The town of Fontainebleau, where I live, is nestled in the middle of the Fontainebleau Forest, a 108 square mile area full of fir trees, rocks to climb, trails to hike, and the occasional wild boar. Compared to many of the surrounding towns that are scattered around the edge of the forest, Fontainebleau is a small city.
On Tuesday, a friend and I decided to head to the neighboring town of Barbizon to go for a hike and to explore the town.
Barbizon has only one main street with a few shops and hotels, but it is has a history steeped in the arts. Beginning in the mid-1800s, it became a popular vacation spot. But in addition to tourists, the town attracted quite a few painters, who would later be dubbed “The Barbizon School”. Among others, this group included Théodore Rousseau, Jean-François Millet, Narcisse-Virgile Diaz, and Charles- François Daubigny. In the second half of the century, the town also lured the younger Impressionist painters, like Monet and Renoir, who were interested in nature and the landscape of the area.
As Barbizon attracted artists, writers were drawn to the area as well. Well-known French poets, like Verlaine, Beaudelaire, and Guillaume Appolinaire all made the trek to the town and spent time writing there. Entering the town and the trails of the forest, it’s easy to see how so many writers and artists were captivated and inspired by the town. It’s hard to believe that Paris is less than an hour away by train.
After leaving Barbizon, I decided to read some of the poets who had written there. I especially enjoyed one of Verlaine’s poems that I came across, entitled “The Young Fools”. Below is the original French text, as well as an English translation (Poets, Copyright © 1997 - 2010 by Academy of American Poets.) :
The Young Fools
High-heels were struggling with a full-length dress
So that, between the wind and the terrain,
At times a shining stocking would be seen,
And gone too soon. We liked that foolishness.
Also, at times a jealous insect's dart
Bothered out beauties. Suddenly a white
Nape flashed beneath the branches, and this sight
Was a delicate feast for a young fool's heart.
Evening fell, equivocal, dissembling,
The women who hung dreaming on our arms
Spoke in low voices, words that had such charms
That ever since our stunned soul has been trembling.
Les hauts talons luttaient avec les longues jupes,
En sorte que, selon le terrain et le vent,
Parfois luisaient des bas de jambes, trop souvent
Interceptés--et nous aimions ce jeu de dupes.
Parfois aussi le dard d'un insecte jaloux
Inquiétait le col des belles sous les branches,
Et c'était des éclairs soudains de nuques blanches,
Et ce régal comblait nos jeunes yeux de fous.
Le soir tombait, un soir équivoque d'automne:
Les belles, se pendant rêveuses à nos bras,
Dirent alors des mots si spécieux, tout bas,
Que notre âme depuis ce temps tremble et s'étonne.
Source: www.Poets.org
Verlaine was one of the leaders of the symbolist movement in France, which also included poets such as Arthur Rimbaud (who Verlaine lived with for a time), Charles Baudelaire, and Stéphane Mallarmé. The aim of many of the poems that they wrote was to convey a mood or emotion rather than a straight-forward meaning. While this particular poem adheres to the form of a sonnet, many of the poems by the symbolist poets turned away from conventional methods, form, and values in their poems. Verlaine wrote this particular poem around the time he met his wife (whom he later divorced).He wrote this love poem around the time that he met her, and in it he expertly pairs imagery with rhyme.
“The Young Fools”, is quite a sexy poem. It begins by acknowledging the physical attraction that young people, or “fools” have for one another, but also how the emotions are based on things as simple as a woman struggling with high-heels and a long dress over rugged terrain. The men in the poem enjoy watching the struggle because it often allowed them to catch a glimpse of the stocking beneath the dress. Verlaine groups himself in with the fools, as he says “We liked that foolishness”.
The poem progresses from an image of a woman struggling with a long dress, to the more romantic and whimsical picture of women who hang “hung dreaming on our arms…That ever since our stunned soul has been trembling.” This movement adds a personal and dreamlike quality to the poem that initially seems quite grounded in the present. The start of the third stanza that places the reader in the evening suggests a sexual progression, as women are suddenly “hanging” and “dreaming” and the men end up with a “stunned soul” that “trembles”.
In an ongoing effort to improve my French, it was difficult not to notice some of the differences between the English and the French versions. The English version aims to keep the rhyme and meter that the French version has, but at times the translation is affected by this. For example, in the first line, “jupe” is a skirt, not a dress, which is a “robe”. And “Les Ingénus” literally translates into “The Innocents”.
Barbizon is a town that is full of beauty and nature. With museums commemorating the artists and authors who spent time there, it’s still easy to imagine a woman struggling in her heels and a long skirt as she walks along the cobblestone streets at the edge of the forest.
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