The Yale Anthology of Twentieth-Century French Poetry

691 Pages·2008·1.49 MB·English

by  Mary Ann Caws (editor)

The Yale Anthology of Twentieth-Century French Poetry

The Yale Anthology of
Twentieth-Century
French
Poetry
EDITED BY
MARY ANN CAWS
Yale University Press
New Haven & London
Cet ouvrage, publié dans le cadre d’un programme d’aide à la publication, bénéficie du soutien du
Ministère des A√aires étrangères et du Service Culturel de l’Ambassade de France aux Etats-Unis.
This work, published as part of a program of aid for publication, received support from the French
Ministry of Foreign A√airs and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States.
The Florence Gould Foundation provided additional funding for the publication of this work.
Copyright ∫ 2004 by Yale University.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond
that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers
for the public press), without written permission from the publishers.
Epigraph, page v: ‘‘Let There Be Translators!’’ from Days of Wonder: New and Selected Poems by
Grace Schulman. Copyright ∫ 2002 by Grace Schulman. Reproduced by permission of Houghton
Mi∆in Company. All rights reserved. The list of acknowledgments for permission to reprint
previously published works appears at the back of this volume, beginning on page 617.
Designed by James J. Johnson and set in Minion type by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Yale anthology of twentieth-century French poetry / edited by Mary Ann Caws.
p. cm.
English and French on facing pages.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-300-10010-8 (cloth: alk. paper)
1. French poetry—20th century—Translations into English. 2. French poetry—20th century. I.
Title: Yale anthology of 20th-century French poetry. II. Caws, Mary Ann.
PQ1170.E6Y35 2004
841%.9108—dc22 2004040695
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on
Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
And the Lord said, ‘‘Behold, the people is one and they have all one
language....
Go to, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they
may not understand one another’s speech.’’
—genesis XI: 6, 7.
When God confused our languages, he uttered,
in sapphire tones: ‘‘Let there be translators!’’
And there were conjurors and necromancers
and alchemists, but they did not su≈ce:
they turned trees into emeralds, pools to seas.
God spoke again: ‘‘Let there be carpenters
who fasten edges, caulk the seams, splice timbers.’’
They were good.
God said: ‘‘Blessed is the builder
who leaves his tower, turns from bricks and mortar
to marvel at the flames, the smith who fumbles
for prongs, wields andirons, and prods live coals,
who stokes the hearth and welds two irons as one.’’
Praised was the man who wrote his name in other
handwriting, who spoke in other tones,
who, knowing elms, imagined ceiba trees
and cypresses as though they were his own,
finding new music in each limitation.
Holy the one who lost his speech to others,
subdued his pen, resigned his failing sight
to change through fire’s change, until he saw
earth’s own fire, the radiant rock of words.
—Grace Schulman, ‘‘Let There Be Translators!’’

Contents
Editor’s Note xxiii
Introduction by Mary Ann Caws xxv
1. 1897–1915: Symbolism, Post-Symbolism,
Cubism, Simultanism
Guillaume Apollinaire (Guillaume Apollinaris de Kostrowitzky)
Zone / Zone (roger shattuck) 6
L’Adieu / The Farewell (roger shattuck) 14
Les Fenêtres / Windows (roger shattuck) 14
Miroir / Mirror (roger shattuck) 16
Toujours / Always (mary ann caws and patricia terry) 18
La Petite Auto / The Little Car (ron padgett) 18
Blaise Cendrars (Frederick Louis Sauser)
Journal / Newspaper (ron padgett) 24
Ma danse / My Dance (ron padgett) 26
Lettre / Letter (ron padgett) 26
Prose du Transsibérien et de la petite Jeanne de France (extraits) /
The Prose of the Trans-Siberian and of Little Jeanne of France
(ron padgett) 28
contents
Paul Claudel
Octobre / October (james lawler) 38
Tristesse de l’eau / The Sadness of Water (james lawler) 40
Jean Cocteau
Jeune fille endormie / Young Girl Sleeping (alfred corn) 42
Léon-Paul Fargue
Une odeur nocturne . . . / A Fragrance of Night . . .
(wallace stevens) 44
Max Jacob
La Rue Ravignan / The Rue Ravignan (john ashbery) 48
La Révélation / The Revelation (moishe black and maria green) 48
Visitation / Visitation (moishe black and maria green) 50
Mauvais caractère / Shady Soul (mary ann caws) 50
Réunion / Meeting (mary ann caws) 50
Un œuf / An Egg (mary ann caws) 52
Pierre-Jean Jouve
Lamentations au cerf / Lament for the Stag (keith waldrop) 54
De plus en plus femme / More and More Woman (mary ann caws) 54
Après le déluge / After the Deluge (lee fahnestock) 56
Valéry Larbaud
Ode / Ode (mary ann caws and patricia terry) 58
Le Don de soi-même / The Gift of Oneself (mary ann caws and
patricia terry) 60
Saint-John Perse (Alexis Saint-Léger Léger)
Chanson: Il naissait un poulain / Song: A Colt Was Foaled (t. s. eliot) 62
Chanson: Mon cheval arrêté / Song: I Have Halted My Horse
(t. s. eliot) 64
Nocturne / Nocturne (richard howard) 64
Pablo Picasso
Ses grosses cuisses / Her Great Thighs (mary ann caws) 66
Catherine Pozzi
Nyx / Nyx (mary ann caws) 70
viii
contents
Pierre Reverdy
Dans les champs ou sur la colline / In the Fields or on the Hill
(patricia terry) 72
La Trame / The Web (mary ann caws and patricia terry) 74
Sou∆e / Breath (mary ann caws and patricia terry) 74
La Tête pleine de beauté / The Head Filled with Beauty
(mary ann caws) 74
Plus lourd / Heavier (john ashbery) 76
Ça / That (john ashbery) 76
. . . S’entre-bâille / . . . Is Ajar (john ashbery) 76
Saint-Pol Roux (Pierre-Paul Roux)
La Volière / The Aviary (robin magowan) 78
Lever de soleil / Sunrise (mary ann caws) 80
Victor Segalen
Édit funéraire / Funerary Edict (mary ann caws and
patricia terry) 82
Par respect / Out of Respect (mary ann caws and patricia terry) 84
Éloge du jade / In Praise of Jade (timothy billings and
christopher bush) 86
Trahison fidèle / Faithful Betrayal (timothy billings and
christopher bush) 86
Jules Supervielle
Un poète / A Poet (patricia terry) 90
Le Regret de la terre / Regretting the Earth (patricia terry) 90
Paul Valéry
La Fileuse / The Spinner (grace schulman) 92
Le Rameur / The Oarsman (mary ann caws and patricia terry) 94
Le Cimetière marin / The Seaside Cemetery (derek mahon) 96
Renée Vivien (Pauline Tarn)
La Rançon / The Ransom (mary ann caws) 106
2. 1916–1930: Dada and the Heroic Period of Surrealism
Louis Aragon
Pièce à grand spectacle / Big Spectacular Play
(mary ann caws) 116
ix