French poetry for the young; with vocabulary and notes

Victor Oger

Sujets

• French language

Informations

• Publié par: les_archives_du_savoir
• Nombre de lectures: 61
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

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ANDFRENCH GERMA
READING BOOKS
FRENCH POETRY
FORTHEYOUNG
Victor Oger
r*i 11* - a
AGMILLAN'S
ARY SERIESPRESENTED
The University of Toronto
J (.^.^...mo^^MACM I LLAN'S
PRIMARY SERIES
OF
FRENCH AND GERMAN READINGS
WITH
NOTES AND VOCABULARIES
Edited by g. EUGÈNE FASNACHT
SOMETIME ASSISTANT-MASTER AT \VESTMINSTER SCHOOL ; AfTHOR OF
" "THE SVNTHETIC FRENCH GRAM.MAR," THE PROGRESSIVE
FRENCH AND GERMAN COURSES,'' "THE ORGANIC
METHOD OF STVDVING LANGL'AGES." ETC.0-3.441
FEENCH POETRY
FOR THE YOUNG
SELECTED AXD EDITED WTTH VOCABULARY AXD NOTES
BY
VICTOR OGER
LATE OF VICTORIA USIVERSITV
FRENCH LECTURER IN BEDFORD COLLEGE, LONDON, ETC.
Honlion
MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd.
NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN CO.
189G
A riçhtsU resetTnlPREFACE
contrast which struck me betweeu the admirableThe
Emjlish Poetry Young Studcnts, editedsélection of for
the childisli extractsby Professer T. W. Lyster/ and
Introductionoffered to juvénile Englisli readers as an
to French Poetry, led me to undertake this small
sélection, in whicli I liave (abridging but not altering)
only admitted names and subjects of an educational
character, capable of interesting the young and of
preparing tliem for their more advanced courses of
and girls struggling through the earlystudy. Boys
foreign language caunot bestages of the study of a
enthusiasm for its poetry asexpected to feel any such
calculated to avvaken inProfessor Lyster's volume is
Yet I wouldthem for their own national lyrics.
free theirhope that I may help my young readers to
com-minds from the préjudice created by an unfair
poetry : theparison between English and French
bas a rhythm toolatter, not admitting of blank verse,
is sometimessubtle for untrained lips, and the rime
^ Publislied by Messrs. Browne and Nolan, Dublin.VI FRENCH POETKY FOR TUE YOUNG
thouglit to add to tlie supposed inouotony of thc
it tlie bymètre, iiistead of giving inusic enjoyed a
Frencli ear.
The rliythm of the Frencli verse is independent of
tlie order aud number of short and long syllables,
" "shice quantity does not exist in French words it
;
dépends on the sensé, the pause, the caesura (in liiies
of more than eight syllables), and above ail on the
rime, l'unique harmonie du vers as Ste. Beuve, with
sonie enthusiastic exaggeration, called it. French
verses may bave any number of syllables from one to
thirteen they are called when varions mètres
; free,
—are used in same poem, c.g.the
"Ne nous flattons donc point voyons sans indulgence;
L'état de notre conscience.
Pour moi, satisfaisant mes appétits gloutons,
J'ai dévoré force moutons
;
Que m'avaient-ils fait ? Nulle offense :
Même, il m'est arrivé quelquefois de manger
Le berger."
La Fontaine.
syllables, with the caesura afterThe verse of ten
chiefly used in Old French Chansonsthe fourth, was
de Gestes, is still much used in modem song.and
Tlie alexandrine verse of twelve syllables, with the
(or division of the line) after the sixth, is,caesura
however, the most important, being the only mètre