Selected Poems

by Pierre de Ronsard, Malcolm Quainton (Translator), Elizabeth Vinestock (Translator)

Ronsard is considered one of France's greatest love poets, yet his poetic achievements are not restricted to his verses of love, wine and nature. A true Renaissance figure, his themes ranged from politics, science and philsophy, to the bawdy and risqué. Using Greco-Roman and Italian poetic models, and drawing on the rich images of classical mythology, Ronsard revolutionised the tradition of French poetry. In the 20th century, Ronsard's poetry was influential for W. B. Yeats, translated by Sylvia Plath, and illustrated by Henri Matisse. He stands as one of the most innovative and diverse voices in the history of European poetry.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Genres: Poetry, France, 16th Century, Classics

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1585

About the author

Lyrical love poems, considered best works of French poet Pierre de Ronsard, include Sonnets pour Hélène (1578).

Pierre de Ronsard est un des poètes français les plus importants du XVIe siècle.

« Prince des poètes et poète des princes », Pierre de Ronsard, adepte de l’épicurisme, est une figure majeure de la littérature poétique de la Renaissance. Membre de la Pléiade, auteur d’une œuvre vaste qui, en plus de trente ans, a touché aussi bien la poésie engagée et « officielle » dans le contexte des guerres de religions avec les Hymnes et les Discours (1555-1564), que l’épopée avec La Franciade (1572) ou la poésie lyrique avec les recueils des Les Odes (1550-1552) et des Amours (Les Amours de Cassandre, 1552 ; Les Amours de Marie, 1555 ; Sonnets pour Hélène, 1578).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_...

Reviews

[Aurélien Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! Where should we start? Ronsard's impact upon French poetry is immense! Whereas before him poetry was just a silly pastime, and poets just court jesters ('troubadours') whose role was to entertain the wealthy, Ronsard will take the art very seriously. Spearheading Renaissance in France, he will in fact toss away the Medieval poetical forms then 'en vogue' (eg lai, virelai, rondel...) to import instead the odes, the epics, the epigrams, and other classical forms usually associated with Greco-Roman Antiquity.

More than that: at a time when French was not even a national language, but a patchwork of patois and dialects looked upon by the intellectuals and the scholars (how could it even compete with Latin or Ancient Greek!?) Ronsard will dare to do the unthinkable: write in French. At the head of the Brigade, a gang of like-minded poets and intellectuals then eager to gather around him (we now know them as the Pléiade) he thus triggered a movement that would ultimately lead to French establishing itself as a national language, what Chaucer will do with English, or Dante with Italian.

What about his poetry, then?

Ronsard was a court page, so, unsurprisingly, in this selection are some writings about politics; especially the tumultuous events then shattering France. The country was indeed at a throat of an intense quarrels between Catholics and Protestants that will all turn out very bloody (think of the Saint Bartholomew's Massacre...) and, as a Catholic, although he may have been critical of the Church, he therefore didn't shy away from defending his catholic faith. He had, to say the least, no sympathy for Protestants; as reading his 'Discourse on the Miseries of the Time' makes it quite clear:

'What? Burning houses, plundering and pillaging, killing, assassinating and dominating by force, no longer obeying Kings, raising armies, is this what you called reformed Churches?'

However, here's not the reason why he still is remembered and admired as one of the greatest. Ronsard, contributing to popularise the sonnet in France, in fact made himself a master on sonnets and its expected yet perfectly suited topic: love. Three women would be his 'muses' during the course of his life (Helene, Cassandre, Marie), and he will indeed write some of the most beautiful love poems ever written to all three of them.

'every girl, even if she longs for the game of love, desires to be ravished.'

'Time passes, time passes, my Lady; alas! not time, but we, we pass away, and soon we should be stretched out beneath a tombstone;
and when we are dead, no more will be heard of the love we are speaking of; therefore love me, while you are still beautiful.'

'is it not lunacy to write of Love? They put handcuffs on lunatics who are not as raving mad as I am.'

A poet that definitely worth a read!

[Red · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mignon