When I was at school we used to learn a few poems by heart that we had to recite in front of the whole class. We must have learnt I still remember some poems that learnt in primary school. Here is one of them.
Chanson d’automne de Paul Verlaine
Les sanglots longs
Des violons
De l’automne
Blessent mon cœur
D’une langueur
Monotone.
Tout suffocant
Et blême, quand
Sonne l’heure,
Je me souviens
Des jours anciens
Et je pleure;
Et je m’en vais
Au vent mauvais
Qui m’emporte
Deçà, delà,
Pareil à la
Feuille morte.
Here is the English translation. There are many different versions but I like this one as it is very close to the original but still conveys the melancholy of the French version.
Autumn song by Paul Verlaine
The long sobs
Of autumn
Violins
Wound my heart
With a monotone
Languor.
All breathless
And pale, when
The hour sounds,
I remember
Former days
And I cry;
And I go
In an ill wind
Which carries me
Here, there,
Like a
Dead leaf.
This poem by Verlaine is mentioned in a beautiful and heartfelt song by Serge Gainsbourg entitled Je suis venu te dire que je m’en vais, released in 1973.
I hope you enjoy reading this poem as much as I enjoyed it. See you soon with another poem from my childhood.
This is one of my favourite French poems. For my degree I had to study the poetry of Baudelaire, Verlaine and Rimbaud, among other things!
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I love Verlaine too. I might post Rimbaud’s Le Bateau Ivre and Baudelaire’s Spleen , two poems I learned by heart too.
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