THE ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE VILLANELLE IN ENGLISH LITERATURE by Jean S. Moreau Thesis presented to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ottawa in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. LIBRARIES * ''K S*^ 6l~Sity <rf Ottawa, Canada, 1975 M Jean S. Moreau, Ottawa, Canada, 1975, UMI Number: EC56066 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI® UMI Microform EC56066 Copyright 2011 by ProQuest LLC All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This thesis is prepared under the guidance of Professor Frank M. Tierney, Ph.D., of the Department of English of the University of Ottawa. The writer is greatly beholden to Dr. Tierney for his direction, scholarship, courtesy and unfailing patience. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page INTRODUCTION 1 I. - THE ORIGINS, DEFINITION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE VILLANELLE IN FRANCE 3 1. Origins and Development of the Villanelle 3 2. Revival and Definition of the Villanelle in France .... 22 II. - THE VILLANELLE IN ENGLISH LITERATURE: THE INTRODUCTORY PERIOD 41 III. - THE ENGLISH VILLANELLE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: MATURATION AND PROMISE 76 IV. - SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 172 APPENDIX 185 BIBLIOGRAPHY 209 ABSTRACT OF The Origins and Development of the Villanelle in English Literature 217 (ill) INTRODUCTION The purpose of this thesis is to trace the history of the villanelle from its origin in mediaeval France and Renaissance Italy to the period when one of its forms became dominant and, thenceforth, characteristic of the villanelle as it is now known; to account for the neglect of the form from the seventeenth century until its revival in nineteenth century France; to examine its introduction into English literature later in the same century; and to scrutinize its development in form and content in the twentieth century. As each stage of this history is presented, representative villanelles will be examined as examples of current practice and development of the form, with a view to achieving a better understanding of the dynamics of the villanelle. It is postulated that the practice of representative poets in using the villanelle form is generally of greater avail and validity than the prescription of prosodists in revealing the latent capacity of a poetic form. This postulate has determined the principle of selection for the villanelles presented in this study. Examples are not given of villanelles which, whatever their poetic merit, do not afford significant illustration either of current practice or of precedent for innovation and evolution, nor is it assumed that all the villanelles of a given author need be presented in order adequately to illustrate his contribution to the history and development of the villanelle. 1 2 This thesis represents an attempt to present a history of the villanelle which is both descriptive and analytical in nature. It is divided into three chapters corresponding to the three main stages of that history: origins and development of the villanelle in France; introductioi and assimilation of the form into English literature; evolution and growth in the twentieth century. Throughout this study, particular attention will be paid to the interaction of prosodic theory and poetic practice in effecting the evolution of the villanelle in form and subject matter, and therefore comparisons and parallels will at times be drawn between the practice of various poets at various stages in the history of the villanelle. In particular, recourse will be had to this method in the chapter dealing with the villanelle of the twentieth century, when a new seriousness and broadening of scope raises issues about the nature and essential characteristics of the villanelle, issues which are seen as crucial to its further development as a living poetic form. The thesis concludes with a summary of the history of the villanelle and a discussion of the contribution made by each of the chief elements of the form to its development as an effective vehicle of poetic expression. From this discussion, a synthesis is drawn expressive of the essential qualities of the villanelle whereby the form may be better understood and appreciated. CHAPTER I THE ORIGINS, DEFINITION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE VILLANELLE IN FRANCE There are three origins to be considered for the poetic form now designated by the term 'villanelle': the virelai-villanelle derived from the early mediaeval rondet, rondel or rondeau; the villanella written in imitation of Italian rustic song-dances; and the Renaissance villanelle, one form of which as used by Jean Passerat (1534-1602) became the model for the poetic form now generally referred to as the villanelle. In Section 1 of this chapter, it is proposed firstly to consider these three origins and to trace the relationship among them, examining how the form used by Passerat came to be accepted as the model followed since the Renaissance. Section 2 will relate the revival of the villanelle in Francjle towards the end of the nineteenth century and present a representative sampling of prescription and comment by prosodists and historians of French literature since that time. Throughout the chapter, examples of the various types of poem referred to will be examined to illustrate the origin and development of the villanelle. Section 1 Origins and Development of the Villanelle The popular origins of lyric poetry in all literatures are generally admitted , and with respect to the origins of lyric poetry in Alfred Jeanroy, Les Origines de la Poesie Lyrique en France au Moyen Age (Paris: Librairie Ancienne Honore Champollion, 1925), p. xvii et seq. France, may be traced to the practice among the people, observed as early as the fifth century, of guiding dance movements by voice, beating of hands or stamping of feet, for want of musical instruments . Refrains were an essential part of the songs called "chansons de carole, rondets, 2 rondets de carole" , terms descriptive of dancing in a ring. The sophisticated artistic development of such peasant dance songfi gave rise to the rondel or rondeau, which in turn became subdivided into 3 such forms as the triolet, rondeau double and virelai . In this process of development, the further evolution of the virelai is of particular significance for the study of the first origin of the villanelle: A virelai could become double or triple by the simple device of repeating the rime scheme of strophes two and three after the refrain, which is strophe one or some portion thereof, has been restated for the first time. A virelai double would then consist of strophe one, the refrain; strophe two; strophe three; refrain. A virelai triple would add strophe two, strophe three, and refrain, to the arrangement just noted. Too many statements of the refrain, especially if it be a long one, conduce to tedium. The villanelle (in which the strophes are of three lines, the refrains being stated as lines one and three of strophe one, and then alternately as line three of the remaining strophes until the last, a four-line strophe, in which both refrains are restated as lines three and four, the conclusion of the poem) is an offshoot of an irregular type of virelai, attractively illustrated in Eustache Deschamps' "Sui je, sui je, sui je belle," in in Renaissance times by Jean Passerat's "J'ai perdu ma tourterelle," the classical example of the villanelle. ^ Jeanroy, p. 388. Jeanroy quotes Sidonius Apollinaris of Lyons (c.430-c.480): "Castalidumque choris vario modulamine plausit/Carminibus, cannis, pollice, voce, pede". 2 Loc. cit. 3 Warner Forrest Patterson, Three Centuries of French Poetic Theory A Critical History of the Chief Arts of Poetry in France, 1328-1630, 3 vol (New York: Russell and Russell, 1966), I, p. 58. 4 Loc. cit. This theory, based on the internal evidence of the similarity of structure) between the virelai and the model of the modern villanelle, is attractive in that it provides the villanelle with an origin coeval and consistent with that of the rondeau, rondel and triolet. The poem by Eustache Deschamps (c.l346-c.l406) referred to by Patterson as the type which "came to be called a villanelle of the sort revived, as we know, by Jean Passeraj|t in the sixteenth century" , deserves examination as the mediaeval antecedent of the villanelle: Virelai Sui je, sui je, sui je belle? II me semble, a mon avis, J'ay piez rondes et petiz, Que j'ay beau front et doulz viz Bien chaussans, et biaux habis, Et la bouche vermeillette; Je sui gaye et foliette; Dittes moy se je sui belle. Dittes moy se je sui belle. J'ay vers yeulx, petis sourcis, J'ay mantiaux fourrez de gris, Le chief blont, le nez traitis, J'ay chapiaux, j'ay biaux proffis Ront menton, blanche gorgette; Et d'argent mainte espinglette; Sui je, sui je, sui je belle? Sui je, sui je, sui je belle? J'ay dur sain et hault assis, J'ay draps de soye et tabis, Lons bras, gresles doys aussis, J'ay draps d'or et blancs t bis, Et par le faulz sui greslette; J'ay mainte bonne chosette; Dittes moi se je sui belle. Dittes moy se je sui belle.