Durham E-Theses French poetry and contemporary reality c. 1870 - 1887 Watson, Lawrence J. How to cite: Watson, Lawrence J. (1976) French poetry and contemporary reality c. 1870 - 1887, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/8021/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk FRENCH POETRY AND CONTEMPORARY REALITY c 1870 - 1887 A study of the thematic and stylistic implications of the poetic treatment of the modern and the ephemeral LAWRENCE J WATSON Thesis submitted in the University of Durham for the degree of Doctor of philosophy December 1976 VOLUME TWO FULL COIIMtfTS Oi VULTJlli, TwO P^T TWO ^CMTIlilJiJ) onapter Two: Contemporary Subjects (f) Everyday Lue 478 (g) The World of Sens<?Tion 538 Chapter Three: The Impact of Contemporary Speech 582 (a) 'The Particulcrisation of Poetic Language in the /.ge of Science and ilc^terialism P. 58? ^D) iopularis<?tion cjia tne influence of everyday Speecn p. 607 Chapter Four: Une Langue mventde P. 649 ^a) The Treatment of Contemporary Jrteality ^>nd the Search for a new Poetic Language P. 649 (b) .Prom iioaernity to Immediacy: tne jjevelopmcnt of Poetic Impressionism p. o57 {c) From Impressionism to Syntnesis P. 714 P^xiT TliHEE lADOftGUE - xi CASE HIOTORY Chapter One: The Situation of Laforgue P. 749 Chapter Two. Laforgue's Intellectual and .Lrtistic Environment P. 752 chapter Three: The SuDject-llatter of ^eforgue's Poetry P. 792 ^a; liodernity and Everyday Life P. 794 (bj The World of Sense tion p. 815 Cont'd. VOLLILC] TWO PART TER^ COUTH-JIM) chapter Four: Lsforgve's Noetic language p. 624 (a) Vocaoulfcry p. 825 (b/ Imagery p. 831 (c) Phrasing p. 833 {&) irony, Humour and Cultural illusion p. 837 (e) Versification p. 840 ) Impressionism p. 843 is) Synthesis p. 853 Conclusion p.882 Bibliography Index (f) Everyday Life Children in Ancient Egypt played with toy boats (359) In one sense, therefore, it is clearly impossible to describe such an activity as modern Yet when Rimbaud writes Si je desire une eau d'Europe, c'est la flache Noir et froide ou vers le crepuscule embaume* Un enfant accroupi plem de tristesses, lache Un bateau frele comme un papillon de mai (360) many readers find this image more authentically modern than, for example, progressiste references to the achievements of the technological age The modernist cachet of the poetic evocation of the activities and experiences of everyday life, of which Rimbaud's toy boat is an example chosen at random, is not as difficult to explain as it might at first appear Such evocations are modern to the extent that they correspond to our own present experiences, they are part of that pool of experience shared between artist and public which was the underlying principle of Baudelaire's theory of modernity This is confirmation of one obvious point, the modern does not have to be new it simply has to be contemporary Any activity which is still part of the fabric of everyday life may in this way be modern Nevertheless there is no denying that what we hold to be modern is more often not just a snared experience common to most of us but one which we feel is distinctively part of our age, part of a collective identity which may be seen as separate from previous ages So why should the sailing of the toy boat be modern? One thing becomes * it clear,^not so much the fact but its treatment in poetry which is specifically modern Although the Romantics had spoken of the (359) As the collections in the Louvre and the British Museum attest (360) 'Le Bateau ivre' introduction of ordinary reality and language into their work, in practice they had tended to prefer extremes of passion, of beauty and ugliness Baudelaire and Sainte-Beuve were more truly pioneers in this respect Even then, in Baudelaire's case, it was often the macabre potential of everyday reality rather than genuine ordinariness which fascinated the poet (361) (361) Sainte-Beuve's influence upon the generation after 1870 is often underestimated He was in fact widely read in the period and directly influenced poets such as Richepin, Veflais^and Leforgue Sainte-Beuve*s contribution to the poetry of contemporary reality is without doubt greater than that of most of those Romantic poets whose poetic reputation has better stood the test of time Alison Fairlie has seen him as 'the centre of the attempt to give a new sting and a new savour through everyday subjects and a language close to prose yet not prosaic * (A Fairlie, Baudelaire Les Fleurs du Mai, p 18) Poems such as 'Les Rayons Jaunes' have been seen as antecedents of Baudelaire's revelations of spleen and Laforgue's evocations of rainy Sunday afternoons (A G Lehmann, Samt-fleuve, p 66) He was the originator of 'realism in the description of humble scenes drawn from ordinary, everyday or domestic life ' (H Cockerham, introduction to Gautier, Foe's les, pp 16-17 ) The poetry is, of course, that to be found in Vie, Poesies et Pensees de Joseph Delorme A few examples will suffice to demonstrate the poet's preoccupation with the ordinary The elegy 'Rose' is concerned with a prostitute to whom the narrator returns to spend a night She is completely unexceptional, not even enlivened by voluptuousness, a parallel has justly been drawn between her and Manet's Olympia (Lehmann, op cit , p 69) The setting is correspondingly modern and the tone subdued or even conversational Entre les orangers, oh' qu'il fait beau, le soir, Se promener au frais, respirer et s'asseoir Voir passer cent beautes dont le regard elAivre, Et celles au long voile, et celles qu'on peut suivre' Mais, assise a deux pas, avec son oeil cha*tain Et ses cheveux cendre*s sur un cou de satin, Plus blanche que jamais bergere au pied d'un he^re, Son mouchoir a la main, j'ai cru la reconnaltre, C'est Rose 'BoOjour, Rose' - Ah' c'est vous que je vois, M^chant, et n'^tre pas venu de tout un mois'1 Au sofa ge'missant que voile un demi-jour, Aux soupirs de 1'alcove, on dirait de 1'amour Mais, helas' quand parmi ces fureurs de jeunesse Tarit la jouissance Pourtant ll faut causer, se dire quelque chose Je te demandealors, te voyant triste, £ Rose, Ton pays, ta famille, et les secrets ennuis, Et l'emploi de tes jours, je connais trop les nuits* Comme ta jeune soeur que la pudeur decore, Dis-moi, sage a quinze ans, voudrais-tu l'6tre encore? ReVes-tu quelquefois a l'avenir longtemps9 On n'aura pas toujours ces blonds cheveux flottants (Poesies Completes, pp 116-17) Rimbaud's several poems devoted to ordinary, 'uneventful' experiences are ample proof that the toy boat image is not an isolated device (361) Cont/ 'Promenade' is an explicit rejection of the wild landscapes of the other Romantics in favour of the quiet scenery of the environs of Paris Quoi9 des rocs, des fore"ts, des fleuves9 oh' non pas, Mais bien moms, mais un champ, un peu d'eau qui murmure, Un vent frais agitant une gr&le ramure, L'etang sous la bruye"re avec le jonc qui dort, Voir couler en un pre la riviere a plein bord, Quelque jeune arbre au loin, dans un air immobile, Decoupant sur l'azur son feuillage de*bile, A travers l'epaisseur d'une herbe qui reluit, Quelque sentier poudreux qui rampe et qui s'enfuit, Ou si, levant le yeux, j' ai cru voir dispara^Stre Au dStour d'une haie un pied blanc qui fait naTtre Tout d'un coup en mon ame un long roman d'amour , C'est assez de bonheur, c'est assez pour un jour (Ibid , pp78-79) 'Causerie au bal' is an interesting experiment in trying to capture the flow of conversation while the poet dances Et je vous ai revue, et d'espe'rance avide J'ai rougi, pres de vous un fauteuil etait vide, Et votre oeil sans courroux sur moi s'est repose", Et je me suis assis, et nous avons cause ' - Que le bal est brillant, et qu'une beaute blonde, 'Nonchalamment berce'e au tournant d'une ronde, 'Me plait' sa te*te penche, elle tralne ses pas ' - Vous, madame, ce soir, vous ne dansez done pas' ' - Oui, j'aime qu'en valsant une t&te s'incline, 'j'aime sur un cou blanc la rouge cornaline, 'Des boutons d'oranger dans des cheveux tout noirs, 'Les airs napolitains qu'on danse ICI, les soirs, 'Surtout j'aime ces deux derni^res barcarolles, 'Hier on me les chantait, et j'en sais les paroles ' - Qu'un enfant de quatre ans, n'est-ce pas9 dans un bal 'Est charmant, quand, tout fier, et d'un pas inegal, 'II suit une beaute' qui par la main le guide, 'Et qui le baise apres, rayonnant et timide ' - Au milieu de ce bruit, comme votre enfant dort, 'Madame' ses cheveux sont, au soir, d'un blond d'or, 'II sourit en reVant, lui passe une chimere, 'II entr'ouvre un oeil bleu c'est bien l'oeil de sa mere ' — Et Mille autres propos Mais qu'avez-vous dejll9 J'ai cru revoir l'air froid qui souvent m'affligea Avons-nous done fait mal9 d'une voix qui soupire Ai-je effraye ce coeur, ou d'un trop long sounre' Ai-je parle trop bas9 ai-je d'un pied mutin Agace* sous la robe un Soulier de satin9 Saisi trop vivement un eventail qui glisse9 Serre* la main qui fuit au bord de la pelisse9 Ai-je dit un seul mot de regrets et d'amours9 Mais qu'au moms nous causions et longtemps et toujours' (ibid , p61) On the contrary it is completely in accord with the work of an anti-establishment poet The equation of the mundane with (361) Cont/ It is not altogether successful as neither the conversation nor the poet's inner thoughts are evoked in a sufficiently authentic language In particular the word order appears to be affected by the necessity of placing the rhyme-word at the end of the line, the very first line provides an instance of this ' Les Rayons Jaunes' is one of Sam^-Beuvs.