Ballads and Lyrics of Old France: with Other Poems
by Andrew Lang
LIST OF POETS TRANSLATED
I. CHARLES D'ORLEANS, who has sometimes, for no very obvious
reason, been styled the father of French lyric poetry, was born in
May, 1391. He was the son of Louis D'Orleans, the grandson of
Charles V., and the father of Louis XII. Captured at Agincourt, he
was kept in England as a prisoner from 1415 to 1440, when he
returned to France, where he died in 1465. His verses, for the
most part roundels on two rhymes, are songs of love and spring, and
retain the allegorical forms of the Roman de la Rose.
II. FRANCOIS VILLON, 1431-14-? Nothing is known of Villon's birth
or death, and only too much of his life. In his poems the ancient
forms of French verse are animated with the keenest sense of
personal emotion, of love, of melancholy, of mocking despair, and
of repentance for a life passed in taverns and prisons.
III. JOACHIM DU BELLAY, 1525-1560. The exact date of Du Bellay's
birth is unknown. He was certainly a little younger than Ronsard,
who was born in September, 1524, although an attempt has been made
to prove that his birth took place in 1525, as a compensation from
Nature to France for the battle of Pavia. As a poet Du Bellay had
the start, by a few mouths, of Ronsard; his RECUEIL was published
in 1549. The question of priority in the new style of poetry
caused a quarrel, which did not long separate the two singers. Du
Bellay is perhaps the most interesting of the Pleiad, that company
of Seven, who attempted to reform French verse, by inspiring it
with the enthusiasm of the Renaissance. His book L'ILLUSTRATION DE
LA LANGUE FRANCAISE is ...
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