L'Honneur de Souffrir

by Anna de Noailles

Ils ont inventé l'âme afin que l'on abaisse
Le corps, unique lieu de rêve et de raison
Asile du désir, de l'image et des sons,
Et par qui tout est mort dès le moment qu'il cesse. Anna de Noailles

Genres: Poetry

129 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1927

About the author

Born Princess Anna Elisabeth Bibesco-Bassaraba de Brancovan in Paris, she was a descendant of the Bibescu and Craioveşti families of Romanian boyars. Her father was Prince Grégoire Bibesco-Bassaraba, a son of Wallachian Prince Gheorghe Bibesco and Zoe Mavrocordato-Bassaraba de Brancovan. Her Greek mother was the former Ralouka (Rachel) Mussurus, a musician, to whom the Polish composer Ignacy Paderewski dedicated several of his compositions. Via her mother, Anna de Noailles is a great-great-granddaughter of Sophronius of Vratsa, one of the leading figures of the Bulgarian National Revival, through his grandson Stefan Bogoridi, caimacam of Moldavia.

In 1897 she married Mathieu Fernand Frédéric Pascal de Noailles (1873–1942), the fourth son of the 7th Duke de Noailles. The couple soon became the toast of Parisian high society. They had one child, a son, Count Anne-Jules de Noailles (1900–1979).

Anna de Noailles wrote three novels, an autobiography, and many collections of poetry. She had friendly relations with the intellectual, literary and artistic elite of the day including Marcel Proust, Francis Jammes, Colette, André Gide, Frédéric Mistral, Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac, Paul Valéry, Jean Cocteau, Pierre Loti, Paul Hervieu, and Max Jacob.

So popular was Anna de Noailles that various notable artists of the day painted her portrait, including Antonio de la Gandara, Kees van Dongen, Jacques Émile Blanche, and the British portrait painter Philip de Laszlo. In 1906 her image was sculpted by Auguste Rodin; the clay model can be seen today in the Musée Rodin in Paris, and the finished marble bust is on display in New York's Metropolitan Museum.

She died in 1933 in Paris, aged 56, and was interred in the Père Lachaise Cemetery. She was a cousin of Prince Antoine Bibesco, Princess Martha Bibescu and Elena Văcărescu.

Anna de Noailles was the first woman to become a Commander of the Legion of Honor, the first woman to be received in the Royal Belgian Academy of French Language and Literature, and she was honored with the "Grand Prix" of the Académie Française in 1921.

Reviews

[david]

pas mal dans le genre poème dépressif mais j’ai vu mieux sur twitter honnêtement

[Marco Sán Sán]

Leí a Noailles por las flores de Ortega. Me recordó a Bécquer con una gran diferencia, acá todo es lamento, todo es abandono. En Bécquer todo es anhelo, diferencia fundamental entre ellas y nosotros, tal vez...

*

La vida así amplia y sabia
El exultante esplendor del cielo
Nuestras miradas que juegan entre ellas
Nuestra lealtad, mi constante
Ternura, mi corazón ansioso
De ti, del que era dependiente
Me dejas viva
Mientras tus ojos están cerrados

¡Luego esto no era serio!


*

Deslumbrado, puro, minucioso
La mirada fija en mi vida
Has desplegado el cielo
En el camino que he seguido

El espíritu sagaz, pronto, activo
Cuando desfallecía de mí misma
Tu voz volvía a mi corazón vivo
¡Me enseñaste hasta dónde se ama!

Por tu amor todo era franco
Y menos pesado mi destino...
Una tarde de otoño, muriendo
Me has asesinado

*

Has muerto una tarde en la hora en que el día cesa
Fue repentino. La dulce y terrible pereza
Invadiéndote nos ha vencido
Nada predijo el torpor y la tumba
Tú tuviste el sueño. Yo, peno y caigo

La muerte más muerta es haber sobrevivido...