability of Anjou’s agriculture to climate in mind, we can understand that the poem demonstrates an awareness that the climate can have a strong impact on the fields. Similarly, through the same sets of three, in the first tercet, the poet documents two other threats that agriculturalists could face: the damaging of food crops by livestock or birds, and the possibility of shortage of agriculturalists in the harvesting season. The last tercet evokes the three spaces again, this time the three spaces being “Le pré, le champ, le vignoble Angevin”. We must note here that through the deictic icy which appears in the second verse of the first stanza and the toponym Angevin, the poet situates the action of the poem directly in Anjou. Additionally, the poet capitalizes the 'A' in angevin, which elevates the adjective to the level of a wider concept. This capitalization could be read as a Neo-Platonic device that elevates the beauty of Anjou to the form of Angevin that is an idealized version of Anjou: a perfect Anjou made possible through the labor of du Bellay’s elegiac poetry. This elevation is aided by the term Angevin itself because the prefix, Ange could refer to an angel, and as such establishing a sonorous association of Anj-ou and Ange-vin with angelic. It is curious that ‘A’ of angevin was capitalized but the spaces were referred with definite articles that were used in a ‘general’ sense, and hence were not capitalized. I interpret this difference by understanding that the vineyard, the farm and the meadow, are incomplete and thus imperfect when considered alone. However, when they are evoked together by the poet, their unity embodies a perfection. In this way, being Angevin makes them perfect, and through their unity Angevin comes into existence. It is interesting to note here that this poem can also be read either vertically or horizontally. A horizontal reading of the poem still interposes the three separate images of the agriculturalists’ offerings to the gods because there is nothing in the poem that clarifies which god is being offered with which offering for what reason. Interestingly, a vertical reading of the poem can identify specific gods, their offerings and expectations. For instance, one could read the poem vertically as an invocation to Ceres to protect the field from the frost by bringing in the summer in which the birds do not destroy the wheat and that the harvesters are available so that granaries can be full of good quality wheat. I italicized the words in the last stanza because these

21 words are translations of middle French words in the poem connected by a vertical reading of the poem. The next question becomes why? I suggest that the different possibilities of reading the poem match the intricacies of the environment. For instance, an early winter would not only harm the wheat crop but it would also have negative consequences for the vineyards. Similarly, a sickness among the livestock, symbolically protected by Pales, would leave less work animals as well. Considering these possibilities could help explain why the relationships between the three gods, the offerings and the expectations from them are more ambiguous and open to interpretation. Such a possibility mimics the influence of environment on agriculture which is not restricted to a single factor influencing single crop, but a multitude of factors interacting to have an impact on the human endeavors to produce out of the land. So far in this chapter, we have identified the presence of a tripartite relationship in two poems in Jeux. We discussed and interpreted symbolically how the poems demonstrate an awareness of the complex interactions between the environment and its inhabitants. But two key questions remain unexplored: how does the presence of Gods open up the possibility of pleasure? How does such presence invite a more egalitarian interaction between the environment and its inhabitants? To answer these questions, I will analyze one more poem from Jeux. In D’un berger à Pan, a three-stanza poem with rhyming couplets and a rich rhyme, is presented from a third-person point of view centered on an adventure of Robin. Robin is following a bull who has separated from the herd, and, during this chase, he identifies “une biche furyade,” a running doe, and kills her with an arrow. As he follows the injured doe to her den he realizes that she has two fawns. He gives these fawns to his wife and then feasts on the doe with his friends. During the climax of the poem, which could be the feast itself, the poet mentions that Robin enjoyed the deer meat served with wine from Anjou. This anecdotal style enables the poet to construct an imaginary space using real physical features that can be found within the historic region of Anjou. However, before moving on to the analysis of the topography in the poem, I want to highlight the intersectional nature of the poem. The poems are addressed to Pan, and Pan is often represented as half human and half animal (Chevalier et Gheerbrant 837). As such Pan, from its very basic representation, defies the human-animal binary, to highlight the animal in the human and the humanity in the animal. Etymologically, the god’s name signifies “tout” or everything. In this way, through Pan, the poet

22 situates the action in the liminal space, where the mythology or the imagined is interacting with the real environment. The poem opens with an accumulation of physical features. Robin is situated on top of a rock, enabling him to see the entirety of the landscape. Within the first two sentences, the poet tells us that Robin has been through “bois & campaignes” and “bocciages & montaignes.” The poem refuses the static image by keeping the entire poem in the present tense. This refusal enables the spaces evoked to remain in the same larger space, rather than one space replacing another one. In a contemporary sense, these references resemble an aerial camera shot that is initially zoomed in on one feature and then slowly zoomed out, bringing into view new features while retaining the previous ones. As such, the spaces that are described in the poem do not cancel out one another, but instead expand in liaison with each other to construct an image of the open spaces around Anjou. The forests, the plains, mountains and bocages17 could then be considered as different landscapes that populate an image, and through their unity constitute Anjou. The poet reinforces the possibility of pleasure through two separate techniques. Firstly, the reference to Anjou wine serves as a symbol for celebration of a rich relationship with the environment. In a deeper sense, Robin is not the sole cause of the meat on the table. Although he hunted the doe he does not take all the credit to himself; instead he returns to Pan, to thank him for having allowed him to have the doe, and through the divinization of environment represented by the figure of Pan, Robin acknowledges the relationship. Secondly, through the poetic use of language, the activity of hunting is presented as a playful activity. The construction of the vast spaces, through the listing of physical features as discussed above, the fast movements of Robin, the bull and the doe, the gift of the fawns, the feast, and the return of the skin to Pan, presents the activity of hunting as pleasurable. The offering of the skin of the doe to Pan also establishes the repetitive pattern in which a person takes something from his surroundings, and then gives a part of it back to it while recognizing the dependency of the hunter on the environment.18

17 I must note here that Bocages is a complex term. As used in Ronsard’s Bocage (1554), it would translate into “grove” an intermediary space between the forest and the pastures (Usher 163). 18 She continues to talk about how there is a need to “emphasize human dwellings as habitats, reveal our interconnections with non-human nature and the possibilities for a multitude of sustainable pleasures.” (30)

Two other poems follow a similar pattern: in ‘D’un Vigernon à Bacchus’, the poet describes prayers to Bacchus from a wine grower, Thénot, to protect his vineyard; in ‘D’un chasseur’, a hunter, Robinet, is offering feet of a bear and head of a wild boar to Pan. In both poems, the entire action is situated in a vividly described landscape which converts wild Anjou into a place of production, recognition, and exchange between the environment and the inhabitants. The French names of the hunter (Robinet), shepherd (Robin) and wine grower (Thénot) also situate the action of the poem not only within the space of Anjou but also within a space inhabited by real people.19 The present tense problematizes the concept of time in the poem. The question becomes when is this present. Hassan Melehy’s analysis helps us understand this timelessness. In his article, “Du Bellay’s Time in Rome: The Antiquitez”, Melehy argues that, “the absence of the ‘original’ Rome, in which these writings were produced, is not simply lamented in the Antiquitez; rather their current lack of 'grounded-ness' allows them to be taken up and reworked by the French Renaissance poet, who thereby produces the space in which a properly French poetry will take place.” (1) Melehy demonstrates how the Antiquitez function not as a nostalgic harkening to the Roman past, but a positive possibility for a future French literary tradition. In this sense, the present tense of the poem opens both the possibility that the time in the poem could be in ancient Rome or it could be in early modern France. The poem mimics a timeless process, which is the deep connection of inhabitants with their environments. Perhaps then, the present tense allows the image to be transposed in a didactic fashion; if Ancient Romans interacted with their environment playfully, so can the French. In this way, through the transposition of the Roman gods in Anjou, the Jeux does not function as a nostalgic harkening to an ancient past but it demonstrates the positive possibility, marked by a re-imagination of the landscapes, of a new perceptual connection between the environment and its inhabitants It is pertinent to mention here that it was not only du Bellay who was engaged in the reimagining of France’s landscapes. As du Bellay in Jeux concentrated on the use of Roman gods to divinize the geography of France, Pierre de Ronsard in La Franciade attempted to elevate the French nation using geographical and historical mythology. Usher argues that Ronsard’s epic attempted to create a new Aeneid by charting out the journey of Francus, the new

19 Du Bellay uses this technique in his other poems as well for instance in Le Morteum which is translated from Virgil, the latin Simylus is replaced by Marsault, a clearly French name. 24 name for Astyanax, the son of Hector and Andromaque, who set the basis for a new country, France, to become the rightful heir to ancient Troy. Usher highlights three distinct spaces in the Franciade; Buthrote functions as “un espace reel,” Troy functions as “le souvenir d’un lieu disparu,” while the poem creates hope for “un à venir : une nouvelle Troie” which would be Paris. (144) Building upon the work of Usher and Mehley, I have argued in this chapter that it would be too simplistic to characterize the use of Roman mythology in Jeux as a naïve idealization of a long-gone past. The divinization of rural space of Anjou in Jeux is not simply a nostalgia for the idyllic Roman spaces of the past. Instead, using the symbolism of Roman gods, the poet establishes the power of the physical spaces of Anjou to evoke strong environmentally conscious and pleasurable reactions from its inhabitants given that they know how to look properly.

Chapter Three: Jeu of the River

In the second chapter, I demonstrated that some of the poems presented in Jeux, can be best understood using a symbolic lens that identifies how they embody an environmentally conscious way of living. In this chapter, I have attempted to answer the question that has intrigued me since the first time I read ‘Heureux qui comme Ulysse.’ Why does du Bellay refer to the Loire river as “mon Loyre”? To explain this association, I will analyze in detail the poem ‘Au Fleuve de Loire’ on three levels. Firstly, I will offer a comparative analysis of the physical geography of the Loire river and the textual elements of the poem. This discussion will enable us to see how the ‘poetic mapping’ of the Loire river enables the poet to establish a space for French nationhood. Secondly, I will demonstrate that the poet is not merely describing the Loire river and the wider Loire basin, he explains one way to look at the river, and, interestingly, this way of looking at the river is environmentally conscious. Thirdly, I will analyze the literary and ontological symbolism of the river to show how through such symbolism the poet is presenting the Loire not only as a source for the French nation, but also a source for economic and literary rejuvenation for the country. ‘Au Fleuve de Loire’ is an 82-verse long poem with no stanzas, seven syllables in each verse, and rhyming couplets. The poem imitates the river itself to describe it. On a textual level, the absence of stanzas makes the poem continue unimpededly from the beginning to the end, matching the course of a river that flows continuously from the mountains to the ocean. On a sonorous level, the verses being seven syllable each gives the poem a consistent wave-like flow, almost like a mighty river flowing slowly in the plains. This riverine sound of the poem is reinforced by rhyming couplets which with their rich rhyme, make the two verses sound in harmony with one and another. The poems internal logic matches the geographic layout of the Loire river. Take these verses as an example: “Prend sa bienheureuse source, /D'une argentine fontaine, /Qui d'une fuite lointaine, /Te rends au sein fluctueux /De l'Océan monstrueux.” Notice that the verses begin with the source of the river and move towards the ocean. Like rivers, always dictated by gravity to flow towards the ocean, the poem respects the same rule and does not mention the source without the destination, nor does he make one precede the other. Verses 27-30 follow the same pattern, “Le Dieu des Indes vainqueur/ Arrosa de sa liqueur /Les monts, les vaux et campaignes/

De ce terroir que tu baignes.” The inherent physical logic of flow is manifest in the text of the poem: the verse begins with Dionysus, referred by “Dieu des Indes,”20 who enabled vineyards to prosper throughout the Loire valley. In verse 27, we notice that textual order follows geographical position. The Loire river emerges up in the mountains; and “monts” is the first word of the 27th line. Up in the source of the Loire river, the valleys are almost non-existent because of the hard rocks in the mountains. They only emerge in the “intermediate section” of the Loire valley (Robinson and Uehlinger 168). This physical reality is asserted in the poem with the “vaux” coming after the mountains. Finally, once the Loire leaves Massif Central, it reaches the plains of the Loire basin which are referred to in the third position as “campaignes.” Furthermore, the last verse mentions “ce terroir.”. The deictic ‘ce’ could refer to the entire Loire basin. However, if we accept my interpretation of the logic of the poem, we can be sure that ‘ce’ refers to Anjou, a region situated in the lower Loire basin. Such a situation in Anjou is also justified because earlier in the poem, the poet already identified that Loire is looking at “ce pays Angevin.” Why does the poem emulate the geography of the Loire river? One way to understand this poem is to think of the poem as cartographic. Tom Conley’s work on the cartographic qualities of literature argues that “By the virtue of spatial modes of composition, the writer tends to ‘map out’ the discourse of the work before our eyes and to invite us to see the self constituting its being in patterns that move into space by means of diagrammatic articulations.” (4). The poem ‘Au Fleuve de Loire’ can be considered one such ‘diagrammatic articulation’ as at its core it is not only addressed to the Loire river, but through verses that seek to map the Loire to bring the river into view as a coherent whole. Colney also states, “Cartographic project invents a relation with the past by coordinating archeological and geographic information that builds a case for national supremacy or identity.” (16). Such a case is being also built by this poem which presents the river as a coherent whole and makes it an independent identity, which, as we will see later in this chapter, is important for the river symbolic association with an emerging notion of France.

20 I thank Dr. Jeremie Korta for pointing this out. 27

Why is the Loire a suitable symbol for a new nation? From an European point-of-view, rivers are, to some extent, uniquely French21 and uniquely valuable. Wyman H. Herendeen notes in From Landscape to Literature: The River and the Myth of Geography, that Northern European rivers, especially in France, stood in contrast to rivers in Italy and Greece. Whilst Greek and Roman rivers were barely navigable, as most of their course was in the mountains, French rivers, including the Loire, are largely navigable. It is pertinent to note here that it is mostly larger rivers that are navigable when they traverse plains because it is in plains where they are at their deepest and widest. The navigability of the rivers was particularly important because in the sixteenth century rivers formed the main trade routes of a nation and, as such, were highly symbolic of the wealth of a nation (Wyman 144). Their national importance becomes clear when we consult early modern writings on rivers. Symphorien Champier, in Un petit traité des fleuves & fontaines admirables des dites Gaules, which was translated from the original Latin by his son Claude Champier, and published as an addendum by the famous Parisian printer, Gilles Corrozet, along with Corrozet’s Le Cathologue des villes et citiez assies in 1558, documented the symbolic, economic, geographical and cultural importance of dozens of French rivers and streams. In his introduction, Champier attempts to distinguish French rivers and establish their ‘superiority’ in the following way, “la Gaule a des fleuves aussi nobles en aussi grant nombre que province ou nation que soit en Europe.” (38) We might also remark the rivers of a country are directly related to the status of the country as Champier further notes “la chose que plus anoblit une province sont les fleuves.” (33) One may ask what makes a river noble? One of the characteristics that are often associated with rivers are the number of the cities on the river. For instance, about the Loire, Champier observes that “Ce fleuve a un merveilleux cours passe par les meilleurs païs cités de la Gaule.” (44) At this point one may ask, why are cities so important for tmhe rivers? A description of French rivers by English travelers like Robert Johnson in The Travellers Breviat (1601) may help us answer this question. Johnson confirms the importance and identifies various aspects of the importance of these rivers: There is nothing in France more worthie then noting the number of and pleasure of the navigable rivers, whereof some…’ grid the whole realme… some others cut through the middle, as Sequano, Loire, Caronne. Into these rivers fall so many other rivers, some from the uttermost bounds; some from the inmost

21 I add “to some extent” because such rivers are also present in The Netherlands, Germany and Poland, and towards other countries to the east of France. 28

parts of the realme, that it maketh the whole country commodious for trafique and exchange of each others wants: insomuch that by this facultie of carriage & entercourse of merchandize, all things may be saide to be in common to the inhabitants of this Kingdome… the goodness of the soile, and easie transporting of commodities is the cause that there are so many cities and so many townes, and these most commonly seated upon the bankes of rivers.22

Johnson notes five key qualities of French rivers; firstly, the navigability of the rivers is identified in terms of both quantity – the number of rivers – and quality – the pleasure of navigation associated with smooth sailing. Secondly, the richness of the riverine landscape is mentioned by the number of the tributaries that flow into the major rivers. Pride in these tributaries, as we will see later in the chapter is also evoked in du Bellay’s river poems. Thirdly, Johnson mentions that these rivers are not just sourced from one region in France, but throughout the French territory. This is important because the sources of rivers, as we will later see are symbolically and spiritually, important, and in this sense, France having multiple sources within the country refers to richness of France. Fourthly, their widespread presence has economic advantages, as they serve as important trade routes and allow towns and cities to prosper on their banks. Fifthly, rivers, through drainage of water and provision of fertile soils, are also important for the “goodness of the soile,” and hence responsible for the agricultural bounty in the regions the rivers pass through. These five characteristics are called upon in various ways throughout the poems that we will analyze in order to establish the centrality of the Loire river for the French nation23. The poet describes the rich forests that surround the river in the following way “Qui leurs chevelures vives / Haussent autour de tes rives.” With regards to the forests, the first thing we note is that they are described as having “cheveleurs vives.” Considering that hair is a human characteristic, this reference could be considered a personification.24 This personification of the forests immediately evokes a corporeal feeling. If the forest is like the scalp, and trees are like individual strands of hair, then what is the body on which these hairs are standing? The Loire is a

22 Cited from Wyman (147). 23 Many contemporary geographers specializing have emphasized the historical importance of the Loire river for the French economy, particularly with respect to the development of cities around the river, especially the city of Nantes. Dallas explains that the Loire functioned as the gateway through the Loire valley to the Atlantic Ocean and was the chief river trade route for other parts of Northern France and Switzerland. 24 This could also be an animalization Either way, the important point to note is the evoking of a corporeal quality. 29 river that originates and ends in France and perhaps this body is that of France. These forests are also described as “haussent autour de tes rives.” This 'growing tall' emphasizes not only the majesty of the forest itself but also the fertility of the land which enables forests to thrive. To further emphasize the fertility of the land, the poet populates the landscape with various animals, both real and mythological, ‘Les faunes aux pieds soudains, / Qui après biches et daims, / Et cerfs aux têtes ramées /Ont leurs forces animées.’ These verses present us with a sexually- charged scene as the stags are presented as ‘animées’ which could be read as an indication of their eagerness to mate. Furthermore, the fauns, mythical half human and half goat creatures, are chasing nymphs, a familiar erotic scene in borrowed in large part from Classical literature, which also contributes to du Bellay’s vibrant image here. The poet’s emphasis on the creative energy present, symbolized by the sexual energy of animals in the forest, associates their feritility with that of the French landscape. ‘Loyre fameux qui ta petite source’ is a sonnet published in L’Olive, which evokes the grandeur of the Loire river and then asks the river to request that nymphs celebrate the beauty of the Loire at sunset. (L’Olive 57) The poet not only begins the sonnet with a reference to its source, but he also evokes other topographical aspects of the river. After his first reference to the entire length of the river, the poet refers to the various tributaries of the Loire river, “enfles de maintz gros fleuves et ruysseaux.” This reference maps the wide basin of the Loire river, which flows through almost the entire breath of the country from the Massif Central to the Atlantic Ocean. This poetic cartography, with hundreds of interconnected rivers merging into one big river throughout the country, evokes the emerging unity of French nation, by presenting France as a country connected by her rivers. Timothy Hampton has suggested that literary imagination of a nation can be studied to understand the formation of nationhood (xi). He states, “It is through the deployment of figuration, through crossings and distortions of metaphoric language, that bodies are roped into imagined communities, and communities sutured into national states.” (27) Perhaps, the poem ‘Au Fleuve de Loire’ can be considered another instantiation of the use of literature to propagate imagined communities. However, in this case, the body, is a topographical body, the body of the river, which is providing the first bones for a larger imagination of France. For this reason, references to “Mon Loire” could be read through the lens of emerging French nationalism in the early modern period. The Loire, as a river that runs through almost the entire width of France, is a symbol of the emerging French nation.

The Loire also enjoys another cartographic aspect: how Anjou is situated in relation to the rest of the world. In du Bellay’s poetry, the Loire often appears in comparison with other physical features of the known world. Like a sports team supporter who idealizes his team, the river is idealized in the poem as the best physical feature in the world. In this poem, ‘Au fleuve de Loyre’, Loire is compared with other physical entities throughout the world in the following way: “Tout ce dont l'Inde se vante, / Sicile la fabuleuse, /Ou bien l'Arabie Heureuse”. Loire is considered more praiseworthy than “tout ce que l’Inde se vante.” Similarly, for the poet, it seems that nothing in Sicily or Arabia exists which can match the grandeur of the Loire river. I do not think that this comparison should be viewed through a jingoistic lens. The poet is not asserting the superiority of one region over another. Instead, he is situating the Loire river in the larger world. The topographical bodies of India, Arabia or Sicily, might play a central role in the formation of local identities in those regions. The comparison with such bodies does not lower them in status but through this comparison the possibility of nations being united under the shade of their respective topographical bodies is established. As such, the Loire functions as a central physical symbol for France in the poem. Moreover, within the poem, the positivity of these comparisons is emphasized by the demonstrative adjectives as Arabia is “heureuse” and Sicily is “fabuleuse.” For this reason, du Bellay’s Loire appears as a locus of poet’s identity when he places his nation within the context of a wider world. However, this imitation is not a simple attempt at capturing the physical description of the river. Instead, through creative imitation, du Bellay describes not only how the river is, but also how the river should be experienced. Even though the poem mimics the river, it also goes beyond a physical description of the river. From the beginning, the Loire is personified as its course is “vive” and its source “bienheureuse.” These adjectives are not ‘physical’ descriptive adjectives like big or small but are essentially affective. Lines 7-12 are particularly noteworthy, “Loire, hausse ton chef ores / Bien haut, et bien haut encores, / Et jette ton oeil divin / Sur ce pays Angevin.” The repetition of ‘haut’ establishes the lofty position of Loire. Its height is not only physical, signified by the fact that Loire begins in Massif Central, a mighty mountain range, but it is also symbolic, the river is given importance through emphasizing the elevated source of the river. Moreover, such a position gives it a bird’s-eye view of the entire Loire valley. This viewing position is signified by “jette ton oeil divin.” Here, the personification of the Loire happens along with its divination. The eye might be a human feature personified onto a river, but

31 the addition of the divine makes the river a powerful feature. The ‘haut’ positioning thus matters in the poem. The poem does not begin with a poet in Anjou looking towards the mountains but from the perspective of the river overlooking the valley. This position puts the valley in a relation of dependence to the river, which also represent a physical and economic reality, considering that the Loire valley is one of the bread-baskets of France. Thus, by presenting the Loire’s ‘haut’ source as the origin of its riches, the poet highlights the importance of the river for the people who live around it. This dependence is linguistically reinforced in various ways. For instance, the river is often mentioned using “père” and “fleuve paternal.” Through these terms, the poet refers to the paternal role of the river and establishes the dependence of the people of Anjou on the fatherly Loire. Throughout the poem, the poet points to different topographical features, biological beings, and mythological entities around the river including “forêts”, “faunes”, “cerfs” that live along its banks. As with earlier references to forests, plains and mountains, the poet does not provide detailed descriptions, but acts instead like a nature guide leading a walk by the river, pointing out what to look at.25 “Pointing away from themselves to the countryside, such works act gesturally, rather than representationally, in facilitating the appearance of the environment -- and in the bargain, fostering an environmental consciousness in those to whom it appears” (Hitlner 8)26. Following Hiltner’s analysis, I do not want to suggest that the poetry analyzed here is not representational. I will explain in the second half of this chapter that the river is an important symbol for both the French nation and the cultural heritage of France. I want to suggest here that the strategy of the poet is gestural and representational at different moments. For instance, in the construction of landscapes, it seems that a gestural strategy might be at play. This strategy refers to merely pointing out or mentioning the existence of a physical feature rather than describing it in detail. For instance, we saw when the poet referred to “Les monts, les vaux et campaignes” in ‘Au Fleuve de Loire’ that he merely situated three physical features as if pointing them out on a map. Unlike later Romantic poets, like Alphonse de Lamartine, known for their emphasis on the affective significance of landscape,27 du Bellay refrains describing the

25 Hiltner makes a similar analysis of Ben Johnson’s country poems. (49) 26 It is important to contextualize Hiltener’s analysis here. Paul Alpers explains in What is Pastoral that the genre is actually restricted to writing about shepherds. In this sense, not all literature that is rural in nature is necessarily pastoral. 27 I thank Dr. Elisabeth Hodges for providing me with that example. 32 topographical features in great detail. He names and identifies the presence of the physical features, and in doing so, constructs an entire map, and through this map, he projects meaning onto the entire space of the Loire basin. The same invitation is also extended in other ways. For instance, the poet situates the mythical action on the banks of the Loire valley as well. This gives the impression that the Roman gods are not imported into France, but that they exist there and their stories took place in Anjou. In this poem, the poet refers to the Ovidian myth of the kidnapping and rape of Proserpina. In Metamorphoses Book V, Ovid narrated how Dis fell in love with Proserpina, raped her and took her to the underworld. Ceres, Proserpina’s mother, looked for her everywhere on Earth, eventually realizing that her daughter is in the underworld. (Luke and Monica Roman 317) After her complaint to Jupiter, a compromise was reached, whereby Proserpina would spend six months with her mother Ceres, who represents Earth. The six months that Ceres spends on Earth then explain the occurrence of Spring and Summer on Earth. In du Bellay’s poetic reimagining of the myth, the Loire valley becomes the place where Ceres rested during the search for her daughter,and it is the Loire river that gives Ceres “doux breuvage.” It is on the banks of the Loire that Ceres waits, and, as such, they become imbued with the symbolism of rest and rejuvenation. It is important to note here that Ceres is a symbol of fertility and abundance, so perhaps the presence of Ceres in the Loire valley represents the agricultural might of the region. Since the presence of Ceres is linked to the river Loire, the Loire, in a metaphorical way, becomes associated with the fertility of the adjacent valleys. Moreover, the river also provides Ceres with water. This establishes an interesting relationship in the poem. In the previous chapter, I explained how in Jeux offerings are given to Ceres to assure a good crop. In this poem, we see the river providing shelter to Ceres, which establishes a different relationship of dependence between environment and inhabitant. It seems as if Ceres brings spring to the Loire valley, however, only in unison with the might of the river itself. As such, the association between Ceres and the Loire has a real physical basis and establishes the role of the river as a protector and sustainer of all inhabitants of the Loire valley, even divine ones.

Similarly, in an ode in Les vers lyriques, ‘Les Louanges d’amour’,28 du Bellay depicts “le cher ruysselet courant, / Murmurant / Aupres de l’hospitale Vmbre / plaist à ceux, qui sont lasses, / et presses / de chault, de soif, et d’encombre.” (Œuvres complètes 1401) In this stanza, the poet makes the “ruysselet” “cher” which immediately imbues the stream with importance. Moreover, du Bellay mentions the physical functions of the stream, as it enables the people around it to be relived from hot weather, thirst or tiredness. In this sense, the life-giving and rejuvenating function of the river is reemphasized in this stanza of ‘Les louanges d’amour’ and in the poem ‘Au fleuve de Loire’. So far in this chapter I have analyzed how the poems relating to the river are cartographic. I have discussed how these river poems not only map the physical realities of the river, but they go beyond that and present the river from a certain perspective: that of the poet. Every reference to “Mon Loire” must also be seen, not only as a gesture to the poet’s personal relationship to place, not as if the Loire was owned by the poet, but as if the river owns the poet, by providing the poet’s country with sustenance. Rivers are not only environmentally and economically important features of a landscape, but also have a peculiar ontology. Rivers, unlike, mountains, valleys or plains, cannot be stagnant, and they cannot be cut in half (Herendeen 11). It would make no sense to say something is ‘half a river.’ In fact, strictly speaking, it is problematic to refer to rivers as physical features, because their constant mobility defies the physicality of a static term. The ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, claimed that “You cannot step twice into the same rivers; for fresh waters are flowing in upon you.” 29 Their constant change allows rivers to escape time, and, as such, the temporality of rivers has therefore always been ambiguous. This ambiguity enables us to interpret the origin of the Loire river as a representation of the source of the poet’s inspiration: Roman writers, and, as a symbol of the origin of a source of French nation, his own poetry. The source of the river is described in the following way: “Prend sa bienheureuse source, / D'une argentine fontaine, / Qui d'une fuite lointaine.” Three questions can be immediately asked: Why is the source “bienheureuse”? Why is the source “argentine”? What does the poet mean when he refers to “une fuite lointaine?” Wyman H. Herendeen has

28 This ode is about Cupid. It could be considered as a defense of Love because it highlights the essential goodness of Love. 29 (Wikisource) 34 pointed out that the origin of rivers is often considered “a source of learning.” (11) The origin of the river can thus also symbolize the cultural heritage that inspires du Bellay’s creative enterprise. This cultural heritage would probably be his Roman predecessors Virgil, Homer and Ovid, and, perhaps his other sources of inspiration, notably Petrarch. In the poem, ‘Au Fleuve de Loire’ the value of the river’s source is established by referring to it as an “Argentine Fontaine”. The adjective argentine does not merely describe the color of the spring as silver but, due to the association of silver with wealth, Argentine can also symbolize the literary value of such a source. While in a literal sense fontaine refers to a spring, and, in this context, the “fontaine” then represents the physical origins of the Loire located high up in the Massif Central. However, fontaine also refers to the source or the origin of something, and in this sense “fontaine” could be considered as symbolic of the literary wealth to which the poet contributes. Such an interpretation opens up the possibility that “Argentine Fontaine” could be a reference to the importance of Classical exemplars re symbolized by the river’s ontology. Similarly, the “fuite lointaine” might not only refer to the physical distance between Anjou and the source of the Loire, but it might refer to another origin story that of the French nation and its relation to Roman literature. To further support this reading we can look at another poem in L’Olive: ‘Qui voudra voir le plus precieux arbre’ (L’Olive 115). In this sonnet, the poet invites the reader to come and visit Anjou to see ‘mon fleuve.’ Firstly, with the comparison of Loire with ‘le plus precieux arbre,’ the poet seems to be evoking the rich symbolism of the tree. In a sixteenth-century European context, the most precious tree could be interpreted as the tree of knowledge in the Paradise. This association with knowledge perhaps provides the poet with a reference to the knowledge represented by another metaphorical literary flow: the intellectual legacy of poets from Homer to du Bellay. This association is further strengthened when the poet uses rivers as “antonomases du pays d’origine pour Pértrarque, Virgile, Homère, Pindare, Horace, Saint-Gelas, Héroët, Mr Scève.” (116) Later, the poet claims that along the banks of the Loire, “il y verra l’or, l’ivoire et le marbre.” (115) The poet then repeats the same structure to add: “il y verra les perles, le cinabre.” These references to precious objects represent not only the economic wealth of the Loire valley, but also the wealth of literature that is represented by the Loire river. Louisa Mackenzie, in her analysis of ‘Loire qui ta petite source’, has argued that rivers become emblems of poetic beauty. (“Transplanting the Laurel” 71) Perhaps, rivers do not intrinsically have such

35 symbolism, but when poets reemphasize the timelessness of knowledge that the rivers represent, they project such symbolism onto the rivers. Moreover, these rivers are made beautiful by poetry, since poems can teach an onlooker about how to look at the river, and, in the role of poetry as intermediator, the poetry itself becomes permanently attached to the river. This association establishes another link between rivers and the literary inspirations of the poets. River sources do not only mark the source of the present, they also represent the origins of the future. For instance, the source of the river could also be associated with the beginnings of a nation. (Wyman 123) Rivers are considered cradles of civilization because, dating from pre- historic times, humans found river banks as good places to settle, because rivers functioned as both a natural protective mechanism and a source of a constant water supply. (25) The poet’s reference to the source of the Loire river should be understood in the light of this symbolic importance. The source stands for the origin of the French nation, which will emerge even more strongly throughout the poetry of du Bellay, and the origin of du Bellay’s poetry itself, inspired by his Roman predecessors. Louisa Mackenzie points out that, given the symbolism of river origin as a source of poetic inspiration, it is important that the source of the Loire is in France. (“Transplanting the Laurel” 71) This geographic origin inside France enables the parallel interpretation of the source of river as a source of French poetry and national style. As such, when, in the second stanza of the third sonnet of L’Olive ‘Loire fameux qui ta petite source’, the poet refers to the source of the river as a crown, we can interpret that this symbolic importance comes from the multiple representations of the river as a source of origin for both his poetry and emerging French nationalism. To conclude this discussion, let us return to the symbolism of trees in ‘Qui voudra voir le plus precieux arbre’. Trees are also symbolic in another way, as they are grounded in the land and rise towards the sky. In a metaphorical sense, this could serve as a connection between the river, serving as representation of the Roman inspirations of the poet, and as a representation of the source of French nation as it moves forward in time. There is a curious way in which the Loire becomes the “lyre” of the poet by the end of ‘Au Fleuve de Loyre.’ This comparison becomes clearest at the very end of the poem, when the poet asks the river to ensure that the poet lives eternally and as such escape death. At this moment, the river and poem are enmeshed due to the intermingling of two eternal objects: a poem and a river. The poem sings the praise of the river, and, in this way, teaches the onlooker

36 how to look at the river. The river, by being magnificent and by providing the stimulus for such perception, ensures that poetry remains relevant even as centuries pass. In conclusion, the reference to “mon loire” can be considered as an invitation to perceive the river just as the poet perceived it. Even though the poems considered in this chapter are not part of the Jeux, they are, in themselves, a jeu. Like the rules of a game, the words of the poems chart out the framework within which the river must flow and become. Like a good player of the game the poet presents, one way to playfully interact with the river is established by reading beyond the physical representation of the Loire, and, instead, in understanding the river as symbolic locus for economic and agricultural wealth that is endowed by the river, along with the its attending cultural heritage and national significance. Thus, when we think of du Bellay’s Loire, we must remind ourselves of how this river served as a metaphorical representation of his mission to give France her poetry through his interactions with his Roman predecessors and as a symbolic environmental feature which is the lifeblood of an entire region.

Conclusion

Du Bellay asked his readers to not just take a cursory glance at Jeux, but instead take time to appreciate the poetry. I acknowledged du Bellay by beginning with a detailed discussion of the phenomenological richness of the key word of the title: jeu. Jeu has many aspects including make-believe, diversion, alternative reality, and pleasure. These aspects can also be directly applied to poetry which can transform a poem itself into a jeu. This jeu challenges us to view a scene from the ‘filter’ of a poem. This filter in a poem like ‘d’un vanneur’ is environmentally conscious because it resists presentation of the wind and the winnower as two separate entities and instead focuses on the interaction between the two. Through the emphasis on ethereality and transience of the wind, the act of breathing, the presence of flowers, and embracing of the wind by the winnower, the poem establishes a moral agency in the scene. The winnower respects the wind as the wind gives him agency. Moreover, using Foucault’s analysis about care of self, one can make a state of mind pleasurable through the restructuring of one’s thought, one can make a state of mind pleasurable. As Foucault explained, a range of Greco-Roman philosophers had considered this restructuring of thought as key to taking care of oneself. ‘D’un vanneur’ can be also read using a Foucauldian lens, through which the poem demonstrates how poetry can be used for restructuring our thoughts. In the second chapter, I explored the role of Roman gods in Anjou. Within the context of Jeux, it seemed that the environmental symbolism of these gods was at play in the poems like ‘À Cérès, à Bacchus et À Pales’, ‘D’un chasseur’ and ‘D’un Berger à Pan’. In these poems, there was a clear tripartite relationship between the gods, the offerings and the agriculturalists. Through this relationship, the agriculturalists can be seen as recognizing the role of environment in their produce. Moreover, by inviting an imaginative and playful attitude toward the agriculture, the poet is demonstrating that arduous rural activities can also be pleasurable. Examples such as the poet imagining the Roman gods as roaming in the forests of or constructing vast landscapes as a setting Robin’s adventure all support the idea that agricultural labor can be a source of contentment. It is misleading to think that poems are merely being naïve and idyllic. Even though, I could not explore this idea outside of the contextual analysis of du Bellay’s poem, I doubt if there is such a thing as a naïve rustic literature because literature that might seem simplistic might have profound insights that have been ignored by a reader.

Jeux fits together with other works of du Bellay, like the longing for place in the Antiquités discussed by Mehely, and with other nationalistic works by du Bellay’s contemporaries, like Ronsard’s La Francicade. These works cannot be considered as nostalgic works, as they might appear at first sight. In fact, the poets are using Roman literary traditions as a springboard for a new literature which is presumably a new French national literature. In the third, and last chapter of this thesis, I explored the poem ‘Au Fleuve de Loire.’ I argued that the poem can be read as a cartographic poem as it attempts to describe the entire Loire basin and then projects the river as a central physical symbol of France, in 82 verses. This argument was inspired by the analysis of Wyman and Usher and was based on my research on the importance of the Loire river in sixteenth century France. This cartographic poem is not a map with an aim to merely map out the Loire valley, but it is also a ‘filter’ through which the poet presents the space of the Loire valley. Just like the filters discussed in the first and second chapters of the poem, this filter is also environmentally conscious as it evokes the deep connection between the environment of the Loire valley and people who live around it. Apart from the environmental importance of the cartographic poem, on a more meta- poetic level, the poet imbues the river with importance by associating it with the source for French nation, the source of his own poetic inspiration, and as a symbol of the cultural heritage of France’s in terms of the Roman literary tradition. The project of analyzing this poem and understanding its deep connection to our environment appealed to me because of the contemporaneity of the subject. Global warming is having a disastrous effect on the mere survival of our flora and fauna. Understanding the events that led to this situation would further our ability to solve this environmental crisis for generations to come. Scholars, like Stacy Alaimo, have suggested that we need to fundamentally re-evaluate our one-sided relationship with the planet. We should stop thinking about the planet as a resource to be exploited. Instead, we need to find our place in the planet, and interact with our environments as if we were part of the environment rather than as an external agent imposing damage on our immediate surroundings. I am simply suggesting that environmentally conscious poetry, like the poems I analyzed in this thesis, can play two important roles in helping us deal with the environmental problems of today. Firstly, from a historical standpoint, they could help us situate the key moments in history by revealing those points when our understanding of environment changed. Secondly, from a contemporary point of view, an engaged interaction with

39 environmentally conscious literature could teach us how to perceive the environment and importantly how to make this interaction pleasurable. Moreover, analyzing the relationship between environment and poetry can help us understand the relationship between identity and environment. Perhaps, France and its identity, which is often considered to be a ‘proud’ nation, came into being, not merely through political actions or historical events, but was also consciously fashioned by France’s poets and writers. Importantly, this identity was not only based upon myths, but these myths and other narratives seem to be based on the local environment. Perhaps, these intellectuals drew upon what was already there, the environment, and taught their readers on how to situate the environment and how to situate themselves within the environment. I would like to end this thesis, on a personal note. In 2014, I visited the Loire valley. I saw the river and visited a few of the chateaux, but now looking back at that period, although I saw but I did not see much because I did not know what or how to look. Now, someday when I go back there, I will look at the river that flows near Anjou. I will think of its source high up in the Massif Central, the rich forests that populate the entire valley and the hundreds of species that live around this mighty river. I will contemplate the contemporary and historical importance of the river for the Loire region. I will think about the myth of France and how du Bellay tried to use the Roman heritage to create a literature for an emerging nation. As I will travel around the valley and look about the bocages, forests, and farms that surround the river, I will try to imagine the entire cycle of life that makes these topographical features teem with life. I will be able to do that, I hope, because of my readings of du Bellay’s poetry which have taught me how to look at Anjou a little bit better.

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